Observing Ice-cream

There were these ice-cream machines which I needed to observe. This particular client produces dairy products such as milk, yogurt, cheese, but also ice-cream.

I got a list with the amount of workers per machine and should observe if there was any "room for improvement". I spent many hours in that factory observing and observing. I wrote a list with possibilities for workforce reductions, drew machine plans with suggestions and presented that very proudly to my project manager. I saw a huge dollar sign lurking over that factory.

After that discussion I learned what "station filled positions" are. These are manned positions at a machine which are either there for health & safety reasons, or, when leaving those positions unmanned, the risk of discovering a production fault, hence higher scrap rates and poor quality, would be far too high.

And suddenly the imaginary dollar sign shrunk. I found a little bit though.

The Nasty Business of Activity Lists

So there I was, in the client's purchasing department with no real clue. I was told to do "activity lists". This is a spread sheet into which all purchasers had to list their activities, starting with regular phone calls, correspondence, contract negotiation, till the annual inventory and stock counting at which they helped. After having written down all activities and how frequently they occur (e.g. phone calls were daily, stock counting annually) they had to also estimate how often they occur and how long the average task takes.

Suspicious clients can normally sense that they are trapped. The ones who think are clever estimate their time so that an exact 40-hours-week was the result of the exercise. Most just overestimate and end up with 80 hours or in that region.

Little do clients know that the consultant now starts with a new phase in the process and that is the observation phase. Consultants apply the Pareto rule that about 20% of activities take up 80% of time. These 20% are now being closely watched, volume tallies implemented and consultants spend days with their clients measuring all those activities, not with a stop watch as it would call trade unions for action.

The result now is clear. All activities are broken down to a weekly level, counted volumes and measured times are being applied (clients even have to sign observed times and volumes; they sign their own death sentence), an average absenteeism rate (given by HR) will be added, and the result is a "manload", the calculated need for labour in a specific department.

Can consultants play around to attain their target? Yes of course, because they decide which observed time go into the manload and so forth... This can be a nasty business if targets are high.

Conceptually, this tool is great and water-tight. As a new consultant, who thinks he can change the world for the better, it is a wake-up call as he decides on the amount of people needed, or better said not needed.