Designing the Work Allocations and Work Flow
If you have decided to introduce PAM, consider the work flow in more detail.
The following illustration is a sample of the work design diagram described in the "Why Is Work Design Performed?" topic. The explanation here will use this design diagram.
- The customer orders a product he/she likes from the e-commerce site.
- The order information is automatically sent to the Head Office.
- There are two processing plants (London and Birmingham). Workers (locations) are assigned according to the product delivery destination.
- The operator first sets the object prior to printing onto the output device, and then performs printing and creates the product.
- The finished product is sent to the delivery destination.
There are two major flows.
The first is the flow of data from order receiving to printing. The other is the flow of products from printing to shipping.
For the flow of data, it is important to decide the responsible operations in order to determine who performs what work. For the flow of products, it is important to decide the placement of people, jigs, and output devices.
Items to be decided for data flow
- What information received from the customer is loaded into PAM, such as the quantity, product name, and color?
- Who will the PAM administrator (user with Admin privileges) be?
- How many people performing the printing work (users with Operator privileges) will be assigned and where will they be positioned?
- Is it necessary to assign a processing plant workplace supervisor (user with Power User privileges)? If necessary, who will it be?
Items to be decided for product flow
- Where will the objects prior to printing be stocked, and in what quantity?
- How many fixing jig types will be created, and how many fixing jigs will be created for each type? Where will these jigs be positioned?
- What will be used for the device (output device) that prints on the objects? How many will be used and where will they be positioned?