Thomas Industrial Library

LABOR DEPLOYMENT SCHEME

As jobs are aligned to individuals on the Job Schedule, those individuals must be committed to their assigned jobs within the Labor Deployment Scheme (Figure 13.6). Thereby cross-referencing resource to assigned job.

A master schedule template similar to that shown in Figure 13.6 should be established for each crew or team responsible to a specific supervisor or team leader (approximately ten people). Personnel comprising the team should be pre-posted to the template.

Figure 13.6 Labor Deployment

Should any team resource have a fixed commitment to indirect activities such as training, the pre-committed capacity should be indicated on the master template (see employees K and L on Wednesday afternoon). Scheduling of committed capacity to a job at a time when the resource is not available for direct assignment is thus avoided. Such things are easily forgotten at inopportune times.

The time periods comparable to those to which a job is scheduled are shaded alongside the appropriate individual’s names. . This procedure minimizes the risk of scheduling an individual to two jobs at the same time, another situation that occurs from time to time.

Each assignment should be cross-referenced to the appropriate job. In the interest of conserving schedule space, reference should be to the line item number (one or two digits), rather than the work order number (four or five digits). When the schedule is completed, all resources available for the week should be committed.

Figure 13.7 Complete Job Schedule

q When all three sections are brought together on a single form, (figure 13.7) a complete picture is provided for the coming week that assures: Nobody is scheduled to more than one job at any given time

q Available resources are fully utilized without voids or overloading

q Internal customers receive the promised support

When schedules are not detailed by individual, but taken only to the level of a full load of identified work for a given team or skill, too much work tends to be loaded for some and too little for others. Individual team members are not clones of each other, even if they are multi-skilled. When uneven loading is allowed to happen, the resultant schedule is not feasible from the beginning.

Each available mechanic should be scheduled for a full day of productive work for each day of the schedule week. The duration should be indicated in the job section of the schedule. In the man power deployment section, indicate labor-hours, to avoid confusion.

q The majority of the crews should be scheduled for important work, which needs to be started and completed without interruption. Make a conservative provision for urgent schedule breaks. Assign jobs that can be interrupted or delayed, to “a few good people” who are flexible. Flexible means that they can stop and resume jobs, be reinstructed and reassigned to “emergencies” with minimal loss of efficiency and without a drop in morale. Approximately 10 to 15% of scheduled labor-hours should be on low priority jobs that can be sacrificed when necessitated by urgent demands. Personnel assigned to such jobs are the ones to be pulled in response to schedule breaks (urgencies).

q Do not schedule any job until all needs (parts, materials, tools, special equipment, asset access, the item to be worked, any special support) are available in the quantity required and at the time necessary.

q List jobs in descending order of importance until all available manhours are committed (PMs listed first), based upon agreements reached during the weekly coordination meeting.

q Determine most logical time of day to schedule PPM’s. Often, the early part of the day is the period of heaviest breakdowns so is not a good time to schedule PM’s. On the other hand, it is not advisable to leave them until the end of the day because then they may not get done at all. Late morning or early afternoon are advisable times to schedule PM’s (as shown on figure 13.7-Line Item 1)

q Add jobs equal to 10 or 15% of scheduled labor-hours (Line Items 21–24) as provisional jobs to be substituted when scheduled jobs are unavoidably delayed or completed in less than the estimated time.

q Establish a contingency section of the schedule (Line Items 25-27) for jobs of high desirability, but that require equipment access not expected within the schedule week. Should availability occur, it is more important that these jobs be performed than some jobs on the primary schedule, but only if the provisional jobs have been properly planned. The provisional strategy is proactive and should be classified as schedule compliant.

q Avoid duplicate shutdowns by scheduling all work requiring common equipment access as appropriate.

q Save minor indoor jobs for severe temperatures and inclement weather.

q Eliminate unnecessary trips. Look for opportunities for assignments to take advantage of jobs in the same location, jobs using the same tools or materials, jobs needing the same skills, and other ways to improve efficiency.

q Schedule multi-person jobs as the first job in the morning whenever possible so that everyone is available to start the job at the same time.

q When scheduling multi-person jobs later in the day, consider previous assignments. Don’t assign one person to a one-hour job and the helper to a two-hour job because both will not be available to start the two-person job concurrently.

q Think about crew balancing delays on multi-man jobs. All four members of a crew are seldom required for the entire duration of a job. Often another small job in the same area can be worked con currently.

q Allocate people to specific jobs with supervisor’s approval. Pick the people for the jobs based on knowledge and aptitude, required skill or equipment and on the basis of individual training needs. Experience shows who is skillful in certain job types and who needs more exposure to them. Balance equipment specialization with broad facility knowledge. Utilize individual skills to the greatest extent possible. Craftsmen should be provided with a challenging environment and the opportunity to grow.

q Schedules for the forthcoming week for each supervisor’s team must be finalized and posted prior to the end of the previous week. All preventive and predictive maintenance inspections must be incorporated at their predetermined frequencies and the timely completion of all identified corrective maintenance must be scheduled.

q Associated “Planned Job Packages” must be delivered to and reviewed with responsible supervisors to assure that nothing falls through the cracks due to misinterpretation of intent or meaning. These consultations form the point at which responsibility transitions from planner to supervisor. Nothing can be allowed to be lost within the transition. In turn, the same level of transition must take place between supervisor and technician at the time of assignment.

q Operations are to be provided with copies of schedules to confirm and document that all agreed upon commitments are acceptable and understood by both operations and maintenance departments.

q It is vital that schedules be studied and approved by everyone concerned. Approval means that a contract has been reached between operations and maintenance to comply with “their joint schedule” for the deployment of maintenance resources in support of operating plans.

q At this point, the Weekly Master Schedule becomes a document of which all parties, through mutual contribution, accept ownership.

q When urgent work is done at the expense of scheduled jobs, a schedule overload results. A scheduled job will be displaced and carried over to the next schedule period, unless the problem is addressed by a temporary increase in capacity (overtime or contract labor). The displaced job is one of those scheduled for the organization that initiates the schedule break. Therefore, requests for schedule breaks require the sanction of the Maintenance and Production Manager.

q Finalize tactics on a daily basis when the schedule is being executed. The weekly schedule must be updated each evening during the week it is in force for the balance of that week. While the transition from reactive to proactive maintenance is taking place, updating will be burdensome and will have to be performed by the planner. However, as schedule compliance matures, the required updating becomes minimal and can be performed by the supervisor.

q Operations must advise planners at the earliest possible moment if they are unable to release equipment as scheduled. Similarly, the maintenance department must advise production management if the reverse situation is likely to occur. Planners must ensure the coordination.

q Planners must keep abreast of schedule status, and detect when a job runs into trouble before it misses a milestone.

q Maintenance must notify and consult with customers about any pending interruptions or disruptions.

q When a job is complete, maintenance must collect the planned job package with appropriate feedback, record the results for schedule compliance, and confirm that the job is closed out. Feedback includes what actually happened, what failed, and ideas for improvement.

q Maintenance must verify that the job was done according to the plan. When a job deviates it is vital to learn why. Verify that the job used the materials listed in the Bill of Material. Verify that all specialized tools and equipment were accounted for in the plan. Verify that drawings were correct and that no additional permits or permissions were needed. Finally, on larger or disruptive jobs verify that all people who should have known about the job were notified and all processes were shut down appropriately.

q Finally, update the planning package in all the areas mentioned.