GA Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) Georgia Tech

Best Practices Guide to Virtual Communication

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During the Spring of 2020, the pandemic caused almost all in-person meetings and classes to transition to a virtual format.  These sessions have become imperative to maintaining our country’s infrastructure and ensuring business continuity.  During this time, we’ve learned that a virtual, remote setting can be a poor substitute for in-person interactions.  Many facets of communication are transmitted via eye contact, body language, and facial expressions.  Even video calls often miss these small gestures of affirmation or disagreement and cause confusion.  This guide includes sections on: logistics, scope, etiquette, engagement, facilitation, and security.  These best practices will give insight on planning and implementation strategies to streamline online sessions and get the most out of virtual communication.

Logistics

Good planning is the cornerstone of any business meeting, educational class, and collaborative webcast.  Being thoughtful about the virtual platform you are using and being familiar with all that system’s features, tools, and your own hardware will prevent many issues and enable you to troubleshoot problems that do occur with ease.

  • Selecting a platform
    • Ease of logging-in
    • Bandwidth
    • Special features (break-out rooms, etc.)
    • Cost and capacity
    • Security capabilities
  • Familiarity with the functions/tool of the platform
    • Seamless and rapid execution of desired functions (muting, break out rooms, etc.)
    • Provide attendees “user guide” or tutorial of the platform
    • Consider attendees’ technological knowledge
    • Ensure that guest speakers are familiar with the platform (how to share their screen and advance slides)
  • Video
    • Be cognizant of surroundings and nearby distractions
    • Ensure virtual background choice is appropriate
    • Webcam is clean from smudges and operational
    • Lighting is adequate
    • Consider appropriate attire
    • Be cognizant of camera angle
  • Recordings
    • Be cognizant of recording privileges (FERPA)
    • Make attendees aware you are recording
    • Utilize recording for missing attendees
  • Sound
    • Verify hardware (headset, microphone, earbuds) is working correctly
    • Double-check the mute feature is on to minimize feedback and background noise
    • Consider force-muting all attendees
    • Closed Caption might be available in different languages
    • Audio from videos comes from the host’s computer (host should consider removing headphones)
    • If computer audio isn’t working correctly, consider dialing in via a phone
  • Internet and Bandwidth
    • Consider internet connection (hardwired is preferred)
    • Have a back-up plan for internet shortages (switch to phone)
    • Factors that may affect bandwidth (screen freeze or delays)
      • Using webcams
      • Video virtual backgrounds
      • Actively using chat function
      • Streaming videos
      • Sharing your screen
      • Switching between windows
      • Having too many programs/windows active on your desktop
  • Post-Session Reporting
    • Most platforms include reports to determine:
      • Attendee identity
      • Duration of participation
      • Information regarding access to recordings
    • Sometimes past chats can be downloaded
    • Graphical analytics
  • Multiple Screens
    • Using more than one screen can help with multitasking
    • Smart devises can be used as an extra screen (tablets or phones)
    • Ensure you know which screen is being viewed when sharing your screen

Scope

As advanced as our communication technology has become, virtual sessions are not a perfect substitute for interacting with someone in-person.  They can easily lead to miscommunication without thoughtful planning.  These strategies will help you create a scope to keep your session on track and optimize your time together.

  • Pre-planning
    • Determine session’s objectives
    • Ensure all necessary materials are distributed to attendees
    • Prioritize important topics near beginning of agenda
    • Decide if attendees will use webcams or not
  • Length
    • Shorter meetings prevent screen-fatigue
    • Virtual format doesn’t translate well into all day sessions
    • Limit to less than 2-3 hours at a time
    • Consider multiple sessions, across multiple days, instead of lengthy sessions
    • Schedule more breaks
  • Attendance
    • Fewer people (< 20) leads to increased engagement and ease of facilitation

Etiquette

When in a remote setting, professional etiquette is often the first to go.  Control must be applied consistently for everyone in attendance.  An effective way to establish a professional setting is for the host/facilitator to lead by example.  Overcoming common distractions (pets, housework, demanding children, and flashing words on the computers screen) will help facilitate proper etiquette in a virtual workplace.

