How Well Would You Do on the Line?
Assembly plant managers and line supervisors take note: At some point in their careers, your assemblers have thought, “My boss thinks he’s so smart, but I’d like to see him try my job for a while. He’d never make it.”
Well, executives at GM’s Daewoo Div. did just that in May at the company’s assembly plant in Kunsan, South Korea. As part of the company’s Production Field Experience program, Daewoo executives worked side by side with production workers for nearly a month. Working 6-hour shifts, the executives learned firsthand the daily tasks of assembly line personnel.
The goal of the field experience program is to give executives a better understanding of GM’s Global Manufacturing System. Following their assignments, executives were asked to make suggestions for enhancing production, quality and the work environment.
For their part, assemblers got to know their bosses better. You can read more about it here.
What do you think? How well would you fare in your assemblers’ shoes? Think you could hack it with a nutrunner? Could you get the right widgets in the right spots in your allotted time?
For what it’s worth, most folks think you couldn’t-at least if visitors to the web site Polls Boutique are any gauge. Nearly half of the respondents to the poll, “How well could your boss do your job?” predict their bosses couldn’t do their jobs, at least not very well.
At the time of this writing, 20 percent said their bosses could easily do their job, while 20 percent believed their boss couldn’t do their job at all. Fourteen percent agreed that, “My boss knows how to do more than half of my job, but there are details that he doesn’t know.” Another 14 percent agreed that, “My boss knows how to do less than half of my job. He could fill in, in a pinch, but would quickly be overwhelmed.” Some 32 percent said they didn’t have a boss.
A Daewoo executive tries out a power tool on the assembly line.
Well, executives at GM’s Daewoo Div. did just that in May at the company’s assembly plant in Kunsan, South Korea. As part of the company’s Production Field Experience program, Daewoo executives worked side by side with production workers for nearly a month. Working 6-hour shifts, the executives learned firsthand the daily tasks of assembly line personnel.
The goal of the field experience program is to give executives a better understanding of GM’s Global Manufacturing System. Following their assignments, executives were asked to make suggestions for enhancing production, quality and the work environment.
For their part, assemblers got to know their bosses better. You can read more about it here.
What do you think? How well would you fare in your assemblers’ shoes? Think you could hack it with a nutrunner? Could you get the right widgets in the right spots in your allotted time?
For what it’s worth, most folks think you couldn’t-at least if visitors to the web site Polls Boutique are any gauge. Nearly half of the respondents to the poll, “How well could your boss do your job?” predict their bosses couldn’t do their jobs, at least not very well.
At the time of this writing, 20 percent said their bosses could easily do their job, while 20 percent believed their boss couldn’t do their job at all. Fourteen percent agreed that, “My boss knows how to do more than half of my job, but there are details that he doesn’t know.” Another 14 percent agreed that, “My boss knows how to do less than half of my job. He could fill in, in a pinch, but would quickly be overwhelmed.” Some 32 percent said they didn’t have a boss.