Skills Shortage in Production SchedulingBy Lance Zikalala

Why Do Most Manufacturers Use “Low-Level” Skills When It Comes To Production Scheduling

Skills Shortage in Production Scheduling

Defining Production Scheduling

Production scheduling in simple terms is about telling the

manufacturing facility when to make, with what stuff, on which

equipment and in what sequence.

Production Scheduling Benefits

Some of the benefits that have been recorded and seen as a

result of effective production scheduling include: changeover

reduction, inventory reduction, scheduling effort reduction,

visualisation, customer service improvement, utilisation of

resources to their fullest potential, productivity improvement,

capability to promise accurate deliveries, elimination of waste as

a result of flow improvement, among others.

… The Impact

Central to the attainment of these benefits, is the role

played by the Production Scheduler. The Production

Scheduler is a major variable that impacts on the

production scheduling benefits, and his effect to these

benefits is influenced by his scheduling skills.

The S.A. problem of balancing scheduler’s talent needs with scheduling complexity

Skills Shortage in Production Scheduling

The level of Skills Required

The Schedule published by the Production Scheduler to

production has already taken into consideration the business

rules that would be driving the Business Benefits.

Entry level production scheduling rules such as “Forward and

Backward Scheduling” to complex ones, such as “Scheduling

around the Bottleneck”, and sometimes even extremely complex

ones such as “Custom-made Algorithmic Rules” would be the

enablement towards the attainment of the business benefits.

All this is translated into an instruction sent to production on what,

how, where and when to start the execution of the schedule.

Production Personnel simply follows the schedule.

Production Scheduler’s Dilemma

Poor Schedule Good Schedule

Schedule being displayed on the Shop Floor

Skills Shortage in Production Scheduling

Why is there so much poor (and shortage) Production Scheduling Skills?

• Companies think production Scheduling is very simple.

• Managers think they are smarter than any production scheduling system.

• Managers do not trust the value that these systems and methodologies bring.

• Companies don’t understand why they need production scheduling.

• Companies sometimes think production scheduling systems should be driven by the IT

Department.

• Smaller companies employ junior staff from within the company.

• A Production Scheduler is generally seen as a production expeditor.

• Other companies see a scheduler as a Data Administrator who has experience within the

business and is computer literate, whilst some make an assumption that for as long as a

scheduling tool is implemented, any employee with years of service can be appointed to

this role.

• Companies think ERP systems and Production Scheduling systems are the same.

• Companies who recognise the importance of a Production Scheduler, face a Skills Gap

challenge

… So What’s Wrong?

• Creating a supply of workers with scheduling skills – engineering, skilled trades, and

production – will be critical to the future competitiveness of companies and the industry as

a whole.

• Manufacturing organisations should take the lead in managing the talent crisis by designing

strategies that do not only optimize talent acquisition and deployment, but also strive to

place the right people in Production Scheduling

… So What now?

Scheduler’s Challenges

Skills Shortage in Production Scheduling

The level of Skill Required

,the professional body for Operations & Supply Chain

developed a model that listed the following skills as requirements

for a proper qualified production scheduler.

Occ

up

atio

nal

• Degree

• Specialised Diploma

• Certifications

Production Scheduler Specification Requirements

Pro

fess

ion

al

• Production Scheduling

• Scheduling Techniques

• Marketing Requirements & Strategy

Production Scheduling Knowledge

• Capacity Management

• Materials Management Knowledge

Operations Management Knowledge

• Manufacturing Process Environment

• Standards (Time Measurements)

• Operations Strategy (KPIs)

• Enabling Technology Application

• Executing Plan, Schedule and Control

• Data Management & Verification

• Business Analytics (Dashboards & Reports)

Fou

nd

atio

nal

• Problem Solving & Decision Making

• Accountability & Responsibility

• Customer Focus

Workplace and Leadership Competency

• Teamwork & Collaboration

• Planning & Organising

Academic Competencies

• Support & Training Staff

• Maths and Analytical Thinking

• Reading & Writing of Reports

• Understanding of Business Reports & Management

• Awareness of needs of others

• Continuous Learning

• Effective Communication

Personal Effectiveness Competencies

• Integrity

• Creativity

• Interpersonal Skills

Skills Shortage in Production Scheduling

• Companies are still employing Internally, people with no production

scheduling skills.

• Companies still think they can drive production scheduling

themselves, on systems such as Microsoft Excel.

• Companies tell us, in our research, that engineers and skilled

production personnel will only be employed for complex jobs, not for

production scheduling.

• Companies are at this moment customising and tweaking their ERP

systems to produce production schedules.

