A Top Tip for Supervisor Effectiveness: Scheduled Shop Walks
effectiveness leadership management management by walking around manufacturing manufacturing supervisor leadership production supervisor supervisor leadership time managementI think manufacturing supervision is one of the most demanding jobs out there. Supervisors wrestle with the relentless demands of continuous production in addition to the endless requirements to manage employee staffing and development along with a long list of administrative requirements. Manufacturing leaders need to manage a lot more than just their time, they need to manage their effectiveness. Time management is important too, but when we only focus on time management, we are only focusing on the quantity of work we can accomplish within a given amount of time. But when we focus on effective management, we focus of the effectiveness of our actions within that given amount of time. Or in other words, how we can multiply the effects of our efforts.
When you practice good time management you are going to save time. Time management is like saving money in your savings account. An hour saved is an hour earned. But when you manage your effectiveness it’s like investing money. How do you use your time to maximize your effectiveness? Or how do you apply your time to achieve a good return on investment? Additionally, when we focus on time management, we ask only one question; “How and when do I do this task?” but when we focus on effective management, we ask ourselves many questions; “Do I need to do this task at all? If so, do I need to do it now? And what is the impact of completing this task? And what is the most efficient way to do it? And lastly, is there a way to eliminate or streamline this task in the future?
Time management is one aspect of effective management. Time is a precious commodity, and you want to use it wisely. As a manufacturing supervisor, I know that much of your time needs to be used in response to shop floor issues, but you want to minimize reactionary time and carve out more focused time.
T4T TOP TIP
Office/Shop Time: As a supervisor you want to spend about 50% of your time on the shopfloor and 50% in the office working on projects and other administrative tasks. One of the best ways to strike this ideal balance is to schedule your shopfloor walks. When you schedule your production walks, then you can address many issues in a more concentrated effort. As you walk the floor, you can address the shopfloor issues along the way. Then when you sit down at your desk to do some project work, you will have less distractions and more focused time.
Schedule your shop walks for three times a shift, an early walk, a mid-shift walk and a late shift walk. Plan on spending about an hour for each of these three shopfloor walks. When you learn to do this well, you find your time to be effectively leveraged and hence you will be more productive overall.
Stay connected with news and updates!
If you want some weekly T4T wisdom coming straight to your inbox for your reading pleasure - look no further! Join our mailing list to receive the latest blogs and updates.
Don't worry, your information will not be shared.
We hate SPAM. We will never sell your information, for any reason.
CATEGORIES
All Categories 5s 5s standardize 5s sustain 6m's accomplishment accountability accuracy action action plans actions ada addiction addiction help adverserial affordable agenda alcohol alcoholism amazon american disabilities act anderson-darling approachability art artisan assembly assembly line assessment assignments attention to details attribute gage r&r auto industry auto manufacturing auto production automobile manufacturing average avoidance best practices big bend black belt boss boulder city bourbon trail business business case business model business proposals candidate experience candidates capability study capital career cargo cash flow cell design cememt central limit theorem central tendancy ceo certification certification training challenges change change management changeover reduction chaos child labor ci cnc cnc programming cogs communication communitiy company compassion compitition concrete conducting interviews conflict conflict management consistency construction consumption continuous improvement corrective action correlation analysis cost savings costs course cp cp and cpk cpk cross-functional cross-training cross-training matrix crude culture current state current state map customer customer satisfaction customer service customer value customers cv daily goals dallas dam data data collection data transformation debt-free decision maker defects demand department design design of experiment design review design reviews develop development dfm diet direct labor diversity documentation doe drilling driving results drug use duluth dumping e learn e-learning eap ebit education effective effectiveness effectivity effects of change efficiency email empathy empirical rule employee employee assistance program employee development employee engagement employee recgonition employees encouragement enforcement engagement engineer engineering equipment exercise expectations expertise experts facilitate facilitator factories factory family life feedback financial fishing fixed mindset flexibility flexible follow-up ford forecast fossil fuels fred jones freightliners friendships frontline leaders fun gage r&r gasoline gemba general motors goals gold rush good conflict great lakes great teams gross margins gross profits growth growth mindset habits health healthy henry ford heritage hiring histogram history hoover dam housekeeping how to be a great teammate how to thrill customer human relations human resources hydro-electric hydro-electric power hypothesis testing ice breaker illinios river valley illinois illinois river immersion improve improvement industrial industrial engineering industrial heritage industrial heritgage industrial history industry industry 4.0 inequity injury prevention innovation inspection instructions integrity internal promotion interview questions interview skills interview tips interviewing inventory investment irresponsible jack daniels distillery tour job diversity job shop job shops jobs kaizen kanban kappa kentucky knowledge lead leader leaders leadership leadership development leading lean lean champion lean culture lean implementation lean journey lean kickoff lean launch lean manufacturing lean pilot project lean six sigma lean strategy lean tools lean vision learn learning lifestyle logging logistics low prices lumber machine guarding machine speed machines maintenance making a pitch management management by walking around manager managers managing managing conflict managing the floor manpower manufacturing manufacturing leaders manufacturing leadership manufacturing plants manufacturing results manufacturing supervisor manufacturing supervisor leadership marfa material mbwa mean measurement meditation meeting meetings mental health methods metrics midland milk run mindset minnesota model-t mother nature muda multivariant analysis national park nature new products night shift nimble business normal distribution normality test office oil ojt okc oklahoma on line courses on-site factories on-time delivery onboarding one-on-one online open-door operational excellence operator operators opex ore organization otd output overhead ownership p-value packaging packaging material partner partnering partnership partnerships pdca pdca cycle peers performance performance management performance patterns performance review perimian basis personal accountability personal growth personal grwoth personality petroleum pikes place pitch plan planner planning plant plant costs plastics point of use poka-yoke policy portland cement positive feedback pou power plant pp ppk praise presentation presentation anxiety presentations prices prime costs principles printing private label problem solving problems procedure procedures process process capability process center process controls process engineer process management process variation product development product testing production production flow production supervisor productive conflict productivity products professionalism profit profits profressional development progress project project management projections projects promoted props provide qualifies quality quality control quality tool quick changeover r&d range rapid changeover recognition recognize recruiting recycling red tag referals refinery reliability reputation resolving conflict respect responsibility responsible results resume resume screening resumes revenue rewards rigs roi rolling-5 rolling-5 action plans roots routine safety safety incentives sales sales tips salesperson sampling science screening screening applicants seattle self-promotion selling service set in order set-in-order set-up reduction shadow board shareholder shine shipping shopfloor single minute of exchange of die single-piece six-sigma skills sleep slideshow sme smed social life sort specifications specs speed to market staffing staffing model standard cost standard deviation standardize starved rock state-of-the-art statistics steel steel fabrication steel industry stress stress management strong leader structure success supervision supervisor supervisor development supervisor leadership supervisors supervsior supplier supply chain support sustain systems t-test tactical takt teaching team team work team-based teammate teams teamwork technical tennesse whiskey tennessee texas the great depression the hoover dam the normal distribution curve timber time management time-series tools tourism toyota production system tpm tps training training methods travel troubleshooting trust turn around two sample t-test types of change understanding vacation validation value value stream value stream map value-driven values variance variances variation velocity vendor managed inventory video violations visual factory vmi voc volunteering vsm war on waste washington waste waste reduction waterway wellbeing work instructions work rules workforce workplace workplace conflict