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MODAPTS Blog

Components of a Solution

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A healthy workplace is reflected in employee attitudes and heightened worker production standards based upon ergo friendly design tasks, workstations and environment. Attaining visible workplace health remains the most holistic approach to solving workplace and employee productivity issues. It takes into consideration the “whole” picture – which often includes the physical, environmental, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, occupational and mental health of your company’s employees. Workplace wellness promotion is a solution that results in more than just an organization with healthy processes and contented employees. It is a productive workplace that retains its employees. More and more organizations today are creating Health and Welfare Committees. This group is responsible for recognizing health and safety concerns as well as identifying the solutions. Workplace Wellness Also Includes: Ergonomics, and Predetermined Time Standards Human resource professionals point to studies demonstrating that investing in work-life balance and wellness initiatives: Decreases absenteeism Improves productivity Increases both morale and work relationships Reduces stress Inspires new employees Serves to retain current employees In today’s hectic world – employees have proven they are drawn to – and stay with – organizations that help them accomplish both life-balance and personal satisfaction. While people may be drawn by a passion for an organizations’ mission statement – time and again it has been proven they will burnout or get turned off if their work-life balance is out of whack for too long. Ergonomics: Solving Work-life Balance Issues Body ergonomics for employees in assembly positions and other labor-focused tasks means protecting body wellness so that each person can continue performing to the highest levels achievable. Healthy balance for employees also means maintaining productivity goals and team cohesion objectives. Work-life balance initiatives need to be based on employee needs. Discovering what initiatives would enhance a greater sense of work-life balance may involve deliberate one-on-one discussions amongst co-workers and team leaders. Breaking Down Productivity Issues into Solvable Components Consulting with your staff provides the chance for an opportunity to talk through any concerns and resistance to applying new processes and methods to improve productivity and healthy workplace balances. MODAPTS is the “Language of Work”. In order for any work-life balance initiatives to be successful, they must not only support employees but also must fit with organizational needs.  MODAPTS facilitates communication with people from other cultures. Educate your staff, senior management and any board members about the rationale for work-life balance initiatives and the benefits to employees and the organization. Success requires commitment from all staff, including the board of directors. Depending on your organization’s culture, change may be easy – or more difficult – to implement. Predetermined Time Standards, (PDTS) Efficiency is a major component of team effectiveness. Adopting methods and processes that deliver the ability to use precision timing for activities and processes that drive your business is mandatory. Competitive business means implementing methods like modular breakdowns of regularly performed tasks for the most efficient, ergonomically sound performances. When employees are trained in significant and quality-focused, task-focused training – you cultivate a circle of protection around the quality standards required to maintain effective cost efficiencies. Why not train and re certify your employees in the easiest to learn and simplest to use of all PDTS? MODAPTS!

MODAPTS Blog

Are Your Employees Laser Focused on Continuous Improvement?

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Is your work force collectively laser-focused on improving yields and profitability in order to make decent-enough returns to grow the business? You may be thinking, “WOW, now that’s a lot to expect of our workers!” But is it really? Creating a work environment that enables your work-force to be the best they can be is far from expecting too much. According to the experts at Cornell University – creating such a culture is the smartest possible move management can make. Your work force needs to be fully engaged to be truly competitive. Fully engaged workers are those who feel they are experts focused on their jobs. Anyone who is capable of growing into and beyond one specific job description can be cross-trained and therefore doubly valuable to any labor-force team. How To Tap Into Motivation: Create A Powerful Culture of Respect and Competition What is true is that all loyal, competent employees are looking to improve themselves, their jobs and their pay. Human nature is competitive, and people want to enjoy their daily experience – which means adding a component of goal setting, increasing competence and expanding personal value – is quickly embraced by motivated employees. There is much more to knowing ones job than fixing a machine or assembling a part perfectly.  A worker is empowered by understanding how labor rates are set and where the path to advancement will take them if they embrace the offered improvement opportunities. Cornell University Promotes Organizational Culture Development Cornell administrators realized the importance of maintaining a focus on continuous improvement and the synergy and power cultivated by alignment of people, purpose and values. Organizational development for both faculty and staff means the facilitation of processes, sessions, and retreats – in order to best support department leaders in aligning and integrating their organizational goals and objectives with those of the university. To accomplish this, the faculty began by laser-focusing groups on optimizing and aligning the talents of each employee. They aligned the employees to the university’s strategic plans and goals, which helped the group understand the current staff culture. This aligned them to the future goals, objectives, actions/tactics and resources to achieve much greater efficiency. Creating A Company Culture: The Importance Of Training Improvement Opportunities Cornell University now promotes tapping into each group’s individual and collective expertise. Any planning process involves the group: Developing teams that can engage in honest and respectful dialog – with a goal of becoming nimble while increasing effectiveness and efficiency. Understanding that teams can embrace the mission and vision for the whole of the company. Comprehending the environment the group works in and how that environment impacts their work. Understanding the stakeholders’/decision-makers’ expectations, needs and wants. This information is often gathered from: Customers/clients Employees (the group performing the goal-alignment effort) Owners/administrators Key decision-makers Its effective application and delivery depends on using reliable processes and metrics to determine future directions and potential. These university leaders expect to be called on for tools and processes to make changes at the organizational level. They strive to develop best-practices for results of excellence for individuals, teams, and continuing improvement opportunities: Develop the company by developing each individual Engage every employee to laser-focus on their own professional development Provide operations managers with resources and tools for   processes that enhance team capability Constantly focus on continuous improvement. Are you interested in learning more about how predetermined systems can be used to train and teach your employees? If so, contact us for more information. We have helped others, maybe we can help you too.

