Who is an Ideal Shop Floor Manager| The Machine Maker

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• Who is an Ideal Shop Floor Manager The Machine
  Maker
• Who is an Ideal Shop Floor Manager?
• To answer this question, we first need to
  identify the broad parameters that will establish
  his effectiveness. These are
• Knowledge of his Job and Objectives
• Knowledge about his Resources
• Knowledge about his people (actually the most
  important resource and hence listed separately)
• Awareness of Safety, Environmental and various
  Statutory Rules Regulations
• Updated knowledge/information on New Developments
• Awareness of performance benchmarks

1. Knowledge of his Job Objectives
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• An ideal shop floor manager must have a
  comprehensive knowledge of all the aspects of the
  allocated job. The manager must have all the
  responsibilities completely embedded in the
  mind. These are
• What are his specific responsibilities?
• Who are his customers and what are their needs
  and priorities?
• Who are his suppliers (Purchase, Stores, Shops
  prior to his in the manufacturing sequence) and
  what are their limitations and what support/
  clarifications they need from
• him so that they can serve him better?
• His work targets both quantity and time
• What are the work methods or methodologies to be
  used/ deployed to achieve the desired output in
  the time and cost specified? This will typically
  decide make-buy decisions
• What are the parameters for evaluating
  performance and information collection
• reporting necessary for doing so
• Knowledge about his Resources
• What are his resources? Classically, these are
  the 5 Ms men, materials, machines, methods and
  money.
• The first, i.e. men, is very important and in a
  class by itself, so it is discussed separately,
  below. Methods have already been alluded to in
  the first point, above, whilst Money we are
  excluding from the discussions here because it
  is assumed that the Shop Floor manager is
  operating under a sanctioned budget where the
  required money is already allocated.
• The following is what he needs to fully know
  about his other resources, i.e. machines
  materials

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• He needs to ensure that the operators carry out
  routine maintenance every day (e.g. cleaning,
  oiling, greasing etc.) and that the Maintenance
  (or Engineering) Department carries out the
  scheduled Preventive Maintenance regularly.
• Availability (physical and operational) of
  auxiliary equipment, tools, jigs, fixtures, dies,
  spares etc.
• Very often machines are available and working but
  the required Jigs/ Fixtures/ Tooling are not
  available or cannot be found! This renders the
  working machine absolutely impotent it simply
  cannot be used. Hence, a great deal of attention
  is required to ensure proper and full
  availability of such auxiliary equipment/tools.
• Input Materials used and required by him their
  availability, scarcity and caution to be
  exercised in their handling and use
• Again, if machines and tooling are available but
  the input material is NOT, then once again no
  output can be achieved. So while keeping
  attention on his own machinery and tooling, the
  shop floor manager also needs to constantly
  check and regularly follow-up for timely and
  adequate availability of required input material
  as per budgeted production plan.
• Knowledge about his People (his most important
  Resource)
• Knowing your people is not confined to just
  recognizing their faces or knowing their names
  a pity that many managers do not even know that!
  Knowing your people in this context means much
  more as listed below.
• Names, sections where working, in which shift
• Age, experience and qualification,
• Strengths (Skills and special competencies)
• Shortcomings (limitations) both in terms of
  skills as well as attitude/behavior
• Hence, areas where he/she needs training,
  guidance, counselling

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• they are likely to falter or make mistakes. It
  also requires inputs of training, guidance and
  counselling so that they can grow to their full
  potential and thus get motivated to perform at
  their peak capabilities.
• 4. Awareness of Safety, Environmental and various
  Statutory Rules Regulations
• Safe working conditions and adherence to
  Environmental regulations is an extremely
  important area even though this may fall under
  the conventional area of hygiene standards. The
  fact is that no one can perform to his full
  potential unless he/ she feels fully safe in the
  work environment. Take a very simple example of
  a slippery floor, either due to water or oil
  spill. In such a case, people will walk very
  slowly and carefully instead of walking briskly
  or running across in case o emergency. As a
  result, pace of work will distinctly slow down
  leading to fall in output and lowering of
  productivity, simply because he floor is
  slippery!
• To ensure that people feel safe and untroubled by
  any environmental/ecological disaster, the
  following points need to be taken care of
• Use of PPE (Helmets, Safety Shoes, Masks,
  Goggles, Ear Plugs, Slings etc.) by all
  employees in his work section
• Proper execution of all safety and precaution
  measures while operating machines in his
• shop this requires properly planned training to
  be given to all employees on the respective
  machines they operate and to every worker when
  he/she shifts to a machine that he/she is going
  to operate for the first time. The training
  itself can be a 15 min to half-an hour session
  but it must be given, without exception.
• Proper earthing of all electrical
  machines/equipment in his shop and regular check
  of the same as per recommended practice
• Full and free access to Fire Extinguishers and
  Electrical Switchboards in his department
• this is extremely important and, sadly, the
  most violated.
• Regular training and Mock Fire Drills ensuring
  that sufficient (ideally, all) employees know
  how to use the Fire Extinguishers and other such
  equipment Mock Fire Drill does not mean that a
  fire is lit and the instructor puts out the Fire
  that is demo, not training !
• Training in this case means that each and every
  attendee actually take the Fire
• extinguisher off the hook on the wall, rushes to
  the Fire and then operated the Fire

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• extinguisher himself to put out the Fire. Only
  then will they get the familiarity and the
  confidence to put out a fire when it happens for
  real.
• Aisles, Staircases and Emergency Exits always
  kept fully free for speedy movement/ exit and
  prevention of accidents
• Promptly attend to any leakage (air, water, gas,
  steam, oil, coolant) to prevent accident
• and pollution
• Ensure proper and adequate lighting in all areas
  especially staircase, corners and blind turning
  to avoid accident caused by poor visibility
• 5. Must keep himself abreast of changes and
  developments in his sphere of working and all
  related areas
• Without doubt this is the most important
  requirement for a successful Shop Floor Manager
  because only careful attention to this aspect
  will save him from obsolescence. The areas where
  he needs to constantly update and keep himself
  abreast are
• Technological
• Regulatory / Statutory
• Competitive
• Environmental / Safety / Societal
• All technological developments do not immediately
  translate into a product or even a prototype
• hence, one will not come to know about them in
  newspapers and magazines. You will need to
  institute a conscious search (which is now easy
  through the internet) of developments, in areas
  of your interest, in technical magazines or in
  the work of well-renowned Industrial Product
  Development Design Labs or reputed Technology
  Institutes.
• Similarly, you can keep your self-updated by
  becoming member of Professional Associations
  related to your work.

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Constantly read about what your competition is
doing or what it has achieved, where it has
clipped only this alertness will help you keep
ahead of them. 6. Must constantly benchmark
himself against best performance parameters,
internationally, and strive to attain and surpass
them This calls for self-motivation which pushes
you to strive to be the best. For this you need
to know what is the current best, where do you
stand in relation to that and how do you reach
there or, even, surpass it. This will call for
extensive reading, meeting with people in the
profession and exchanging notes, calling up
friends and colleagues in similar or related
business o know what is going on in other
word taking a lot of interest in the world around
and making conscious efforts to understand and
spot the direction in which the world is
moving. While the above may sound a theoretical
ideal, it is not impractical. There are countless
examples of managers, across industries and
countries, who are living embodiment of the
above principles and you can also become one of
them, should you wish so. Best luck to you on an
exciting journey towards excellence. About
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