Time Management on the Shop Floor

Time management on the shop floor can incorporate a number of different Lean Management techniques as well as less predictable personnel management methods to make the shop floor as efficient as possible.

Perhaps the factor most difficult to control when overseeing time management on the shop floor is the human aspect.Employees are not perfect.Human error is inevitable. Labor and time performance can be easily measured.What is more difficult is making changes to the way that people think and perform.Below are some suggestions for encouraging worker compliance and creating motivation for personal improvement:

- Wage Payment/Incentive System - Workers respond to monetary incentives.If they know that wage payment is dependent on production quality, you can bet that they are going to try harder to produce the best product possible.
- Hourly Earnings - Evaluate how your pay method relates to production.Is the slothful worker being paid equal to the worker who is more efficient?Is your aim quantity or quality?Does your compensation reflect your answer?
- Cash Rewards and Recognition - Healthy competition can do wonders for an unmotivated group.Spice things up!Having fun is not against the rules.
- Breaks - people can only work so hard for so long.Burning your employees out by overworking them isn't a good solution for time management.

Below are three brief descriptions of different Lean Management techniques that, if implemented, can more effectively manage time on the shop floor.

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a management philosophy meant to help a company achieve their main organizational goals.For example, the Theory of Constraints is used to help a for-profit company make more money.Results can be seen immediately.
Every company has at least one constraint or factor slowing them down.These constraints can be internal resource constraints, market constraints or policy constraints (among other things).According to the Theory of Constraints, you must identify what constraints are preventing your business from achieving its goal.

The Kaizen Blitz (or as it is also called, Kaikaku) is a system implemented to reduce waste and increase productivity. Kaizen is a rapidly and widely implemented improvement system that is meant to be long term.By definition Kaizen means "improvement" or "continuous improvement."Kaizen Blitz implementation is small but constant in nature. Although a Kaizen Blitz is discussed by a relatively small group of individuals in a short amount of time, the changes it makes the operations of a company are dramatic.A Blitz can be used to resolve a small but nagging long term problem or it can be used to completely re-design a procedure.It is a small improvement that brings about a drastic change.Or in other words, many things done a little better on a consistent and sometimes dramatic schedule.

Overall Equipment Effectiveness is the overall performance of one piece of equipment or an entire factory measured through availability, performance rate, and quality rate.OEE can be used to prevent wasteful spending on unnecessary equipment.Instead the business owner can focus on improving the performance of the machinery that he already has.Another common remedy involves reducing fixed cost and the cost of making goods or the cost of goods sold (COGS).In other words OEE is the result of dividing actual output by theoretical maximum output.

If these methods of lean manufacturing do not fit the needs of your shop floor, there are more personalized and high-tech options.Software, personal professional consulting, and literature may be more appropriate for your operation.Manufacturers in today's high-speed business world need real-time answers to productivity questions.Looking to these highly personalized methods may be what your particular shop needs to manage time more effectively.