A Question for all the Operators

[Rallyguy]

I can tell from your post that you are more than likely an outside hire with and Engineering degree. Re-read your first and last sentences. How can you say someone does not run the plan in terms of staffing if they do not have a working plan? I am a retired center manager who spent 10 of my 30 years in I.E. ,part of that time as a package planner. In order to plan an operation effectively you first need to understand the operation and what is needed to make it run efficiently. Is the MSD up to date? Does the operation have a turnover/attendence problem? When was the last time loader utilization was looked at? Do you as the planner have open lines of communication with all of the management people in the operation especially the part time sups? They are the front line people. One thing I learned as a planner was that the more imput the operators have in the plans the harder they will work to execute it successfully. And they will also have more respect for the planner and that my friend is priceless. Good luck.

Let me clarify the bolded part.

I didn't mean running the staffing level on a plan that is either unattainable and/or wrong. Thats just silly.

Lets say the plan calls for 200 people. You decide each wing is going to run 1 person over the plan. If that was a realistic plan for you to hit your goal, it doesn't matter now. The plan is now meaningless, as all of the important values will change.

The operations are volatile, and you have to react and do what you need to do. I get that there is only so much you can plan.

But why bother with presort if nothing on the plan is going to be followed?

[BURMDPsupe]

I'll bite.

Since you asked this question during a week that was extremely/dangerously hot in most of the country, maybe the manager felt it was necessary to run over plan to compensate for a decrease in production. Let's face it, even your best employees will slow down during excessive heat; the body can only take so much stress without suffering signs of heat exhaustion. If you measure the overall cost, missing the plan by a few pieces is nothing compared to the cost of a heat related injury(s) on a sort. The manager still needs to have the sort shut down to meet pull times, hence extra staffing to get the work completed. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just a thought.

Also, some managers could "sandbag" their weekly pph by beating the plan on heavy volume days and missing the plan by a piece or two during the light volume days; that way, the weekly pph will even out and the manager is still able to make weekly pph goal.

M-

[Spanish fly]

Sometimes the plan is not realistic! There are so many day to day variables that affect the plans I.E. Comes up with. The plans need to have adjustments in them so that there is room to account for all the day to day challenges that may arise. To sit back and calculate a bunch of numbers and not consider all the possible situations that can possibly prevent a plan from being successful is just flat out poor planning to begin with. All I. E. Staff should spend at least three years in all the different operations to get knowledge of all the different types of scenarios that can possibly come in to play on a day to day basis. We ask our partners to achieve the impossible sometimes and when we fail there is no support or understanding. We need to go back to letting the operators run their own operations and cut out the I.E. Department. That would be a tremendous savings in itself.

[BLACKBALLED]

I agree, I.E. sits at a computer and figures it out based on last years numbers, quite ridiculous, if you are not in the fire I would suggest you stay out if you do not know what really is going on in the battle field, when I.E. gets it wrong and you dont make your projected PPH you get belittled by management or threatened, I always thought they were nothing but paper pushers in all honesty. UPS has a lot of waste positions and underpaid PT sups.

[Rallyguy]

It seems that you all will be getting what you wished. I know personally that in 1 district we have lost 6 FT IE sups. Hope you guys all the best, and that your local IE guy/girl doesn't find a better job like we all did.

[Dragon]

It seems that you all will be getting what you wished. I know personally that in 1 district we have lost 6 FT IE sups. Hope you guys all the best, and that your local IE guy/girl doesn't find a better job like we all did.

So why did they quit? It's not because we didn't run the plan you created is it?

[Rallyguy]

For me, I found I was underpaid for the work I was asked to do.

The sacrifices I made to work at UPS (Twilight, Sunrise, Preload hours), potentially being transferred to another building at the drop of hat did not equal the paycheck I was getting. So I found something better for me.

For others that had more years of service than me it was being passed over for promotion because they weren't the right gender.
Or being told you had to do X,Y,Z rotation before moving up, completing those tasks and have nothing come of it as a result.

Granted these reasons happen at any company in the world, its just that the daily grind of UPS magnifies these issues ten fold.

[Dragon]

For me, I found I was underpaid for the work I was asked to do.

The sacrifices I made to work at UPS (Twilight, Sunrise, Preload hours), potentially being transferred to another building at the drop of hat did not equal the paycheck I was getting. So I found something better for me.

For others that had more years of service than me it was being passed over for promotion because they weren't the right gender.
Or being told you had to do X,Y,Z rotation before moving up, completing those tasks and have nothing come of it as a result.

Granted these reasons happen at any company in the world, its just that the daily grind of UPS magnifies these issues ten fold.

Sorry to see you go RallyGuy, I wish you best of luck in your next job. UPS is not the place to work as it once was, never look back and wish you stayed here because it will never change.

Dragon

[Bubblehead]

I have read this entire thread and one word sums it up,...TRUST.

Or should I say a lack there of???​

[Mapp]

The biggest problem that I see, is we are so worried about PPH, that we sometimes spend a lot more money then we need to by trying to get a better PPH.
Take the Preload as an example of what I mean. A PT Preloader makes peanuts compared to a driver. While there are some preloaders who do a great job and load stop for stop, there are many that don't. We are in a rush to get these people off the clock to hit Preload PPH. Well, if we had them stay 15 - 20 minutes (5 min for each car they load). This will probably reduce the driver day by the same amount 5 minutes per driver. But we are paying a Preload at his\her wage vs a driver at their wage (and almost assuredly at an OT rate). Why we don't do that, I don't understand.

An awesome load can no doubt save a Driver of a half over of overtime, plus miles and save misloads. Its rediculous UPS steps over a dollar to pick up a penny.

To I.E. in general-Thanks for the b.s. numbers. If I could run those I would have been for the past 4 years. This based on last years numbers creates the desire to sandbag so you don't screw yourself next year which also costs the company money.