First hour Productivity in Manufacturing

The first hour of manufacturing company is known as Golden hour as it sets up the guideline for the entire day. The starting first hour has a target share of 12.5% on a traditional 8 hour shift. Only 30 to 40% target is accomplished in the first hour whereas it is recommended to achieve at least 80% target.

Every manufacturing process is dependent on Man, Machine and Material. The first hour productivity is affected mostly by Man such as late arrivals of operators and absenteeism. It takes 10 to 15 minutes to balance the line due to the absenteeism which affect the productivity loss of 15 to 25% in the first hour.

There are other factors also which include lack of sense of responsibility of supervisor, lack of discipline and multi skilling which lead to improper line balancing which overall affect the productivity of first hour.

Absenteeism issue can be minimized by classifying the absenteeism into planned and unplanned absenteeism. The supervisor should know who is going to absent by promoting the concept of planned absenteeism so that he can plan the line balancing for the next day. Company used to give pick and drop to worker so they can come early at least 5 to 10 minutes before the start of the shift.

One of the other issue which affect the productivity of the first hour is the machine breakdown. In order to manage the early morning breakdown, the maintenance department staff must be on the line at the start of the shift till the line stabilize.

The first hour productivity should be treated seriously not only by the operators but also by the management also in order to achieve the goal.?