Is it difficult to increase production throughput, or does it merely involve determining the company’s existing manufacturing productivity rates and eliminating the causes of lost time? Now, by no means am I implying that increasing production is easy. It isn’t. However, in a large number of instances, the problems manufacturers face isn’t increasing production levels, or outlining how this can be done, but instead, it’s in finding a workforce that isn't threatened by change, one that understands why reducing lost time and improving cycle times is vital to a better bottom line. So, what can you do to better explain productivity rates to manufacturing employees?
Don’t misconstrue the heading above. The intention isn’t to imply that motivating through fear is a solution. Motivating with fear only motivates employees to leave. However, your production employees' fear of change is an undeniable reality of assessing productivity rates in a given work station. Whether your analyzing cycle times in individual production work stations, across multiple stations within a Kan-Ban, or across your entire shop floor, manufacturing employees will be somewhat fearful of your intentions. After all, imagine how you would feel if someone were to come by and scrutinize how you did your job, and how long it took to complete a given work task. It’s not easy and by no means welcoming. However, there is a way to disarm the situation and empower your employees to become more active participants in the process.
Determining Productivity Rates at Individual Work Stations
The following three step process outline below is based on the following two posts. One is entitled The Manufacturer’s Guide to Productivity Rates and Cycle Time Analysis. This post shows how to determine your productivity rates over an 8 hour work shift. The second is entitled Analyzing Manufacturing Cycle Times In the Perfect Work Cell. This second post provides a step-by-step process on how to identify causes of lost time and systematically reduce their impact by comparing cycle times before and after changes are made within the work station.
In order to provide you with some general insight into how you can determine the productivity rates in individual work stations, I've included a simple example below. This process is further expanded more in the aforementioned posts. First, your 8 hour shift is really a 6 & ½ hour shift (take away 1 hr lunch and two 15 minute breaks). In essence, you must determine how much actual work time occured from the remaining 6 & ½ hours.
- You need to document all the lost and idle time in the production work station.
- You then take this lost time and deduct it from the 6 & ½ hours.
- You take that new total, and divide it by your 6 & ½ hours of available work time.
To make the example easier, I’ve provided the calculation based on minutes.
-
1 hour = 60 minutes, so 6 & ½ hours = 390 minutes
-
Lost time during analysis: 135 minutes (this time is captured throughout the day)
-
Available work time in minutes: 390 – 135 = 255 minutes
-
Productivity rate% = 255 minutes divided by 390 minutes
|
Available work time in minutes |
Lost Time in minutes |
Work time in minutes |
Productivity Rate% |
|
390 |
135 |
255 |
65% |
The above three steps don't work if you don't have a willing workforce. It's about ensuring that your production employees are incentivized to take part in the process. Use the following three approaches to ensure "buy-in" with your manufacturing employees.
1. We Need You: Your employees must feel part of the process. You must take the time to explain why everyone must reduce cycle times and eliminate lost time. Your success depends upon telling them that none of this is possible without their insight. The company needs them. Your most important, impactful statement must be “We Need You” to make this work, to make this a success, to reduce cycle times, to help the company, to improve production, to make it easier for others etc. There are a myriad of statements you could make, but start with the fact that you need their help to make this effort worthwhile.
2. We Value Your Expertise: Your first approach is to ensure that your employees know you need them, but the second involves explaining why you need them. You need their input because they have an expertise about how the machinery works, about what causes lost time, about why delays occur, about why work orders & production packages are incomplete, and ultimately why a bill of materials substructure analysis may help reduce cycle times and improve costs. If you value your production employees, then you value their expertise. Tell them and they’ll go the extra mile for you. To read about how the substructure analysis, please refer to Bill of Materials Essentials: Substructure & Subassembly Analysis
3. We Need Your Drive! You may need your employees to be their best and may need their insight, but if they don’t have the drive to be a part of the process, then it’s all for naught. Your employees must be engaged. If you’ve explained how much you need them and how much you value their insight, then they should be more than willing to go the extra mile for the company. The intention isn’t to coddle employees. Nor is it to placate them and give them a free pass. Your job is to explain why this must be done and the role they must play. However, if they aren’t interested in being a part of that process, then you must explain the new reality to them. Either they take part, or someone else will. It really is that simple.
Comments