Why need to elevate the operator's role in SME organization?

In the entire value chain, most of the value addition happens in shopfloor while converting the input into output. Mostly value addition is being done by the operators. 

Some of the common complaints or problems faced by the management team are

1. Difficult to source the skilled operator 
2. Cost of operators is increasing 
3. Operators not  staying for long 
4. Rejections/reworks are more and being identified by the Quality inspectors before despatch

Even though skill gap, supply vs. demand of skilled people are external to the organization, some of the factors are being governed by the organization, and if the organization focus more on those factors, the above problems can be managed well.

some of the problems like cost/quality issues/retention are all influenced by the internal environment, culture and the management related.

For example, driving efficiency and bringing down the cost of engaging operators is management driven. One of the pitfalls we observe in most of the organization is the defining the roles and responsibility of the operator from day one. Operators are being recruited as the person responsible for operating the equipment only. He is expected only to perform loading and unloading the components. Quality of the output is not expected out of him, and there are other agencies or inspectors are in charge of the quality control of the product produced by the operators. 

Also, the operators are not encouraged to keep the workplace right regarding housekeeping and checking some of the basic equipment parameters on a daily basis.

A shift is required to position the operators as the complete in charge of production output as per standard both on quality and efficiency. He has to be trained and instructed from day 1 as complete in charge of his workplace.

Benefits of redefining or elevating the role of the operator:

1. Engagement and ownership increase as human beings expect more challenges, responsibilities, and appreciation.
2. It is easy to improve the quality when the issues are detected and corrected at SOURCE and by the PRODUCER than by any other person, at the remote location and time period.
3.when the efficiency increases, cost of operation comes down

The point is to elevate the role of operators to reap the benefit of reducing the operations cost and increasing the engagement!