Beyond Orientation: Why Process Overview Onboarding is Foundational to Operational Excellence and Resilience

Shoutout to Chris Liverani for the image

Why This Matters Now

If you run a processing plant, you're feeling the pressure: labor shortages, supply chain unpredictability, regulatory burdens, and a retiring workforce. These challenges aren't unique to your operation—they're everywhere. But the best plants don’t just react to change. They prepare for it.

Here’s the reality:

• 37% turnover rate in manufacturing (~Awardco, 2023) costing $3,500–$12,000 per worker (~Talent Rewire, 2024)

• 46% of midsized companies can’t find skilled workers (~National Center for the Middle Market & Brookings, 2024)

• 2.1 million jobs unfilled by 2030 due to skills gap (~U.S. Census Bureau)

• Many companies don’t have capacity to solve the root causes

In a rapidly changing marketplace, you can’t afford a revolving door.

Effective onboarding is a strategic lever for:

1. Operational stability

2. Employee and skills retention

3. Culture building

4. Succession planning

5. Cross-departmental coordination

From Paperwork to Performance: What’s Missing in Most Onboarding Programs

Typical onboarding is all about checklists—rules, roles, and forms. You get a stack of SOPs, sign off, and maybe shadow someone for a shift. But that doesn’t help new hires understand how the business actually works.

What’s missing? A clear, shared understanding of:

• How value is created (from raw material to finished product)

• Where their role fits into the larger system

• How departments rely on each other

Most small and midsized manufacturers don’t have their processes mapped. And if they do, it’s for compliance—not training or performance.

Here’s the shift:

• Think beyond Quality documentation.

• Organize processes for clarity and learning.

• Involve cross-functional teams to align on task breakdowns and key handoffs.

Process Overview Learning as a Keystone for Time-To-Competence

Large corporations love the "time-to-competency" metric. Smaller plants often skip it—but they shouldn’t. A process overview course helps your new hires get up to speed faster, with less stress and more confidence.

Here’s a better sequence:

• Company Orientation

• Business Orientation

• Process Overview Course

• Structured OJT (job-specific training)

This gives new employees the Big Picture and helps them understand how they fit in and create value - before diving into task-level work.

It also improves internal communication. For example, Product Development might talk about "scale-up" in a way that makes no sense to a new Production worker. Process overview builds shared language and reduces handoff failures between departments.

The result? Better teamwork, fewer mistakes, and a stronger Respect for People (TWI/Lean/TPS) culture.

Building the Bridge: From Overview to On-the-Job Training

Let’s get one thing straight:

Training is not a "nice-to-have." It’s a core part of your operations.

Process Overview bridges the gap between abstract orientation and job-specific instruction. When paired with trained SOJT (Structed On-the-Job Training) instructors, you can:

• Reduce training time by 30–50%

• Standardize core work

• Build internal teaching capacity

• Include perspective where work is performed

• Develop a reliable mechanism for skill transfer

It also supports your Lean Daily Management (LDM) system by creating shared understanding of:

• What "good" looks like

• How teams can solve problems together

• Why every role matters

• And here's the real gold: when people leave, the system keeps going. That’s resilience.

Enabling Conditions: What It Takes to Do This Well

Yes, it takes effort. But the return is worth it.

Yes, this takes some planning and commitment—but the return is real and lasting. To succeed, you need the right support structure. Here’s what implementation looks like when it’s done right:

• Host small team working sessions to map out key processes, define ownership, and identify performance-critical steps and standards.

• Walk the line, talk the line: connect classroom content and blended learning to the actual production flow.

• Build process-based learning materials: standard work, visuals, and knowledge & performance checks.

• Designate and develop part-time roles within your team: facilitators, trainers, technical writers, and process experts.

• Involve experienced employees to co-develop materials.

You can’t wing this. But you don’t have to go it alone.

Outcomes We See in the Field

1. Faster ramp-up times

2. Better peer support and culture of accountability

3. Improved participation in CI efforts

4. Lower turnover and higher internal promotion

5. Retention of employees, key people and leaders

A Strategic Investment for a Changing World

Most onboarding is treated like a checkbox. But in today’s complex world, it's one of the smartest investments you can make.

Plants that thrive build process thinkers from day one.

Ready to Strengthen Your Onboarding Program?

There’s no reason to wait. If your onboarding still looks like it did 10 years ago, it's time for a vital update.

Here’s how we can help:

• Assess your current onboarding system

• Identify where performance and process break down

• Design a better approach that links onboarding, training, and operations

Let’s make onboarding a driver of excellence—not an afterthought.