Chapter 10: Human Resources, Job Design & Work Measurement

Human Resource Strategy for Competitive Advantage

- The objective of a human resource strategy is to manage labor and design jobs so people are
effectively and efficiently utilized. As we focus on a human resource strategy, we want to ensure
that people
1. Are efficiently utilized within the constraints of other operations management decisions.
2. Have a reasonable quality of work life in an atmosphere of mutual commitment and trust.

Labor Planning
A means of determining staffing policies dealing with employment stability, work schedules, and
work rules.

Job Design
An approach that specifies the tasks that constitute a job for an individual or a group.

Labor Specialization
- The division of labor into unique (special) task
1. Development of dexterity and faster learning by the employee because of repetition
2. Less loss of time because the employee would not be changing jobs or tools
3. Development of specialized tools and the reduction of investment because each employee
has only a few tools needed for a particular task

Job Expansion
Job Enlargement: The grouping of a variety of tasks about the same skill level; horizontal
enlargement.

Job rotation: A system in which an employee is moved from one specialized job to another.

Job enrichment: A method of giving an employee more responsibility that includes some of the
planning and control necessary for job accomplishment; vertical expansion.

Employee empowerment: Enlarging employee jobs so that the added responsibility and
authority are moved to the lowest level possible.

Core Job Characteristics

1. Skill variety, requiring the worker to use a variety of skills and talents

2. Job identity, allowing the worker to perceive the job as a whole and recognize a start and
a finish

3. Job significance, providing a sense that the job has an impact on the organization and
society

4. Autonomy, offering freedom, independence, and discretion

5. Feedback, providing clear, timely information about performance

Self-directed team
A group of empowered individuals working together to reach
a common goal.

Limitations of Job Expansion

Higher capital cost: Job expansion may require additional equipment and facilities.

Individual differences: Some employees opt for the less-complex jobs.

Higher wage rates: Expanded jobs may well require a higher average wage.

Smaller labor pool: Because expanded jobs require more skill and acceptance of
more responsibility, job requirements have increased.

Higher training costs: Job expansion requires training and cross-training. Therefore,
training budgets need to increase.

Visual workplace

Uses a variety of visual communication techniques to rapidly communicate information to

stakeholders.

Labor standards

The amount of time required to perform a job or part of a job.

1. Historical experience

2. Time studies

3. Predetermined time standards

4. Work sampling

Time study

Timing a sample of a workers performance and using it as a basis for setting a standard time.

A Trained & Experienced Person Can Establish

1. Define the task to be studied (after methods analysis has been conducted).
2. Divide the task into precise elements (parts of a task that often take no more than a few
seconds).
3. Decide how many times to measure the task (the number of job cycles or samples needed).
4. Time and record elemental times and ratings of performance.
5. Compute the average observed (actual) time. The average observed time is the arithmetic
mean of the times for each element measured, adjusted for unusual influence for each element:
Average observed time

The arithmetic mean of the times for each element measured, adjusted for unusual influence for
each element.

Normal Time

The average observed time, adjusted for pace.

Standard Time

An adjustment to the total normal time; the adjustment provides allowances for personal needs,
unavoidable work delays, and fatigue.

Predetermined time standards

A division of manual work into small basic elements that have established and widely accepted
times.

Therbligs

Basic physical elements of motion.

Time measurement units (TMUs)

Units for very basic micromotions in which 1 TMU = .0006 min, or 100,000 TMUs = 1 hr.

Work sampling

An estimate, via sampling, of the percentage of the time that a worker spends on various tasks.

Chapter 11: Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management

The coordination of all supply chain activities involved in enhancing customer value.

Make-or-buy decision

A choice between producing a component or service in-house or purchasing it from an outside

source.

Outsourcing

Transferring a firms activities that have traditionally been internal to external suppliers.

Vertical integration

Developing the ability to produce goods or services previously purchased or actually buying a
supplier or a distributor.

Keiretsu

A Japanese term that describes suppliers who become part of a company coalition.

Virtual companies

Companies that rely on a variety of supplier relationships to provide services on demand. Also
known as hollow corporations or network companies.

Cross-sourcing

Using one supplier for a component and a second supplier for another component, where each
supplier acts as a backup for the other
Chapter 11: Short Term Scheduling

Loading

The assigning of jobs to work or processing centers.

Scheduling Criteria

1. Minimize completion time: Evaluated by determining the average completion time.

2. Maximize utilization: Evaluated by determining the percent of the time the facility
is utilized.

3. Minimize work-in-process (WIP) inventory: Evaluated by determining the average

number of jobs in the system. The relationship between the number of jobs in the
system and WIP inventory will be high. Therefore, the fewer the number of jobs
that are in the sys- tem, the lower the inventory.

4. Minimize customer waiting time: Evaluated by determining the average number of

late periods (e.g., days or hours).

Scheduling Process-Focused Facilities

InputOutput Control

A system that allows operations personnel to manage facility work flows.

ConWIP cards

Cards that control the amount of work in a work center, aiding inputoutput control.

Gantt charts

Planning charts used to schedule resources and allocate time.

Assignment method

A special class of linear programming models that involves assigning tasks or jobs to resources.

Sequencing Jobs

Sequencing

Determining the order in which jobs should be done at each work center.
Priority rules

Rules used to determine the sequence of jobs in process-oriented facilities.

Flow time

The time between the release of a job to a work center until the job is finished.

Critical ratio (CR)

A sequencing rule that is an index number computed by dividing the time remaining until due
date by the work time remaining.

Sequencing N Jobs on Two Machines

Johnsons rule

An approach that minimizes the total time for sequencing a group of jobs through two work
centers while minimizing total idle time in the work centers.

Limitation of Rule-Based Sequencing Systems

1. Scheduling is dynamic; therefore, rules need to be revised to adjust to changes in

orders, process, equipment, product mix, and so forth.

2. Rules do not look upstream or downstream; idle resources and bottleneck

resources in other departments may not be recognized.

3. Rules do not look beyond due dates. For instance, two orders may have the same
due date. One order involves restocking a distributor and the other is a custom
order that will shut down the customers factory if not completed. Both may have
the same due date, but clearly the custom order is more important.

Finite capacity scheduling (FCS)

Computerized short-term schedul- ing that overcomes the disadvan- tage of rule-based systems
by providing the user with graphical interactive computing.