MODAPTS Blog

American Manufacturing is on the Rise

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More and more is being written about on shoring or re shoring, bringing back manufacturing to US soil. How can that be? Is this a fad? Is this the latest “flavor of the month” program management signed up for? What are the reasons why? Why is this happening? The reasons are many I am sure. In the auto industry many of the suppliers now supply all the car manufacturers with the same or very similar parts. The materials they use are the same. The machines used to produce the parts are also from the same supply base, e.g., the stampings, the pick and place robots, welding robots, etc… So what is different? The difference I believe, is simple yet commonly overlooked… the American workers and the culture of the company for whom the work. World class companies in the US are brining jobs back on shore. People want to succeed. People want to be measured against an objective/goal. Establishing clearly defined objectives matched to each individual’s capabilities and interests can provide healthy motivation, while fair, routine performance evaluations reveal if they are on the right course for success. People want to thrive. People need leaders to follow. People need heroes to admire not to envy! Although envy is a normal reaction it is destructive. A recent study at Princeton University and a post on the Princeton Journal Watch discusses the effects on envy-driven emotion the Germans call “Schadenfreude”. The study suggests schadenfreude is a basic biological response in humans, not something we consciously choose to feel. People with low self-esteem are more likely to envy others. Perhaps you have heard people say, “…oh she is good looking that is why…. “ Or, “he is the boss’s son so he does have to work…” etc., etc. The examples are endless. The point is no good can every come from envy, especially in the work place. What works? What works for world class companies with world class leaders whom people want to follow and work for? Good communication of company policy and worker expectations is an essential foundation. Bonus plan/profit sharing Continuous team building exercises (exercises to help improve how employees interact with each other) Visual growth plans for the company Reimbursement program for continuing work related education programs/classes. Clearly defined objectives matched to each individual’s capability. The use of or implementation of a Predetermined Time System , ( PDTS),for setting fair and equable work standards and measuring workers utilization is a start. Employees set work standards? Gasp! When company teams learn how to apply work standards in a way that expands effectiveness and efficiency – money has been saved, labor efforts reduced and potentials for a quality-of-excellence increased. A published report from Japan indicates that shop employees have successfully used a PDTS to develop production standards for their own work activity.2 These employees have also analyzed conveyor tasks and utilized this system for assembly line balancing. The report indicates that that this PDTS is easier for employees to understand, learn and apply in comparison to other predetermined techniques. Are predetermined time systems right for your company? Are you interested in improving their assembly line productivity? Do you use PDTS in your facility? Are you correctly using your PDTS? Are you considering using PDTS vs. a stop watch for setting production standards? Is a PDTS right for your organization and culture to determine with precision exactly what the reasonable amount of time is required to complete any defined task by any typical operator or laborer? Download our Whitepaper on PDTS….it might help you decide. ————————————————— 1. Yokomizo, Y. (1982). The Utilization of MODAPTS® by Workers. Waseda University Research Reports.

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