What Are the Causes of Low Morale in Manufacturing?
Causes of low morale in manufacturing include shift changes, too much down time on machines and poor teamwork. Switching between shifts is tiresome for production workers. And when equipment malfunctions, employees have unexpected idle time on their hands and later feel the pressure to work harder to make up for the down time. Industry experts also cite instances where morale was diminished by employees and leaders who simply did not understand other people's roles in the manufacturing process.
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Scheduling
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Production workers struggle with shift rotations on top of mandatory overtime. Sleepiness, low productivity and human error escalate during shift changes or overtime cycles. Coleman Consulting's website cites studies that show 55 percent of shift workers report a noticeable drop in safety awareness among fatigued employees. Likewise, the Life Science Leader website notes that the Three Mile Island and Exxon Valdez disasters were linked to weary employees who worked the night shift. Nighttime workers say they sleep during daylight hours on their days off, which further intensifies their exhaustion. Plus, some companies are experimenting with 12-hour shifts instead of standard eight-hour days to boost productivity and minimize goofs during shift changes. LifeScienceLeader.com warns, though, that some studies indicate no discernible difference in mishaps with eight- or 12-hour days.
Stoppages
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Manufacturing equipment undergoes numerous stops and starts because of routine maintenance, regulatory cleaning, shift changeovers or unplanned breakdowns. Every shutdown on a production line is costly, regardless of whether it is scheduled or unexpected, says consultant William C. Jones in the online article "Food Manufacturing: Run Long, Run Hard, Run Often." These stoppages force plant leaders to ask their staff to give up their time off to catch up with production, resulting in lower morale. Manufacturers are turning to a best practice known as Pit Stop Sanitation by building scheduled maintenance hours into each machine's operation instead of dealing with issues when they arise. These longer production runs translate into higher productivity and fewer instances of idled engines and people.
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Perceptions
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Management, production workers and maintenance crews frequently disagree on how to help each other perform their jobs. "The result is that both groups are often unsure how either contributes to the success of the manufacturing process," says President Mike Cowley of CE Maintenance Solutions in the online article " Manufacturing: Understanding The Business Side Of Your Job." Cowley describes a factory where the production crew considered maintenance employees to be a cost center, not a profit center. Likewise, maintenance employees were ineffective in explaining how their suggestions could impact the plant's bottom line. Cowley notes in Manufacturing.net that plant employees gain credibility by demonstrating they understand the business, such as the value of purchasing a $500 automated lubricator that saves three hours of maintenance labor each day.
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References
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