|
Industry
Experience
Our consultants have experience in a wide variety of industries in the
United States, Canada, Australia, and abroad. With each company we work
with, our experience grows. Today, we bring our clients the insight that
comes from working extensively with more than 200 companies.
While the employee issues are often consistent from industry to industry,
technological and financial issues can vary widely. To demonstrate this,
we have listed some of the industries and problems faced at companies
that we have worked with in the past.
Mining
Minerals: Coal, gold, lead, tin, nickel.
Technologies: Open cut, underground, room and pillar, retreat, longwall,
open stope.
• The high cost of today's mining equipment
necessitates running all equipment for as many hours as possible every
week.
• Maintenance requirements frequently cause
conflicts with production activities.
• Labor costs are a significant portion
of the cost of mining. This results in lean staffing which, in turn,
results in many problems associated with overtime distribution and absenteeism.
• The marginal cost of additional production
can make spot market sales very lucrative.
Manufacturing
Types: Batch and continuous process, assembly lines, vertically and horizontally
integrated, high and low-tech.
• Equipment costs vary widely from one
manufacturing operation to another. If the equipment is expensive, companies
strive to get the maximum utilization out of every piece. If equipment
is relatively inexpensive, companies often buy more machines to increase
production--until they run out of room to expand. Under both scenarios,
shiftwork becomes a byproduct of growth.
• Production demands frequently vary with
the seasons. This usually results in high overtime and temporary help
utilization.
• Often labor intensive, most manufacturing
environments are strongly affected by local unemployment levels.
• Many manufacturing companies produce
hundreds of SKU's at a single facility. This creates inventory and changeover
problems.
Food Processing
Types: Beef, chicken, seafood, soups and gravies, canned foods, confectioneries,
snack foods.
• In addition to normal manufacturing
issues, food processing is often driven by sanitation requirements.Meeting
these requirements reduces time available for both production and maintenance
activities.
• Seasonal demands vary more in food processing
than in most other manufacturing environments.
• Freshness issues create numerous deadlines
that constrain the operation.
• Not meeting demands means cut orders
and lost customers. All of these issues make an efficient and flexible
shiftwork operation extremely important.
Refining, Chemicals,
Pharmaceuticals
• Huge capital investments require all
oil refineries and many chemical operations to maximize their equipment
utilization with schedules that cover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• While these types of schedules are ideal
for continuous operations, they may fail to meet other scheduling needs
of the organization.
• Safety issues make dedicated training
time essential to the safe operation of these plants.
Law Enforcement
Types: Local/county/city, State/Providence,
Correctional
• Service and safety are paramount
concerns for both the officers and the public.
• Coverage is needed 24/7, with higher
coverage usually needed during commute times and evening hours.
• Governmental budgets are being
squeezed even as populations (and therefore the workload) increases.
• The opportunity to use alternative
shifts like 10-hour shifts is greater here than in almost any other
idustry.
Click here for more information.
Printing
Types: Books, commercial, direct mail, newspapers
• With the exception of newspapers, most
printing operations function as huge job-shops. Every product is different.
• Make-ready and changeover time management
is essential to efficient operations.
• Equipment performance often varies significantly
from machine to machine -- yielding production improvements through
equipment optimization.
• Printing skills are readily transferred
to new employers, making employee retention essential.
Click here to open a
printable pdf version of this page.
|