• Production Managers, with their production coordinators, schedule

the shop floor themselves.

… What are companies doing at the moment

Is this an issue of General Skills Shortage or an issue of Scheduling Skills Shortage

Deficient Skills in Scheduling

• Most scheduling specialists are moving to High-Level Planning & Managerial roles.

• South Africa is not keeping up with international markets when it comes to development and training. Our top management is largely unaware of what these best practices are and appear to be unwilling to find out and learn, let alone implement – said Ken Titmus, former president of SAPICS.

• Employees who start to show deep understanding of Supply Chain (and Production Scheduling) get quickly moved and then replaced by production coordinators, who’d then down-scale the role that a production scheduler should play.

• In our experience, we see the level and structure of production scheduling declining with time, as companies see this role as an expense. The perception is: Production Managers should be able to handle, plan, schedule and coordinate their areas.

We asked employers to explain what they considered to be themost serious skill deficiency in Production Scheduling.We asked them to, in their views, rate these deficiencies.

Employers feel they have good employees (for attendance,timeliness, team players, etc.)

The problem comes to how manufacturing these days require high technical scheduling skills.

Production Managers, Clerks, Coordinators, Expediters, etc. are mostly the people doing production scheduling themselves.

Companies that see the need and have ventured into Advanced Scheduling and are also trying the “quick fixes” of tweaking ERP Systems for Production Scheduling rate the skills deficiency as follows:

70% – lackTechnology/Computer Skills

69% – lackProblem Solving Skills

67% – lackBasic Technical Skills

60% – lackMaths Skills

Skills Shortage in Production Scheduling

Examples of Production Schedulers’ Job Ads

… The Recruitment of Schedulers also doesn’t help

“Job Description for Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks : Coordinate and expedite the flow of work and materials within or between departments of an establishment according to production schedule. Duties include reviewing and distributing production, work, and shipment schedules; conferring with department supervisors to determine progress of work and completion dates; and compiling reports on progress of work, inventory levels, costs, and production problems.”

“Our client is looking for an experienced and motivated Master Production Scheduler to work at their reputable company Requirements: · Grade 12· 5-8 years scheduling experience in Production/Manufacturing environment · Experience on plansys/demandsys/ syspro or a similar system is required· Computer literate”

… How do we close this gap?

• Strengthen Development & Training.

• Implement APS – Transfer knowledge from experienced personnel to

systems.

• Automate the shop floor. – automation will require skilled personnel.

• Redefine the Production Scheduler’s Role. – Remunerate more & include

this person in decision making. – This will ensure that the scheduler

understands business drivers, risks and benefits.

• Improve talent management & acquirement.

• Develop high-potential employees and create more flexibility.

• Involve Customers, Government, Suppliers and other stakeholders.

Strengthening Training & Development

Implement Advanced Planning & Scheduling

Internship Programs

Partner with Universities

External Certifications

Internal Training & Development

18%

22%

24%

36%

Implement & Automate SFDC

Implement S&OP

Implement Demand Management

Implement APS

17%

18%

24%

41%

Company websites & social media

Word-of-mouth

Company Recruting Functions

University Recruitment

Internship Programs

Proper External Search

9%

12%

17%

18%

20%

24%

Employ High-Calibre People & Improve Talent

Skills Shortage in Production Scheduling

About The AuthorReferences & Acknowledgements

• Deloitte Manufacturing Institute

• Aberdeen Research Group

• nCoded Solutions Customers

• Quoted Ken Titmuss on page 6

Lance Zikalala, is an Industrial Engineer with over 20 years experience as a Production Engineer, Supply Chain Consultant and Supply Chain Director.

Lance has had many successful projects around Productivity Improvement Initiatives, New Plant Expenditure Justifications, Implementing Industrial Engineering Concepts, Theory of Constraints, Mathematical Modelling, Simulations, Development & Implementation of Shop Floor Control Systems & Methodologies, Implementing Supply Chain Planning Tools, etc.

Lance is also skilled in implementing APS systems to various clients and has received training in systems such as Manugistics, stPoint, SAP, BaaN, Preactor, Syspro, CAST, Roadshow, among others.

In the past 10 years, Lance implemented many production scheduling systems and also many shop floor control systems to more than 20 companies across South Africa and across many types of manufacturing industries.

He also sometimes finds time to attended conferences and give talks around the subject of Supply Chain Planning, specifically Production Scheduling, as that’s his passion..

Managing Director, nCoded Solutions

eMail: lance@ncoded.co.za

Mobile: +2779 125 5394

Office: +2786 112 3526