DECEMBER 20229MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSHaving guiding principles, such as not putting an employee on an "island," and creating standardized work is important. Isolating an employee to an area away from other people, regardless if the throughput is increased or decreased because of demand, the employee is still stuck with the same work content and may not be fully utilized. The basis for productive and efficient work is standardized work. It provides the baseline expectation and is the tool for problem solving if the person cannot perform the standardized work. If a person is trying to follow the standardized work, but cannot, then the focus is on the process, not the person.Some other techniques to consider include providing a magazine of parts for the employee to load so they may be able to fill many different types of parts on a route. Make sure to have an automatic part unload capability. The person and the equipment will not be ARE PEOPLE WORKING WITH OR AGAINST MACHINES?efficient if the person has to unload each part manually. The goal is not to focus on just one aspect of utilization such as the equipment only, but to design a system that has the right trade off between human and machine utilization.This can only be accomplished by separating the person's work from the equipment's work as much as possible.Once the work content is defined, it is imperative to ensure the tasks meet ergonomic requirements. It is our responsibility as employers to ensure all work is safe. Assessments include weight, frequency, posture, and other related people factors. When issues are found, the equipment, part magazine, fixture, or even the part must be redesigned to ensure the work is ergonomic.All of these factors must be explored before the equipment design is released. Unfortunately, many of these considerations are not addressed until the equipment is on the floor, which forces expensive adjustments. If the proper details are defined at the beginning, the system is much more likely to have a successful launch because the person is working with the equipment, not against it. Creating meaningful and productive work for employees allows them to maximize their potential, allows them to feel valued and understand their contribution to the overall system
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