Capacity Planning and Time Tracking (and Competency Management) for Manufacturing

Staff is one of the most expensive resources and must be managed particularly well. In contrast, many manufacturing companies still plan and track working schedules on paper or in Excel spreadsheets. With some practice, under normal circumstances, this can work relatively well, but if an unexpected situation strikes, modifications will be much more difficult.

It doesn’t have to be a serious case like a pandemic – it’s enough if some specialists suddenly fall ill and miss work for a few days, or if an important machine breaks down and the production plan for that day needs to be fulfilled in a different way. Not to mention the case when an urgent order suddenly comes in and staff with special competencies will be needed to fulfill it – staff probably already assigned to another task.

In the case of paper- or Excel-based planning, tracking working hours, summarizing information, and allocating personnel costs at the end of the month is also cumbersome, time-consuming and error-prone.

Capacity planning and time tracking at an advanced level…

That’s where DSS StaffManager, a joint solution developed by Bosch Rexroth and DSS Consulting comes into play.

DSS StaffManager is more than just a time-tracking system: It enables workforce capacity planning and time-tracking specifically tailored to industrial environments.

Managers can easily plan the assignment of staff to different tasks, while staff members can record their own working time using a common, user-friendly interface, avoiding errors caused by multiple data entry. This saves not only a lot of annoyance, but also a measurable amount of working time.

Another important element is that StaffManager is a GDPR compliant solution: Everyone sees only their own details, so the possibility of unauthorized access to personal data is eliminated – unlike in the case of Excel or paper-based working time schedules.

StaffManager’s data analysis capabilities enable the creation of detailed reports on unused capacities – moreover, the measurement of planned and actual working time at the level of the individual employee or the whole project will be possible. DSS StaffManager can be actively or passively integrated with existing ERP systems, so that the data entered is automatically uploaded to the corresponding modules of the ERP system, eliminating the need for additional administration.

… designed for manufacturing companies

And why do we recommend DSS StaffManager specifically for manufacturing companies? StaffManager has functions specifically tailored to industrial environments:

• Managing shifts: Shift managers can easily plan shift schedules – resources can be allocated in advance even to projects not yet started;
• The possibility of recording machine time (optionally, via system integrations);
• And perhaps most importantly, competency-based resource planning: This way it is ensured that an operator with up-to-date qualifications and knowledge will perform the task at hand.

This is because StaffManager not only shows the operators currently available for the given task, but also whether they have all the necessary qualifications and competencies to complete it. Moreover, the software monitors the expiration of the qualifications required for work and warns about the due date of necessary training.

Traceability is also very important: StaffManager retains data going back several years, so it’s easy to trace who, when, where, and with what qualifications performed a given task – this is crucial from for compliance with quality assurance audits (ISO 9001, IATF 16949, etc.).

Wondering how we introduced StaffManager at the plant of one of the leading multinational automotive parts manufacturers in Hungary? Let’s get in touch!

Would you like an overview of our Industry 4.0 solutions? Why not visit our Industry 4.0 page?