  • Host Etiquette
    • Clearly establish the session norms (rules)
      • Hold everyone accountable
    • Review the agenda at the beginning
    • Avoid scope-creep
      • Don’t spend time on topics outside of the agenda
      • Discourage side-bars
      • Suggest taking off-topic conversations “off-line”
    • Timing
      • Start and end meetings on time
      • Avoid catching-up late attendees
      • Consider creating a follow-up meeting if sessions run long
      • Have a time-keeper
      • Create a timed agenda
      • Include time to introduce guest speakers
  • Attendee Etiquette
    • Remove external distractions (auto screen notification, cell phone noises)
    • Remain on mute unless actively speaking
    • Verify name is correct in the participant window
    • Avoid interrupting speaker
        • Wait for a pause in the conversation
        • Use the chat feature

Engagement

Virtual sessions must accomplish everything that an onsite meeting would and attendees can experience screen-fatigue due to the tedious nature of online sessions. These best practices will help you craft strategies to maximize the engagement for all attendees.

  • Use attendees’ names
  • Have multiple communication outlets available
    • Unmute
    • Chat
    • Annotate
    • Raise hands
  • Activate video to enable eye-contact
  • Utilize multiple media to avoid boredom
    • Kahoot
    • Mural
    • PollingEveryWhere
    • Gimkit
    • PowerPoint Live
    • Microsoft Forms
    • Whiteboard
    • QR Codes
    • Quizzes & Polls
    • Slidesmania
    • PearDeck
    • Congregate.live
  • Consider presentation style
    • Less words on a slide
    • Graphics
    • Avoid multiple transitions and excessive use of animation
    • Fonts are easy to read
    • Color scheme
      • Don’t use clashing colors
      • Ensure font and background color makes text legible
      • Be cognizant that not everyone’s monitor presents colors the same way
  • Stretch break
  • Keep updated on latest tools, delivery methods, and resources
  • Utilize rewards to encourage participation
  • Use open-ended questions to facilitate discussion
  • Encourage attendees to share their experiences and opinions
  • Summarize and reemphasize important points

Facilitation

Planning is imperative to an effective, online session, but implementation is where the rubber meets the road.  Careful thought needs to go into running your meeting to ensure effective communication, attendee engagement, and strive to continuously improve this process.

  • Establish a facilitator or scribe outside the session leader
    • Monitor the chat
    • Troubleshoot issues (muting)
    • Alert leader/instructor
  • Consider saving the “chat” discussion for meeting notes
  • Your phone or tablet’s camera can be used as a scanner
  • Summarize action items before concluding
  • Solicited feedback via survey
    • Limit to 3-5 questions
    • User friendly format
    • Request completion prior to leaving session
    • Utilize input for continuous improvement

Security

During the pandemic, vulnerabilities in virtual security became very clear.  Instances of unauthorized attendees in confidential meetings and cases of “Zoom-bombing” were all over social media.  Care needs to be given to protecting the integrity of your online session.

  • Be cognizant of unauthorized attendees (Zoom-bombing)
  • Restrict unauthorized calendar invite sharing
  • Verify attendee identification for confidential sessions or virtual exams
    • Require use of work email addresses for calendar invites
    • Visual identification can be established by having the attendee hold-up their picture ID to the webcam
  • Use passwords
  • Don’t publish the meeting link on social media, magazines, newspapers, website, whitepapers, etc.
  • Appreciate that different companies have varying levels of control and specific security stipulations
  • Lock session

Clear communication is imperative for business meetings, trainings, and everyday correspondence.  Although circumstances have forced wide-spread adoption of virtual interactions, this remote communication will likely continue even after normalcy resumes.  Misunderstandings are easily prevented through thoughtful planning and consistent implementation.  These best practices can greatly contribute to increased engagement and effective communication, even in a virtual setting.

