A production supervisor must balance the needs of workers and management, oversee the manufacturing process, allocate labor resources, and reduce costs while increasing quality and production. The job requires HR management, efficiency and improvement skills, and quality control knowledge. The role is often stressful and involves long hours.
A production supervisor normally has an immediate role between workers and management, and therefore must focus on meeting the needs of both groups. Also known as a production supervisor or shift supervisor, a production supervisor identifies more with the workforce and meets its immediate needs, as well as serves as a type of advocate for production issues that need to be escalated to management. Attention is focused on the general operations of a facility, on safety and efficiency, and on the scheduling of work activities.
A key role of a production supervisor is to make sure a facility runs smoothly by allocating labor resources to take care of short-term goals. This is often referred to as time management and involves scheduling full-time and part-time employees. Since employees have personal goals regarding their own working hours and external conflicts, the production supervisor must balance these interests with the needs of the company so that workers are retained and motivated to do their best at work . This may involve juggling schedules and shifts from one employee to another at short notice to ensure operations continue efficiently.
Of equal importance is the role that a manufacturing supervisor plays in overseeing the manufacturing process in general. He needs to be focused on the whole process, as well as being aware of bottlenecks due to faulty or inadequate machinery, employees requiring additional training, and health and safety risks that could disrupt production. In this sense, a production supervisor may have to rely on the expertise of technical personnel in various other departments that contribute to production, such as maintenance, safety and IT technical support. Where processes could be improved, these issues should be reported to other related personnel such as a production supervisor or production manager with more authority.
A floor supervisor’s job is usually a hectic one with many competing demands that need to be met and little time to think through the decisions that need to be made. Organizational skills are key to being able to meet the demands of such a fast-paced environment. Where the role is that of an Industrial Supervisor it is also beneficial if the Production Supervisor has previous experience of the machinery and workstations they are responsible for so that they can make quick and informed moment to moment decisions.
The overall goal of a production supervisor is to reduce costs through reducing waste and overtime while increasing quality and production. This is done by ensuring that the workforce is adequately suited to the tasks assigned to it and that defects in the overall manufacturing process are quickly identified and corrected. Some of the scheduling work involved in the manufacturing process may be done by a manufacturing coordinator or other management, but overseeing the workflow still remains the responsibility of the manufacturing supervisor.
This job title requires a hybrid of HR management skills, efficiency and improvement skills, and quality control. Interaction with workers is best managed by having a good understanding of what their jobs are really like and where they could be improved, which often comes from first-hand experience and previous supervisory roles. Efficiency and quality improvement are aided by research knowledge in Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma Optimization, and Total Quality Management (TQA) that applies to the particular industry you work in and related industries.
The US Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) for 2011 states that one-third of all employees in these positions as of 2008 regularly worked more than 50 hours a week. This often involved late and after hours shifts and work to deal with production emergencies. The job is also considered relatively stressful, as a production supervisor has to meet the needs of workers and superiors with tight deadlines. The trend in industry to eliminate middle managers has also placed increasing responsibility on these roles at the production level.
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