You have just begun a new position with Smithton Cabinetmakers as HR Manager.
Monday, 7:45 a.m.
Julie Jones, receptionist
“Good morning, welcome to Smithton! You must be our new HR manager. Here is a copy of your
schedule for today. The president has already sent out an announcement about you. We are not a big
company, so you should get to know the office employees pretty fast. Manufacturing is a bigger
department, so getting to know those employees will take more time. The warehouse employees come
and go so fast, you will probably get to know them only through the recruiting process. Mr. Rooney told
me not to schedule any interviews for you today, but there is a stack of applications in your inbox. Cary
Dobbins wants three new hires for next Monday morning.”
Monday, 8:00 a.m.
Anthony Rooney, president/CEO
“Welcome to the Smithton Cabinet family. We have a busy day planned for you, so I won’t take up too
much of your time. You will begin with Barbara Anderson, my administrative assistant. She will take you
through our employee orientation and get you set up for payroll and benefits. Next, Mark Sooner from
accounting will give you your computer password and explain our network and backup procedures. The
rest of your day will be devoted to meetings with various employees so you can get to know everyone
and learn more about our company.
“We had talked during your interview about the employee issues we are having, and I hope your outside
perspective will help us get a better understanding of what the underlying problems really are. I would
like to meet again on Friday, and you can give me a preliminary idea of what you see as the primary
issues. After that, we’ll give you a couple more weeks to develop an action plan to deal with these
problems. That may seem like a very fast schedule, but I want you to jump on this before your time gets
filled up with other activities. I recently read about the concept of a ‘honeymoon’ during an HR
manager’s first 100 days. The article indicated that during this period, you are able to accomplish things
that will become impossible later. I want—we need—to make the most of this opportunity.”
Monday, 8:15 a.m.
Barbara Anderson, president’s administrative assistant
“I have been doing the employment tasks and record keeping. I’m sure you will find everything in order.
I’ll take you through the regular orientation and benefits enrollment process. I’m glad you are here,
because I have been asking Mr. Rooney for help for quite a long time; all this HR stuff keeps me from
getting my real job done. We will get started by completing the I-9 form.”
A couple of videos and reams of benefit forms later, she gives you the employee handbook and returns
to her desk.
Monday, 10:00 a.m.
Mark Sooner, accounting database administrator
Mark meets you at your office to go over the company network and show you how to access the HRIS
database. At this company, the HRIS is an Excel file maintained by the president’s administrative
assistant. Your e-mail inbox has already been created and contains 87 messages. As he is leaving, Mark
says, “I’ve been doing the payroll because we didn’t have an HR department. Now that you are here, we
should talk about transitioning that function over to you.”
Monday, 10:30 a.m.
Mike Rooney, chief financial officer (CFO)
“We operate in a narrow niche market. We have to maintain a price advantage over the true custom
manufacturers, or our customers will have no reason not to take advantage of the wider choices and
individualized solutions. This means that efficiency of operations is our primary competitive advantage.
If we lose that operating cost advantage, our business plan collapses like a house of cards.
“We cannot produce at the incredibly low-cost level maintained by the mass market manufacturers. We
would not get costs that low even if we mimicked their limited product lines and quality levels. We
compete with them by creating styles and options that they don’t offer. Finding the balance between
production costs and proliferation of models is a continuing struggle.
“We need to cut out the current levels of overtime to maintain our cost structure. It is not clear why we
need this overtime. Our labor hours per unit made have stopped going down and are even up
somewhat. Adding overtime to that increases our labor cost per hour as well. Turnover has been useful
in the past, allowing us to replace higher-paid workers with more lower-paid new hires, but the pattern
seems to be changing, and now it is our new hires who are leaving. The warehouse manager wants to
increase wages in his area, but that raises our costs per labor hour without explaining how it will help us
get our total costs down.”
Monday, 11: 30 a.m. (lunch meeting)
Duane Boller, manufacturing manager
“A variety of people issues are hindering our productivity. We have bottlenecks in the warehouse areas.
These bottlenecks spill into our manufacturing area because we have to pull people off assembly work
to get their own raw materials or to move finished product out of the production area. This also means
that we are doing with more expensive manufacturing labor what should be done with less expensive
warehouse labor. To operate at our needed levels of efficiency, employees need to be doing the jobs
they are trained for. Driving around on a forklift just to find materials or to find a place to put finished
units is not efficient.
