Recent Articles From EvanCarmichael.com http://www.evancarmichael.com/ http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3295/Characteristics-of-Effective-Shift-Schedules.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3295/Characteristics-of-Effective-Shift-Schedules.html At a minimum, an effective schedule should: (1) keep your best and/or most expensive equipment productive, i.e. maximize your equipment utilization, (2) provide continuous coverage in areas that have significant start-up and shutdown costs, (3) match the coverage to the workload (in other words, provide enough coverage to get the necessary work done, and no more), (4) have the ability to flex up to meet customer demands, flex down when workload is low, and (5) not be constrained by pay and work policies that make normal operating situations excessively expensive. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3295/Using-Shift-Work-Solutions-to-Improve-Your-Lean-Manufacturing-Operations.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3295/Using-Shift-Work-Solutions-to-Improve-Your-Lean-Manufacturing-Operations.html When companies begin implementing lean manufacturing principles, they often overlook the possibility of using customized shift work solutions to support or enhance their efforts. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3295/Employee-Shift-Work-Schedules.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3295/Employee-Shift-Work-Schedules.html More and more organizations are adopting work schedules that require longer and/or multiple shifts. For managers who are new to the job or unfamiliar with shift schedules, this can be quite a challenge. This paper will introduce managers to five fundamental components of shift work schedules: (1) shift length, (2) schedule format, (3) on-off work pattern, (4) overtime, and (5) scheduling policies. http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3295/Working-247-What-Employees-Want-from-Their-Shift-Schedules.html http://www.evancarmichael.com/Productivity/3295/Working-247-What-Employees-Want-from-Their-Shift-Schedules.html There are four types of time-off that employees consider when evaluating a shift schedule: (1) weekends off, (2) total days off, (3) daily time off, and (4) consecutive days off. This article examines the schedule attributes that drive these four different types of time-off, using statistics from over 20,000 shiftworker surveys.