Process industry — continuous production

Shift planning in the process industry

In continuous three-shift work a shift cannot be left unstaffed and a line cannot be run without the required skills. Stafferi connects rotations, person-level skills and workstation staffing requirements, including the exceptions needed for a turnaround or shutdown.

Pulp and paper, chemicals, power generation, food and beverage, and metals processing.

Start 14-day free trial See pricing

Why a spreadsheet is not enough in continuous three-shift work

In nine-to-five production a spreadsheet holds up for a long time. In a continuous process it never really holds up at all, and the reason is structural — not that a spreadsheet is a bad tool.

A long rotation does not fit in a month view

Continuous rotations cross week and month boundaries, and their exceptions accumulate across the full cycle. A workbook organized as separate monthly tabs makes that cycle, its changes and the resulting working hours harder to review as one whole.

A rotation is not a calendar

The plant runs roughly 8,760 hours a year. The rotation advances on its own cycle, which settles neither on a calendar week nor on a month boundary: the same shift lands on a different weekday at different points in the cycle. Build that by hand in columns and every exception has to be corrected manually all the way forward to the end of the period.

A formula does not know who has the required skill

A spreadsheet can add up hours, but the workstation requirements and each person's skill level often live elsewhere. Unless they are checked together, a staffing gap or missing skill can remain hidden until handover.

Shift systems and rotations Stafferi understands

A rotation is defined once, and from then on the roster follows the cycle. Different plants and different lines in the same company can run different systems.

Discontinuous three-shift work

Three shifts on weekdays, production stops for the weekend. Mornings, afternoons and nights rotate week by week.

Continuous three-shift work

The plant runs around the clock, seven days a week, public holidays included. Every hour of the year has to be staffed.

Five-crew rotation

Five crews cover continuous running so that free weeks and training days fit inside the cycle without permanent overtime.

Six-crew rotation

Used in paper mills among others. Longer blocks of time off, a more complex cycle and closer tracking of the balance.

The shift pattern is built once and can be adjusted per plant. Stafferi keeps rotations, exceptions and working-time reports together; your organization reviews the result against its applicable legal and collective-agreement rules.

Turnaround and annual shutdown staffing

The annual turnaround is one of the hardest planning situations in the process industry. Normal production, maintenance, temporary personnel and different workstation needs all have to remain visible while the base rotation is interrupted.

Plan the exception by date

Use date ranges and shift exceptions to plan shutdown, maintenance and start-up work while keeping the normal rotation as the baseline.

Contractors in the same view

Add temporary personnel to the same person and group structure as in-house staff. Record their skills and licences, and use training records for completion and valid-until dates.

Back to the normal rotation

The base rotation remains configured while dated exceptions cover the temporary period, so the normal shift-group setup does not need to be recreated.

The actuals are kept

Shift and event reports preserve the staffing history, while the planner transfer log records changes made during the period.

Skills and training records

On a process plant staffing is not only a headcount. Stafferi records configurable skills and levels on each person, and workstations can define the skills they require. The planner warns when a required skill is missing and can block the move where that workstation is configured to do so.

Training records are separate from skill levels: they can include completion and valid-until dates, with a 30-day in-app reminder before expiry. Read more about how workforce planning and shift planning work together.

Process industry sectors

Pulp and paper

Continuous running, long rotations and annual turnarounds in which staffing multiplies for a fortnight.

Chemicals

Strict qualification requirements and safety rules — a shift cannot be run without the plant-specific induction.

Power generation

Round-the-clock control-room cover, electrical-safety authorisations and seasonal swings in load.

Food and beverage

Hygiene certificates, changeovers between production batches and pronounced seasonal peaks in the staffing requirement.

Metals processing

Smelters and rolling mills run continuously. You cannot shut a furnace down because a shift is one operator short.

Pharmaceuticals

Documented competence and traceability — who did what, with which training, provable after the fact.

Frequently asked questions

In discontinuous three-shift work production runs three shifts on weekdays and stops for the weekend. In continuous three-shift work the plant runs around the clock, seven days a week, so roughly 8,760 hours a year have to be staffed and the rotation never lines up with the calendar week. In Stafferi each pattern is defined as its own rotation, so different plants in the same company can run different shift systems.

Stafferi lets you define rotations, record shifts and review working-hour reports over the period you select. It does not determine which statutory or collective-agreement limits apply, so each organization must validate its schedules against its local requirements.

Saved shifts are available in employees' browser views, and planner changes appear in the transfer log. Stafferi does not enforce a statutory notice period or create a separate legally validated publication state, so each organization sets its own approval and communication process.

For a turnaround, use date ranges, shift exceptions, groups and workstations to keep temporary staffing visible alongside the normal operation. Contractor records can use the same person, skill and training structure, while the base rotation remains available after the temporary period.

When an absence is marked as needing a substitute, Stafferi lists available people with their skills, licences and any existing shift. A supervisor can assign a substitute or open the shift for employee registration. Rest-period and legal checks remain the supervisor's responsibility.

Core Stafferi records shifts and working-time data and provides reports. The optional HR pilot module adds time clock, hour approval and payroll CSV export. Confirm premium calculations and any payroll integration during implementation; Stafferi is not a generic country-specific payroll engine.

Try it on your own rotation

Eligible company domains receive a setup link automatically; other requests are reviewed before access is sent. Define your own shift system and see what the balance and staffing look like with real numbers.

Start 14-day free trial Build an illustrative ROI estimate