Maroquinerie Thomas and real-time skills tracking: opportunities for continuous improvement
Challenge: ensure the transmission of know-how, the continuation of training during periods of strong growth and the monitoring of skills.
Maroquinerie Thomas can be proud to be a masterpiece in the world of leather and a supplier of the most famous luxury brands for 50 years now.
In the context of the digitalization of their manufacturing processes and strong growth, the company wanted to discover new ways to knowledge and know-how of their employees to ensure the to ensure the sustainability of their activities.
Long-term preservation of knowledge
Optimisation of resource management
More specifically, Maroquinerie Thomas was looking to record the skills and manufacturing processes of their leatherworkers on a platform that was accessible, adjustable, and secure. The information was, up until then, kept on paper. Its access and usage were therefore complex, and most of the knowledge was ultimately stored in the minds of the employees or in Excel files.
It goes without saying that these supports did not allow for real knowledge of production needs and resources to optimize the manufacture of products and required a colossal workload for managers and support functions. The same was true for the speed of launching a line, where it was necessary to find out who had worked on a certain product.
Solution: Digitize to better analyze your resources
Mercateam started by eliminating paper and Excel. Maroquinerie Thomas has sent us its matrix with the skills and authorizations of each position, as well as of each position, as well as the complete list of its operators. All this data, which was previously recorded in indecipherable tables, is now automatically classified and referenced in the platform.
The skills and authorisations of all operators are now updated in real time and saved. This provides an overview of collective and individual skills, enabling the Group to know exactly what resources are available and to avoid any lack of know-how.
Since everything is homogenized, historicized and centralized in Mercateam, companies can find out at any time who worked on a particular product 1 month or 10 years ago. A simple search by criterion in the tool allows the company to identify the talent needed to launch new production lines and build its teams in record time.
Updated daily, Mercateam allows managers to be challenged on their operational versatility rate to gain in agility day after day. To support them, the platform even suggests assignments to different positions to ensure a targeted versatility rate.
Training is launched with a click, and follow-up indicators are displayed on the dashboard. The company can therefore increase the skills of its operators more quickly, and ensure smooth communication between the support functions and production. Turnover is reduced and integration is simpler.
"I can easily and visually manage the skills of all my teams and my versatility matrix is always up to date."
Alain, production manager
Results
The know-how is digitalised with skills associated with each product, allowing Maroquinerie Thomas to divide the time needed to launch a line by 4. The production manager can define versatility objectives on Mercateam and compare what is achieved each month. The company puts an end to the risk of losing skills by maximising its versatility per product.
Maroquinerie Thomas now knows which operators are in training, and can predict its resources over time.
Internal mobility is exploding: at the slightest need on a line following an absence, Maroquinerie Thomas calls on a competent and available replacement to temporarily reinforce a team or a particular position. This also benefits versatility, with an increase in the number of employees moving between different positions.
Thanks to Mercateam, the skills so precious to luxury craftsmanship are now properly passed on and maintained. Maroquinerie Thomas has thus been able to meet several challenges: it can now ensure that it retains the expertise linked to all the products it has developed over the years and has a team of leatherworkers who are increasingly flexible and versatile, day after day.
