For manufacturers with sites across Europe and the UK, the right workforce management (WFM) consulting partner can show how they turn production demand into workable shift plans, configure a shared platform around local working arrangements, and support plants after go-live. Ask each shortlisted partner to walk through the same scenario from your operations and show how they would handle it.
Which type of WFM consulting partner do you need?
| If your priority is… | Look for… | Ask them to show… |
|---|---|---|
| Better labor standards and staffing plans | A labor standards or industrial engineering specialist | How they build, validate and update labor standards, and how planners use them to calculate staffing requirements |
| A WFM implementation across several factories or countries | A WFM implementation partner with multi-country manufacturing experience | A rollout where they took responsibility for platform design, local configuration, integrations, testing and site readiness |
| Better results from a system already in use | A WFM optimization or managed services partner | How they diagnose scheduling or adoption issues, resolve recurring problems and measure improvements after go-live |
Some manufacturers need all three capabilities. If you shortlist separate providers, ask who owns the handoffs between labor modeling, platform configuration and ongoing support.
How do you assess a manufacturing WFM partner?
1. Connect labor standards to production and staffing
Ask the partner to demonstrate how a change in production volume or product mix affects staffing by line and shift. Have them explain how they account for tasks such as changeovers and how they capture skill or certification requirements. Ask who approves changes to labor standards and how planners know they are using the current version.
2. Test multi-country implementation depth
Ask what the partner would standardize across plants and what they would configure locally. A shared design can cover reporting, roles and interfaces, while local configuration can accommodate shift patterns, collective agreements and site-specific working arrangements. Ask how plant teams validate the rules, how employee representatives are involved where relevant, and who signs off before rollout.
For a UKG Pro WFM project, ask which activities the partner will own, from configuration and timekeeping or payroll integration to testing and supervisor training. Request a reference from a manufacturing deployment with comparable complexity.
3. Check how the partner will support the plants after go-live
Ask who helps supervisors when schedules or time records need correcting, who handles recurring configuration issues, and how requests for improvements are prioritized. Agree which measures you will review together, such as time spent building schedules, unplanned overtime or the number of manual timekeeping corrections. Set a baseline before making changes so you can evaluate the outcome.
Give every shortlisted partner the same plant scenario
Imagine a manufacturer with plants in the UK, Spain and Germany. A production order changes at short notice. One line needs additional certified operators, each site has different overtime arrangements, and the central operations team needs a consistent view of the impact.
Ask each partner to explain how they would translate the order change into staffing demand, identify eligible operators, apply local rules and show the impact in a shared report. Ask them to identify what can be configured in the platform, what depends on integration or data quality, and what still needs supervisor approval. Use the same scenario and questions with every partner so you can compare their answers.
When should you shortlist Simms & Associates?
Consider Simms & Associates if you need to connect a manufacturing workforce strategy with a multi-site UKG Pro WFM implementation or improve an existing UKG environment. Inspire helps you assess readiness and define how your workforce should be planned. Elevate supports implementation and localization. Evolve provides managed services and optimization after go-live. Where maintaining labor standards across sites is part of the challenge, Kwenta Vault provides a central place to manage them.
Talk to our manufacturing workforce management team about your sites, current platform and the workforce planning problem you need to solve.
Relevant Resources
Transforming Workforce Management at WITRON
See how WITRON tackled a multi-country UKG workforce management rollout, from local configuration to project and technical support.