Labor Management Software : Manage by Wire ?

A company’s profits are affected by several different forms of cost. While costs of raw materials and overhead are tangible and easy to trace human productivity remains difficult to track and quantify. Furthermore it is extremely difficult to control and optimize human productivity leading to inefficient work systems.  Using a Labor management system managers can collect vital information about labor activity and compare it to historical data and industry averages. This data can be used to identify bottlenecks, monitor productivity and optimize labor systems.

More interestingly managers can use this data to estimate the labor requirements over certain time periods allowing accurate capacity planning and a significant const reduction. An LMS can also be used as a HR tool and paperlessly deal with compensation and bonuses for labor. An example of effective deployment of the LMS can be seen in the healthcare industry. In the healthcare industry the LMS produces data used to evaluate employees and has been accurate in predicting the capacity and workforce required over certain periods of time. 

If we look at the larger implications of intelligent software with the ability to predict and forecast information to an acceptable level of accuracy we will see that it goes back to the idea of constant improvement. It can be compared to how Toyota uses constant feedback from employees to improve processes. The difference is the feedback is continuous and indeed. Furthermore it is quantifiable and can be used to build accurate models. Thus allowing for constant improvement based on enough data to reduce time wasted to the much desired zero value. Can remote management and software based decisions be the key to lean and no waste operations ?

Sources

http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/supply_chain_and_logistics_technology_lms_optimizes_the_human_supply_chain