The test bag is still perfect not that I expected it not to be and is a constant reminder of what needs to happen until Monday next week. After Monday the pressure is off and can then slowly prepare for the next orders next month. The textile waste on order is due to be delivered around the 23rd/24th of this month.
Today it became very clear that the punch bag order that needs to be delivered on Monday is not going to happen at the current pace and something needs to change drastically. The order for Monday is a small order and if we had the new material would only take a day or two to complete.
My family is stressed again mainly because they are not used to understanding and processing figures like I mam. I was frustrated with how they were thinking as at their current rate if they worked every day they would finish this order late Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. Missing the delivery date on Monday is non negotiable and come hell or high water it will be delivered.
I the staff compliment of 10 I have 3 that used to work with me in the bicycle plant and this afternoon we sat down and worked out a plan of action. Unfortunately my plan included working Saturday, but the order will be completed by Saturday knock off time.
This afternoon without anyone knowing I timed the production rate to gauge how good or how bad the numbers were. The textile waste material they are working with is not great ad is labor intensive in order to compact and that is what we have to work with right now and that cannot be changed. The 3 man team is currently completing on average 36 bags per day and that number needs to be doubled,
This order I am not worried about profits and it is more a case of getting the job done as quickly as possible now so throwing man power at this is the only solution. Tomorrow the team number will increase by another 2 plus boosted by my 3 ex bicycle employees stepping in and helping increase production. Their job is two fold with the job of helping complete the order plus at the same time identifying who of the current 5 deserves a permanent position. With unemployment in the country at an all time high jobs are scarce and I do not want to employ anyone who is questionable. Once you hire someone it is so difficult to fire them due to labor laws.
Solutions are sometimes not that easy to find and the only way in this case is to figure out a time frame and divide the number required by the hours. The current production number would not work and actually this is not such a bad thing really as it will help train the 3 people who we will take on permanently. We may find the daily number should have been around 50 and not 36 which also tells me the three we have penciled in for employment are more than likely not the people I need. Personally looking at the daily numbers I would say there is definitely a shortfall and maybe one or two are not pulling their weight.
In the past I have used color stickers to indicate which person has done what and need to introduce this again to protect those who are working properly and pulling their weight. Once this order has been completed we only have online sales to fulfil which will be easy and then the new textile waste arrives which will make this job so much easer. Selecting the right people who deserve a permanent job is our task now and I need to be fair about this.