Production Managers
Plan, organise, direct, control and coordinate the production activities of forestry, manufacturing and mining operations including physical, technological and human resources.
A shift change at the quarry
You are the production manager of a quarry, responsible for the plant, a crew of about forty and the trucks that deliver to customers. It is 5:45am, just before the day shift starts. A big delivery is due at noon, rain is expected this afternoon and the night supervisor has asked to speak with you before he leaves.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
We had a rough night. A conveyor was stopping, and we got it going, but I am not sure it is properly fixed. I think it will hold, and I did not want to hold up the day shift. It is your call whether we start the day on it.
Start the day as planned, since it is running and the delivery is due
The conveyor stops again at 9, taking the line with it, and the delivery is late. Starting on a fix nobody trusts only moves the problem to a worse time.
Have maintenance inspect it first, and start the plant in sections while they work
You lose an hour on the first line, but the inspection finds a worn part that could have failed. Starting in sections keeps some output going. A short, planned pause is better than a long surprise.
Shut the whole plant until the conveyor has been completely rebuilt
The conveyor is solid, but the whole day's output is lost for a problem that could have been managed in stages. Safe and slow is not always the same as sensible.
My drivers are queueing at your gate and getting restless. If this goes on, they will leave and take the loads somewhere else. Can you tell me when they will be loaded? I need a real time, not a guess.
Give her a confident time, so she keeps the trucks waiting and does not take the loads elsewhere
She keeps the trucks, but the time you gave turns out to be too hopeful. Drivers wait longer than expected and her patience wears thin.
Tell her the time you honestly expect, explain the delay and offer to load her trucks first
Chioma can plan around a real number. Some drivers leave, but most stay, because they know where they stand. Honest estimates make better partners than optimistic ones.
Tell her the trucks will be loaded soon without giving a time, so you are not caught out
Chioma cannot plan, and half the drivers leave for another supplier. Vague promises cost you more customers than bad news.
With the rain coming, the haul road will get slippery. I would like to cut the truck speed limit and close the steep ramp this afternoon. It will slow the loading rate. What do you think?
Agree, close the ramp and cut the speed limit, then see how the trucks cope
The road is safe, but without a new plan, trucks bunch up and the afternoon is chaotic. Safety is a given, and planning around it is the manager's task.
Wait to see if the rain actually arrives, since the forecast could be wrong and the loads are due
The rain comes earlier than forecast and a truck slides on the ramp. Nobody is hurt, but it is a close call. Waiting on a safety decision usually means making it too late.
Agree, brief the drivers before the rain and re-plan loading to use the flatter route
The drivers are ready and the loading rate drops only a little. Wendy sees that her advice changes what happens. Safety and production work together when the plan reflects both.
How it went
The plant runs most of the day, the delivery goes out a few hours late and the ramp is closed before the rain. Production managers keep a complicated operation moving without cutting corners that matter. Do you like working with big machines and big decisions made fast?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The crusher that kept stopping
A fictional case set in a fictional hard-rock quarry that supplies gravel and sand to road and building projects.
The situation
Production manager Dimitri Katsaros ran the Cobbler's Ridge Quarry, which supplied crushed rock to a road project that had a hard deadline. The main crusher kept stopping, sometimes for ten minutes, sometimes for an hour. Operators said it was jamming. The maintenance team replaced parts but the stoppages returned. Output was falling behind and the road crew was starting to ask where their rock was. A supervisor suggested running the crusher faster to make up the lost time.
What they did
Dimitri declined to speed the machine up, because that could damage it and put people at risk. Instead, he asked the operators to log every stoppage for two days, with the time, what was being fed in and the weather. The pattern was clear: jams followed loads with a lot of clay from one part of the pit. He changed the order in which sections of the pit were mined and blended the clay-heavy loads with cleaner rock.
How it turned out
Stoppages dropped sharply within a week and output recovered. The delivery to the road crew was a few days late, but Dimitri had warned them early and agreed a catch-up plan. The operators' logging habit became a standard part of the weekly review.
What would you do?
- Why did Dimitri choose to collect information before changing anything?
- How would you feel about telling a customer that their delivery will be late?
- What do you think operators know about a plant that a manager might miss?