Does anyone operate a system by which they schedule workshop time in advance for completing each job. I want to introduce something along those lines myself and would appreciate any tips.
Thanks,
Mark
Workshop time planning.
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Workshop time planning.
Mark Lacey
“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
“Life is short. Art long. Opportunity is fleeting. Experience treacherous. Judgement difficult.”
― Geoffrey Chaucer
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kev@frames
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Re: Workshop time planning.
hi Mark
yes, we schedule 30 jobs per sheet per day. The exact number isn't important, there's 2 of us, and separate staff on the counter. ... and I'm fairly flexible on overtime.
at 30 a day average thats 5 an hour, with 2 of us in the workshps. so an average allocation of 12 workshop minutes, or 24 man-minutes per job. Call it half an hour.
Busier or quieter we average this, six days a week so our average seems to be a good allowance of 30 minutes per job if it was a one man workshop.
BUT after saying that, imho individual job times can vary so much that a broader view is probably better:
After fifteen years we finally found out what everybody else probably knew already but nobody bothered to mention, that there is an optimum turnaround time which smooths out the daily ups and downs, based on the average time it takes to do x-hundred average jobs. some days you can be a few days ahead, most of the rest of the time you are doing a lot of jobs "JIT" (just in time: the day before they are due out).
For us its 10 working days. Perfect.
It used to be one week turnaround (5 working days). Misery.
You would not believe the difference this makes to smooth running and actually delivering on time without panic or hassle.
This optimum turnaround tme will obviously vary from business to business, depending on all sorts of factors. But i think that you need to find the most suitable turnaround time which cushions the ups and downs (quiet/busy) days. Then enjoy it when its quieter, and get your head down without too much pressure when its busy.
I look on it as a sort of "inertia" that you build up, always with a resevoir of work in hand, but always far enough ahead to manage materials etc. Plus it allows you to "fit in" urgent jobs, or deal with PITA jobs instead of letting them accumulate until they are an unmanageable amount.
At one time I made a crass comment about a competitor who had an eight week turnaround. I said glibly that the muppet must have got 7 weeks behind with his orders and never caught up. I was probably wrong. It was most likely the turanaround time that worked for his business, and he wasn't short of customers either, and he's still going.
Its worth thinking about. As a bonus on this optimum turnaround thing, there is a length of time in the customers head which is "too long", there is also a length of time in the customers head which has the opposite effect. That the job was done quickly hence it wasn't worth waiting for. Fast turnaround can actually devalue your work in some customers eyes.
yes, we schedule 30 jobs per sheet per day. The exact number isn't important, there's 2 of us, and separate staff on the counter. ... and I'm fairly flexible on overtime.
at 30 a day average thats 5 an hour, with 2 of us in the workshps. so an average allocation of 12 workshop minutes, or 24 man-minutes per job. Call it half an hour.
Busier or quieter we average this, six days a week so our average seems to be a good allowance of 30 minutes per job if it was a one man workshop.
BUT after saying that, imho individual job times can vary so much that a broader view is probably better:
After fifteen years we finally found out what everybody else probably knew already but nobody bothered to mention, that there is an optimum turnaround time which smooths out the daily ups and downs, based on the average time it takes to do x-hundred average jobs. some days you can be a few days ahead, most of the rest of the time you are doing a lot of jobs "JIT" (just in time: the day before they are due out).
For us its 10 working days. Perfect.
It used to be one week turnaround (5 working days). Misery.
You would not believe the difference this makes to smooth running and actually delivering on time without panic or hassle.
This optimum turnaround tme will obviously vary from business to business, depending on all sorts of factors. But i think that you need to find the most suitable turnaround time which cushions the ups and downs (quiet/busy) days. Then enjoy it when its quieter, and get your head down without too much pressure when its busy.
I look on it as a sort of "inertia" that you build up, always with a resevoir of work in hand, but always far enough ahead to manage materials etc. Plus it allows you to "fit in" urgent jobs, or deal with PITA jobs instead of letting them accumulate until they are an unmanageable amount.
At one time I made a crass comment about a competitor who had an eight week turnaround. I said glibly that the muppet must have got 7 weeks behind with his orders and never caught up. I was probably wrong. It was most likely the turanaround time that worked for his business, and he wasn't short of customers either, and he's still going.
Its worth thinking about. As a bonus on this optimum turnaround thing, there is a length of time in the customers head which is "too long", there is also a length of time in the customers head which has the opposite effect. That the job was done quickly hence it wasn't worth waiting for. Fast turnaround can actually devalue your work in some customers eyes.
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markw
Re: Workshop time planning.
Using the option to colour code jobs on Estlite allows me to plan the days work - great if you only worry about the day. I tend to want to know how the week looks so I plan my week on Saturday afternoon by printing out my jobs as pdf files that I allocate to seperate folders for each day of the week. If I think a day is too busy I can move jobs around. I can then open each days folder and see what I have to do. For me this seems to be an efficient way of graphically organising the day using a paperless system.