Management Information |
Involving People Gave Us the Improvements We Needed
We had a problem with handling materials in a production department. Our process required raw materials to enter the department, be processed, and leave the department. The raw material was placed on pods, delivered for production, removed from the pods, placed on a staging fixture, removed from the fixture and process materials were then placed on another pod and delivered to an internal customer. Internal customer had to place on still another pod. Someone suggested placing the material from the fixture onto the customer's internal pod to reduce handling, errors, etc. Room was tight (because two different style pods were used, one for raw material and one for processing) and someone long ago suggested moving a wall to create more space for easier movement of the pods. After we realized that involving people would give us the improvements we wanted, someone suggested modifying the pods into a cart that could hold more material and reduce our need for more space. Others became involved; Martin developed possible designs for the cart while speaking with his coworkers to find out their ideas. A cross-functional team designed and built a new cart. It held more raw materials, eliminated the need for the staging fixture, and allowed raw material and processed material to be transported on the same cart, eliminating the need for the second pod. The cart was built by reusing materials from the old pods. Immediate benefits included less movement and less contamination of materials, also the new cart was more ergonomically friendly. After using the new cart, others came up with more ideas. All together 20 people contributed improvements to eliminate unnecessary equipment, combine processes, and reduce cost. Fourteen process steps were reduced to seven, operator motion was reduced, material was moved less, quality improved, and the job of the operator was made easier. Recently someone had the idea of using the cart in a different area, so more improvements are to come. Copyright © 2005 Chuck Yorke - All Rights Reserved Chuck Yorke is an organizational development and performance improvement specialist, trainer, consultant and speaker. He is co-author of "All You Gotta Do Is Ask," a book which explains how to promote large numbers of ideas from employees. Chuck may be reached at ChuckYorke@yahoo.com
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
Workplace Security Plan: Does Your Company Have One? Consultant's Perspective.. The Rise of Corporate Chair Massages Employers have rapidly begun to understand the importance of stress relief in the workplace. Stress free employees have a higher retention rate and higher rates of productivity. One Simple Idea to Grow Your Business Perhaps the most common theme I've heard in working with business owners or managers is that they rarely have time to plan for the future. They are so busy with day to day tasks and responsibilities, just getting through their weekly "To Do" list or fighting fires consumes all their time and energy, and then some. Jack Welch--Success Is Getting Back Up on the Horse A few months ago I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with Jack Welch, past CEO of GE. A fantastic opportunity. Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Have SMART Goals The first step in planning an agenda is to identify the goals for the meeting. Properly done, goals have five S M A R T characteristics. Hiring for Success Hiring someone new to work in your business is one of the most critical decisions a business owner makes, although it is not always given the justice it deserves. If a position is vacant, or additional staff are needed, recruitment decisions are often driven by the pressure to get someone in quickly, rather than waiting for the best person to fill the job. How To Turn Business Losses Into Cash Flow When the typical new business operator starts a business, they concentrate on making the business succeed. That is necessary but not the only thing that a business operator should concentrate on. Survival of the Fittest: The Road to Human Extinction I was watching a TV program some months ago about a biologist working in Central America who was dedicated to protecting the panther species from extinction. During the program I heard him make a comment that upon reflection I found had embedded in it seeds of wisdom that not even he was aware of. Internal Prisons: The Thief of Productivity and Quality in our Workforce As a professional speaker, one of my biggest challenges is to grab the attention of my audience within the first few minutes of the presentation- grab them by the throat if you will. I do this by coming out in a suite and tie, following an introduction in which I have been described as a recent college graduate who earned both of his degrees with a 4. Get Down With OCP: Evaluating DBA Job Applicants in an OCP World Not long ago, weeding through DBA applicants with a tech interview was a straightforward process. You'd ask candidates 200 or so technical questions. The Silent Assassin - What to Do When They Visit You? IntroductionThere are a group of people in the community that will some time in their career visit your business; the silent assassin.The silent assassin displays all the qualities of a serial killer as they silently wreck havoc in your business through unrest, sabotage, bullying and non-productivity. 5 Ideas To Leverage The 3 Stages Of Career Development In Your Organization In most industrialized nations, the average age a student graduates from high school is 18 years old and the average retirement age is 65 years old - a difference of 47 years. On average, most people work 40 to 50 years of their lives. Innovation Management - Diversity Can Make All The Difference Companies are welcoming a diverse range of employees (The Sunday Times, April 10 2005). Doh!It is incredible that this concept is getting coverage in 2005. Finding the Right Way to Motivate Your Employees Fear, Incentives and GrowthZig Ziglar says that there are three main ways to motivate people in general and employees specifically. They are fear, incentives and growth. Quick Tip - Effective Meetings Begin With Goals Goals are critically important for the success of a meeting. You must know what you want so you can ask for it. Squeezing the Blood Out of that Old Turnip I suspect all of you out there have someone that you rely on for insight and perspective - that wise old mentor that seems to have an unlimited depth of experience to draw from in helping you navigate life's little challenges. You know, those little parables and anecdotal tales that always relate perfectly that very problem you're trying to solve. The Top 10 Things They Don't Teach You In Business School Here are 10 subjects that academia should be teaching their students in business school:1. Generate revenue for your companyWhat academia doesn't teach you is that the real purpose organizations hire you is to generate revenue. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: The Responsibility for Job Security This article relates to the Job Security competency, commonly evaluated in employee satisfaction surveys. This competency evaluates how your employees view their job security within your organization. A Tricky Supervision Challenge Many managers believe that treating their team members as responsible adults will assure excellent results. The truth is that while this usually is effective, some people need much firmer limits than others to perform their jobs. 25 Super-Practical Steps to Build Your Business! For the past several weeks, we have focused on some wonderful but (to my way of thinking) rather fancy ideas about life. I wrote about motivation (I don't believe in it). |
home | site map | contact us |