Shift development 1

[mdrewelow]

We have a site that needs to be manned by 2 man shifts 24 hours per day. Does anyone out there have suggestions as to how to arrange the shifts. Our best solution is 4 teams of 2 men on a team. Teams A B C D. Team A and B do 12 hour shifts Sun, Mon and Tues. Wed all 4 teams do 6 hour shifts. Team C and D do 12 hour shifts on Thur, Fri and Sat. This works out to 42 hours a week per man. Ideas please!!!

 

[BillPSU]

Is this a team process or can members of the team have staggered starting times? Is coverage required on lunches and breaks? How will you cover vaction, personal time off and illness? You will need to have another person to cover vacations and illness or is working overtime the method for covering for missed shifts?

Staggering the shifts allows contact between shifts, more flexibility for scheduling.

 

[nnjunger]

I agree you need to have coverage for vacation, sickness, etc. That is the downside to 12 hour shifts, and I think the 6 hour shift will upset a lot of people, because it still ruins their day, but doesn't provide the opportunity to make a lot of money. One of the rotations I have seen is with 4 teams, 7 days on day shift, 4 days off, 7 days on swing, one day off, 7 days on graveyard, 2 days off. This rotation will work out, there are variations of it to rotate backwards, etc, and overtime can be minimized with some planning of the rotation and looking at how the days off fall with the calender. Hope this helps.

 

[BillPSU]

I can tell you switching shifts is terrible. It is the same as jet lag. If you switch shifts do it over a longer period of time say 3-4 weeks on each shift.

But back to my original question. Does the coverage need to be on a team basis or can the shifts be staggered?

midnight to 8AM, 8AM to 4PM, 4PM to midnight
4AM to noon, noon to 8PM, 8PM to 4AM

 

[JCovey]

I've worked a rotating 12 hr shift that gave a seven day stretch of off time once a month. That was the only benefit. Switching from days to nights and back was murder.

Our full time coverage here utilizes four 12 hour shifts, but they are fixed on nights or days. This schedule ensures they have every other weekend off to be with family as well as a five day stretch of off days in a row each month. They have a 48 hour week and then a 36 hour week. I'll attempt to describe the schedule, but let me know and I can probably get my hands on an excel doc I could email you if you're interested. The schedule for each shift is:
Work Off
3 4
2 3
3 2
2 5
4 3
4 2
3 3
2 2
5 4
As I said, it looks better in graphic form. This is the best compromise we've found to have 24/7 coverage while keeping the employees happy. I hope this helps.

JCovey

 

[shyst]

I have worked rotating shifts for the last 20 or so years at a number of facilities. There are as many schedules out there as there are people. The most important thing to think about before deciding on a schedule is what type of work the 2 men will be doing. Can they swap roles, or is there certification or union constrictions as to their duties on shift. If they can swap duties, a four-crew system is possible, however you will require a relief position for vacation & sick time. A four-crew system usually involves scheduled overtime, which is costly. The chosen schedule is usually a repeating rotating set of dayshifts and nightshifts, over a multiple of four weeks long(i.e. 8 weeks x 42 hours/week = 336 hours). A normal four-crew system has great advantages when the crew is large (6+ people) that can all swap jobs, and an extra man over normal requirements is assigned to the crew. The crew becomes autonomous, scheduling vacation, dealing with sick time off, emergency time off, training, etc. by themselves, without costing overtime.
If your operators cannot swap roles, or the crew is small, such as yours, normally a 5-crew system is more practical and less expensive. There are 6 and 7 crew systems as well (another discussion). With a five-crew system the chosen schedule is a multiple of 5 weeks long. The operators are scheduled to an average of 40 hours/week. This leaves four crews operating on any one day, and one crew on spare shift. The spare shifts are used for vacation, sick time, training, etc. There are usually a bunch of rules for management to deal with, but, are usually for a small crew are not that bad (i.e. who gets first choice on holidays, Christmas off, etc.).
Location usually plays a role in what type of rotation you choose. If your plant is in a remote location, a longer stretch working for a longer stretch off is usually the norm. If the plant is near recreation, a rotation involving shorter shifts on/off could work well. Rotating from nightshift to dayshift every set is what is most prevalent in industry. The operators on extended nightshift loose touch with the operation, and their families. This is a major stress factor, and contributes to overall poor mental health. Physically, it would be best to remain on nightshift forever, if you didn't swap back to dayshift on your days off work (which is not likely).
Finally, I would recommend that you let the crews choose the actual schedule as they are the ones working it. If you set the boundaries (five crew, four crew/no more than four shifts in a row etc.), and give it a try for at least 2 rotations, and then vote on continuing, or choose a new schedule.
Operators value their schedule highly and choose their place of employment based on how it functions.
I hope this helps, there are a number of companies out there in business to just optimize shift schedules.
I can email you a few schedules I have collected over the years if you send me your address, I'll pass them along in excel format

shyst

 

[svanels]

Is it a production or a maintenance shift?

Our experience: 4 shifts, 5-days a week, 8 hours.
One shift is always in rest.

Shift times 00:00 - 8:00
            8:00 - 16:00
            16:00 - 24:00

After the morning shift, the next working time is on the evening shift on the 7^th day.
This is for a production crew (large) there is room for vacation, sick leave, training etc.

Additionally each shift has 1 electrician.

4 people always on shift, with 3 electricians in the morning. Enough room for planning vacation, training, sick leave etc. The advantage of this system is that people can see what are their off-days years in advance if they know the shift they are assigned to.

Steven van Els
SAvanEls@cq-link.sr