By Jennifer Stone and Wendy White, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Shift Schedule Considerations

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There is little academic research as to the advantage or disadvantages of a 4-day; 10-hour (4/10) shift versus a 5-day; 8-hour (5/8) shift. When determining the best shift schedule for your operation, there are multiple things that you should consider. These include things such as employee desire, customer demand, efficiencies, and safety.

Key Considerations
Employee Desire
Statistics from the Society for Human Resource Management indicate that 31 percent of employees were in a compressed workweek schedule such as a 4/10 shift and a wide majority find it favorable. Wadsworth & Facer (2008) show that more than 70% of employees favor 4/10 schedules. Additionally, 2008, researchers from Brigham Young University conducted a series of surveys and found that about four-fifths of the employees reported a positive experience working that type of schedule. Surveyed employees listed improved morale, work-family balance, more daylight for leisure, time for second jobs, reduced commute time, and lower cost for travel and child-care as 4/10 benefits.

Customers and Suppliers
Customers
The pace of customer demand must also be considered when changing shift schedules. Customers may need to adjust their ordering cycle to adjust to your new schedule. If you are shifting from a 5/8 to a 4/10 schedule, you must consider the additional 2-hours of work per day. Does your order flow or work schedule provide 10-hours of work per day at the current pace? If you are considering a switch from 4/10 to 5/8, can the work be spread across the additional day and still meet your customer’s order flow?

Suppliers
You must also consider when your suppliers make deliveries. If you are moving to a compressed workweek, Just-In-Time inventory policies may need to be adjusted to ensure a sufficient supply of materials. This may mean changing order quantities and delivery dates. Also, your warehousing requirements may increase by at least 20%. Ensure you have sufficient space for the additional materials, or you may need to schedule multiple daily deliveries. If you are considering a move from 4/10 to 5/8 you may have to schedule additional deliveries.

Productivity
When evaluating productivity, few studies that overcome the problems of differences in the workforce or work practices. However, most of the data does not indicate productivity improvement differences between a 5/8 and 4/10 schedule. Companies must perform this analysis themselves over time to see how the different shift schedules affect the productivity of their workforce.

Employees can save money on transportation during a compressed work-week and companies may see a reduction in overhead such as electricity and water as the operation is maintained one fewer day per week.

An additional consideration is the condition of the equipment. Equipment that has been conditioned to run 8-hours a day would run 10 under a compressed 4/10 schedule. Maintenance plans and schedules may have to be adjusted along with the shift.

Smaller groups
Smaller support groups such as cleaning crew, maintenance, and the warehouse have been shown to have a slight increase in productivity when shifting to a compressed scheduled. The off-day in a 4/10 schedule allows these groups to perform some of their activities during times the operation is not running.

Safety
There is little data to suggest increased safety concerns in a 5/8 versus a 4/10 schedule. However, Dembe (2017) points to a variety of studies on the potential dangers that can occur as the result of the additional risks created when work demands exceed a certain threshold. Most of these studies suggest that the dangers are most pronounced when people regularly work more than 12 hours per day or 60 hours per week. Dembe (2005) found that the risk of suffering an industrial accident is raised by 37 percent for employees working more than 12 hours in a day. The risk is 61 percent higher for people in “overtime” shifts. Working more than 60 hours in a week is related to an additional injury risk of 23 percent. As the hours worked in those schedules increase, the risks grow accordingly.

Considerations when changing a shift schedule
Before you change from a 5/8 to a 4/10 or from a 4/10 to a 5/8, the research suggests that there be a program worked out in advance by both managers and employees. All concerned parties must be involved in the decision-making process and that there must be clear explanations as to why things may need to change.

Try starting slowly and implement one four-day work-week a month or one five-day work work-week a month. That will allow time to solicit feedback from your employees and customers. It will also allow time to adjust schedules for shipments and deliveries. During this time, you should monitor employee productivity to make sure goals are still being met.

