In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuating demand, ever-changing business conditions, and shifting employee dynamics, manufacturers are digitally transforming their businesses and tapping the full potential of their people to achieve operational excellence with a connected workforce experience from UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group).
More than 5,500 manufacturers — including General Motors, Kagome, Komatsu Limited, Marley Spoon, Oji Fibre Solutions, and Tru Blu Beverages — leverage UKG to optimise people operations and provide a streamlined day‐to‐day technology experience at work. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven insights powered by UKG Dimensions and UKG Ready are improving the quality of operational decisions and helping to meet a diverse and demanding series of needs across every aspect of manufacturing.
“With UKG, we have been able to adopt a future-proof workforce management solution that suits our cloud-based environment,” said Robert Wales, IT manager of application services at Oji Fibre Solutions. “We now have the ability to provide better data feedback to users, and having a consistent set up across our sites has enabled us to consolidate our codes and data.”
With human capital management (HCM), payroll, and workforce management solutions from UKG, manufacturers are empowering all members of their workforces — from corporate to frontline plant employees — to make faster, smarter decisions that fuel ongoing operational excellence. Managers can deploy intelligent scheduling strategies to accurately align labour to demand, increase productivity and efficiencies, and control labour costs, while eliminating manual tasks, streamlining back-office processes, and helping to simplify compliance. Additionally, tailor-made solutions for the industry, including UKG Dimensions Activities, provide manufacturers with real-time visibility into shop-floor labour activity data and insight into how operations are performing against productivity goals and benchmarks.
“With UKG, we found a workforce management partner that can support our growth, not just now, but well into our future,” said Aga Strzemeska, head of people operations at Marley Spoon. “We chose UKG Ready as the solution was comprehensive enough to meet our complex requirements and streamline our processes – allowing us to sustain our growth without disruption.”
In other instances, the power of AI provides intelligent recommendations aligned with pre-defined work rules that empower employees to independently manage their own schedules (i.e., post, swap, or pick up a shift) without manager approval — including from a UKG mobile app, if they choose. This also gives managers freedom to spend time on important team and business initiatives, such as sharing regular feedback with hourly team members and helping them understand how their performance contributes to company goals.
“UKG has enabled us to automate and streamline our workforce management processes, saving us time and money,” said Joe Esposito, national IT manager at Tru Blu Beverages. “With real-time visibility into our labour trends, we've been able to significantly reduce overtime hours and their associated costs, and moving to a cloud-based platform means we no longer need to worry about the cost of having on-site hardware or running disruptive updates. We know we’re using the latest and greatest product and are future proofing the business in doing so.”
As the industry’s labour gap widens in the wake of the pandemic and manufacturers increasingly commit to improving the team member experience as a means to competitively recruit, retain, and motivate skilled workers, UKG’s solutions help lay a solid foundation for HR leaders and frontline managers to communicate with transparency, build trust in the workplace, protect their people, and design and adapt flexible business strategies to ensure long-term organisational health.
“While technology plays a vital role in modern manufacturing amidst ‘Industry 4.0,’ it’s people who deliver the most value and represent an organisation’s most competitive asset,” said Nick Crawford, associate practice manager at UKG. "It's important to start with the basics of 'putting people first' so that you’re building trust, engagement, and retention among your employees, no matter their level or department. Manufacturers need to consider how they can expand the scope of their digital strategies to include a technology-enabled employee experience where people feel trusted, supported, and valued."
“Achieving operational excellence is not a one‐time event but rather a continuous cycle that evolves every day as conditions change and involves many different layers,” said Chris Todd, president at UKG. “If we’ve learned anything over the past year, it’s this: How a business plans for and responds to change is what enables it to thrive. Technology on its own isn’t enough — manufacturing organisations must combine people‐centric policies and processes with technology to truly transform their business and, more importantly, strengthen their culture.”
Supporting Resources
- Learn more about UKG in Australia and why our purpose is people.
- Discover hundreds of solution extensions for UKG Ready and UKG Dimensions available in the UKG Marketplace.
- Follow UKG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
About UKG
At UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group), our purpose is people. Built from a merger that created one of the largest cloud companies in the world, UKG believes organisations succeed when they focus on their people. As a leading global provider of HCM, payroll, and workforce management solutions, UKG delivers award-winning Dimensions and Ready solutions to help tens of thousands of organisations across geographies and in every industry drive better business outcomes, improve HR effectiveness, streamline the payroll process, and help make work a better, more connected experience for everyone. UKG has 13,000 employees around the globe and is known for an inclusive workplace culture. The company has earned numerous awards for culture, products, and services, including consecutive years on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. To learn more, visit ukg.com.au.
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