AACE INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIVITY MANAGEMENT
engineer, and contractor staffs; made, items remaining open, and actions assigned to
• late materials or installed equipment deliveries; individuals (with target dates for completion).
• materials and equipment for installation do not meet • As an occasional attention-getter, require meeting spon-
specifications or have fabrication errors; sors to prepare a timesheet for each meeting that lists
• materials and equipment allowed to deteriorate in stor- individuals attending, time spent, and their hourly
age so as to not be usable; billing rates (wages + fringes). The sponsor must extend
• materials and equipment listed on warehouse inventory and total the cost figures and submit the summary to
cannot be found; his/her supervisor. This makes meeting sponsors think
• failure to pick up all needed materials the first time; twice about scheduling questionable meetings, encour-
• excessive distances between work areas and tool rooms, ages them to better plan the meeting, and forces them to
warehouses, and laydown areas; think in terms of benefits and costs.
• wrong or defective tools issued; • For any individual late to a meeting, fine them $5 and
• waiting for support equipment (e.g., crane); put it in the coffee or flower fund.
• waiting for an approval to do something; • Arrange the tables and chairs with respect to the
• lack of information or waiting for instructions; entrance so that a latecomer cannot “sneak in.” He/she
• issuing instructions after work has started; must walk by the chairman and everyone else so that
• waiting for other crews to get out of way; he/she will be totally embarrassed.
• individuals don't understand their roles or responsibili- • Schedule meetings at beginning of day, just before lunch,
ties—must always ask questions; just after lunch, or just before quitting time. Scheduling
• limited availability of a critical skill that must be shared them in the middle of the work day creates a major inter-
among crews (e.g., competent person required by OSHA ruption.
for certain operations);
• late starts/early quits; Waste Through Rework
• absentees—work must be reorganized; Rework is a special form of waste. One tends to apply the
• discipline problems; term only to redoing work because the work is flawed or
• permits (such as hot work permits) not available; changed. But, one will find countless other forms of rework
• daily renewal of permits; going on within organizations every day when you use the
• conflicts with operating plant personnel on revamp more general definition of rework: the repeating of an activ-
work; ity (and consequent expenditure of resources) with no value
• operating personnel, having not been consulted during added to the final output. Because activity during rework
development of the project, make changes on the fly; usually looks the same as when work is done the first time, it
• changes are issued—both formal and constructive; is easily overlooked as an area of waste with tremendous
• unexpected conditions require work reorganization; potential for reducing costs. Following are common exam-
• waiting for access or removal of lockouts; ples of rework in an organization.
• over-inspections;
• outdated policies or procedures that must be interpreted • Marketing rework: Constantly looking for new work
to fit current needs; because the organization cannot attract significant repeat
• work is started before being fully planned and without business.
all resources needed; • Management/Supervision Layering—Maintaining exces-
• safety incidents; and sive levels of supervision—a higher level essentially
• construction mistakes. repeats the work of the lower level.
• Materials Management—Double (or more) handling of
Many actions can be taken to eliminate or minimize the time- materials before use.
wasters listed above. For many, the nature of the problem • Reorganizations—Reconfiguring an organization with
makes the solution obvious. However, to provide several no significant change in missions or workload.
ideas with respect to one major time waster, consider the • Physical Relocations—Moving personnel and equipment
problem of meetings—too many, too big, too unstructured. to accommodate a new organizational structure or other-
Following are some ideas that have worked for others to cor- wise.
rect the situation. • Lack of Electronic Data Links—Receiving data in hard
copy and reentering it into another computer system
• Prepare and implement a written policy/procedure for instead of electronically linking computer systems.
conduct of meetings. • Computer Illiteracy—A manager or other professional
• Train meeting sponsors on the policy. staff member who is computer averse still does every-
• Prepare and work from an agenda for all meetings. thing long-hand and turns it over to a clerk for entry into
Establish a limit of time and start promptly. a computer.
• Prepare minutes of meetings to include all decisions • Excessive Administrative Review—Requiring excessive
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