FIELD GUIDE · LABOR
Units per hour, not headcount: a labor plan that holds at peak
Many labor plans start with a headcount number from last year and adjust it up or down. That plan breaks the moment the volume mix changes. A plan built from units per hour by process holds up because it follows the work.
Build it from the work
Start with volume by process. Convert the forecast into units received, put away, picked, packed, and shipped, by day. Different processes peak on different days.
Apply real rates. Use measured units per hour for each process, from your own floor, at similar volume. Do not use the best week of the year or a vendor estimate.
Convert to hours, then to people. Divide units by rate to get labor hours. Then account for breaks, ramp time for new associates, absenteeism, and indirect roles like problem solving and replenishment.
Plan the ramp. New associates do not work at full rate on day one. Use your own history: how many weeks it took last year's new hires to reach standard in each process. Count them at their expected rate for each week until they get there.
Separate paid hours from productive hours. Start-up meetings, walking to the area, waiting on work, and end-of-shift cleanup all cost paid time. Plan from productive hours, then add the rest back.
Where the hours hide
Travel is often the largest hidden cost in picking. Slotting fast movers close to pack and organizing waves by zone can raise output without adding hours.
Rework and exceptions are the second. Every short pick, mislabel, or damaged unit costs time twice: once to find it and once to fix it. Tracking exceptions by cause shows where a process change will pay back.
Run it hour by hour
A daily target tells you at the end of the shift that you missed. An hourly target by process tells you at hour two, while you can still move people. Post the targets where leads can see them and review them on the floor every hour.
Overtime up, output flat?
We help sites build labor plans from real rates and find the hours hiding in travel and rework.
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