The Talent Puzzle: Is Automation the Final Piece?
Do you like putting together jigsaw puzzles? They are fun on rainy days. Everybody has a strategy for these, and mine is to sort the pieces so I can put together the outer edge of the puzzle and work inward from there. I admit that I get frustrated when pieces are missing. The puzzle remains unfinished on the dining-room table until I find the missing piece. If it is not located, the puzzle goes into the recycling bin.
This sense of incompleteness is sadly familiar to businesses struggling with employee retention. Like a missing puzzle piece, each departing employee leaves a hole in a company's structure – often causing delays, disruptions, and a sense of frustration that undermines morale. CEOs find themselves dealing with missing pieces in their workforce. Finding the right people for any job is difficult today. Simply put, the work is there if we can find people.
A recent Vistage survey of business owners, CFOs, and CEOs showed that almost half of its members can't hire enough employees, leading to limited capacity, missed opportunities, and unfinished projects. Chief Executive Magazine reports that 41 percent of CEOs say retaining and engaging employees is a top challenge, and 40 percent said recruiting workers is the other challenge. A survey by RSM found that 68 percent of middle-market businesses struggle to attract experienced talent. This highlights the interconnected nature of the problem. Not only does high turnover create immediate vacancies, but it also strains existing employees and demoralizes teams. The constant search for replacements becomes a vicious cycle, hampering long-term growth and success.
The cost of losing an employee and finding a replacement is significant. From onboarding and training expenses to lost productivity, turnover creates a heavy financial burden. It forces companies to spend valuable resources simply trying to maintain the status quo rather than investing in progress.
While actively recruiting top talent remains crucial, the reality is that the current competitive landscape can make filling every vacancy a constant uphill battle. Like a complex jigsaw puzzle, sometimes the solution isn't about finding more pieces but optimizing how those pieces fit together. This financial strain, coupled with the disruption caused by high turnover, underscores the importance of focusing on the big picture formed by your existing team. Companies can enhance collaboration and efficiency by analyzing workflows, identifying bottlenecks, streamlining processes, and investing in the right tools. This strategic shift will position them strongly to manage current challenges and seize the opportunities of 2025-2030.
One key area where strategic investment can significantly improve productivity is automation. By automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks, businesses can free up their existing workforce to focus on more value-driven activities. This enhances productivity and boosts employee morale by reducing tedious work and allowing them to engage in more challenging and fulfilling projects. In the metrology world, this would mean automation processes such as calibration.
Just as a missing puzzle piece renders a picture incomplete, the labor shortage in calibration creates a similar gap in maintaining precision across industries. The meticulous task of ensuring accurate measurements is akin to fitting puzzle pieces—each must be precise to ensure the integrity of the whole.
The number of trained calibration technicians required to perform intricate calibrations is dwindling as fewer individuals enter technical fields. This shortage threatens the quality and safety standards that have been painstakingly established over decades. Without sufficient experts to conduct these critical calibrations, the risk of inaccuracies increases, potentially leading to costly recalls, safety failures, and loss of consumer trust.
Automation presents a promising solution to this labor shortfall. By integrating automated systems into the calibration process, companies can increase accuracy, productivity, and a more repeatable measurement system. These upgrades can increase employee satisfaction as their jobs are now easier and mitigate the impact of the skilled labor shortage by increasing productivity.
In the world of force measurement, Morehouse has developed a promising solution to help increase productivity. The solution is our Automated Force Calibration System, which can be an upgrade for anyone with an existing Morehouse machine.
These Automated Force Calibration Systems can perform routine tasks consistently, freeing calibration technicians to focus on other areas. This maintains the quality and reliability of measurements and increases the efficiency and throughput of calibration 
processes. Many achieve increases of 50 % or more with the upgrade. That’s 50 % more work that one individual could potentially perform. It is feasible to have two automated systems and increase throughput by 100 %.
Incorporating automation into force and torque calibration processes aligns with the broader trend of leveraging technology to enhance productivity. Just as businesses look to automation to fill gaps in their organizational puzzles, so can the calibration industry adapt to ensure that workforce challenges do not compromise the critical task of maintaining measurement accuracy. By doing so, it continues to support the vast array of industries that rely on precise force and torque measurements, ensuring their ongoing success and innovation.
Even the most complex jigsaw puzzle requires every piece to be in place, so addressing workforce challenges in critical sectors like calibration demands careful consideration. A missing piece leaves an incomplete picture. Similarly, a shortage of skilled workers can impact the precision of measurements essential for many industries. Automation offers a potential solution. By automating certain tasks, companies can mirror the puzzle-solving strategy of using their pieces while seeking the best additions.
This approach to overcoming workforce challenges reflects a widespread trend of using technology to fill gaps. Businesses across industries are turning to automation to maintain quality and productivity. Looking ahead to 2025-2030, these investments will be even more important. By automating and improving processes now, companies won't just solve immediate problems – they'll be ready for the growth expected in the coming years.
Completing the puzzle of today's challenges with automation sets the stage for future success. Just as finishing a puzzle brings satisfaction and a clear dining-room table, strategic decisions can lead to long-term growth and innovation. Focusing on solutions that increase efficiency and reliability helps businesses prepare for the future and thrive in a competitive market.
We have a video on our Automation Upgrade. The reason this makes it part of our e-mail training is that it provides a way to improve overall efficiencies, make technicians’ lives easier, and improve the overall process by lowering Measurement Uncertainties. Getting qualified people to perform calibrations is becoming an industry concern as less people are being trained.
Watch the video here: Simplify Cal-Lab Tech Training and Increase Productivity with Morehouse’s Automated System - YouTube
We can turn the puzzle of today's challenges into a complete picture of tomorrow's success. For more information on how our solutions can transform your calibration processes, please contact us at info@mhforce.com or visit our website at https://mhforce.com/product/automated-force-calibration-systems/ to learn more about our Automated Force Calibration Systems.
More Information From Morehouse
We believe in changing how people think about force and torque calibration in everything we do.
This includes setting expectations on load cell reliability and challenging the "just calibrate it" mentality by educating our customers on what matters and what causes significant errors.
We focus on reducing these errors and making our products simple and user-friendly.
This means your instruments will pass calibration more often and produce more precise measurements, giving you the confidence to focus on your business.
Companies around the globe rely on Morehouse for accuracy and speed.
Our measurement uncertainties are 10-50 times lower than the competition.
We turn around your equipment in 7-10 business days so you can return to work quickly, saving you money.
When you choose Morehouse, you're not just paying for a calibration service or a load cell.
You're investing in peace of mind, knowing your equipment is calibrated accurately and on time.
Contact Morehouse at info@mhforce.com to learn more about our calibration services and load cell products.
Email us if you ever want to chat or have questions about a blog.
We love talking about this stuff.
Our YouTube channel has videos on various force and torque calibration topics here.