“We operate under the concept of mass customization. Using modular parts, we can produce designs
with features that appear to the end user as custom work but have the manufacturing advantages of
mass production. “The assembly jigs we have developed are the heart of our system. You can think of
them as big clamps. They hold the material in just the right arrangement. If the assembler puts in the
wrong part, the jig will not close, preventing the assembler from wasting materials. Once the materials
are in place, the jig closes and a single lever pull will drill any needed holes in the right place, in the right
size and to the proper depth. It is fast, mistake-free and simple for the operator. Much of our assembly
is gluing. Here is where the big clamp analogy is the closest. Once the jig is locked with just a couple of
levers, proper clamping pressure is applied at exactly the right places. Assemblers no longer spend time
placing individual clamps. Once closed, the jigs are tilted upright and rolled on their own rollers to a
drying area. If they are to get painted, the paint hanger goes on before the jig is released and no one
even has to touch the door unit until it is crated. Zero damage and zero waste in this part of the process.
Monday, 1:30 p.m.
Jake Brown, manufacturing supervisor
“It is hard to keep the guys working efficiently. We are always running out of raw materials, or the
finished product builds up and I have to pull guys off the production floor to deal with it. The warehouse
manager doesn’t do his job, but if I have my guys take loads over, he complains that they did not get
stacked right and that the damage is our fault.”
Monday, 2:00 p.m.
Cary Dobbins, warehouse manager
“We are treated like stepchildren; the manufacturing department pays more and has the best
equipment. If I do get a good employee, this person transfers to manufacturing at the first opportunity. I
tried blocking a transfer once, but the employee got mad and quit. If we get behind, manufacturing just
drops product anywhere, and when it gets damaged, they blame it on us. They think anybody can do our
job, but they can’t seem to put a blue crate into a blue bin without hitting something. “I waste time
interviewing and training when I should be working on the crating jig project that is supposed to reduce
our damage ratio and make packing easier. My best guys can pack better than the jig right now, but I
have to train new people all the time, and some just don’t seem to get it. Crating may not be rocket
science, but putting nails in crooked damages the doors. Miss a corner—and the whole thing will fall
apart the first time we try to move it. People get the idea that because it is manual labor rather than an
automated machine, it is simpler. The opposite is closer to the truth. My forklift drivers don’t want to do
crating because it has so much bending over and lifting that it is much harder physically than their
regular work. The crating jig should make it possible for less-skilled people to do the crating job.
This will eventually allow us to save money both on labor costs and the cost of replacing damaged
goods.”
Monday, 3: 00 p.m.
Brandon Swimmer, marketing manager
“It is critical that we are seen by our customers as top quality because we charge more than the prices
they see at the big-box stores. Damaged goods and shipping problems reflect poorly on our product,
even if it is good quality. How many end users can truly judge the quality of our product? Not many; it’s
all perception. “We work directly with the homeowners in the design process, but the builders are the
ones who refer the homeowners, do the sizing, place the orders and install the product. They are the
ones who take the heat for shipping delays or damage. When they need service, parts or replacements,
they want them now, not tomorrow or the day after. Time is money to contractors. We have to win on
design but deliver at a price that makes our products a better value.”
Monday, 3:45 p.m.
Stephen Moore, crater (new hire)
“I took this job to get off of second shift, but I am hoping to transfer to the manufacturing group as soon
as I can. My friend who works over there told me about this place, but they make you start in the
warehouse and work your way up. What I don’t get is why the crating job pays less than the forklift job;
running the forklift is easier work. Besides, working on the crating jig is really like working in the
manufacturing side, where they use similar jigs to make the doors. The manufacturing techs get paid a
lot more than craters. It sure is nice being home with my family in the evening, but if I don’t get that
transfer and the raise that goes with it, I will have to get a second job to make ends meet.”
Monday, 4:00 p.m.
Nathan Smith, production technician (manufacturing assembly)
“When I first got here, we made the doors from scratch. You could take pride in a door you made
yourself. Now we just throw parts into a jig and stick them together. It allows new people to make a
quality door with little training, but it is kind of sad for those of us who consider ourselves craftsmen.
Most of my old co-workers have moved into the housing industry as finish carpenters. I came from there
originally, and I’m afraid of going back just in time to lose my job due to a downturn in the downtown
housing market.”
Monday 4:15 p.m.
Jeffery Green, raw materials warehouse
“I like running the forklift in raw materials. I know I could make a little more in production, but I think it
would be boring doing the same thing all day. We have a good team in my area; most of us have been
here awhile and know our jobs. The supervisor spends most of his time working on orders and inventory
issues rather than standing over us. I like that. It’s not the same in production. The supervisors are
always on their tails, and if anything goes wrong, there is lots of yelling. They are always trying to blame
other departments because they are under so much pressure to produce. They’ll switch models on the
fly, and then complain that we don’t have the parts bin correctly stocked. The worst is when they try to
help. Talk about screwing things up in a hurry! We should take away all of their forklift licenses.”
