The U.S. manufacturing industry is experiencing strong growth, but finding labor is a major obstacle. This is true for positions with specialized expertise and manual production line work, as baby boomers continue to retire and the appeal of manual work declines.
There are currently 1.5 million unfilled manufacturing jobs in the U.S. today, and it’s no secret that companies are struggling to fill labor gaps right now. That gap is set to continue expanding, with a recent report from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute estimating that manufacturers will need 3.8 million new workers by 2033, with 1.9 million going unfilled if labor shortages remain.
In turn, companies are turning to temp labor to keep up with demand. However, temp labor is exactly what it implies: temporary. While it can seem like a flexible solution at first glance, it becomes the permanent cost center when other items become larger priorities. While this was historically the only fast option to overcome production needs, there are other more reliable and cost-effective solutions today.
Capital spending dollars are hard to come by. If you’re already spending on temporary labor, it’s worth putting that spend toward a permanent solution like Full Service Automation Rentals rather than an expensive and time-consuming temporary fix. Full Service Automation Rentals work around the clock, close gaps in those hard-to-fill 2nd and 3rd shifts, and ensure product quality remains the same no matter who’s working.
Let’s explore the cons of temp labor and how Full Service Automation Rentals can solve them.
Why Temp Labor Isn’t a Strategic Solution
Temp labor may seem like the fastest solution to a company’s labor challenges, but it’s valuable to look at the bigger picture of spend and time involved. Here are a few reasons temp labor isn’t a strategic solution:
1. It’s Expensive
Traditionally, temp agencies charge a percentage between 45-55% of wages on top of a worker’s hourly rate. Even if that temp worker is eventually transitioned to a full-time position, companies still pay a staffing agency placement fee.
2. It’s Unreliable
Temp labor isn’t a hand-picked process, often leading to uncertainty about the capabilities of individuals. In the manufacturing sector, it’s not always clear if a temp worker can actually perform the task required via a resume or job application.
Additionally, while not always the case, temp workers are often just looking for a short-term gig and won’t put their full effort into fully learning processes, maintenance quality, and productivity. If they don’t know if they will be there tomorrow, they are less invested in workplace success.
3. It Requires Retraining (Again and Again and Again)
Temp labor doesn’t often end in a full-time position, which means that every time a new employee starts working on the floor, they have to be retrained. This takes time and energy that could be spent on production and process optimization.
4. It Can Cause Line Stoppages
When there’s no worker to manage a responsibility like case packing or palletizing, production lines can’t run. Temp labor requires breaks, time to train, and reliable workers to keep production lines running successfully.
5. It Requires Managing Expectations
Temp workers are not meant to be a long-term solution and are brought on board to help with a specific task or tasks. One of the biggest challenges of working with temp labor is managing expectations, including hours, workload, and deadlines. Plus, it’s hard to integrate temp employees into workplace culture.
When temp labor becomes the permanent solution, this carousel of problems begins. But what if there was a solution that was cost-effective, easily trained, inherently reliable, and had nearly 100% system availability?
How Full Service Automation Rentals Build a Permanent Workforce
Imagine this: You have an employee who never has to take a break, produces equally on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd shifts, is programmed to output the same quality every time, and you pay the same fixed, monthly rate only after ensuring the job is getting done right.
Luckily, you don’t have to imagine it because that’s exactly what a Full Service Automation Rental is. Full Service Automation Rentals fills the gaps in reliability, cost disparity, retraining, and more that come with temp labor. It’s your permanent solution to temporary labor.
Let’s break down why it’s the best solution to the ongoing manufacturing labor gap.
1. It’s Cost Effective
Full Service Automation Rentals include a monthly, transparent cost with no hidden surprises (like wage differentiators or unexpected workplace injuries). For example, with Formic’s Full Service Rentals program, companies pay an all-inclusive fixed monthly rate with unlimited equipment usage.
With Formic, manufacturers can even swap equipment to deliver the new throughput required as demands on productivity increase and keep the same fixed price, keeping financial projects easy and constant.
2. It’s Reliable
Automation rentals don’t have to leave the facility or clock in and out. With the ability to work around the clock, companies no longer have to struggle to fill unappealing 2nd and 3rd production shifts. When you have to work longer hours to meet a customer deadline, you can just leave the machine running.
At Formic, we offer 24/7 technical support, 100% preventative and protective maintenance coverage, and have contracted performance rates. With a 99.4% system availability, Formic palletizers are a consistently dependable employee in your facility.
3. Training Comes with the Gig
It takes time, patience, and energy to train new employees, which takes away from production hours. With Full Service Automation Rentals, “employees” only need to be trained (or programmed) once. Even if a robot needs to change tasks, reprogramming and maintaining productivity and consistency is much faster than with temp labor. Plus, Formic can do any reprogramming remotely to keep you up and running.
Formic’s Full Service Palletizer Rentals includes team training, taking the onus off the company to ensure employees are up to speed on operating the robot. This also provides your employees with new skills and builds a culture of prioritizing job growth and business success.
4. Line Stoppages Are a Thing of the Past
Full Service Automation Rentals can work around the clock, guaranteeing production lines continued successful operations. With Formic, we are contractually bound to deliver on our service level agreements, which means we are completely aligned on your business success.
5. Managing Expectations with Ultimate Flexibility
Automation rentals can be long-term fixtures on a production line, as opposed to temp labor serving as a limited-time fix.
At Formic, we manage every aspect of implementation, from installation to programming to training to maintenance. The benefit of Full Service Automation Rentals vs. buying an automation solution outright is the support that comes with it and the flexibility to grow with your business over time.
While we have a 97% renewal rate at over 100 deployments and more than 200,000 production hours that have packed and stacked more than 1.2 billion products for U.S. manufacturers, we also offer the option to cancel with 30 days notice whenever you want. If the solution serves as your workforce fix, you can also shift to longer-term agreements at a lower price.
Build a Permanent Workforce with Formic
Close the gaps in your production lines, eliminate unnecessary downtime, and build a permanent workforce with Formic’s Full Service Palletizer Rental program. Here’s a breakdown of our offerings:
- Access to four different fully supported turnkey cobot and industrial palletizing systems
- A fixed monthly rate with unlimited equipment usage
- 24/7 technical support
- 100% preventative and protective maintenance coverage
- Contracted performance rates
- Team training
- Equipment swapping at no extra cost
- Shift to longer-term agreements or cancel with 30 days’ notice whenever you want
- Lead times of 10 weeks or less