Considerations when adding a second or third shift
Before adding a second or third shift to an operation, please consider the fact that multiple shifts may result in higher overall costs that are required for shift premiums, nighttime lighting, quality control, and safety measures. Research has also identified that the utilization of evening and night shifts causes higher rates of labor turn-over and absenteeism that could lead to project delays and cost overruns.

In addition, productivity across different shifts can vary greatly. This reduction reflects on a number of underlying factors, including less experienced employees, a disturbed social life, shortened and disturbed sleep, and disrupted circadian rhythm.

Figure 1 below shows the relative performance across a 24-hour day with the worst efficiencies seen from midnight to 6am.

Figure 1: Industrial performance efficiency over the 24-hour day


Note. Reprinted from “Shift work, safety, and productivity”, by Folkard, Simon and Tucker, Philip., Occupational Medicine, Volume 53, p. 96.

Conclusion
Changing or adding shifts can have a great impact on employee morale, efficiency, and safety. By considering the factors mentioned in this report, you can make the transition smoother for your organization.

References
Dembe, A. (n.d.). No, we shouldn’t switch to a four-day Work-week. Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/business/2017/09/you-dont-want-a-four-day-workweek.html
Dembe, A. E. (2005). The impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: New evidence from the United States. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 62(9), 588-597. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2004.016667
Facer, R. L., & Wadsworth, L. (2008). Alternative work schedules and work–family balance. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 28(2), 166-177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371×08315138
Folkard, S. (2003). Shift work, safety and productivity. Occupational Medicine, 53(2), 95-101. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqg047

By Ben Cheeks, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Georgia Manufacturers Have a Story to Tell – GaMEP Client Survey

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Ga Manufaturers have a story to tell

During the next month, the Georgia Manufacturing Quarterly Survey will be delivered to companies across the state. This survey is a key benchmark that provides us with critical information on Georgia manufacturers’ problems, needs, and business performance. Through a third-party administered survey, we ask our clients to answer questions that will help evaluate the quality and usefulness of our services and the impact the assistance of GaMEP has had on their business.

By telling their story, companies can showcase the results of our partnership and work, so that we can continue to receive vital funding that helps us provide integral, low-cost services to manufacturers across the state. Companies self-report the results of working with the GaMEP, highlighting the impacts around cost savings, sales, and job creation or savings, that have been a direct result of projects within the plants.

GaMEP knows that these improvements leave a lasting impact, and each year we work with more than 800 manufacturers to advance the state’s economic impact. In the last year we have helped manufacturers reduce operating costs by $121 million, increase new and retained sales by $317 million, created and retained 2,074 jobs, and helped our clients make $159 million in plant investments to improve their operational efficiencies.

Many clients want to share their impacts with the GaMEP.  Through an interview process, we capture their results and create client success stories. These stories are a great way for companies to share their journey and outcomes. We then send the stories to our national sponsor, post on our website and social media channels, promoting the company and GaMEP’s impact. We, as a team, get excited to tell these stories and celebrate the wins, as it helps fulfill our mission of enhancing global competitiveness for Georgia manufacturers.

By showcasing the positive performance of our clients, we can attract more manufacturers to our state, build a reputation as the No. 1 resource for manufacturing excellence, and continue to grow and advance an environment that supports small to mid-size manufacturing companies.

The next survey period is active and runs from July 13 to August 19.

Here are a couple helpful tips for completing the survey:

  • Manufacturers will only need to complete one survey per year. If GaMEP has completed multiple projects, your Regional Manager will work with you to combine the impacts of all completed projects into one survey report.
  • During the survey period, your Regional Manager or Project Manager will be in touch to verify the appropriate contact and share more information about the survey process.
  • On the first day of survey period, the contact will receive a unique survey link via email from: moc.yevrustneilcpemnull@troppus.
  • Only one survey response is allowed by each company.
  • Clients should consider the totality of the impacts they have achieved in working with GaMEP and how those impacts have cumulatively been expressed in the last six-twelve months in results.

