Macro Ergonomics

1
Chapter 11

• Macro Ergonomics

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Six Ergonomics Guidelines

• Plan the work, then work the plan.
• Reward results.
• Optimize system availability.
• Minimize idle capacity.
• Use filler jobs or filler people.
• Communicate information.

3
Plan the Work, Then Work the Plan

• Plan the Work
• List goals.
• Set goal priorities.
• Make a to do list.
• Set activity priorities.

• Work the Plan
• Start with As, not with Cs.
• Do it now.
• Cut big activities into bits.

4
Reward Results

• Get people to work hard and smart.
• Types of motivation
• Positive
• Internal (self-motivation)
• External
• Financial
• Nonfinancial
• Negative

5
Financial Rewards

• Pay independent of output
• Pay independent but step function
• Piecework with a guaranteed base
• Piecework without a guarantee

6
Nonfinancial Motivation

• If you expect your workers to do well, praise
  them, and trust them, they will do well and will
  deserve your trust.
• Positive rewards may be awarded to individuals or
  teams.
• Negative rewards include point systems for
  tardiness and absenteeism.

7
Optimize System Availability

• Availability Uptime Total Time
• Strategies to improve availability
• Increase uptime.
• Decrease downtime.
• Make loss of availability less costly.

8
Optimize System Availability (of what ?)

• Availability of a Service Channel
• Meantime Between
  Failures (MTBF)
• Availability
• MTBF Time to Repair (MTR)
• Increase Reliability (MTBF)
• Increase capability or decrease the load,
• Consider Parallel vs Series Arrangements
• Reliability Rseries R1 R2
  and Rparallel 1 - U1 U2
• Unreliability U1 1 - R1
  and U2 1 - R2
• Increase Maintainability
• Decrease MTR (downtime)
• Make Loss of Availability Less Costly

9
Increase Uptime

• Use longer production runs.
• Increase reliability (MTBF).
• Increase capability.
• Decrease load.
• Consider series vs. parallel circuits.
• Use standby circuit or modularization.

10
Decrease Downtime

• Decrease voluntary downtime (reduce setup time).
• Increase maintainability (decrease MTR).
• Use standby systems/modularization.
• Reduce fault location time.
• Reduce logistics time.
• Reduce repair time.

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Make Loss of Availability Less Costly

• Use preventive maintenance.
• Allow partial function.

12
Minimize Idle Capacity Fixed Costs

• Annual cost of many machines and people varies
  little with output.
• Solutions
• Operate more hours/year.
• Use pools.
• Revise work schedules.
• Encourage off-peak use.

13
Minimize Idle Capacity Variable Costs

• Some team members are more expensive than others.
• In the U.S. the expensive part of the team is
  usually human labor.
• Solutions
• Duplicate components.
• Idle low-cost components (use double tooling).
• Do not use one on one.

14
Use Filler Jobs or Filler People

• Problem Match worker time to job requirements.
• Strategies
• Adjust the workload but keep the workforce
  constant.
• Adjust the workforce but keep the workload
  constant.

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Adjust the Workload

• Break longer jobs into shorter jobs.
• Do short, low-priority jobs during idle time.
• Use scheduling to decrease idle time.
• Assign more work to subordinates than they have
  time to do.

16
Adjust the Workforce

• Use staggered work times.
• Use temporary workers.
• Use part-time workers.

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Use Staggered Work Times

• Different workers have different start and stop
  times.
• The business can be open more hours with no
  additional cost.
• Consider compressed work weeks and flexible
  schedules.
• Require vacations to be taken during slack times.

18
Use Temporary Workers

• Temporary workers usually cost more.
• Temporary workers allow the business to staff for
  the bottom of the business cycle and have a
  no-layoff policy for core staff.
• Temporary workers can be removed from the payroll
  quickly.

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Use Part-Time Workers

• Permits better matching of work requirements and
  work availability.
• Labor costs will be lower (lower fringe benefits
  and wages).
• Labor can be made a variable rather than a fixed
  cost.
• Part-timers may be allowed to share a job.
• Part time may be within a day or within the week
  or month.

20
Communicate Information

• Provide job instruction or training.
• Provide command and control short messages that
  trigger behavior patterns.