Let’s enter the gates of one of the many factory floors of an Indian manufacturing conglomerate. It’s a typical day. Workers have started to pour in. The first shift is about to begin. Tools, raw material and machinery are ready. The assembly lines have started to purr and the engines are about to roar.

Yet, many workers are still milling about. The foreman is a little clueless because of some miscalculation about the day’s production targets and available manpower. There was some issue in co-coordinating with the previous night’s supervisor. There is a backlog in the worksheet somewhere.

It’s a day that can turn into a setback for the company’s inventory plan and production deadlines. All because of gaps in managing shifts.

This scenario is not too unfamiliar for organizations that deal with labour, production and market pressures. Yet, it is a mistake that they cannot afford to ignore. Because it spills over into other business areas and eventually reflects on the company’s bottom-line.

Hello Staqo

When Staqo suggested the use of Presence360, it was a reflection of the company’s good grip on not just technology but on business pain-points as well. Its consultants could see how soon, far and deep these small wrinkles in shift management can hurt when one looks at the overall performance of the business. Poorly-managed shifts, myopic decisions and abrupt requests for temp-staff/contractual labour can become unnecessary expense burdens for the company. On the other hand, there are problems like extra costs and employee fatigue that can emerge out of overtime. All because of a badly-managed shift.

Staqo brought in a solid answer in the form of Presence360. It’s a carefully-crafted and complete set of tools that addresses every HR nerve. Its rich automation capabilities, powered with AI and ML strengths, make it a one-stroke solution for a lot of issues. As soon as this solution was deployed in the company, the business started experiencing:

• A proactive, and intelligent, view of production demands and manpower
• Rich dashboards – complete with patterns and graphs on expected fluctuations
• Insights-backed reports that enabled smart shift planning
• Deep integration with other areas that are connected to shifts in some way – like appraisals, payroll, attendance and overtime
• Powerful self-service tools that simplified the job of foremen and factory managers
• Consistent and real-time monitoring for alerts and recommendations on sudden changes

Impact and Potential

Now that the company has optimized this area well; and has begun to enjoy the fruits in the form of high productivity, low labour costs and a better negotiation muscle – there are plans to introduce this solution for employee punching system as well.

This will reduce the time taken by an employee to punch one’s entry in the premises. Currently it is near to 30 minutes for 500 people and the solution is targeting to chop it down to just five minutes. Plus, with the help of facial recognition and smart algorithms; the punching process would turn smart, intelligent and super-fast.

With quick, and easy, steps in areas like shift management and employee punching-in, the company is shifting gears to strong performance and profitability already.

One switch. A big shift.