EIn this article, we describe the 4 key talent management challenges facing the manufacturing sector and how they can be addressed to minimize their impact on the company.
1.- Finding and Retaining Qualified Talent: Specialized skill sets make some positions in the manufacturing industry hard to fill. While manufacturing once relied heavily on line workers performing transferable or unskilled tasks, automation and computerization have taken over large sections of the industry, and employees have greater control over how these resources are implemented and managed. Managing computerized tools, for example, is a challenging position that tends to remain open. CNC-certified workers are hard to find, and since they are rare and have been heavily invested in their training, they command high salaries. Finding and retaining a well-stocked talent pool of specialized personnel is a constant burden for HR in this sector.
2.- Training is Inevitable: Due to the highly specialized skills and experience required in this industry, on-the-job training is inevitable and crucial to ensuring business efficiency. To find and retain the skill sets they need, some companies are simply hiring high-potential candidates and training them internally. This can be logistically complicated and also costly, as each employee requires training, follow-up, and long-term investment. Having a proven plan and execution strategy for finding and developing skilled workers is of utmost importance in this industry. Technology-enabled development and performance planning technology is helping to optimize this vital process. By allowing managers and HR teams to establish and track training and development initiatives, things run much smoother, and employees stay up to date.
3.- Succession Planning: Make or Break: Since manufacturing organizations invest so much in training their staff, it makes sense to cover their needs by identifying and retaining their key players. However, turnover is a normal aspect of business and can be quite costly if succession plans are not managed to fill positions quickly and appropriately as they become vacant. Smart manufacturing companies do not take risks when it comes to closing unnecessary succession gaps. They are investing in performance management technology that provides them with the data necessary to manage succession and performance in real-time, ensuring that succession issues do not slow anything down.
4.- Deciding Whether to Outsource or Not: Outsourcing can be an enticing alternative for manufacturing companies looking for relatively lower costs, and such companies often have to make tough decisions about where to locate production engines. While moving jobs overseas can help employers cut costs in some circumstances, in-sourcing can offer a wide range of non-monetary benefits, including tighter control over training, quality control, and talent deployment. Careful planning, sophisticated software, and rigorous analysis of available resources, both personnel and material, can facilitate these decisions. Before making any decisions, it is essential to understand the current state of personnel production and whether it can be further optimized.
Every industry faces unique challenges when it comes to talent management. Finding and retaining great employees with the right skills is a challenge that will continue to burden the manufacturing industry. The good news is that just as automation transformed the assembly line, technology is doing the same for employee performance management and talent retention.
BLManufactura, with its Skills Management and Knowledge Management modules, enables manufacturing companies to effectively manage talent by knowing who possesses each area of expertise within the organization, who has the most critical skills for the company, and who is the most productive. This allows the company to focus on retaining those individuals while also identifying the training needs of the rest of the staff and operations that require additional support to ensure the company continues to function even with the loss of key personnel.
If you would like more information about BLManufactura and how it can help your company, please contact us.
