Four Essential Elements to Achieve A Well-Run Operations Facility

Do you know how a well-run facility adds value for a company and its customers? What should you focus on to operate more efficiently? Do you have the right company culture to make it happen? It’s important to take a strategic approach as you drive to optimize operational performance in your organization. To help guide you, we’ve gathered insights from three experts on the essential elements needed to cultivate a well-oiled operations facility.

#1: ORGANIZED PEOPLE & LOGISTICS

From an income and profitability standpoint, it's first important to find the right balance of people. Kevin Foht, Director of Operations at Van Meter, explains, “You don't want to be overstaffed, but if you're understaffed and you have some really busy days, you're either not getting the work out or you're making people stay late to get the work done.” That’s why Foht and team rely on historical goals and real-time business analytics dashboards to monitor efficiency and help inform staffing decisions. In addition, the team looks at company-wide goals and sets operation specific goals that align. The operational goals are then dispersed to each location.

The operations team also partners with the sales organization to understand future project opportunities. “The connection with our sales team allows us to plan and prep accordingly, not only from a budget and sales plan standpoint, but also strategically based on the specific impact of the opportunities and which location to service them out of,” explains Nate Etten, Director of Operations at Van Meter.

Technology plays a major role in optimizing the logistics of an operations facility. Both Foht and Etten regularly analyze new types of automation that can be implemented in the warehouse and work to stay up to date with industry trends. Foht elaborates, “We continually look at more goods-to-person automation – machines that can bring products to people versus climbing ladders or walking, which reduces the risk of injury.” Etten adds, “On the delivery side, we’re implementing automation software that plans out the most effective route.”

How do you identify the things that aren't working efficiently? In addition to BI analytics and dashboards, Van Meter leans heavily on employee-owners to communicate opportunities for efficiency gains or improvements. Etten says, “If there are opportunities for efficiency gains or improvements in what we do, we listen to our people, and we try to escalate those opportunities to improve overall as a team.”

#2: SAFETY AND QUALITY

At Van Meter, safety training starts from the moment a new employee is on-boarded – from general forklift training to specific machine operation. From there, the team keeps safety front and center. ‘Warm up for work’ (daily huddles) and weekly team meetings often touch on safety to keep the topic top of mind for all employee-owners. In addition, Van Meter has a separate safety committee that meets monthly with team members across locations to ensure the voice of the employee-owner is heard. Safety signage is reviewed often to make sure warnings are highly visible and relevant to the respective workspaces.

Van Meter has two quality members to help spot check leaders. “They're monitoring not only quality picks, but quality issues that are going to customers, making sure that we're getting everything logged in the system, monitoring trends and communicating back to the team,” says Etten. Additionally, Van Meter invests in technology advancements to help reduce quality errors. “For example, we just completed our transfer tracking piece, which tracks packages and boxes through the transfer network. This technology provides the ability to know where a package is at any point in the transfer process,” explains Etten.

#3: OPEN AND CONSTANT COMMUNICATION

Companies with highly engaged employees have better retention, fewer accidents and 21% higher profitability. What qualities should you look for when hiring for operations roles?

“We're not looking for people that will just come in, do their job and go home. We want people that will engage and come up with improvements, take a look at the process and give input as well,” Foht explains. Van Meter relies on team leaders to communicate, establish good relationships with team members and identify opportunities for growth.

It’s important that conversations around issues are handled immediately. And in operations roles, this can often be an opportunity for career growth. “We’ve had our floor leads attend leadership training. Since they are first in line as a leader, they need to know how to resolve conflicts on the floor right away, because the supervisor might not be available or be as involved in the day-to-day operations. Empowering our leads has helped a lot – giving them the tools to start conversations and knowing how to handle them when they when they happen,” says Foht.

Open and transparent communication also helps form strong relationships between teams and among team members. At Van Meter, performance metrics are reviewed daily, weekly and monthly. Etten explains, “We created a dashboard that is visible on the floor and at the docks. The team can see how we performed the previous day – things like our lines picked and quality level. Our leaders then look at those numbers weekly and monthly, and use the numbers as an opportunity to sit down with employee-owners to talk about efficiencies and opportunities.”

#4: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Involving employees in progress improvement initiatives fosters a sense of belonging and a more engaged workforce because their contributions are valued. For Nate Jensema, Van Meter’s Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, the goal is to create a culture where people propose change on their own. “One key element is laying the foundation from the time they come in the door with new employee training. We train employee-owners to look for ways to make it better and not wait for the company to tell them what we need to do to improve.” Read more about Van Meter’s focus on continuous improvement here.

Conveyors, automation, process changes and wire scheduling are just some of the examples of recent improvements top of mind for Foht and Etten. “There are many improvement examples we could list out,” says Etten. “As a team, we're constantly exploring improvement opportunities to better support our customers and employee-owners.”

Achieving a well-run operations facility is not a destination – it’s an ongoing journey. It requires aligning resources, processes and personnel to ensure seamless functionality and optimal performance. From setting clear objectives to fostering a culture of continuous improvement, each facet plays an important role in shaping the efficiency and effectiveness of a facility. Companies should strive to make operational excellence a fundamental aspect of their organization’s culture, helping to drive success and innovation for years to come.