Expect more, get more

The signs indicate that the economy is beginning to rebound. And, it is that time of the year when many part-time employes are needed to handle the Christmas peak. Managers of distribution and retail operations are lamenting the fact that they will have to contend with a wave of part-time and temporary employes to make it through.

Employe turn-over is the most frequent complaint of most warehouse managers.
But we don’t have to suffer with low productivity and higher error rates.

When employe turn-over is a problem, design processes that have fast learning curves. It may be better to reach an acceptable level of proficiency quickly than to struggle and never get to the optimal level.

 Match employes to appropriate jobs.
We don’t have to design jobs so that anyone can do them.  We can select people who have the right skills and aptitude for particular jobs. And, we can train people and test them to ensure that they have developed the necessary skills.

One of the more fascinating training sessions that I have watched consisted of a group of women in a Turkish cotton mill sitting around a table practicing an intricate exercise of moving their fingers around a set of spindles simulating the motions needed for knotting the yarn ends on the looms.

I have made it a habit to ask grocery store check-out operators what their rate is. They know! And, they know exactly what their accuracy rate is for recognizing a hundred fruits and vegetables and keying in the correct
code. Furthermore, they do this at 1200-1800 items per hour. How well do you do at your order check and pack stations?

In the hubs of a well-known parcel carrier, operators lift packages from a
slide, read a zip code and perform a 6-way sort at rates that leave most warehouse operations in the dust. High expectations and carefully designed workplaces make it possible.

Don’t design processes and systems so that “any idiot can do the job.” Rather,
design the task so that we take advantage of all that a person can do. In my travel, I frequently pull off the highway for breakfast at the Waffle House. I never cease to be amazed at the ability of the waitresses to translate my order into a special Waffle House code and call it across the room to the cook. There is no paper communication, and my order always arrives just the way I asked. A combination of a well-planned system, rigorous training and using what the human brain can do results in the most effective order management system that I know.

Design processes and workstations so that during periods of peak productivity
part-time and temporary workers can assist permanent employes. Split the job so that more complicated tasks are performed by the experienced employe, leaving the more mechanical tasks to a junior partner. In the returns department of a footwear manufacturer, product identification and inspection are performed by the most experienced people, and the jobs of wrapping and re-boxing are done by new or temporary employes.

Don’t waste time worrying over high turn-over and low performance. Do something about it! Screen, test, train and, most of all, maintain high expectations. People have remarkable capacities when we put our faith in them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James M. Apple, Jr. is a Director in The Progress Group. Prior to co-founding The Progress Group in 1991, he was a Partner with Coopers & Lybrand's SysteCon division. During 1992-1995 he served as a Senior Systems Advisor with Vanderlande Industries, a major conveyor and systems provider in Europe.

Jim is an internationally recognized thought leader in the area of facility design and integrated distribution systems. His contributions to the improvement of distribution practices have been recognized by his receipt of the prestigious Reed-Apple Award, which is given for lifetime contributions to the advancement of the material handling profession. Jim has also received the Institute of Industrial Engineers' Facilities Planning and Design Award. He has written numerous articles and handbook chapters on warehousing and logistics operations and is a popular speaker on logistics seminar and conference programs.

Prior to SysteCon, Jim worked as an Industrial Engineer with IBM, was Supervisor of Facilities Planning for the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors and was Executive Vice President for an automotive aftermarket parts supplier. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.