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LABOR AND MACHINE STANDARDS

Objective

Establish labor standards for line personnel and machine standards for production machines and/or facility equipment to provide the basis for production recording and efficiency measurement.

Application

This section applies mainly to manufacturing plants with production lines or assembly operations.

It does not apply for well established MIS (Manufacturing Information Systems) and/or computerized systems that effectively use production line information for reporting and planning purposes.

Technical Partners (TP) offers to set up labor and/or machine standards to suit a specific line or operation in a manufacturing plant.
These services are aimed at controlling production and increasing productivity

Methodology

There are two forms of standards we consider in production.

Labor standards are for labor-intensive operations that are constantly repeated. These may include packaging lines or assembly operations.

The labor standard will:

• identify the man-hours required:
• per shift
• per unit of production of each item being produced
• identify the manning required
• for the production line,
• for the shift
• identify the materials needed (raw materials, work-in-process, packaging) for a shift.
• Identify inefficiencies to allow for corrective action to be taken.

Labor standards must be exact and realistic so that planners can accurately predict the materials that must be available for the line, and the products that will be produced.

Machine standards are required to determine equipment effectiveness. These will apply to process or packaging equipment that can affect the operating results of a line.

Machine standards may vary depending on the product being produced. Of course, line balancing is also important so that the line works up to the level of its slowest component. It may not be necessary for a machine to work to its capacity, but its required operating speed should be set.

Machine standards will:

• identify if the equipment is being operated at either design or required speed,
• identify if there are mechanical problems,
• identify if an over-haul is required

Machine standards may be part of an overall maintenance management system which will also include service and cleaning requirements.

Machines standards, as with labor standards, must be exact and realistic so that planners can accurately predict the materials that must be available for the line, and the products that will be produced.

Reporting Systems

Established labor and/or machine standards can be the basis of a production control system and/or a maintenance management system. This may be computerized or simply hand written in smaller operations. It is not complicated – but it is extremely effective for supervisors and managers to understand what is happening in their departments and to take corrective actions to increase productivity. It is a must for plant management.

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