Patterns for Resilient Workforce Structures and Strategies in Manufacturing

A resilient setup of manufacturing facilities covers all factors: buildings, equipment, processes, supply chains and human labour. Especially the utilization of human labour and resources is a key success factor for manufacturing companies to maintain their business responsiveness and competitiveness in volatile market environments. To build resilience in human labour is a strategic task which has to reflect different criteria, e.g. cost of labour and releasing of staff, developing and securing of skills and training, shortage of labour market, time for onboarding. Therefore, "firing and hiring" of employees may be a measure in case of disturbed markets or supply chains. But it must not be the solely and appropriate answer in every case. This paper highlights the requirements for resilient human resource allocation and describes rules and patterns to analyze and build resilience into human labour in manufacturing companies. The patterns give operational advice to experts how to analyze the requirements and to compare them with specific solutions. As a result, companies are able to develop and establish long term strategies for human resource allocation. The rationale is based on selected HR-instruments, which needs a longer time up to several years for preparation to utilize them. Therefore, adjusted strategies for human resource allocation are needed.