Building Resilience in Costpoint Manufacturing: Rethinking the Workforce Gap
The New Reality on the Factory Floor
Every manufacturer running on Costpoint knows the feeling. Plans look solid at the start of the week, but shifts rarely go as expected. A supplier delay, a missing part, or a skill rotation can change throughput by the hour. Schedules bend, priorities shuffle, and the day becomes a test of improvisation.
This is the reality of labor volatility. The gap between what is planned and what is possible is not going away. But it can be managed differently. The path forward starts by rethinking how work happens at the point of action, where people, processes, and systems meet. When the work itself is designed to guide and confirm each step, constrained teams stay productive and leaders regain control. That is where point-of-work mobile automation inside Costpoint creates measurable stability and calm across every shift.
We will be taking this conversation further at Deltek ProjectCon 2025, where RFgen will join Aerostar International in a special speaker session to share how leaders are closing the labor gap through point-of-work automation that builds stability from the floor up. The session will examine how Aerostar modernized operations within Costpoint to achieve measurable ROI while addressing key questions facing every manufacturer: How do you keep throughput steady, training short, and compliance intact with constrained teams?
The Workforce Gap Is Structural and It Is Reshaping Operations
Even when headcount looks full on paper, most manufacturers still operate short-handed. Retirements outpace backfills. Training takes time. Clearance requirements delay new hires. Regional competition pulls skilled workers away faster than they can be replaced.
The result is not a temporary shortage. It is a structural gap that changes how work must be done. Deloitte’s 2025 Manufacturing Industry Outlook points to the same trend: volatility is now a permanent condition, forcing leaders to prioritize adaptability over expansion.
Manufacturers running on Costpoint are meeting this moment by designing for resilience. Instead of chasing ideal staffing, they build workflows that adjust to varying skill levels and shifting product mixes. Real-time visibility, clear prompts, and earlier performance signals help supervisors coach in the moment, keeping production steady even as conditions change.
Rethinking the Gap: Bringing Costpoint to the Point of Work
The biggest gains come when information moves to where the work happens. Point-of-work mobile automation puts guidance, validation, and Costpoint updates in the operator’s hand, at the exact moment a task occurs.
When every scan confirms the right part, quantity, and location, the line keeps moving. A guided receiving flow prevents wrong-lot receipts before they hit the shelf. Real-time validation during kitting and issue-to-order ensures materials are used correctly, not corrected later.
For constrained teams, this approach reduces friction and decision fatigue. It gives new employees confidence sooner and helps experienced operators move faster without sacrificing accuracy. The result is a smoother rhythm across shifts and a stronger sense of control on the floor.
Turning Constraint into Capability
Constraint does not have to mean compromise. When work is guided in hand and confirmed in real time, limited teams perform at a higher level.
Each prompt eliminates guesswork. Each confirmation prevents an error before it happens. First-pass yield rises. Inventory records stay clean. Supervisors catch issues early, not after the fact. The floor runs steadier because everyone works from the same clear cues. When each action is structured and visible, constrained teams stop fighting fires and start building flow.
These improvements show up quickly:
- Throughput stability as guided steps prevent stalls at receiving, kitting, and replenishment.
- Higher first-pass yield as wrong-part and quantity errors are stopped at the source.
- Better inventory accuracy with verification built into every movement.
- Shift-to-shift consistency as the same prompts create the same outcomes, regardless of who is on the line.
Compliance and Confidence Built In
For manufacturers in regulated or GovCon environments, compliance is not optional. It is the license to operate. Point-of-work automation makes compliance part of the process instead of an afterthought.
Every scan confirms item, lot or serial, and location before the move. Each action captures user, timestamp, and reason, creating a complete traceable record. Inspections trigger automatically at the right step, with results posted to Costpoint in real time.
Teams spend less time chasing documentation and more time maintaining quality. The system quietly enforces good habits, reducing audit stress while protecting throughput and traceability.
A Practical First Step
Transformation does not start with a massive rollout. It starts with one bottleneck everyone recognizes. Maybe it is receiving that backs up at shift change or kitting that stalls on substitutions.
Pick one process, one zone, and one owner. Observe where minutes are lost. Then design a few simple prompts and checks that would prevent those slowdowns. A focused pilot proves value fast and builds internal confidence for scale. Each win compounds, building steadier performance across the operation without disruption.
Here are five steps to get you started:
- Choose the workflow with visible friction and a clear owner.
- Baseline performance with current error rates, touch counts, and cycle times.
- Design prompts and checks to remove the top two failure modes.
- Deploy and gather feedback from operators in the first two weeks.
- Measure and expand to adjacent areas as adoption and results grow.
Live at Deltek ProjectCon: How Aerostar Turned Workforce Pressure into Performance
For a firsthand look at how manufacturers are turning constrained teams into a resilient advantage through mobile automation, join RFgen and Aerostar International at Deltek ProjectCon 2025.
In our session, Reducing Labor Risk in Manufacturing: Aerostar’s Mobile Automation Success, Aerostar’s Mike Zacher and RFgen’s Bob Quaile will share how Aerostar extended Costpoint to the shop floor to improve efficiency, accelerate onboarding, and realize measurable ROI in under a year.
When: Tuesday, November 11, 4:20–5:10 PM MST
Where: Deltek ProjectCon 2025
Building Resilience, One Workflow at a Time
Labor volatility is not going away. But how you respond to it can define your competitive advantage. When every action is guided, verified, and connected, constrained teams deliver more with less stress. Leaders gain visibility. Operators gain confidence. Customers see reliability. That is how manufacturers running on Costpoint turn constant change into predictable performance and build a more resilient operation, one workflow at a time.
