If you run a plant with lots of hand packing how interested are you in reducing your overtime costs?
I'm guessing that the answer is a big resounding "VERY"!
I believe that just 5 steps with our XL800 system will provide you with the answer you need - and the payback is likely to be within our free trial (depending on the size of your overtime bill!). Call us now to find out more.
Just this week i was in an FMCG plant with a hand packing hall. Every individual unit is manually lifted from the line and placed into a cardboard box, sealed, and then hand palletised. The manager I was with explained how amazing it was that when the team were behind on performance and needed overtime to finish the run, just how frequently the amount of time needed was exactly 1 or 2 hours! Perhaps this may sound familar to you?
So here's a suggestion that could massively reduce your overtime bill: Install an XL800 in your manual handling hall and use it to display the performance of your packing team.
Here's how to massively cut your overtime bill:
1. Get a signal:
- Firstly find some way to get a pulse for every box packed.
- This site had a really simple automated tape machine built into the conveyor - fully mechanical with 3 spring-loaded moving parts. The answer: install a £20 laser eye to pick up the movement of one moving part.
2. Work out a reasonable run rate (cycle time) for the packing team:
- What takt time do your team need to work at to meet output? What speed can they realistically achieve? Calculate the first one from the speed of your slowest automated machine. Calculate the second one through some line based timings - ensure you consider your health and safety requirements.
3. Install your XL800 system to display:
- Target packing speed
- Actual packing speed
- Mins lost due to slow running/stops
- Units left till end of run
- Or work out what KPI's are most motivating for your team - remember that the XL800 is recording over 100 KPI's all the time, including; number of slow cycles, number of minor stops, mins changeover time.
4. Review their performance....with the team....several times in the day. Ensure that they understand the metrics. Ensure that your front line management team use the metrics to support and encourage the team rather than to beat them up.
5. Watch your overtime bill freefall as the team become engaged with real-time data that they can control.
Warning: THIS WILL IMPROVE THE PRODUCTIVITY OF YOUR TEAM AND YOU MAY NEED TO FIND THEM MORE JOBS TO DO, OR GET MORE PRODUCT TO MAKE.
I remember seeing this process used most effectively in an electronics company where the teams were told their daily target, and given responsibility to deliver that target however they wanted. If that meant working faster so that they could all go for breaks at the same time, then that was their choice.
If you would like to massively reduce your manual handling overtime bill, get in touch now!
