Quote:
Originally Posted by Boomerang
Ahh, that's why the forum was so quiet today 
Seriously though, good work. Glad you got out there on the "floor".
I work in a similar manufacturing environment and the best thing to identify improvements/bottlenecks/hazards is to get out there amongst it.
Did you take away any learnings? |
I spend a good part of my day on the plant(s) floor but not standing on the line doing the actual assembly so there isn't much going on that I am not aware of. All of my 4 plants are relatively small (50 to 200 people each) and I know most of the workers names and all of their faces.
I did learn that a $40K piece of equipment that is supposed to speed things up and be more ergo friendly was a total waste of space, ate up cycle time like mad and was harder to use than just grabbing and flipping the 3 pound part. It was on the way to the equipment graveyard before I left the line. Nobody had said a word about it to anybody but apparently as soon as the supervisors looked away they stopped using it and I don't blame them one bit. The hourly Leadhand that showed me what to do was a bit sheepish when she said "You want to see the real way we do it?" Made it very clear that in the future if something isn't doing what it should and we ask how it is not to say "Oh it is great" but to let us know the reality so we can change it. This is a brand new facility with all state of the art and even some first use technology so we need honest reviews not just say what they think we want to hear.
I also learned that the really hot Accounts Receivable clerk's professional yet sexy office wear is not suitable attire for bending over and grabbing sway bars out of a rack. Since she was working right across from me I didn't have the heart to say anything though.