Regardless of whether an employer is at a standstill due to the Corona crisis or is experiencing an economic boom, the current situation not only presents us to challenges but also offers numerous opportunities. Grasp these chances. Our Staufen experts have put together a number of specific examples and starting points for specialists and executives from assembly and production-related areas. These can help you to emerge stronger out of this crisis and to even start with new competitive advantages.
The current situation for companies at a standstill: survive with very limited capacities
Many companies experience the collapse in customer demand and find themselves in under-capacities. But at the same time, a lot of capacities have been lost: thousands of specialists and executives are on short-time work, sick leave, or in their home offices, where work is more of a challenge due to missing child care or insufficient IT infrastructure. This is why a lot of companies have a core team that keeps the production alive: only a few employees concentrate 100% on their daily work and make every effort to deliver the existing orders on time.
The current situation for companies in an economic boom: straining and restructuring of the international supply chain
Not all parts of the economy are in an emergency mode. Companies in the production of protective clothing or the food industry are confronted with a high demand increase. Suddenly, other companies are receiving demands from local customers, who otherwise have global suppliers. In addition to the unexpected demand changes, companies and their global supply chains are exposed to the unique risks and restrictions during this crisis. They find themselves confronted with travel restrictions, delivery, and production bottlenecks as well as border control.
The challenges and chances after the crisis for the assembly
Companies that are currently at a standstill will face a rapid increase in demand after the crisis. At the same time, there will be a gap in a lot of markets: due to the reduction of capacities, a lot of companies are in production residue and as a result, they will be busy working off this backlog. Other companies can use exactly this situation to generate a competitive advantage: only companies with lean and flexible processes can meet the increased demand in the shortest possible time.
Lean and flexible processes will also benefit those companies that are experiencing an economic boom. Processes must be optimized in order to cope with the increased demand. Even companies that, due to the corona situation, are allowed to supply customers who normally buy globally, can score points after the crisis: if they keep their processes lean, they will be able to retain at least part of their order volume even after the crisis has subsided.
The challenges and chances after the crisis for production-related areas
Our experts also see chances for employees in production-related areas such as work scheduling, disposition, or construction of manufacturing resources. A lot of specialists and executives of this area are currently in their home offices and can look at their company’s assembly processes from a distance. Our experts advise you to reflect on these processes, deal with academic content on assembly optimization, and consider how this could be transferred to your own processes. Therefore further training in Lean Assembly is recommended. “Our own further training is often neglected because we all have plenty to do and are constantly under time-pressure. Now we have time for it”, says Lukas Förschner, Associate at Staufen.AG. Employees in production-related areas would now benefit most from further training and thus could provide the greatest potential for optimization in their company.
