The AWPA held its Operations Managers meeting in Nashville that focused on "Team Leaders in the Workplace." One of the key components to productivity is working teams on the plant floor. The best approach, according to the speakers, are Self-Managed Work Teams which is comprised of a group of people brought together to make a product and/or provide a service. The benefits are that all members learn each other's jobs and are often expected to rotate tasks. However, the transition to a Self-Managed Work Team is not easy as it involves creating a "new culture" and requires lots of training. However, the rewards outweigh the toil. How to develop a Self-Managed Team? Start with defining the goals and what is expected of the employees. Inform everyone involved of what the team is supposed to do and why. Establish boundaries and ground rules to improve the team's effectiveness and minimize confusion. Another good idea is to establish a program that motivates all employees in the spirit of a team concept. This incentive program must promote increased performance and employees must be able to see fluctuations in pay-outs in line with performance. The employees can only make extra money when the company does. Following the General Session, attendees visited two plants in the Nashville area - Mid-South Wire and Insteel Industries. Mid-South uses a state-of-the-art crane and unloading system to discharge barges of rod directly onto its paved rod storage yard. The company also utilizes the latest in acid cleaning and drawing equipment to produce over 225,000 tons annually of bright basic, plating quality and galvanized steel wire. Insteel is a Prestressed Concrete Strand Manufacturing facility that includes an automated cleaning house, wire drawing, stranding, stress relieving and packaging.
 American Wire Producers Association |
