🚀 Unlocking Excellence: Baking Industry’s Bold Strategies to Overcome Maintenance Worker Shortages
Table of Contents
The baking industry is facing a meaningful challenge: a critical shortage of skilled maintenance workers. This shortage directly impacts productivity and efficiency across the sector, a problem highlighted at the American society of Baking’s BakingTech conference, held Feb. 16-18 in Orlando, Florida.
Experts at the conference offered solutions to improve equipment reliability and bolster workforce development. Luis Vargas, vice president of engineering, and Carlos Quiroz, senior reliability manager, both of Bimbo Bakeries USA, Horsham, Pennsylvania, shared their insights and strategies for betterment. Vargas explained the situation succinctly: “it has been hard for our workforce to stay on top of buisness and maintain our assets,”
emphasizing the long-term consequences for productivity and efficiency. Quiroz added a crucial perspective: “If you don’t manage your assets,your assets will manage you.”
A Prescriptive Approach to Maintenance
Quiroz advocated for a transition from reactive to prescriptive maintenance,utilizing machine learning to optimize operating conditions and intelligently schedule maintenance. This three-step process, he explained, is key:
- Scheduled Overhauls: Regular major and minor overhauls replace worn components like relays, wear strips, and pneumatic cylinders. Quiroz stressed the importance of detailed job plans,enabling even less-skilled workers to perform tasks effectively.
- Condition Monitoring: Tracking critical machine parameters (vibration, temperature, pressure, amperage) through online or route-based monitoring allows for proactive checks between scheduled overhauls.
- data-Driven Prediction: A CMMS (computer maintenance management system) analyzes data to predict potential problems. quiroz cautioned,
“this is a bit trickier because it’s a statistical analysis, and it’s going to depend on the cleanliness of your data,”
emphasizing the importance of data accuracy. He further stressed,“Think of the CMMS as the medical record for the asset. Anything that is done on the asset in the form of preventative maintenance,corrective maintenance,replacements and adjustments should go in the database,but frequently enough the CMMS is a repository that never gives us anything,and we have to change that.”
Business intelligence systems can create dashboards to visualize this data, facilitating informed decision-making.
Recruiting and retaining Skilled Workers
Vargas focused on strategies for attracting and retaining skilled maintenance personnel. He urged bakeries to assess the competitiveness of their wages for entry-level and skilled workers,advocating for skills-based compensation to improve retention. He explained the importance of a structured approach: “You have to understand first the skills of your mechanics and what skills do you want them to grow in order to perform this job successfully,”
he said. “the next step when you recruit new mechanics is to identify what skills you expect them to have.”
Apprenticeship programs, wiht defined procedures and skills progression, were also highlighted as effective tools for workforce development.
Optimizing Spare Parts Inventory
Vargas emphasized the importance of a disciplined approach to spare parts inventory. Bakeries should critically evaluate inventory costs, turnover rates, and the definition of “critical parts.” He stated, “Excellence starts with order and discipline,”
urging maintenance departments to avoid accumulating obsolete or duplicate parts and to maintain accurate records of parts location and availability.
The insights shared at the BakingTech conference underscore the need for a multifaceted approach to address the maintenance worker shortage in the baking industry. By implementing prescriptive maintenance strategies, investing in workforce development, and optimizing spare parts management, bakeries can improve equipment reliability, enhance productivity, and ensure long-term success.
How the Baking industry Can Beat the Maintenance Worker shortage: insights from a Leading Expert
A challenging workforce shortage is impacting productivity, but new strategies are on the rise. Let’s dive deep into the experts’ solutions.
Interview with Dr. Emily Rodriguez, Baking Industry Maintenance Specialist
The Urgency of Addressing Skilled Worker Shortages
Editor: The baking industry is experiencing a notable challenge with the shortage of skilled maintenance workers. Can you explain why this is such a pressing issue?
Dr. Rodriguez: Absolutely, the shortage of skilled maintenance workers in the baking industry is critical as it directly impacts production efficiency and equipment uptime. Without these skilled individuals, maintenance is often delayed, leading to unexpected downtimes and equipment failures. This not only hampers productivity but also increases repair costs in the long run. It’s a situation that demands attention, much like a bakery that can’t fulfill its orders if the ovens aren’t operational.
Transitioning to Prescriptive Maintenance
Editor: Luis Vargas and Carlos Quiroz advocated for a shift from reactive to prescriptive maintenance. can you elaborate on what prescriptive maintenance entails and its benefits?
Dr. Rodriguez: Prescriptive maintenance represents a transformative approach where we move beyond just reacting to failures. Carlos Quiroz emphasizes three critical components: Scheduled Overhauls, Condition Monitoring, and Data-Driven Prediction. As an example, by conducting scheduled overhauls, bakeries replace components like relays and pneumatic cylinders regularly, reducing the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns. Condition monitoring involves tracking machine parameters such as vibration and temperature. This allows for proactive interventions between major overhauls. using a Computer Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for data-driven predictions helps anticipate problems before they occur, ensuring smoother operations. Companies focusing on this strategy enjoy enhanced productivity and longer equipment lifespan—key to thriving in a competitive industry.
Strategies for Workforce Progress
Editor: How can the baking industry attract and retain skilled maintenance professionals, as emphasized by Luis Vargas?
Dr. Rodriguez: Luis Vargas’s insights are pivotal here. baking companies need to evaluate and offer competitive wages, both at entry-level and for skilled positions. Fostering skills-based compensation is equally essential for retention. It’s about understanding the current skills of your workforce and the skills they need to develop. Moreover, structured apprenticeship programs serve as powerful tools for workforce development. By clearly outlining procedures and promoting skill progression,these programs prepare the next generation of maintenance professionals. The key takeaway here is investment. Investing time and resources in training and fair compensation pays off immensely in long-term reliability and productivity.
Importance of Optimizing Spare Parts Inventory
Editor: Dr. Rodriguez, Luis Vargas also stressed the importance of a disciplined approach to spare parts inventory. Why is this significant?
Dr. Rodriguez: Vargas’s emphasis on spare parts inventory optimization is fundamental. Bakeries often face unnecessary costs due to excessive, obsolete, or duplicate inventory. Maintaining an up-to-date inventory system means critically evaluating which parts are genuinely critical, understanding turnover rates, and ensuring parts availability. This disciplined approach prevents clutter and reduces wastage of resources. As Vargas puts it, “Excellence starts with order and discipline.” Accurate inventory management ensures that bakeries can quickly address equipment issues without the added stress of parts unavailability.
Final Thoughts
Editor: What would you consider the most crucial takeaway for the baking industry moving forward in addressing these challenges?
dr. Rodriguez: The most crucial takeaway for the baking industry is the need for a multifaceted approach. By adopting prescriptive maintenance strategies, investing in workforce development, and optimizing spare parts management, bakeries can significantly improve their operational efficiency. It’s not just about addressing the current worker shortage but about building a sustainable system that enhances productivity and reliability. The key is continuous improvement and adaptability to new technologies and practices.
By embracing these strategies, the baking industry can turn today’s challenges into tomorrow’s successes. I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below or on social media—let’s discuss how these strategies can be effectively implemented in various settings.