Written by Britt Dobson
We all know the feeling — fighting that nagging feeling that there’s got to be a better way of doing this. In most manufacturing businesses, you’re either dealing with basic solutions, like Excel, or using an ERP that doesn’t provide proper visibility. You know something has to change, but you don’t know where to start. And sometimes even more daunting than the problem is the solution — changing from the way you’ve always done it.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
At ProShop, we understand that changing the way you operate can feel like taking a big risk. We also understand how critical change management is to a successful implementation. Our methods give shop owners and operators the confidence to implement change management in manufacturing industry business scenarios. More importantly, manufacturing change management best practices will lead to measurable improvements for their business.
What does change management mean for businesses?
ProShop teams believe in selling change management as much as we sell a solution. And while the degree of change varies customer by customer, the core principles of good change management remain:
- Awareness of the need to change: Understanding the problem and what’s at stake if you do nothing.
- Desire to change: Building support for organizational change, answering questions and driving the need.
- Knowledge of how to change: Having a plan to change, setting clear expectations around timeline, who’s involved, and what steps will be taken.
- Ability to change: Leveraging the tools, support, and resources to operate at the “new normal.”
- Reinforcing the change: Keeping the feedback loop open between all stakeholders involved. Open communication helps recognize areas for further improvements, continuously monitoring the impact on throughput to prevent regression to old habits.
These fundamentals represent not just a structured way of changing, but really focus on the people-side of the change within a machine shop.
How to approach manufacturing change management
So what does that framework look like in the manufacturing space? Let’s break it down.
Awareness to change
Lacking a functional ERP system may limit visibility into real-time data, leading to poor scheduling and suboptimal throughput. If you plan to grow your shop, you’ll need visibility into matters like calibration, inventory, job costing, data management, and even compliance standards.
Without the right tools, it becomes that much harder to scale growth. Therefore, begin by understanding the problem you’re trying to solve and the tools you need to do so.
Desire to change
Creating consensus across your team is essential to building a desire for change. Without it, team members will revert back to their old ways, fight the change or be less receptive to new ways of working.
For many of our customers, a desire for continuous communication triggers a desire to change old patterns. Moreover, improving front office to shop floor communication, traditionally done using team meetings and strong feedback loops creates a greater drive for manufacturing change management.
Knowledge of how to change
Gaining the ability to change is how ProShop plays into this process. Our team works with each customer, building a transition plan so that every step is thought through.
Ability to change
Our implementation team understands best practices for change management in the manufacturing industry. They have the lived experiences of being on the shop floor, effectively training operators on how to use our technology. Knowledge bases like ProShop Academy and our other educational resources are designed to help you feel comfortable implementing a new system.
Reinforcing the change
For many of our manufacturing partners, manufacturing change management is an evergreen process. They trust ProShop as a guide to a new way of working.
They also have confidence in their ability to accept change management best practices. This means having a mindset that embraces a new normal, refusing to fall back on “the way we’re used to.” Being patient is key — change will not happen overnight, but it will happen for the better.
Example of Change Management the Manufacturing Industry
When Olson Custom Designs first entertained the thought of adopting an ERP, they were just 4 employees. They had aspirations to grow, and knew it wouldn’t be possible by using Excel and Quickbooks.
Chris Jaynes, VP of Operations, said both knowledge and acceptance that a built-to-scale solution would motivate their team to embrace change management. They would gain the data and visibility to expand their shop and build a more sustainable business.
As is the case with many transitions, there were big process changes they had to embrace. Most critical was that they had to adopt the mindset of “there’s a reason why it’s set up this way.”
Since ProShop was built by machinists, for machinists, Jaynes and his team chose to trust the new process rather than fall back into old habits. As a result, their shop has seen incredible success, including scaling the size of their operations to previously unthinkable levels.
Best Practices for Strong Adoption
Manufacturing change management is a commitment, requiring time, resources, and patience. But a successful implementation will yield quicker time-to-value. Apply the following best practices to help level-up your shop.
- Make your communication targeted: Go beyond generic emails to employees. Shop leaders should clearly communicate the ‘why’ and the competitive risk of not changing. Link a successful ProShop adoption to reduced team frustrations or greater shop scalability. This builds awareness and desire to change.
- Don’t skimp on training: All ERPs are not created equal. Our expertise as being built by machinists, for machinists, means we know what manufacturers need from digital manufacturing software. ProShop’s experienced implementation specialists provide role-specific training within ProShop’s functionality. They’ll ready each member of the team with the knowledge and abilities to start using ProShop.
- Measure your results: ProShop’s built-in reporting and analytics functions connect key business metrics (on-time delivery, throughput, scrap rate) with the reinforcement of your changed processes. Celebrate and share those results with your team to prevent reversion back to old habits.
Conclusion
The shift to a modern, integrated system like ProShop represents more than a technical upgrade. It’s a fundamental overhaul of how your machine shop achieves scale. By leveraging manufacturing change management best practices, you move beyond installation. Now, you’re focused on how this change affects your people, and how your people affect this change.
Committing to something new is daunting, but with these tools in play you can unlock the full potential of your shop. Let ProShop help you simplify complexity, conquer inefficiencies, and lead your business to greater success. Book a demo today, and let’s change your manufacturing operations for the better.