If you’d like to see some of the stories shared by other GaMEP clients, please visit the Success Story page on our website. Contact your Regional Manager with any questions, or if you are interested in having a success story written about a project we’ve completed with your team, contact, Caley Landau, GaMEP Marketing Strategist.

By: Raine Hyde, Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech

6 Tips for Keeping Your Manufacturing Plant Cool During the Summer

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6 Tips for Keeping Your Manufacturing Plant Cool During the Summer

As temperatures increase in the summer months, so do the risks that are associated with a lack of proper cooling solutions at your manufacturing plant. Keeping the factory floor cool during the hottest part of the year is vital to providing your employees with a safe and comfortable work environment, and can also prevent equipment and machinery failure. However, reducing heat to the necessary level within a manufacturing workspace can prove to be a challenge, especially when you are working towards becoming more energy efficient or do not have the budget for updating or purchasing new cooling systems. For optimum efficiency in cooling the factory floor and the rest of your building without incurring high energy costs, consider implementing some of following best practices at your plant:

  1. Install High Volume Low Speed (HVLS) Fans. Proper air flow is key to reducing stratification. While standard fans may be able to provide some relief to employees, larger HVLS fans will be more effective when it comes to breaking up blocks of hot air and cooling the factory floor. Many HVLS fans are also programmable and can work together with other cooling equipment to lower temperatures. To ensure optimal results at your facility, you’ll need to consider a variety of factors, including blade size, the speed at which it rotates, and even the tilt of the blade. If you’re not sure which direction to go in, you can contact your local GaMEP region manager to help you find a reputable brand that can offer a variety of options and a free estimate.
  1. Change the Color of Your Roof. Generally, darker colors absorb heat, while lighter colors reflect the sun’s rays. If your current roof is a darker color and traps in a lot of heat, consider replacing it with a light colored roof that will deflect more heat and keep the interior cooler, ultimately helping your plant become more energy efficient in the long run. If replacing your roof with new light colored materials is too daunting of a task or not within your budget, you may try applying a reflective roof coating to your existing roof. This type of coating is different from regular paint, but is applied in a similar fashion.
  1. Insulate Your Building, Piping, and Equipment. Proper thermal insulation of your building, piping, and mechanical equipment is critical to managing the heat within your plant and can lead to lower cooling bills during the summer months. Without adequate insulation, the extra heat making its way out into your facility will make the air conditioning system work that much harder to cool things down. Simple devices such as thermal imaging cameras that connect to your phone can help detect energy loss caused by missing or damaged insulation, inefficient HVAC systems, electrical faults, and more.
  1. Practice Preventative Maintenance. Performing regular HVAC maintenance will help your HVAC system run close to peak efficiency, resulting in reduced energy costs and preventing costly breakdowns. While HVAC maintenance may seem like an obvious necessity, small steps in the process can be easily overlooked, or you may assume that a certain noise is normal, or that a particular room may run warmer than others. Even something as simple as changing out the air filters can make a big impact. Ensure your facility is taking preventative steps when it comes to maintaining your HVAC by either recruiting an outside professional or looking to one of your qualified employees to routinely complete this work.
  1. Shift Your Operational Hours. If your plant does not operate 24 hours a day and has some flexibility within its scheduling, you may consider shifting some of the operational hours to avoid using equipment during the hottest part of the day. By transitioning some shifts to overnight or earlier in the morning, your facility will experience less infiltration of heat and your employees will benefit from a cooler work environment.
  1. Invest in Zip Doors. As your employees continuously move throughout the facility every day, the amount of times they open doors and let cold air out or allow warm air in can affect the air flow and contribute to increased temperatures. While you cannot control how every employee opens and closes a door, you can consider replacing your current doors with zip doors. After being opened, zip doors will automatically close – quickly and securely. Some versions may even offer verbal warnings that are triggered if a door is left open for too long. Zip doors also tend to be constructed out of softer materials, allowing them to better absorb any distress that comes their way and resist damage more easily.

