Bread
Aluminum
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2013
- Location
- Ballard, WA
As my business is growing, and employees are hiring in I'm finding myself overhwelmed keeping track of projects, and keeping the guys busy. Primarily we do millwright work, but in support of those activites we have a machine shop and fab shop. I'm not yet big enough to justify hiring a foreman. I've got all the jobs listed in Quickbooks and in a cloud folder, but I want to put something together that everyone in the shop has access too without the financial data. Although I know of a shop that's 100% transparent in that aspect as well, I'm not there yet
Many if not most of the shops I pass through the forman manages the jobs, and keeps people busy. The employees don't typically know what their job for the day will be until the forman gives them the drawing. Pretty old school.
I've seen a system where all of the active jobs are posted on a board or screen that every employee has access to. A description of work, the drawing, some instructions and contact information. If it's a fab or machining job the material will already be ordered, and its arrival date listed. The jobs are all pinned up on a tack board in the shop. The guys can look over the jobs and get a feel for what's on the table. They can see if we have the tooling we need, and if I've overlooked anything. Short of a pending deadline, they can tackle any job they want if they need something to do. We would still talk about what needs to be done for the day, but it's nice to see the whole picture.
I'm thinking a system like the latter would be good for what we do. I don't want to have to come up with a task list everyday, and I like the idea of more transparency. I'd also like to post shop tasks such as fixing broken equipment, sharpening drills, picking up supplies etc. Whatever needs to be done around the shop with a "general facilities" title rather than a job name and number title (paying jobs).
What sort of workflow system do you use?
Many if not most of the shops I pass through the forman manages the jobs, and keeps people busy. The employees don't typically know what their job for the day will be until the forman gives them the drawing. Pretty old school.
I've seen a system where all of the active jobs are posted on a board or screen that every employee has access to. A description of work, the drawing, some instructions and contact information. If it's a fab or machining job the material will already be ordered, and its arrival date listed. The jobs are all pinned up on a tack board in the shop. The guys can look over the jobs and get a feel for what's on the table. They can see if we have the tooling we need, and if I've overlooked anything. Short of a pending deadline, they can tackle any job they want if they need something to do. We would still talk about what needs to be done for the day, but it's nice to see the whole picture.
I'm thinking a system like the latter would be good for what we do. I don't want to have to come up with a task list everyday, and I like the idea of more transparency. I'd also like to post shop tasks such as fixing broken equipment, sharpening drills, picking up supplies etc. Whatever needs to be done around the shop with a "general facilities" title rather than a job name and number title (paying jobs).
What sort of workflow system do you use?