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One of the most pervasive trends across manufacturing is the crippling labor shortage. Not only is it reflected in the last jobs report that came out in August, which showed manufacturing jobs were down by 433,000 since their February 2019 pre-pandemic peak, and more recently, Vietnam and many other countries are experiencing labor shortages due to the pandemic resulting in supply shocks disrupting entire markets.
Labor shortages impacting the manufacturing industry is not a new trend. Many factories have been facing a labor shortage since before COVID-19 began to spread, and have had trouble filling assembly line worker positions with skilled line associates for years due to numerous reasons like inadequate training, skill gaps and competition from other industries such as retail and hospitality. Many companies are shoring up hiring efforts due to the pandemic, but with a small pool of available talent, manufacturers are being confronted by a very difficult situation with very few options.
Old quick fixes are no longer possible
The standard procedures for most businesses to increase productivity has been to either bring in more workers, try to quickly educate them on the necessary manufacturing skills and hope they stay with the company for a while. With the current labor shortages, this quick fix approach isn’t possible. Some others may attempt to automate jobs previously performed by people, which is costly and time intensive and might even be impossible because the task they want to automate may require skills robots aren’t capable of performing today. Others may decide to continue operating at a fraction of the adequate staffing level, making it nearly impossible to meet customer demand. These scenarios have essentially been the only available courses of action for manufacturers for a long time. But technology is opening up new possibilities.
It has been long assumed that people have reached their productivity and efficiency limits, and assembly lines are optimized as much as possible. Here’s where technology like Drishti can help manufacturers increase their productivity without adding more line associates or compromising quality. Drishti creates new data on human tasks — basically supercharging the traditional time and motion study process — to shine a light on areas where more improvements are possible using the same number of line associates. In keeping with the principles of the Toyota Production System, Drishti empowers workers to make decisions on the assembly line in real time. Drishti provides more information and insights, and with more brain power on the factory floor, actionable solutions can be implemented that drive continuous improvement without more people on the line.
Amping up brainpower with AI
When faced with a lack of people, these AI and computer vision platforms can empower assembly line associates by introducing craftsmanship back into assembly lines. The strength of any assembly line comes down to the assembly process and each individual's ability to adhere to that process of the standard of work at each station. However, brilliant outliers might exist on the line who have figured out a way to perform their job a little bit better than everyone else and have gone unnoticed, as time and motion studies might not be thorough enough to capture said brilliance. Even a small improvement that shaves off a few seconds from a cycle could result in dividends that pay back millions of dollars. Drishti identifies and highlights the brilliant outlier, and ensures their unique process can be made repeatable by incorporating it into video-based standardized work instructions that are broadly shared.
COVID-19 has presented significant challenges to manufacturing and exacerbated the historic industrial labor shortage. But with more brain power, both from the AI of Drishti and in the brains of the workers the technology empowers, manufacturers can continue to drive productivity. AI and computer vision can allow factories to do more with less. The future of assembly is smarter and more adaptable, where factories are more resilient to labor issues as they are able to empower their line workers to act in brilliant ways.
