For Owners/Managers

[AGCharlotte]

We have our 15-20 minute daily production dept meetings here; different time every morning usually around 9-10am.
We have around 15 total employees and 6 are in production, usually the owner steps into the meeting if he is available.
We go through our schedule for yesterday through 5 days out.
Yesterday's jobs are glossed over (hopefully they were completed, if not they are moved to today) and mistakes/positives about finished jobs are brought up quickly.
Today's jobs are made sure everything will be packed/shipped in time (today's install jobs should already be complete) or ready for install tomorrow.
This helps to be sure we have the right amount of employees focused on each task and prioritizes them, especially if the sales dept have rearranged the install schedule or other issue or a customer needs something rushed.
It has helped a lot with keeping everything on schedule and nothing slips through the cracks.

sounds about like us but we only do 3 days out. Mainly to make sure if there's any "tight" deadlines that they can be dealt with and anything unexpected popping up. Sales has their own meetings but they get included in the production meeting as well.

 

[BigNate]

We have a daily huddle of all Print Shop staff (8 total, so not too bad)- this is triggered when the drivers are loaded for the day. We meet, quickly discuss what is on the production schedule for the day, positive feedback from customers (initial kudos only, if a long debrief is needed we will do that with just the relevant players) any safety or production concerns. This huddle should take under 5 minutes and makes sure we are all on the same page every day. This also gives any team member a chance to share anything they want with the group - this aspect alone is worth the 5 minutes. Team cohesion is important.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

but how can you make a schedule if you don't ask the employees what they got finished until 3 hours into the next workday? That was what I was wondering.
Gino, you are right they wont listen at the end of the day just like they wont listen in the middle of the day either, that's why meetings are dumb. As for problems or mistakes, handle it on the spot. Why wait? I wouldn't consider a quick check in at the end of the day, like burton said, a meeting either, I do the same thing, it takes 2 minutes. I make a schedule every night so each employee has their day laid out and ready for them in the morning. Then they mark off when that task is done so I know to move it forward. It is typically in stone too, unless we run into a problem out of our control.

 

[Gino]

Unless you're a large company and far removed from workers/employees and hafta depend on foremen/ladies or reports...... I'm constantly roaming around checking on things. I make sure not to interfere, unless I see something going wrong or being done wrong, then I help and do a hands on help to make sure all is understood or that we're all on the same page.

As for meetings being dumb, I kinda agree. To me, it's more of just a diversion, to help make people feel a part of things, even though they're not. You rent their arms, legs and fingers to do a job. If they could think, they'd be dangerous. Therefore, you don't want their input, as it's usually pretty stupid. Only so many times or ways you can re-invent the wheel and these bozos are still doing things their way and f*cking sh!t up, because they don't listen.

 

[jfiscus]

I would think this would be more productive if done at the end of the day? Figure out what was completed and what carries over, then make up everyone's schedules for the following day so when they get into work they hit the ground running. The morning hours are typically the most productive part of the day. If the meeting happens at 10 and the schedule was rearranged, you're losing 2-3 hours of time to turn the ship.

We used to do them around 8:30 every day, but it does interrupt the morning workload and it was harder to know about the no-shows and other glitches that are unforeseeable at that point. It also has some to do with UPS pickup schedule (around 2:00pm, and a lot of customers require a bunch of paperwork) and making sure everything will be ready for the end of the day/next morning. Throughout the day everyone has their own access to the schedule (large display monitor, personal computers, and individual job tickets with full details). With this many jobs floating around through our different departments/machines all over we need some sort of system to catch them if there is a chance of them going awry and to notify everyone at once so that they are all aware and can make adjustments to their schedules or the shop schedule if necessary. Most of the production guys kind of pencil in their whole day (and the next morning) at this point on a notepad. Some of these guys get here before anyone else so their days are already a couple hours in before others arrive. For the rest of the day everyone works on their own w/o any supervision or further instruction, so I think taking those 15 minutes is time well spent. YMMV. It works well for us.

 

[Eforcer]

Just curious, when you have a large project that has problems whether in production or installation. Do you have a meeting when the project is completed and go over those issues and try to prevent them on the next project?

12 pm today w are having a full blown meeting. I've been hospitalized recently I came back to see a fiasco. We do very well, but, can't seem to stop putting out fires. So we are implementing a new system that is an old system I learned 30 years ago. I feel like if I am out, nothing should change. When I worked at IKON we had 8:30 meetings everyday. It was the best remedy to avoid issues.
Make an effort to meet.


Sign Up!

 

[DanL 57703]

12 pm today w are having a full blown meeting. I've been hospitalized recently I came back to see a fiasco. We do very well, but, can't seem to stop putting out fires. So we are implementing a new system that is an old system I learned 30 years ago. I feel like if I am out, nothing should change. When I worked at IKON we had 8:30 meetings everyday. It was the best remedy to avoid issues.
Make an effort to meet.


Sign Up!

We go over customer feedback, late jobs, daily sales, all of it in a daily meeting with the whole company. Everyday at 10:35 am.

The way I see it, pointing fingers is kind of part of the game. We need the people who messed up to admit it. Then we try hard to move on. I mess up all the time. Part of the job. It's important to recognize those mistakes.

My team mostly realizes that owning a mistake is the best way to avoid a lecture.

I agree, I see it not as a blame meeting because we should be a team. One fails we all fail.
One of the main problems is the person running the place has never worked in a sign shop, there is no one main person in each department. Instead it starts with 3 salespeople who also do design, production, and installation. It's the dumbest thing I saw in a shop. And were not a small sign shop either.

 

[DanL 57703]

I thought of using an online calendar for each department. Something everyone can check at any time even at home to see what tomorrow will be like. have one main person that enters the information? The manager didn't come up with the idea so we never tried it.

We used to do them around 8:30 every day, but it does interrupt the morning workload and it was harder to know about the no-shows and other glitches that are unforeseeable at that point. It also has some to do with UPS pickup schedule (around 2:00pm, and a lot of customers require a bunch of paperwork) and making sure everything will be ready for the end of the day/next morning. Throughout the day everyone has their own access to the schedule (large display monitor, personal computers, and individual job tickets with full details). With this many jobs floating around through our different departments/machines all over we need some sort of system to catch them if there is a chance of them going awry and to notify everyone at once so that they are all aware and can make adjustments to their schedules or the shop schedule if necessary. Most of the production guys kind of pencil in their whole day (and the next morning) at this point on a notepad. Some of these guys get here before anyone else so their days are already a couple hours in before others arrive. For the rest of the day everyone works on their own w/o any supervision or further instruction, so I think taking those 15 minutes is time well spent. YMMV. It works well for us.

 

[brdesign]

Ugh, this is the definition of stifling progress! Gotta find a way to convince them to stop being butt hurt that they don't have every good idea themselves, and sometimes janitor joe has a fine suggestion.
Let me know when you figure the secret sauce to get them to swallow that one...

You have to present the idea to them in a way that makes them think they came up with the idea. "hey Boss, remember that GREAT idea YOU had the other week, we all think it's a great idea too, let's do it!

 

[Z SIGNS]

Yes after every job. The meeting is about three seconds long and it goes like this.

That worked nice lets do the next one just like that.
OR
That did not work let's not do it that way again.