Manufacturer Boosts Throughput and Stabilizes Labor Costs With Veryable’s WFM & On-Demand Labor Platforms

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Overview

A multi-site precision manufacturing company operating high-mix production lines sought to improve throughput consistency and bring greater stability to labor costs in an environment characterized by daily demand variability. While fluctuations in order volume and product mix were expected, leadership observed that actual production results varied significantly by shift despite similar volumes and comparable levels of labor deployment.

To address this, the company implemented Veryable’s Workforce Management (WFM) platform as the first step in a broader operational improvement initiative. The objective was to create a standardized, data-driven approach to translating daily production demand into labor requirements by line and shift, supported by real-time visibility into execution. After this foundation was established, the organization introduced on-demand labor to enable precise, day-by-day adjustments in headcount based on actual production needs.

This phased approach allowed the manufacturer to increase throughput, stabilize labor costs, and significantly reduce variability in daily execution.

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Operational Context and Challenges

The manufacturer operates multiple facilities with several lines per site, each characterized by distinct cycle times, changeover requirements, and skill dependencies. Production plans are frequently adjusted due to changes in order priority, product sequencing, and material availability. As a result, the labor required to support production varies meaningfully from day to day.

Prior to implementing Workforce Management, labor planning and execution were largely decentralized. Supervisors developed labor plans independently for their shifts, using experience-based assumptions rather than standardized calculations. This created several operational challenges:

• Labor coverage at the start of each shift often deviated from actual production needs, leading to idle time in some work areas and uncovered constraints in others.
• Units-per-hour assumptions varied by supervisor and shift, producing inconsistent output despite similar labor inputs.
• Visibility into production performance was delayed, with meaningful insights often becoming available only after shifts concluded.
• Supervisors frequently reallocated labor during execution in an effort to recover from early mismatches, disrupting line stability and downstream processes.
• Weekly labor costs fluctuated significantly, even when overall production volumes remained relatively stable.

Leadership concluded that meaningful improvement required a more consistent method for sizing labor to demand and managing execution throughout the day.

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Step 1: Implementing Workforce Management to Establish Operational Control

The company deployed Veryable’s Workforce Management platform across its primary production areas to introduce discipline into labor planning, execution, and performance monitoring.

Using WFM, operations leaders began converting daily production demand into required labor hours by line and shift based on established cycle times and production rates. This replaced informal estimates with standardized calculations that reflected the true workload of each production area.

Supervisors were aligned around consistent units-per-hour benchmarks, ensuring that production expectations were clearly defined before each shift began. During execution, planned labor hours and actual output were monitored continuously, enabling supervisors and plant leadership to identify emerging gaps early in the shift rather than after production had already been lost.

In addition, WFM centralized production and labor data into automated dashboards and reports, eliminating the need for manual post-shift reconciliation. This provided leadership with a reliable view of execution across shifts and facilities, supporting more effective operational oversight and decision-making.

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Step 2: Introducing On-Demand Labor to Scale Precisely to Daily Demand

Once Workforce Management was fully operational and labor requirements were being calculated consistently, the manufacturer introduced on-demand labor to enable precise scaling of headcount on a daily basis.

With clear labor requirements defined in advance, on-demand operators were used to increase or reduce headcount in direct response to daily production needs. This allowed the organization to address higher-demand days, cover absences, and support specific production lines without broadly over-allocating labor hours.

Because on-demand labor was deployed against predefined labor plans and performance expectations, supervisors were able to monitor its impact on throughput in real time and make informed adjustments as conditions changed. This ensured that changes in headcount were directly tied to production requirements and contributed measurably to output.

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“Before we put WFM in place, we were having the same conversations every day about labor, but nobody was working off the same numbers. Now we know, day by day, what each line actually needs, and we can adjust headcount accordingly instead of reacting after the fact. Adding on-demand labor after that was straightforward because it plugged into a plan we already trusted. It didn’t change how we run the plant. It just made it easier to hit the plan more consistently.”

‍— VP of Manufacturing

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Results

Following the implementation of Workforce Management and the subsequent introduction of on-demand labor, the manufacturer experienced measurable improvements:

• Throughput increased by 22%, driven by improved alignment between labor hours and production demand.
• Labor costs stabilized, with reduced variance between planned and actual labor hours on a weekly basis.
• Execution consistency improved, as supervisors relied less on mid-shift reallocation and reactive adjustments.
• Cost per unit declined, reflecting more efficient conversion of labor hours into output.
• Operational predictability increased, enabling leadership to forecast daily performance with greater confidence.

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Measuring The Operational Impact

Analysis of monthly production volume relative to units per hour demonstrated sustained efficiency improvements across varying demand levels. Throughput gains were achieved without proportional increases in labor hours, confirming that improvements resulted from better workforce management rather than volume effects.

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Conclusion

By implementing Veryable's Workforce Management platform as a foundational capability and subsequently introducing its on-demand labor model to scale headcount precisely in response to daily demand, this manufacturer transformed its approach to labor deployment. The result is a more controlled, predictable, and efficient operation capable of responding to variability while maintaining consistent service and quality.