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MODAPTS Blog

MODAPTS Blog

Tools and Equipment for Material Handling Operators

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According to Michael Levans, Group Editorial Director of Supply Chain Group, this year’s Warehouse and Distribution Center DC Operations Survey, reducing operating costs continues to be the top priority for professionals in charge of warehouse and distribution center (DC) operations—yet they have little no new capital to sink into improvements. So when it comes to optimizing the number of employees required to keep a production line stocked JIT with the correct parts- there are many options to consider before implementation which help support getting your materials handlers to optimal levels. Material Handling engineers can help you find the right equipment to lift, rotate, transport, position and dispense material or equipment in the safest, most effective manner your world class manufacturing environment and process requires. Various Material Handling Equipment Regardless if you are working with parts in containers-totes, handling materials on pallets or transporting loads or loading and storing large metal coils – there are methods and processes to make every job safer, easier, ergo friendly and much more efficient. Even when utilizing these time, labor and energy-saving tools or equipment – anytime any company also applies time and performance standards for measurement using a predetermined time system will provide–even more operator efficiency because non-valued added movements are exposed. Lift Tables Portable lift tables come with both powered and non-powered mobile and stationary scissor-lift versions. There are standard tops available along with rotatable tops and tilting tops.  You can also find stainless steel construction. Some companies even make lift tables for material handling to suit the exact physical size as well as lift capacity of the user. Container Tilters A significant increase in productivity for an assembly or manufacturing process comes with eliminating the need for laborers to dig through containers of parts. Container tilters can dramatically improve productivity and safety.  It is critical to position baskets so that parts can easily be accessible without stretching, bending, or reaching. Turntables These are both powered and manual. They come in a variety of sizes and capabilities designed specifically to meet your needs. Pallet Handling And Stacking Equipment Manual stackers benefit from a rugged, ergonomic design.  Simple to use, they are highly maneuverable and support capacities up to 3,000 lbs. and lifting heights up to 80 ft. Lift is accomplished by simply pushing a button embedded into an ergonomically designed comfort-grip handle. An indicator provides charge status at-a-glance and also includes a charger. Coil Up-enders Coil up-enders let users upend palletized metal coils to a coil cart safely. A load-deck rotates 90 degrees, inverting the coil so it’s ready for loading. Up-enders are available with a full variety of capacities. Coil Transporters Coil transports provide movement for metal coils both to – and from coil storage – to stock reels. They arrive ready for positioning onto a stock-reel mandrel. Transporters are best-suited anywhere movement of coils using cranes isn’t practical. Jib Cranes Invest in jib cranes to load metal coils onto coil reels – for skid mounting and transport by fork-truck. Jib cranes are placed at the coil payout device. This allows your operators to use a coil hook, lifting the coil from a pallet and manipulating it onto a reel mandrel or into the nest of a coil cradle. Jib cranes also work to position other loads to work station positions. This is needed most where overhead cranes and/or use of fork-trucks is not possible. Jib cranes can be designed to a customers’ application needs. So summarize the aforementioned equipment, rare is the manufacturing, warehousing or distribution facility that does not suffer from some amount of space limitations. Maybe inventory has exceeded current capacity, or perhaps the footprint of the facility limits expansion possibilities. The point being the proper equipment can help to improve most any operation. The Value of Predetermined Time Standards for Material Handling Tasks The accountants help us determine the value of our equipment investment. Material handling engineers can help you select from multiple kinds of device designs for lifting, manipulating and repositioning materials and assembly-line products to ensure we get the best value. They can also help support predetermining time standards by planning the ergonomics of an operators movements. I think most engineers and companies “get that.” I believe the true “valve” of your labor, however, comes from your efforts to engage them in what they do. The true value of any company is in the creativeness of their employees. I believe there is no better example of the age old adage “knowledge is power” in a manufacturing facility then where an employee is engaged in the decision making process. Going forward, the trend in labor strategies within socially responsible companies is to focus on the individual more than the production numbers. Remember Edward Deming? It seems like a lifetime ago already – but he stated, “People support what they help create.” In the November’s addition of Industry Week, Rick Bohan, principle of Chagrin River Consulting states, “It’s not that the value of labor is ignored, it’s that it is not thought about in many organizations.” To learn more about how predetermined time standards can help your organization directly involve your employees in the creation of labor standards please contact us.