You have just begun a new position with Smithton Cabinetmakers as HR Manager.
Monday, 7:45 a.m.
Julie Jones, receptionist
“Good morning, welcome to Smithton! You must be our new HR manager. Here is a copy of your
schedule for today. The president has already sent out an announcement about you. We are not a big
company, so you should get to know the office employees pretty fast. Manufacturing is a bigger
department, so getting to know those employees will take more time. The warehouse employees come
and go so fast, you will probably get to know them only through the recruiting process. Mr. Rooney told
me not to schedule any interviews for you today, but there is a stack of applications in your inbox. Cary
Dobbins wants three new hires for next Monday morning.”
Monday, 8:00 a.m.
Anthony Rooney, president/CEO
“Welcome to the Smithton Cabinet family. We have a busy day planned for you, so I won’t take up too
much of your time. You will begin with Barbara Anderson, my administrative assistant. She will take you
through our employee orientation and get you set up for payroll and benefits. Next, Mark Sooner from
accounting will give you your computer password and explain our network and backup procedures. The
rest of your day will be devoted to meetings with various employees so you can get to know everyone
and learn more about our company.
“We had talked during your interview about the employee issues we are having, and I hope your outside
perspective will help us get a better understanding of what the underlying problems really are. I would
like to meet again on Friday, and you can give me a preliminary idea of what you see as the primary
issues. After that, we’ll give you a couple more weeks to develop an action plan to deal with these
problems. That may seem like a very fast schedule, but I want you to jump on this before your time gets
filled up with other activities. I recently read about the concept of a ‘honeymoon’ during an HR
manager’s first 100 days. The article indicated that during this period, you are able to accomplish things
that will become impossible later. I want—we need—to make the most of this opportunity.”
Monday, 8:15 a.m.
Barbara Anderson, president’s administrative assistant
“I have been doing the employment tasks and record keeping. I’m sure you will find everything in order.
I’ll take you through the regular orientation and benefits enrollment process. I’m glad you are here,
because I have been asking Mr. Rooney for help for quite a long time; all this HR stuff keeps me from
getting my real job done. We will get started by completing the I-9 form.”
A couple of videos and reams of benefit forms later, she gives you the employee handbook and returns
to her desk.
Monday, 10:00 a.m.
Mark Sooner, accounting database administrator
Mark meets you at your office to go over the company network and show you how to access the HRIS
database. At this company, the HRIS is an Excel file maintained by the president’s administrative
assistant. Your e-mail inbox has already been created and contains 87 messages. As he is leaving, Mark
says, “I’ve been doing the payroll because we didn’t have an HR department. Now that you are here, we
should talk about transitioning that function over to you.”
Monday, 10:30 a.m.
Mike Rooney, chief financial officer (CFO)
“We operate in a narrow niche market. We have to maintain a price advantage over the true custom
manufacturers, or our customers will have no reason not to take advantage of the wider choices and
individualized solutions. This means that efficiency of operations is our primary competitive advantage.
If we lose that operating cost advantage, our business plan collapses like a house of cards.
“We cannot produce at the incredibly low-cost level maintained by the mass market manufacturers. We
would not get costs that low even if we mimicked their limited product lines and quality levels. We
compete with them by creating styles and options that they don’t offer. Finding the balance between
production costs and proliferation of models is a continuing struggle.
“We need to cut out the current levels of overtime to maintain our cost structure. It is not clear why we
need this overtime. Our labor hours per unit made have stopped going down and are even up
somewhat. Adding overtime to that increases our labor cost per hour as well. Turnover has been useful
in the past, allowing us to replace higher-paid workers with more lower-paid new hires, but the pattern
seems to be changing, and now it is our new hires who are leaving. The warehouse manager wants to
increase wages in his area, but that raises our costs per labor hour without explaining how it will help us
get our total costs down.”
Monday, 11: 30 a.m. (lunch meeting)
Duane Boller, manufacturing manager
“A variety of people issues are hindering our productivity. We have bottlenecks in the warehouse areas.
These bottlenecks spill into our manufacturing area because we have to pull people off assembly work
to get their own raw materials or to move finished product out of the production area. This also means
that we are doing with more expensive manufacturing labor what should be done with less expensive
warehouse labor. To operate at our needed levels of efficiency, employees need to be doing the jobs
they are trained for. Driving around on a forklift just to find materials or to find a place to put finished
units is not efficient.
