With the right planning, it’s perfectly possible to enjoy your vacations while ensuring effective management of your company’s operations. Make sure you have a clear vision of your objectives and the priority tasks to be accomplished while you’re away, to avoid turbulence on your production lines. In this article, you’ll benefit from a few strategic tips to keep your manufacturing operations running smoothly during your vacation.
Prioritize your projects and plan for those that can be carried over after the vacation season
First, list all of your current and upcoming projects and postpone the less urgent ones until you return from vacation. You need to ensure that you have the time and resources to deliver the projects you deem a priority before your teams leave. Plan now to minimize the disruption to your operations and human resources based on your company’s vacation schedule:
Full shutdown mode
This mode allows you to concentrate the vacation of your resources at the same targeted period and requires a complete stop of your operations. This mode is often favored by manufacturing companies with assembly lines where each operator must be at his post to perform operations. This mode simplifies the management of schedules and allows team members to benefit from their vacation during the same period. The resulting complete shutdown can allow you to service and maintain machines and systems because they are out of service for a period of time. This is often a time for many companies to get over their delivery delays and get back to normal when business resumes.
Spread vacation mode
in this case, employee vacations are spread out over a longer period of time, requiring the need to find a replacement plan and alternative solutions to fill the absence of each resource. This mode creates a period of turbulence that makes operations less efficient over a period of 2 to 3 months, depending on the company’s model. It is recommended to establish an employee replacement and support strategy to ensure that operations are properly taken care of in the event of absence.
Coordinate with external resources
At this point, it is imperative to communicate your next planned actions with your suppliers, customers, and partners external to your organization. Reserve now the external resources you will need upon your return for projects that you have postponed after your vacation. In today’s challenging supply environment, it is even more important to communicate your upcoming action plan with your key partners. Make sure your recovery plan is well-coordinated and two-way for an effective tie-in. This is also a good time to increase your inventories and plan structuring activities.
Prepare your comeback !
Before leaving, make sure that all the projects you did not complete before the vacations are planned and organized, both at the operations level and with your suppliers, and the availability of the various resources involved so as not to create more turbulence within your operations. You know that September and October are very busy months in the manufacturing sector; it is preferable to prepare in time.
In conclusion, remember that planning is the key to peace of mind during your vacation. Make sure you have someone to cover for you in case of an incident, but also for all key positions in the organization so that your manufacturing operations are not affected.
Have a great vacation!
ABOUT US
MERKUR is a firm of experts in manufacturing performance and innovation and has been doing so for over 25 years. From strategy to execution, its sole objective is to make Quebec’s manufacturing companies more efficient by offering innovative solutions in product development, operational excellence, manufacturing engineering, automation and smart factory. Merkur is proud to contribute to innovation and productivity in Quebec!
KHROME PRODUIT TRANSPORT is a manufacturing integrator located in Drummondville specialized in the design and manufacturing of train car interiors and exteriors. Its strength comes from its great engineering capacity and its manufacturing agility. Among its customer portfolio, there are major manufacturers such as Alstom, Bombardier Transportation and Kawasaki Rail Car.
SYNKRO is a software developed by Merkur and designed specifically for high-performance manufacturers. It collects, classifies, and distributes the right data to the right people at the right time. SYNKRO gives you a real vision of your operations. SYNKRO is the software solution that finally connects your floor and your offices!