MODAPTS Blog

How to Measure Worker Utilization using MODAPTS®

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Measuring of worker efficiency is one of the best ways to enhance and expand your company productivity and reliable delivery of products and/or services. Dependable, predictable delivery estimates are the foundation of trustworthy business relationships. With accurate work measurements it is possible to utilize a much greater reliability on accurate timeline predictions. How To Enhance Your Work Measurement Capacity Establishing a dependable work measurement standard is accomplished by establishing – then measuring – units of work. In the MODAPTS© system, a unit of work is called a MOD. A MOD – is equal to 0.129 seconds in decimal time. 7.75 MOD’s equal one second. The MOD value is used to measure the time needed to complete a body movement. There are two methods an analyst may use to classify movement activities. These are: 1. By the distance moved. 2. By the body part required to perform the move. Earlier predetermined time systems required an analyst to measure the distance involved in each move. In contrast, MODAPTS© prefers to classify by the body part required to perform a move. There is, of course, a relationship between the body part required to complete a move and the distance moved. MODAPTS© does take distances into consideration. However, the primary focus is on the body part; secondary consideration is given to the distance moved. This approach improves the speed of constructing an analysis. Every required movement can be identified with two-character codes. These are typically identified by using a letter followed by a number. The letter will represent a basic movement. For example, the MOVE to pick up of a part from a table might be coded as M3G1. The M3 represents the type of activity or the movement of the arm hinged at the elbow and 3 represents the time required to complete based on the distance. In this case approx. 12 inches. The G1 represents a simple Get. The total number of MOD’s that are required to perform and complete this activity = 4. Most typical manufacturing processes actually only involve 5, (M_G, M_P_ and W), of the 18 basic movements used in the MODAPTS© system, e.g., “move to get and move to put with a walk.” Simplicity of understanding data is what makes the MODAPTS© work measurement system most effective. Motions Sequences Followed by Coding Procedures Simplification of coding procedures so that any worker can intuitively understand them is the best way to simplify complex communications and movement analysis. Every listed activity should be recorded with the time it takes to complete the activity. Appropriate allowances are always made for potential circumstances such as break times, interruptions or other unavoidable delays. The MODAPTS© system is the simplest, most reliable and easiest to interpret PDTS available in the world today. The MODAPTS© codes, written as motion sequences in an analysis, are easy to interpret and understand at a glance. You can obtain reliable work measurements by getting certified today—and it can even be delivered on your own training site. With MODAPTS© onsite training from the Eisbrenner Productivity Group (EPG), your teams receive intensive, highly-interactive learning experiences. 

More than 97% of MODAPTS© training participants report that onsite training delivered more confidence and reliability in the evaluation of a workstation layout and conducting a MODAPTS© analysis. 

Participants also reported the perspective that the onsite and online versions of MODAPTS© certification was equally as effective. MODAPTS© Training Course Highlights Our training courses are presented with skill, enthusiasm, and up-to-date materials. The specialized and effective MODAPTS© Practitioner Training classes efficiently deliver the principles, concepts and rules for using the MODAPTS© work measurement system. Every on-site class is especially tailored to your specific employees’ needs. 

Within the three and a half day sessions, our top-notch certified instructors deliver clear and concise training methods that guarantee employees will get the results most needed. 

In order to make the sessions even more personalized – we perform a work measurement analysis on at least one of your operations as part of the hands-on MODAPTS© study. If your company is ready to begin measuring your worker utilization for an increase in productivity, delivery competence and profit expanding time measurement evaluations – simply fill out our form here.

MODAPTS Blog

How to Execute a Work Study

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Reviewing Current Shared Operating Procedures In planning work-study, think through the kinds of work, i.e.; the series of actions each person takes when performing the task. This may involve observation and interviews for an accurate understanding of what is involved in each operating procedure. For example if your business in not the mass production of parts down an assembly line, what kinds of tasks constitute 80 percent of work on any given day? How many people are involved in shared or interconnected task performances? Seek examples, write them down and estimate the average time an employee spends moving through each process. It will not be definitive, but it will be revealing to compare estimates and assumptions about where the time goes when reviewing the actual tasks for a specific measurement. Consider recording every process engaged during the day. Including breaks, meetings, project/process work and lunch. How frequently do workers ask supervisors or peers questions? How long is the wait-time while data is pulled up or a computer is refreshed? How often and how many phone calls or inquiries are coming from others? Determine which information to gather related to the actual work tasks such as: Sources of work Numbers of defect occurrences for incoming work Workflow during different times of the day, week or month Inaccurate or incomplete work Identifying Workload Drivers The work-study team or individuals, should consider how detailed they need to be with data generation and recording of information. Should you measure how much time it takes to complete a spreadsheet of adjustments from a client – or should the job be broken down into task units, and the drivers that motivate the task? In making this choice, consider the “unit” of work – the lowest common-denominator task engaged by the workers being studied. For example, all maintenance transactions might be performed in individual units. These kinds of tasks all take about the same amount of time. The only unique factor is frequency – relative to each other – and what drivers affect the volume of the workload determining how long this task will take. Remember, the work-study is not intended to capture every single employee interaction or task. It is initially needed to comprehend the top percentages – from 70 to 90 percent of tasks, which will provide a representative sample. Creating Lists of Every Activity Performed This of course needs to be done across various job functions. Most work-study processes are subject to variations in volume resulting from seasonal factors. These are predictable within limits. Consider for example a manufacturer of upholstered furniture: these manufacturers usually have an influx of orders in the Fall before the holiday season at the end of the year. It comes again in March and April, and then work tasks fall off over the summer. Decide in advance when to conduct the work-study. Prepare by listing all of the activities and tasks needed to be considered for review. If it is during light season, people may have more time on their hands. Results would show this emphasis of non-work time. If it is a during pre-holiday season, associates will be under pressure to get the work out. Many will be putting in overtime in order to avoid backlogs. It may be best for you to conduct the work studies during both periods, making an average of the results. Collect Data Using a Reliable Work Measurement Tool Use good task sampling procedures for reliable results. The most effective work measurement processes include time performance measurement procedures such as MODAPTS®. The fastest growing and easiest to use PDTS in the world today.

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