Shift Schedules for the Food Manufacturing IndustryShift work - The more you learn about it, the more you find out how much you didn't know. I have friends that know very…
Read moreDon't tell me what to do!After 26 years of working with hourly employees all the way up to senior corporate executives, one thing strikes me as a universal truth -…
Read more Non-wage Solutions to Rising Wage PressureWe all knew this was coming. We watched and cheered as unemployment numbers dropped, month after month. This meant the economy was recovering. Manufacturing, in…
Read more What is the Worst Shift to Work? Night Shift? Afternoon Shift?In my last post I talked about shift workers' preferred shift, which is day shift, and the implications of that preference on worker satisfaction levels. An…
Read more Everyone Wants to Work Day Shift, Right? Think again!We all know that shift work, and especially night shift, is difficult. For some folks it can lead to disrupted sleep patterns and non-traditional social…
Read more How many people does it take to staff your schedule? (Part 2)There is a short answer and a long answer to this question. Here is a link to the short answer. Now for the long answer:…
Read more How many people does it take to staff your schedule? (Part 1)As with most shiftwork related issues, the question of "How Many?" has a short and a long answer. Here is a link to the long…
Read more The difference between "a schedule" and "your schedule"The number one way that companies find a shift schedule is to hold a meeting and ask, "So, does anyone know of any shift schedule…
Read more Safety FootnotesAt Shiftwork Solutions, safety concerns are definitely something we have to pay attention to. We keep abreast of safety research as it applies to shiftwork…
Read more Overtime: A Grab-Bag of InformationI am an overtime expert. I have worked with companies around the world for more than 25 years helping them address staffing and scheduling issues,…
Read more Overtime: Fact V. FictionIt is not unusual for a company to contact us with the following idea: "If I can just put in the right schedule, I will…
Read more Our Clients Are TalkingEvery now and then, we like to make sure that people recognize that we not only know a lot about shiftwork, but we bring that…
Read more How to engage our servicesThere is a book by Malcolm Gladwell called Blink, the Power of Thinking Without Thinking. In a nutshell, he talks about how too much information…
Read more Mixed shift schedulesPlease click the schedule below to view the Flash presentation.
Read more Draft Day - Assigning shifts on your new scheduleAs you go through a process to change your shift schedule, your workforce will experience several different emotions; mostly in a predictable sequence. First there…
Read more 3-Crew shift schedulingClick on the picture below to see the presentation:
Read more Changing Schedules 101Every now and then, I like to return to the basics. Today I'm going to cover some of the basic DOs and DON'Ts for those…
Read more 6-day schedules (part 4)This is the fourth and final post in a series of four posts regarding 6-day schedules. Here are the links to 6-day schedules (part 1),…
Read more 6-day schedules (part 3)This is the third in a series about 6-day schedules. I recommend you read 6-day schedules (part 1) and 6-day scheduled (part 2) before going…
Read more 6-day schedules (part 2)Part I of this series was posted a few days ago and discussed some of the problems surrounding 6-day schedules. I recommend you read that…
Read more 6-day schedules (part 1)Sometimes companies are born into a 24/7 schedule. An example would be a refinery. From the moment it was conceived until it reached operational retirement,…
Read more 10-hour shifts - Part FourThis post is the fourth and final post in a series about 10-hour shifts. If you have not already seen the first three posts in…
Read more The Weekend Warrior TrapWeekend Warrior refers to a type of staff scheduling strategy for covering 24/7. At its most basic level, a Weekend Warrior schedule is one that…
Read more Making shift assignmentsIt's human nature to not like change. There are a lot of reasons for this, but I'm convinced that one of the "biggies" is fear…
Read more 10-hour shifts - Part ThreeThis post is the third in a series about 10-hour shifts. If you have not already seen the first two posts in this series, I…
Read more 10 Hour Shifts - Part TwoThis is the second in a series of presentations about 10-hour shifts. Click Here if you want to see "10 Hour Shifts - Part One"…
Read more Scheduling Your Maintenance Crew on a 24/7 OperationBefore a company goes to 24/7 operations, they typically reserve the weekend for much of their maintenance work - run the equipment on the weekdays…
Read more Where did all of the 8-hour shifts go?In today's work environment, compressed work weeks, telecommuting and competition for labor have conspired to make 8-hour shifts a vanishing breed. Twenty-five years ago, 8-hour…
Read more Staffing and Scheduling - The Compressed Work Week This posting is the first in a series of posts that will examine the relationship between the schedule your employees are working and the…
Read more Staffing, overtime and your scheduleOne of the most common and misunderstood issues surrounding schedules is the relationship between staffing, overtime and the schedule itself. The reality is that a…
Read more The Impact of Local UnemploymentMore often than not, companies come to us when they are out of capacity. Overtime is high and the workforce is becoming tired. Absenteeism is…
Read more How will a new schedule impact your Employee Handbook?Measure twice, cut once. This adage is as applicable to a schedule change as it is for those in the carpentry trade. Make one mistake…
Read more Scheduling SupervisionLet's cut right to the chase on this one: Should supervisors be on the same schedule as the people that they supervise? The answer is…
Read more Is Overtime Really a Problem?I recently participated in an online forum about the "Evils of Overtime." I was surprised at how uniformly overtime is seen as something to be…
Read more Why should you consider changing your shift schedule?Changing shift schedules is not like changing the curtains in your kitchen. Its complicated. It disrupts your workforce. It takes a great deal of effort…
Read more About this blogWelcome to my blog on Shiftwork Operations. My name is Jim Dillingham and for the last 25 years, I've had a job that some have…
Read more Use Your Data - Part 2Yesterday the New York times published an article about companies that use their data for decision-making. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, doing so…
Read more Use Your Data -- Know Your BusinessOver the last 20 years I have evaluated the operations of hundreds of manufacturing, processing, mining, and service organizations. Three things I have learned from…
Read more The FDA and SanitationEveryone in the food industry is rapidly becoming aware of the new sheriff in town. The FDA has vastly more authority than it did only…
Read more Open Shift ManagementIt's finally here! Our software partner, Shifthound, has completed work on our new Open Shift Management software. It is ready for you to use starting…
Read more Covering a 12-hour vacancyThere is no doubt that shiftworkers prefer 12-hour shifts over 8-hour shifts. It's not that they like being at work for an extra four hours.…
Read more Shiftwork SoftwareIt's finally here. After more than twenty years, we have finally found the software that we, and you, have been looking for. Shiftwork Solutions has…
Read more Help is on the way.There is no such thing as a perfectly staffed shiftwork operation. Sure, there will be days when the number of people that show up is…
Read more Call Center SchedulingThere is a big difference between creating a shift schedule for a manufacturing plant and a call center. More often than not, manufacturing tends to…
Read more When is high overtime appropriate?We are typically asked about ways to lower overtime. It is clear that most companies view overtime as a necessary evil. They try to get…
Read more Considerations for Multiple SchedulesOften, when we start on a project with a company, the question will be asked, "Can we put in more than one schedule?" The intent…
Read more Alertness on 12-hour night shiftsThe problem with all night shifts, regardless of shift length, is that they don't match up with the lifestyles of the rest of the world.…
Read more A schedule is more than a day-on-day-off patternMost people that come to our site are thinking "I need a shift schedule so all I need to do is search the internet until…
Read more Lean ManufacturingLean manufacturing is one of those rare production crazes that actually works. People that have never heard of it might immediately think it implies reducing…
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