You are certainly correct that you don’t want to do traditional (or any other kind) layoffs. You get one chance to demonstrate commitment to people.

Without knowing more about your specific conditions it is hard to give specific advice. However, in general, the best way to use that end-of-shift time would be to organize the work team to continue doing kaizen on their own work.

If all you are getting is broom pushing (which is very common, by the way), then ask why. Does the team have a leader? Do they have a kaizen target (such as, over the next quarter, etc. reducing their total cycle time enough to pull the “partial” person?”) If you want them to do something else, how have you made the expectation known, and how are you leading them? That is really important.

This might be an opportunity for a member of your kaizen team(?) to stick with this team and mentor and teach them in the afternoons. The idea is to get their creativity engaged.

This isn’t easy. But it is where the seconds are saved, and those seconds add up. One organization I am close to practically requires a minimum of one improvement per person per day. Even if it is only a second or two, the cumulative effect has been, over about 2 years, to *double* their capacity with the same people, same capital equipment, same space, and I think one or two units of additional inventory because some parts coming out of an oven were too hot for the next operation to touch within a single takt time.

Another company forms dedicated kaizen support teams. As their production becomes more efficient, they post additional openings and recruit the best people off the shop floor (to reduce the production headcount), then re-balance and re-shuffle people to make sure the improved operation actually gives up headcount. That team serves a couple of purposes.

- They support kaizen events by providing backfill for workers who are participating on teams.
- They also support kaizen events by providing experience and extra hands on the teams.
- They *can* be used (after all other alternatives are exhausted) as backfill in case of high absences on a particular day.
- In the hot production season, they might go into production to plus-up the work force for a faster takt.
Because they are the best people, they tend to be flexible about where they can work and broad in their knowledge of the operation.

If you want to get more specific, let me know and perhaps we can connect by phone or something. That would be (normally) no problem.

We are experiencing this issue with our first real cell implementation. We have freed up “partial” people and have experienced a cyclic slow down at the same time. I don’t want to do the traditional layoffs but rather get people on value added activites. This area has participated in all the principles applied to the cell: flow, 5S, pull, 5 why, etc……

We have asked that as you meet your kanban production signals that you do some type of value added activity such as organizing for the next production, 5s, cleaning work station, simple problem solving. However, all we really get is some broom pushing and basically shutting down 1/2 hour early every shift.

Any suggestions for successful value added activites would be greatly appreciated.