Why its important to implement
Workflow planning requires understanding priorities, parts availability, staff skills. Daily production walks and plan updates essential for efficiency.
Plan updates
If any changes to the plan are discovered throughout the day or during the production walks the production manager should update his overall plan as any change affects the next task assigned to each technician and as a result the overall time the vehicle is in production.
Workflow planning
The production manager is responsible for planning the entire workflow of the production floor. He does this by working out the plan on the BMS. He should clearly understand the job priorities, time required for each department for each job, the parts availability and delivery dates, staff availability and staff skill level to work achieve the most efficient and shortest time for each repair through the workshop. Once his plan is in place, he is responsible for sharing his plan with each team and making sure they understand what is expected of them. To make sure his plan is on track and to learn of any problems or delays that need to addressed, the production manager should do 2 production walks per day, one first thing in the morning (within 30 minutes of the production beginning) and before the production meeting, and the another early afternoon (30 minutes after lunch).
Business Impact
Profit increases through better throughput, improved productivity when priorities are clear, optimized key-to-key times, reduced idle time, better customer satisfaction.
Profit
By planning, prioritising and following up on workflow activities the business will be more profitable because of more throughputs
Throughput, general, body and paint productivity
If staff are not reminded of job priorities or not checking in regularly to find out if any issues that arise that could be solved quickly will cause delays in each department and affect the whole plan
key to key
By correctly prioritising and regularly updating the plan and communicating with staff the business will work most effectively
idle time
By regularly updating the plan and good communication between the production manager and production staff there will be a lower chance for vehicles to be sitting idle due to them not being repaired when technicians can no longer work on a vehicle due to some issue and the production manager is not aware
Customer satisfaction
Without staff being aware of job priorities customers will be the ones affected with delayed delivery dates and expectations not met
Overall Business Impact
Profit increases through planning, prioritising and following up on workflow activities that result in higher throughput. Throughput, general, body and paint productivity improve when staff are regularly reminded of job priorities and issues are identified and resolved quickly before they cause departmental delays. Key to key times are optimized through correct prioritisation, regular plan updates and effective communication with staff. Idle time decreases when good communication between production manager and staff prevents vehicles from sitting idle due to unresolved issues. Customer satisfaction improves when staff awareness of job priorities ensures delivery dates and expectations are consistently met.
action steps
Plan workflow by priorities, conduct twice-daily production walks, adjust plans based on issues, include updates in production meetings.
Policy Enforcement
Strong internal warnings if policy not followed once established.
Meeting Coordination
All this information should be listed in the next production meeting.
Plan Management
Production manager should adjust the plan if there is any delays that come because of issues and found during the production walks.
Communication Protocols
Production manager should explain and reinforce job priorities to technical staff during the twice daily production walks.
Workflow Planning
Production manager should plan the workflow according to these priorities.
Related tasks
Milestone:
04: Production Management Optimisation