Manufacturing Labor Tracking: Are You Properly Tracking Labor Costs?
In the manufacturing industry, more often than not, direct labor costs are overlooked within the manufacturing process. This can be a big issue as it leaves many things for the manufacturer up in the air and poses key questions around efficiency and success. If you do not have manufacturing labor tracking in place, how do you know what to charge clients? How do you maintain a profit margin that is in your acceptable range? How do you plan for appropriate staffing needs? How do you know areas that are working well and those that need improvement?
If you’ve been considering manufacturing labor tracking and direct labor costs, this is the right information for you to help make your decision. We’ll discuss the importance of labor tracking, some common questions around tracking, and more.
The Importance of Labor Tracking
Labor tracking takes into account your staffing levels in relation to the job or project at hand. Part of the tracking must include analyzing staff production lines to ensure you’re properly staffed. A project or job that is overstaffed can lead to unnecessary labor costs and will affect the bottom line. A project or job that is understaffed can result in delays in the process or finalized product and will lead to customer or client dissatisfaction. To avoid either of these happening, it’s crucial to realize the importance of tracking labor costs and automating the production entry. This automation will allow you to streamline the manufacturing process by capturing transactions and process steps.
Why Direct Labor is Not Tracked
It is often found that direct labor just isn’t being tracked since its importance is often overlooked. In the cases where it is tracked, it’s often found to be inaccurate. Here are a few reasons why:
- Short on time – direct labor tracking is not delegated to someone who has the time to spend on it and rather is just part of their role along with several other tasks that may receive priority.
- Estimates and assumptions – the tracking is considered as just something to markdown or check off a list, so oftentimes the numbers are based on estimations and not actual data.
- Overwhelmed or untrained staff – the designated person for the tracking is either not educated on the process or doesn’t have the capacity to learn. Both cases lead to avoidance since the individual has no clue how to start.
Luckily these scenarios are able to be mitigated or removed with a manufacturing labor and time tracking solution.
Questions to Ask to Determine if Labor Tracking is Missing at Your Company
- Are you seeing inaccurate time standards or delays?
- Is there inconsistency in hitting deadlines for job or project completions?
- Is there little to no reporting on the job?
- Do you have a good method to compare payroll to downtime reported?
- Is there a lack of visibility regarding productivity performance?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, time and labor tracking will help solve these issues and more.
Streamline the Entire Process with ScanForce and Sage 100 Manufacturing
With ScanForce and Sage 100 Manufacturing, the entire manufacturing process can be streamlined and simplified by using the time and labor tracking solution. Here are some features and benefits of the tracking solution:
- Wireless capabilities – no need for wires or cables, and still performs when the internet connection is down.
- Labor Management console – a clear, easy to use, console that provides concise data management related to labor tracking and monitoring.
- Clock-in clock-out option – get an accurate view of your employees’ time from a shift beginning to end including any breaks.
- Barcode scanning – automatically capture material issues for the job and completed products with a simple scan.
- Real-time inventory tracking – always be current with what inventory has been used, inventory still available and finished goods totals within Sage 100.
- KPIs – time and labor tracking solutions are tied to key performance indicators (KPIs) that help you easily manage and track labor costs with real, accurate data.
Gain Control Today
Despite a current lack of manufacturing labor tracking, there are plenty of opportunities to get processes in place. Are you ready to get a better handle and understanding of manufacturing labor tracking? Do you want real-time data and reports to help with your bottom line? ScanForce can help take your operations to the next level by gaining insights into labor, time, and costs in your warehouse.
The ScanForce Sage 100 Manufacturing solution will automate and streamline the tracking for all costs associated with your labor. Our website contains resources to help you learn more about our manufacturing solution, including features and benefits. We also provide custom demos to show the solution in action. Contact us today to learn more about implementing labor and tracking to your manufacturing environment. Your bottom line and workers will thank you for it.