| Article written by Thomas Aagaard, Head of Business Development at PDC. Feel free to contact me on tel 3636 0000 for a chat about options. Or, write at pdc@pdc.com or visit www.pdc.com for more information. |  |
“Quality on time” works for most companies. Because that is what customers want.
No matter where in the world you are, there are two things that customers want – “high quality and delivery of the goods on time”. It is banal provided employees are available at the right time and place and with the right skills to perform the tasks.
The nurse must provide care when the patient has the need. The retail store must have staff in the store when there are customers to serve. At the airport, staff must be present so that the planes can depart on time. It is demand-driven shift planning. It is important in the competition for customers.
As employees are often the company’s most important asset, success can be difficult to achieve without staff being heard. When should they work? What are they going to do? With whom? When do they have time off? It takes good planning to succeed. So, good shift planning is important.
A good plan combines the demands of the company, the demands of the employee and the demands of the customer. If there are unlimited resources in the form of finances and employees, then it is not difficult. But in the world most people live in, we are limited by finances, legislation, and a limited number of employees with given terms of employment. Therefore, we act within the framework of the lowest possible costs, optimal use of employee hours and qualifications, maximum satisfaction among the employees, etc.
It is difficult and requires quite advanced planning to ensure delivery of quality on time. And it is further complicated in industries that are characterized by great variability in everyday life, which must be handled in terms of personnel: A store experiences an unexpected “move-in” and must serve more customers than expected; an airport frequently experiences delays or changes in air traffic, and hospitals have fluctuating numbers of patients. But the “product” must still be delivered on time and in high quality. Therefore, shift planning is difficult!
PDC Plan to deliver quality on time
PDC Plan is a Danish, well-proven solution that for years has helped planners with the complex task of ensuring skilled, motivated staff, fixed and transparent procedures in shift planning, which stay within the given financial framework and legislation.
More than 200,000 people’s shift plans are prepared with PDC Plan, which contributes to our customers being able to deliver “quality at the agreed time”.