Organisation Design for Manufacturing
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
What this looks like in manufacturing
The parts of organisation design that are specific to this sector, rather than general.
Plant Organisation Structure
Who runs the shift, and who decides when they are not there.
What this coversHide
Plant Organisation Structure
Who runs the shift, and who decides when they are not there.
What this coversHideManufacturing structures fail quietly at the supervisor layer: the shift in-charge holds authority nobody has written down, and it changes with whoever is on duty.
Production
- Production
- Assembly
- Machine Shop
- Tool Room
- Fabrication
- Packing
Technical
- Quality
- Maintenance
- Engineering
- Process
- R&D
- Safety (EHS)
Support
- Stores
- Purchase
- Dispatch
- Planning (PPC)
- HR
- Finance
- Admin
- Security
We then define:
- Plant organisation structure
- Shift in-charge authority
- Reporting lines by shift
- Roles and responsibilities
- Job descriptions
- Approval matrix
- Staffing norms per line
- Position levels
The general method — what organisation design covers, the questions it answers and what an engagement produces — is the same whatever the sector, and is set out on the organisation design page. What is above is the part that differs for manufacturing.
Other HR topics for manufacturing
Where to start
Most engagements begin with a review of how this runs in your business today, then a written process and the sequence to implement it.