Building Your Own Talent Pipeline With On-Demand Labor: How Manufacturers Put It Into Practice

Real examples of businesses identifying potential, developing skills, and expanding the work proven Operators can perform.

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In You’re Not Facing a Labor Shortage. You’re Creating One., we examined how manufacturers can narrow their own talent pipelines by requiring people to arrive with experience on the exact machine, product, or process they need support with. Capable people who could learn that work never get the opportunity to demonstrate it. The position stays open, and the business continues searching for someone another company has already developed. Over time, that approach leaves the manufacturer competing for the same limited pool of experienced workers without creating a path for more people to gain the experience it needs.

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This article looks at how businesses are creating that path themselves. Through Veryable’s on-demand labor platform, they bring Operators into productive work, observe their performance, and develop those who demonstrate the aptitude and interest to take on more.

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The examples below show that progression in practice: building a trained forklift Labor Pool, developing technical capability in someone who started in packing, and expanding proven Operators’ responsibilities into materials planning, production training, and additional work areas.

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Building a Forklift Labor Pool Where Experienced Operators Were Scarce

Gilster-Mary Lee, a private-label food manufacturer, needed more forklift capacity at two rural distribution centers. Both handled palletized products exclusively, making qualified forklift operators essential to keeping orders moving. But the surrounding communities offered a limited supply of experienced workers, and seasonal demand was creating a major backlog and increasing overtime pressure on the existing team.

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The company responded by creating a path for local people to learn the work. It posted Ops through Veryable and used its community relationships to raise awareness. New Operators were offered an accelerated forklift training program on their first assignment, with limited duties providing a starting point as they developed proficiency.

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Those initial assignments also gave supervisors an opportunity to evaluate each Operator’s work ethic, willingness to learn, and safety practices. Strong performers were added to the company’s Labor Pool and given priority consideration for future Ops. As they returned and gained experience, supervisors tested their forklift skills and opened additional functions when they demonstrated safe, capable performance.

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Through this approach, Gilster-Mary Lee built a Labor Pool of 75 trained forklift Operators who provided more than 9,000 hours of direct labor during its busy season. Overtime utilization also fell 35%.

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The company expanded its available talent pool by giving local people a way to acquire the skills it needed. Connecting initial training with repeat opportunities and demonstrated readiness turned that entry point into a dependable source of forklift capacity.

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Recognizing Technical Potential in an Operator Who Started in Packing

A thermoforming manufacturer used Veryable to support packing on its thin-gauge thermoforming lines, adjusting that support across lines as its production schedule changed. One Operator showed initiative in learning the technical process beyond his packing responsibilities.

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As he returned for additional assignments, he learned more about thermoforming and developed the skills to perform entire mold changeovers. This allowed the machine controlman to concentrate on other aspects of the new mold setup, helping the operation complete changeovers faster, reduce machine downtime, and increase throughput.

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The business brought him in to meet a packing need. That assignment also gave him a way to demonstrate technical potential that his initial role did not capture. As he learned more of the process, the manufacturer gained someone capable of handling a more specialized part of production. This is the opportunity manufacturers miss when they treat a person’s existing experience as the limit of what that person can contribute.

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Progressing From Assembly Into Materials Planning

One Operator’s first assignment through Veryable was pallet repair. He showed up on time, worked hard, and earned five-star ratings. Over subsequent assignments at other businesses, he continued demonstrating that consistency, earning repeat opportunities and building a performance record that helped him gain access to more demanding work.

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That progression brought him to a precision equipment manufacturer for an advanced assembly assignment. Once he was working in the facility, the company could evaluate his capabilities directly. It moved him into its most advanced assembly area, where he worked on precision equipment, and later into a materials planning assignment involving inventory planning, cycle counting, and materials presentation.

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His responsibilities had expanded from assembling products to helping manage the materials needed to support production. The full progression, from his first pallet repair assignment through Veryable to materials planning, took approximately three months.

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The early assignments established a record of reliability that helped him earn an opportunity at the precision equipment manufacturer. Once there, the company could evaluate his work directly before expanding his responsibilities. That sequence gave the business an increasingly informed basis for deciding what he could handle next. It developed a broader contributor through successive opportunities, with each assignment providing evidence to support the next step.

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Developing an Operator Who Could Train Others

At a health and wellness products manufacturer, an Operator entered the production line through a general assembly assignment. He had already earned strong ratings on warehouse, kitting, and more technical Ops at other businesses, giving the manufacturer a performance record to consider when selecting him.

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The company continued inviting him back, and he developed his skills through repeated work on its production line. Over time, he became a leader in the area and began training new production technicians on the assembly process. Those he trained included both Veryable Operators and employees brought in through the company’s traditional hiring process. His progression from general warehouse work to training production technicians took approximately six months.

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The value of that development extended beyond his own production work. By learning the assembly process well enough to teach it, he became someone the business could rely on to help new people become productive. The opportunity to return and develop within the operation ultimately strengthened its ability to train others, giving the company another experienced contributor who could pass on process knowledge as new people joined the line.

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Broadening the Capabilities of Proven Operators

A furniture manufacturer uses Veryable Operators across multiple plants and has expanded their capabilities through training for different production tasks. Those tasks have distinct requirements, so familiarity with one area does not automatically prepare someone for another. The company uses Labor Pool tags to distinguish experience across areas such as hardware packing, drawer assembly, and cabinet assembly, with individual Operators carrying multiple tags.

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As Operators learn additional tasks, the business gains more options for where they can contribute. Tracking that experience helps supervisors identify people who already know the work when selecting Operators for future Ops. The Labor Pool becomes a growing source of capability across the operation.

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A supplier of fragrance and craft-making materials takes a similar approach across fragrance pouring, order picking and packing, and warehouse repacking. It identifies Operators who show potential to perform well in other areas and cross-trains them for additional work. Its Labor Pool includes Operators associated with multiple work areas, allowing the business to build on its experience with proven performers.

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In both cases, development extends beyond the first assignment. A business can use what it learns about someone’s performance to decide where further training is worthwhile, then expand the work that person can perform. Learning additional processes also gives Operators opportunities to demonstrate adaptability and build a broader understanding of the operation. That creates a stronger foundation for identifying who is ready to develop further as new needs arise.

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Start With Useful Work and a Next Step

These businesses gained more than help with the work immediately in front of them. Packing became an entry point into mold changeovers. Assembly led to materials planning and training new production technicians. Local workers developed the forklift skills a distribution operation struggled to find.

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Each progression began with an opportunity to contribute. What followed depended on the person’s performance, willingness to learn, and opportunities to take on more. The businesses gained additional capability by allowing proven people to develop beyond their initial assignments.

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Veryable makes that approach practical. Businesses can bring Operators into productive work, evaluate their performance firsthand, and invite strong performers back through their Labor Pool. That continuity gives supervisors a basis for deciding where further training is worth the investment.

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Start with one capability your operation needs more of. Separate the qualifications someone must bring from the knowledge they can acquire in your operation. Identify appropriate entry work, then establish what a person must learn and demonstrate before taking on the next responsibility. Your training, supervision, and qualification standards guide that progression.

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Over time, those decisions expand the number of people capable of supporting your operation. You gain a pipeline built on performance you have observed and capabilities you have helped develop. That gives you more control over how your business meets its future talent needs.

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