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Creative Solutions: Converting Parts of a Plant

We are often asked, can part of the plant run 24/7 and part remain on the more traditional 24/5 schedule. The answer is a loud YES.

More often than not, we are being asked to collaborate on developing a creative solution to plant capacity problems. It is not just a simple matter of converting the whole plant to continuous shiftwork. While this may be appropriate, we first look closely at the business need, the anticipated volumes, and the people issues. Our suggested course of action will meet the needs of expanding the production capacity of the operation as well as other business objectives, and generally avoid major capital expenditures.

For example, at a food canning operation, we devised a rescheduling that met the need to provide for increased volumes, changing seasonal demands, improved daily sanitation, daily maintenance and eliminating a major bottleneck in the retort (cooking) area.

Further, in a die casting facility, initially the company thought that the finishing department might stay on 5 days because it is more labor-intensive and did not easily fit with a 24/7 concept. However, after working through the staffing and scheduling constraints, we developed a new flexible scheduling concept which not only met the business need, but cut staffing requirements by approximately one third. Finishing will now be the first department to consider 24/7.

Bring us the challenges of how to use 24/7 to unlock new production capacity in your facility!