“We operate under the concept of mass customization. Using modular parts, we can produce designs
with features that appear to the end user as custom work but have the manufacturing advantages of
mass production. “The assembly jigs we have developed are the heart of our system. You can think of
them as big clamps. They hold the material in just the right arrangement. If the assembler puts in the
wrong part, the jig will not close, preventing the assembler from wasting materials. Once the materials
are in place, the jig closes and a single lever pull will drill any needed holes in the right place, in the right
size and to the proper depth. It is fast, mistake-free and simple for the operator. Much of our assembly
is gluing. Here is where the big clamp analogy is the closest. Once the jig is locked with just a couple of
levers, proper clamping pressure is applied at exactly the right places. Assemblers no longer spend time
placing individual clamps. Once closed, the jigs are tilted upright and rolled on their own rollers to a
drying area. If they are to get painted, the paint hanger goes on before the jig is released and no one
even has to touch the door unit until it is crated. Zero damage and zero waste in this part of the process.
Monday, 1:30 p.m.
Jake Brown, manufacturing supervisor
“It is hard to keep the guys working efficiently. We are always running out of raw materials, or the
finished product builds up and I have to pull guys off the production floor to deal with it. The warehouse
manager doesn’t do his job, but if I have my guys take loads over, he complains that they did not get
stacked right and that the damage is our fault.”
Monday, 2:00 p.m.
Cary Dobbins, warehouse manager
“We are treated like stepchildren; the manufacturing department pays more and has the best
equipment. If I do get a good employee, this person transfers to manufacturing at the first opportunity. I
tried blocking a transfer once, but the employee got mad and quit. If we get behind, manufacturing just
drops product anywhere, and when it gets damaged, they blame it on us. They think anybody can do our
job, but they can’t seem to put a blue crate into a blue bin without hitting something. “I waste time
interviewing and training when I should be working on the crating jig project that is supposed to reduce
our damage ratio and make packing easier. My best guys can pack better than the jig right now, but I
have to train new people all the time, and some just don’t seem to get it. Crating may not be rocket
science, but putting nails in crooked damages the doors. Miss a corner—and the whole thing will fall
apart the first time we try to move it. People get the idea that because it is manual labor rather than an
automated machine, it is simpler. The opposite is closer to the truth. My forklift drivers don’t want to do
crating because it has so much bending over and lifting that it is much harder physically than their
regular work. The crating jig should make it possible for less-skilled people to do the crating job.
This will eventually allow us to save money both on labor costs and the cost of replacing damaged
goods.”
Monday, 3: 00 p.m.
Brandon Swimmer, marketing manager
“It is critical that we are seen by our customers as top quality because we charge more than the prices
they see at the big-box stores. Damaged goods and shipping problems reflect poorly on our product,
even if it is good quality. How many end users can truly judge the quality of our product? Not many; it’s
all perception. “We work directly with the homeowners in the design process, but the builders are the
ones who refer the homeowners, do the sizing, place the orders and install the product. They are the
ones who take the heat for shipping delays or damage. When they need service, parts or replacements,
they want them now, not tomorrow or the day after. Time is money to contractors. We have to win on
design but deliver at a price that makes our products a better value.”
Monday, 3:45 p.m.
Stephen Moore, crater (new hire)
“I took this job to get off of second shift, but I am hoping to transfer to the manufacturing group as soon
as I can. My friend who works over there told me about this place, but they make you start in the
warehouse and work your way up. What I don’t get is why the crating job pays less than the forklift job;
running the forklift is easier work. Besides, working on the crating jig is really like working in the
manufacturing side, where they use similar jigs to make the doors. The manufacturing techs get paid a
lot more than craters. It sure is nice being home with my family in the evening, but if I don’t get that
transfer and the raise that goes with it, I will have to get a second job to make ends meet.”
Monday, 4:00 p.m.
Nathan Smith, production technician (manufacturing assembly)
“When I first got here, we made the doors from scratch. You could take pride in a door you made
yourself. Now we just throw parts into a jig and stick them together. It allows new people to make a
quality door with little training, but it is kind of sad for those of us who consider ourselves craftsmen.
Most of my old co-workers have moved into the housing industry as finish carpenters. I came from there
originally, and I’m afraid of going back just in time to lose my job due to a downturn in the downtown
housing market.”
Monday 4:15 p.m.
Jeffery Green, raw materials warehouse
“I like running the forklift in raw materials. I know I could make a little more in production, but I think it
would be boring doing the same thing all day. We have a good team in my area; most of us have been
here awhile and know our jobs. The supervisor spends most of his time working on orders and inventory
issues rather than standing over us. I like that. It’s not the same in production. The supervisors are
always on their tails, and if anything goes wrong, there is lots of yelling. They are always trying to blame
other departments because they are under so much pressure to produce. They’ll switch models on the
fly, and then complain that we don’t have the parts bin correctly stocked. The worst is when they try to
help. Talk about screwing things up in a hurry! We should take away all of their forklift licenses.”
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