Cell leaders were chosen on the basis of experience and leadership qualities. Sharma invited the prospective cell leaders out to dinner to sell them on the idea of workcells, DeBrino recalled. These guys were like, okay, you show me how we are going to control it. And we started walking them through it. The conversion to cellular manufacturing required plant floor operators to learn new skills.
Skill sets are assigned levels, from one to seven.
In my cell, we had mostly machinists. A machinist who can learn molding gets more points and can earn more money. Typical steps include compression molding, form grinding, lapping, milling, and precision drilling. Efforts are made to provide cross training whenever possible. Sharma claims that 90 percent of the plant-floor personnel can perform any job required.