Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeH
Toured the factory (Cougar & VR1) a few years ago and I saw why there are so many problems on so many units.
Workers report at 4 AM (!) and are told how many units that management wants today.
Once the quota is filled people are free to go home and are paid for the day.
This is why so many problems slip through as the workers are anxious to get home to their Farms and other jobs.
It's just rush rush and get those units out the door.
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The model referenced in the post by BigRed2013, to which you're responding was built in the Oregon plant, not in the Goshen plant, there are few (if any Amish farm workers employed there).
While you have the "shift hours" right, the rest of your factory tour assessment isn't exactly correct. A large portion of the factory workers are Amish. They do have farms to tend and the factory accommodates their needs with the "early morning shift". ALL of the workers (Amish and not) work those same hours. The "day shift" works from 4AM to 1PM with an hour for breakfast at 8-9AM. However, there is a "standard production schedule" that is followed. The quota isn't changed from day to day. There is a time clock and workers "punch in and punch out". They are on an hourly pay scale and are not free to "rush rush and get those units out the door" and leave as soon as they throw the crap together. If they leave early, they don't get paid for the missed hours.
Additionally, repair of all QA defects noted by orange stickers are the responsibility of the line workers, so anything they "rush to get out the door" sits at the end of the assembly line until they repair it. When I was there, the line had finished building the scheduled units and couldn't start more (the chassis weren't available to start assembly) so they were using that time to sweep floors, straighten work areas, restock parts bins and clean/repair tools. There were two or three workers outside the building, in-under-on top of trailers. They were repairing the defects identified by QA and then the repair was reinspected and the orange sticker was removed by QA, not the worker.
So, while you have identified the shift hours correctly, you missed a little bit about who repairs the issues found during inspection. It actually "pays" workers to do it correctly the first time (not throw it together) as they are the ones responsible to fix it before they can go home.