Unreported absences in manufacturing: How they affect the production plan and what a company can do

Introduction

It is 5:45 in the morning. The morning shift is starting in production and the shift supervisor is informed that three operators will not come in for today's shift. The production plan does not change because of that. The machines are supposed to run, the orders have to be fulfilled and the customer expects delivery on the agreed date.

Within a few minutes it is necessary to decide how to distribute the remaining workers, which workstations will get priority and whether employees will have to be moved to other positions. Every such decision affects the course of the entire shift and often also the following production plans.

Unreported absences are among the most frequent operational problems of manufacturing companies. The absence itself does not necessarily represent a critical problem. What is decisive is how well the company is prepared for such situations.

Why are unreported absences a problem for production?

The production plan is created according to worker capacity. If someone does not come to work without notice, the production plan stays the same, but the capacity changes immediately. The biggest problem arises at specialised workstations, where a missing worker cannot be simply replaced.

What happens in production when workers are missing in the morning?

The shift supervisor has to decide very quickly who will take over the vacant workstation, whether the production plan will need to be adjusted and how to ensure the continuity of production. Experienced workers often take on additional tasks, overtime grows and the pressure on the whole team increases. If such situations repeat regularly, they negatively affect both productivity and the atmosphere at the workplace.

The most common causes of unreported absences

Health reasons

Illnesses and injuries are among the natural causes of absence.

Exhaustion from overtime

Long-term overload increases the risk of both short-term and long-term outages.

Dissatisfaction at the workplace

Unresolved conflicts or poor communication can also manifest themselves in growing absence.

Personal reasons

Family and life situations affect every employee.

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How can a manufacturing company reduce the impact of unreported absences?

Unreported absences cannot be completely prevented. However, it is possible to prepare a system that minimises their impact on production.

Preparedness is cheaper than improvisation

Companies that build worker interchangeability, regularly evaluate absences and plan reserve capacity handle outages considerably more calmly. The investment in preparation is usually cheaper than repeated downtime or unplanned overtime.

Building worker interchangeability

If more workers master critical work positions, the company is able to react more flexibly to outages without significantly disrupting production.

Planning reserve capacity

Not every company can afford to keep its own staffing reserves. In such situations, cooperation with a reliable partner can be an advantage.

At FLEXIVIO we work with manufacturing companies on building stable production teams and on flexible operational support in situations where unexpected absences start to affect the everyday running of production.

From practice

What you can do today

• Monitor the workstations with the highest absence.
• Evaluate recurring trends.
• Build worker interchangeability.
• Involve shift supervisors in the search for solutions.
• Prepare a plan for unexpected outages.

Conclusion

What we recommend reading next

How to plan shifts in manufacturing correctly (coming soon).