What a Day
Last night around 5:30 I got a phone call from our plant manager telling me not to come in today because the stuff we were supposed to paint had not come in. ( -EXPELTIVE DELETED- JIT "Just in Time" manufacturing philosophy!) So I kick back thinking I have today off and will maybe wind working Saturday to make up for it.
I take it easy this morning figuring I have all day right? Now normally I get out of work at 1:30 PM, but today at 2:00 I get a phone call. Plant manager. Can I come in and work for a few hours? Sure so I go in and start at 2:45. It seems that JIT not only has us screwed up but the Chrysler plant the parts are supposed to be going to as well. They want the parts expedited TONIGHT! (They arrived at our plant this afternoon, our supplier is having some sort of problem getting their product out.) I figured about 4 hours to cover show up time and wind up working 6, almost a full day.
We did suprisingly well considering the number of people we had and the fact that we had management doing hourly work. In this situation coming in is voluntary -- and we have people who would rather go hungry (metaphorically speaking) and whine about it than work at an unscheduled time. We got em out and we'll have Saturday off, assuming no further problems in getting parts.
I would still like to get my hands on the idiot that came up with the JIT manufacturing philosophy.
I take it easy this morning figuring I have all day right? Now normally I get out of work at 1:30 PM, but today at 2:00 I get a phone call. Plant manager. Can I come in and work for a few hours? Sure so I go in and start at 2:45. It seems that JIT not only has us screwed up but the Chrysler plant the parts are supposed to be going to as well. They want the parts expedited TONIGHT! (They arrived at our plant this afternoon, our supplier is having some sort of problem getting their product out.) I figured about 4 hours to cover show up time and wind up working 6, almost a full day.
We did suprisingly well considering the number of people we had and the fact that we had management doing hourly work. In this situation coming in is voluntary -- and we have people who would rather go hungry (metaphorically speaking) and whine about it than work at an unscheduled time. We got em out and we'll have Saturday off, assuming no further problems in getting parts.
I would still like to get my hands on the idiot that came up with the JIT manufacturing philosophy.
posted by shoprat at 9:43 PM
7 Comments:
I was always happy to work anytime I was needed. I can see where it would be hard to change hours around if you had to find a babysitter. Your manager is lucky to have you.
Even as an healthcare administrator, I worked the floor from time to time when it was necessary. I am a believer that no one is too good for any job.
Good job on the extra effort. I don't know about JIT, but there's always some moron at the top that could be twice as rich if he'd just listen to the people doing the work that know the best way.
Hi Shoprat! I hope that you get Saturday off. Everyone needs some down time once in awhile!
Shop, I think I can introduce you to him. the moron works in my plant LMAO
All
In case you're wondering, JIT means "Just in Time" and is a manufacturing philosophy that eliminates the warehouse on the idea that "inventory is bad". The idea is that you get the product process it and send it to the next station within 24 hours, thus eliminating inventory entirely (in theory saving money). In reality it means if one thing goes wrong everybody is stuck until that level is fixed. Inventories may tie up money but they also allow for better planning and easier product flow.
JIT sure screws up a lot of people when it collapses. A lot of manufacturers, up here, are swinging back the other way a little bit, and adding in a bit of a cushion to take up the slack for disruptions. Their finding the cost of no production to be higher then the cost of maintaining a small inventory.
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