Manufacturing Magazine June 2018 | Page 25

jobs away . The client didn ’ t want to go , but there was also the cost of labour that had to be considered . In the end , they kept the plant open in the small town , because , had they left , the town would have had nothing and people would have moved away . It kept the town alive , and it kept their people with jobs , which was really a key piece .
“ How do you balance profitability and shareholders ’ needs with your community presence and jobs that have been there for years and years and years ? It ’ s absolutely a challenge for so many companies today ,” she concludes .
Whether or not a company chooses to remain in its traditional surroundings or to move on to a new location is at the discretion of the individuals in charge of the organisation , but an issue for each and every one of these manufacturing companies , regardless of geography , is whether they can be more efficient with regards to labour costs , and how this can be achieved .
“ That ’ s the conversation that I think needs to happen within every organisation , because it is the number one cost in making anything ,” asserts Bogrand . “ That way , as long as you ’ re using it efficiently , and you ’ re looking at all the metrics , and you ’ re being able to cost-effectively produce that product , then maybe that conversation turns a little bit . Instead of looking to , say , get a client to go cheaper , before you do that we need to look and make sure that what we ’ re doing with your current workforce is efficient – that you ’ re not wasting money with inefficiencies , whether it ’ s scheduling , staffing or whatever – and seeing if we can tighten it up first , before we start looking to go to a different staffing model .”
Bogrand gives an example of doing exactly this for one of Deloitte ’ s clients , which shows just how stark the
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