The client was a municipal owner and operator of various Water &Wastewater facilities. Maintenance staff utilization and "wrench time" was a concern for management.

Client's Challenge
The management of municipal water wastewater facilities wanted to better understand how many staff are required at each location based on current workload and staff utilization. There was also debate about whether more supervisors are required or not.

StraNexus' Approach
The approach included focusing on one particular facility (the lartest one with the most staff and supervisors). The following steps were taken:

• A subset of the workforce was interviewed to get a better understanding of roles, responsibilities and staff issues
• A work sampling study was conducted over a period of 3 weeks
• Study findings were analyzed and summarized for management and staff

Results
The work sampling study identified:

• The amount of time staff were spending on various value-added and non-value added tasks such as wrench time, travel/transportation, breaks, collecting parts, getting ready for work, communicating, meetings, etc.
• The amount of money that the organization can save if management can improve staff utilization (wrench time) by at least 1%
• That no additional supervisory staff were required and the current supervisors should be better utilized
• A list of improvement opportunities (including ones suggested by current staff)

Have you experienced similar challenges at your organization? Let us know how we can help you. Contact us today.