Introduction
At a Glance
In a changing packaging industry, the fine line between vendor dependence and operational resilience is becoming like a tightrope walk. That’s why it’s more important than ever to protect the processes that promote internal strength.
Protect:
- The Three C’s: Coverage, Competence, and Control
- The right balance in outsourcing
- Updated and useful documentation
- Internal capability, structure, and ownership
Building good practices now will make a team that can withstand the unexpected. So the next time a skilled technician leaves or production is disrupted, you don’t lose control.
Hiring is becoming a real challenge. Retirements are multiplying. Packaging automation is increasingly complex. In a changing packaging industry, it’s easy to become dependent on ace technicians, original equipment manufacturers (OEM), and contractors for support. But once operational independence is lost, it’s hard to build that resilience again.
So, how can you protect operational resilience in your packaging line? Memorize three words: what we call The Three C’s – Coverage, Competence, and Control. Also learn the right balance of outsourcing for your team, and keep documentation updated and useful.
Dependence and resilience are rarely decided through one event. They are built through the decisions and processes you support every day. The question is, which result are your habits building?
In this article, we’ll cover:
- How dependence quietly slips in
- Internal risks and safety nets to resilience
- Repeated cycles that undermine strength
- Four factors to protect at a minimum
- What ultimately makes or breaks resilience
For better or for worse, the stability of secondary packaging lines often depends on “work-as-done” knowledge. What we mean by this is that a secondary packaging team gets used to doing operations with the skillset and knowledge-base present on their team.
Then when the experienced tech leaves, there’s sudden instability in:
- Jam pattern recognition
- Sensor tolerance tuning
- Glue temperature adjustment
- Changeover shortcuts
- Motor timing adjustment
- Machine limit knowledge
Basic machine knowledge often lives in the heads of your most experienced technicians. Whatever isn’t transferred before the workforce turns over, becomes a knowledge gap. And if left unmitigated, minor knowledge gaps will grow into instability and dependence.
How Can I Build Operational Resilience? Risks and Safety Nets
Protect the Three C’s: Coverage, Competence, and Control
When the pressure’s on, plants tend to optimize for coverage. They prioritize solving the present gaps, so that production can continue as normal. That’s helpful for the short-term, but if over-relied on, that’s where dependence begins to form.
To build operational resilience, you need:
- Coverage – People available to fill the gap
- Competence – Experience, knowledge, and technical capability
- Control – Someone to own and manage responsibility
For an operation to continue running, these three factors must be continually present. If you only prioritize coverage when disruptions occur, your team will begin to lose competence and control. You’ll get stuck in a vicious cycle, which ultimately leads to dependence:
Over-Prioritized Coverage
Lost Competence
Need for More Coverage
Fractured Ownership, Increased Dependence
Lost Control
Dependence is a hole that’s easy to dig and hard to get out of.
Find the Fine Balance in Outsourcing
Outsourcing coverage through OEMs and contractors can enhance performance when it’s controlled well. It creates opportunities for new equipment like robotics, and it fills gaps and broadens capabilities when temporary situations merit (e.g. increased demand).
Statistic
A study conducted by Packaging World on hiring retention and training found that about one-fifth of packaging professionals surveyed weren’t looking to hire maintenance technicians at all. And within that group, almost half were relying on OEM service technicians. It’s not that there wasn’t a gap, it’s that they chose to fill the gap with the path of least resistance.
Whether that’s a wise or a foolish choice isn’t for us to say, but the statistic reveals a changing and frustrated industry. It’s a statistic worth noting, and perhaps it’s worth watching where your operation falls.
The problem with outsourcing coverage is in the various risks it exposes you to:
Routinely Repair Your Safety Net: Documenting Operations
A lot of packaging operations undervalue documentation. And that’s likely why documentation decay ends up being one of the most silent risks to a plant facing turnover.
The one safety net in knowledge gaps is documentation. Here’s the difference documentation makes:
With Documentation:
Knowledgeable Technician Leaves
You Fall Back on Thorough and Updated Documentation
Your Team Learns
Coverage, Competency, and Control Are Regained
Without Documentation:
Knowledgeable Technician Leaves
You Try to Fall Back on Outdated, Incomplete, or Missing Documentation
Your Team Wastes Time, Confused and Hunting for Answers
Coverage, Competency, and Control Slip
Documentation protects basic machine knowledge in your plant. And in order to keep documentation useful, it needs to be a part of your regular routine:
If operations aren’t kept documented, there will be far too much to scramble for when it’s actually needed. Think of it as your insurance for a tenured workforce.
How Does Vendor Dependence Undermine Operational Strength?
Okay, so dependency can cause problems. And every time you outsource, you open yourself up to risk. You’re probably getting the gist by now. But perhaps you’re wondering how dependency becomes a crutch over time.
It becomes a crutch, because it’s a repeated cycle:
When this cycle goes on and on, you lose time and money, you fail to evaluate vendor recommendations, you lose internal confidence, and ultimately, production suffers. It’s a cycle that willingly undermines The Three C’s we discussed earlier – you lose coverage, competence, and control.
TAKEAWAY
Dependence won’t happen through one big decision – unless something goes really wrong (and there will likely have been signs). Dependency forms through a thousand tiny choices of convenience.
How Do I Evaluate My Operational Resilience?
To avoid dependence, and protect operational resilience, you have to maintain an internal spine. Even if you choose to outsource, your team still needs to own the technical know-how. Here are four things we consider “the minimum” for the internal spine:
-
First Response Capability
When something goes wrong unexpectedly, you need to retain the ability to stabilize. This means isolating faults, evaluating escalation, and taking action safely.
-
Maintenance Structure
Regardless of what disruptions arise, you have to protect planned maintenance windows. Don’t let unexpected events overtake structured maintenance schedules.
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Automation Coding Ownership
You need to retain at least one individual who can competently manage programmable logic controller (PLC) versions, backups, software changes, and consistent operator screen layouts.
-
Technical Line Ownership
You need to retain a dedicated individual to hold accountability for documentation accuracy, ideal baseline conditions, and learning for continuous growth.
If you keep these four foundations sound, they will be your lighthouse when operational storms come through.
How Is My Line’s Operational Resilience? A Personal Checklist
Ask yourself:
Question
Yes
No
Can we stabilize the line safely, without needing outside help?
Do we know and own our machine baselines?
Do we routinely update documentation after changes?
Is contract support reserved for large issues rather than routine troubleshooting?
If our ace technician retired tomorrow, do we know what would break first and how we would respond?
For top-notch operational resilience, you should be able to answer “yes” to these questions confidently. If your answers are a bit shaky, you might want to spend some time evaluating your current processes.
The Factor That Makes or Breaks Resilience? Ownership
Realities like retirement, automation complexity, and outsourcing aren’t changing. They’ll continue to be factors at play in every packaging line. But as the humans in charge, we’ll make mistakes, and quiet dependence can slip in unnoticed.
So, we need to continually be asking:
“Are we still maintaining ownership? Is our operational foundation solid?”
If you protect first-response capability, maintenance structure, automation coding and technical line ownership – your answer should always be “Yes.”
At the end of the day, the number of contractors you hire is not going to make or break your plant’s resilience. The decision is going to be made in whether you retain control while they work. Resilience isn’t built in crisis; it’s built in structure. And structure begins with control in ownership.
Looking for an OEM Who Supports Operational Resilience?
Schedule a discovery call with Douglas. Our specialists can answer questions, explore automation, and explain training, documentation, and service support.
