The “dog days” refers to the hottest time of the year in the Northern hemisphere, typically mid-July through mid-to-late August. The name originated from the zodiac – the rising, at sunrise, of Sirius (the dog star) and coincides with this period of the year. In modern times, the name still resonates and is used in advertising, song lyrics, literature, and other popular cultural references.
Summer time is the busiest time of the year for vacations and leisure activities as so many are associated with warm weather and the traditional school year is not in session during July and August. Manufacturers are challenged by the desire of a majority of employees to schedule vacation time during the dog days and the school vacation period. Some choose to hire temps to cover for vacationing regular employees, which may be easier to do during the summer when students are looking for summer jobs. Others reduce the production schedule to reflect the smaller labor force availability.
In many companies that make retail consumer products, sales patterns can often peak in the last quarter of the calendar year, around the holidays. If the seasonal peak demand exceeds production capacity, a common strategy is to build ahead – producing more than demand calls for during slower periods and holding the inventory for sale during the peak sales period. The challenge here is that the inventory build-up production may well fall into the dog days when there is less labor available.
Nobody said it was easy running a manufacturing plant.
No matter how our product seasonal demand happens to play out, and even if demand is constant all year, it’s always necessary to plan and manage worker availability to accommodate vacation, training, special projects, sick days, and other events and activities that reduce production capabilities. I’ve worked with some plants, in fact, that plan a day or two of shut-down at the beginning of hunting season, knowing that many workers would take the day off. Holiday shut-downs are also a common practice in many companies.
For the random or sporadic absences, the best defense is a cross-trained, flexible workforce that can be deployed where needed. Many companies encourage cross-training and reward multi-skilled employees with higher pay rates. The scheduling flexibility more than makes up for the higher labor costs by keeping production schedules more reliable and keeping the plant more productive.