On this episode, I was joined by Derrick Miller who is a Labor Management System (LMS) expert. Derrick is currently an Enterprise Solutions Manager at The Raymond Corporation. He is also a former employee of Easy Metrics who you may remember was featured in Episode 3 so he has had multiple experiences with performance metrics and Labor Management Systems.

We first featured The Raymond Corporation when CEO Mike Field was on for Episode 32 where we discussed optimizing before automating. One of the topics of discussion was the utilization of their iWAREHOUSE® suite which helps to capture critical data needed to fully optimize. Within this suite is also a labor management component. Derrick came on the show to discuss the concept of a labor management system, how companies are benefiting from them, how they help you optimize and how they will evolve as automation and IoT becomes further integrated into operations.

What are Labor Management Systems?

A LMS is a system that allows you to track data surrounding your labor or workforce. It collects data based on tracking employees’ performance along with their time. The ultimate goal of a LMS is to closely track performance, cost and identify opportunities for optimization. Curious how one works? Take a look at the video below and head to Raymond’s site to learn more.

Key Takeaways From This Episode

• LMS is a vital tool in optimization of your operation. It gives you a completely new in depth level of visibility to all of your processes and labor movements. With the collection of this data you can determine many opportunities to optimize and improve overall workflow. You can also get a hold of some very critical costs that you may have not had complete visibility to before.
• Not just the warehousing and manufacturing industries are benefiting from the implementation of LMS systems. As other industries, like retail, are getting smarter and more automated as well they too are implementing labor management systems to help improve their business.
• With the concept of optimization before automation, LMS plays a critical role as it helps you to identify where optimization is needed. As you analyze the collected data and identify where you have potential bottlenecks or pain points it can help you to determine where you might actually need to implement some automation solutions.
• Unfortunately labor management systems can come with some myths tied to them. Mostly these myths are associated with the labor that will be managed through the system, your workforce. The truth is that this is actually a benefit to them as it can help a company to get a true sense of performance which could lead to a performance based pay structure. As a tool for optimization, it can also help the employee’s job become easier as paint points or repetitive tasks are identified and improved upon or automated in some way.
• As with most systems and optimization efforts, it is incredibly important to have full company and operational buy in on the use of the LMS. If one manager is utilizing it but another is not then it will not help the operation as a whole. Getting the right fit and understanding the capabilities fully so they can be implement is a key component to having success with a LMS.

Listen to the episode below and let us know in the comments what experiences you have had with a LMS.

For more information on The Raymond Corporation you can find their site here.

For more specific information on iWAREHOUSE® you can find that here.

Connect with Derrick on LinkedIn here.