In part 1 of this article, I have emphasized on managing
indirect labor and some of the aspect managing indirect labors apply to direct labor
as well. Manufacturer which has a lot
of manual assembly process should focus on managing and controlling direct labor,
human operator.
Although there have much advancement in automated
manufacturing process, manual product transformation work by human is still
very crucial in many cases. Direct labor
has a direct touch to the transformation of the product and it is vital to
ensure we have a direct labor workforce that is trained and consistent. Key tenets to direct labor workforce
consistency include training, certification, performance monitoring and
retention.
Training
The organization ought to have direct labor training
department which specialize in manufacturing process training with certified
trainers. Training system should include
interactive classroom training which cover all aspect of the process. Once the classroom training is
completed, then the operator should be
go through on job training (OJT) on the
actual process with proper monitoring from the trainer for a duration according
to training procedure. Training should
also include part handling as reject could happen during part handling between
process rather than transformation process itself.
It is good practice to organize training approach base on
the type of assembly process, its complexity and skill level required for the
process. An example a soldering process operator
would require higher level skill set compare to a packing or labeling
operator. The criteria used to certify different
work complexity/skill level worker should also be different.
Certification
Operators should be certified through an objective
evaluation process, which could comprise of written examination and OJT
evaluation from certified trainers. Trainer
need to assess on how well the operator follows the work instruction in the
process and the output from the process which is free from defect. Clear criteria for certification could
consist of
- Length of OJT
- Count of parts the operator produce
- Operator cycle time
- Count of defect parts from the OJT operator
Performance
monitoring
After operator had been certified, there should be a
regular performance monitoring to ensure operator realize that they are being
monitored and received feedback about their work. Performance monitoring could include work
attitude, absenteeism, actual work, compliance product rate etc. There
should disciplinary action taken when necessary
There are a few companies who practice recertification on
yearly basis. If this is case, then there
must an automated recall system available to do so. Recertification is compulsory for operator
who had been away from the work for quite some time, eg. maternity leave or transfer to other process.
Cross
training
Objective criteria to select operator for cross training
is necessary based operator skill level.
It is advisable to limit the number of cross training for each operator.
Staff
Retention
It is imperative to have a stable direct workforce as
only through a stable direct workforce we can maintain the consistent good
quality product. There should be an equally attractive reward and motivation to
help reduce attrition rate.
Process input variation contributed by man is the most
difficult to handle. Human is very
complex with different personality will operate differently which contribute to
variations. There is no one size fit all
approach in dealing with individuals.
Human is the one that give rise to quality problems and they are one who
can resolve quality problems as well.
Once there is a consistent process screening the right
candidate for the right functional role from to
