When regulations change, it can throw your whole process for a loop. Here are some tips on how to manage changes like a pro and create a smooth transition.
1. Stay up-to-date.
From temperature monitoring to safety equipment, regulations are everywhere. Forgetting to check your regulatory agencies website for a couple of months, not opening emails or snail mail for a few weeks, can lead to you getting behind. It may sound obvious, but our first piece of advice to handling regulation changes? Actually receiving the regulation change. Make sure your company address is correct and the correct people have it, open emails, and don’t forget to check your regulatory agencies website every so often. You don’t want to start the race from behind.
2. Don’t wait.
So you've updated your channels of information. A regulation change occurs, which will change certain aspects of your process. You’re off to a good start. Now, don’t wait. Implement changes as they need to be implemented. Be prepared to change quickly, and don’t push off processes changes until the day your auditor shows up.
3. Good old-fashioned communication.
This blog post is meant to help all manufacturing supervisors, which includes a diverse range of industries. One staple in every industry? Communication. Whether you are in paper, food, textile, electronic, or chemical manufacturing, communication is paramount.
Strategize how you communicate to your employees. Speak with your production crew, specifically those who the regulation changes will affect. But communication doesn't just mean speaking with the individuals on your production floor. It means with your fellow manufacturing supervisors, other departments, and regulatory agencies. A question unasked, is an audit failed.
4. How will the change(s) affect your customers?
Don't forget this! Whoever you are producing for, whether it's a farmer in Illinois or an airline in Australia, keep in mind how your the change in your manufacturing process will ultimately affect your customer. While a large scale thought, it should help provide a balance to how you implement the regulatory changes.
5. Generate an Official Control Document.
When regulation changes occur, you need to implement them, and then prove that you implemented them. Generating an official control document (whether stored in a software suite, or as a hard copy) will increase your legal security, and be transparent with your employees, customers, and auditors to the changes that have been made to comply with new regulatory standards.
If you have other advice on how to change smoothly with regulations, add it in the comment section below!
