Many high volume production cells were operating around 60% productivity, which was a major drag on the plant’s profitability. Management knew they needed specific changes in each cell to correct the problems, but they did not have the industrial engineering resources to develop targeted, workable solutions ASAP.

Work measurement studies were conducted on selected production cells by IET’s industrial engineers. After thoroughly analyzing machine cycle times, changeover procedures and equipment delays over several shifts, IET quantified the production losses associated with each unique cause and recommended achievable production standards based on implementing short-term improvements. These standards provided the basis for accurately determining overall manpower requirements under two different crewing options: three 8-hour shifts and two 10-hour shifts.

IET’s process improvements and crewing plan described a plan to reduce labor requirements by 15% - 25%. The two 10-hour shift plan was especially attractive to management because it offered flexibility in responding to volume changes in addition to reducing total headcount.