Communicate changes in production quickly and purposefully
Flexibility is crucial in our disruptive world, especially in production, as processes often need to adapt to new technologies, customer requirements or compliance regulations. Keep these five factors in mind to implement changes in production processes quickly, purposefully and without great effort:
The 5 factors at a glance
Recognize the importance of clear communication: Changes in production processes can have a big impact, even if they seem small at first. If new processes or guidelines are not communicated clearly and in good time, misunderstandings, errors or even accidents can occur. Recognizing the importance of communication in the change process will help you to take your management team with you on the next steps.
Get support from digital tools: On large production floors and with vacations or absences due to illness, it is almost impossible to bring all employees up to the same level of knowledge. Store floor meetings are a good step in the right direction, but they do not prevent individuals from missing crucial information in the long term. The use of digital tools enables you to create process instructions, safety instructions and process changes centrally and make them available to employees in production directly on tablets or terminals.
Offer your employees micro-training on demand: “A picture is worth a thousand words”. This proverb also provides you with valuable services in relation to your change management. For more complex changes, provide your employees with updated images and video material directly in the process instruction to give them the best possible support in executing the changed process. This also increases the first-time-right rate for new process steps.
Use the established CIP for feedback: Use the CIP you have already introduced to give your employees the opportunity to ask questions or provide feedback. Ideally, feedback can be given directly and easily during process implementation. Make sure that questions and feedback are answered promptly so that potential problems are resolved quickly. This measure will also increase acceptance of the change and, of course, allow you to continuously optimize processes.
Involve your managers: Your managers have a central role to play in the implementation of changes. They act as mediators, knowledge carriers and persuaders in every change process. By actively involving them in the communication process, they can answer questions, dispel uncertainties and strengthen confidence in new processes. Even the best digital tool is no substitute for transparent communication from managers, who are crucial to ensuring the smooth implementation of all changes.
Operations1 offers you the option of implementing change processes quickly and in a targeted manner. The system has a number of special functions for this purpose, such as the option of activating a pop-up for process changes so that employees are informed about process changes before they carry out their work, even if they were not present during the actual communication in the store floor round.
Editha Bertsch
Editha is an experienced project management expert for manufacturing companies. With a clear understanding of the specific challenges of the industry, she is passionate about developing innovative solutions.
The Operations1 software is a central component of our production and an important CIP driver.
Production Manager, arculus
With Operations1, we deliver the highest quality, regardless of location, language and qualifications.
Head of Production, Brückner Maschinenbau
We have both increased the audit safety and reduced the effort for documentation.
Head of Production and Test Bench, Soudronic
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