If you would like to discuss energy cost savings opportunities or look at ways to improve your preventative maintenance capabilities, contact your local region manager at the GaMEP.

By: Megan Johnson, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Two Georgia Manufacturers Partner to Produce Face Shields for COVID-19 First Responders

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Two Georgia Manufacturers Partner to Produce Face Shields for COVID-19 First Responders

Less than 100 miles of interstate and back-roads in Georgia separates one of the largest car manufacturers from an OEM manufacturing supplier. Eight weeks ago, these two manufacturers had never been in contact, let alone imagined they would connect over a product that neither were producing at the time. Fast forward to May of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and not only are they supporting each other, but one of the companies is incorporating this product change into their long-term business strategy.

In late February, Reagan Barksdale, president of TSG Resolute in Americus, Georgia, could see the writing on the wall. Watching what was occurring in Asia and Europe and talking to numerous Fortune 500 clients, Barksdale and his team had the forethought to understand that there was going to be a shortage in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at the hospitals and began putting together a plan to manufacture and distribute face shields. Barksdale said, “The product itself was aligned with what we were already producing in our facility and by getting ahead of the curve not only have we been able to stay open and keep our team working, but we are manufacturing a key item that is helping out in the community and across the country.”

Around the same time, Stuart Countess, chief administrative officer with KIA Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG), out of West Point, was having a similar conversation with his team. Knowing the automobile industry was going to have to slow production to deplete existing inventory, KMMG wanted to give their team a chance to keep working and tie back to their “Accelerate the Good” program. Countess said, “We could use our manufacturing resources to support the needs of the medical industry in a timely manner and make an immediate impact.” The KMMG plant got to work, reconfiguring the materials space for their new production line – setting up glass partitions and work station tables six feet apart. Countess reached out to John Morehouse, Director of the Center of Innovation for Manufacturing at the Georgia Department of Economic Development and Derek Woodham, West Georgia region manager for the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP) at Georgia Tech, to gain confirmation that KMMG’s idea of producing face shields was an immediate need in the state.

Morehouse connected KMMG with the Global Center for Medical Innovation (GCMI), a non-profit 501(c)(3) and affiliate of Georgia Tech, where the groups partnered to prototype and test KMMG’s face shield renderings. While this was occurring Countess was asking Woodham how to get the materials sourced to create the face shields. Woodham reached out to TSG Resolute, a long-time client of the GaMEP. Woodham said, “Reagan has been in our CEO Roundtable for years and has been a very active participant and supporter of the GaMEP, and just knowing that they were already making face shields, the connection seemed perfect.”

During the conversation, the two groups agreed that TSG Resolute would supply KMMG the materials needed to produce face shields. Countess said, “It was great to be able to connect and support a Georgia-based manufacturer.” Barksdale agreed, “We took a chance at the beginning of all of this and since we were one of the first to make this product, we had enough raw material that we were able to supply KMMG so that they could help out with the critical supply efforts as well.” In addition to supplying material, TSG Resolute also got involved in the face shield design, helping GCMI optimize material to keep the cost down.

Two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, KMMG is fulfilling commitments across the United States. The team is providing face shields to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA), which are then being distributed to those on the front line. The group is also shipping out product to their regional offices across the country, who are then dispensing the face shields to medical facilities and hot spots in their regions. Countess said, “We have a goal to produce 300,000 face shields by the end of May in order to get our product into the hands of people that need them most.” As for a what’s to come, the KMMG team is continuing to assess the situation and align their future efforts with the needs of those in the field. Countess continued, “KIA and the KMMG family have a strong community relations program and it’s great to be able to give back during such an important time for all of us.”

For TSG Resolute, a 250 person plant in a small town in Southwest Georgia, the short-term goal is similar to KMMG – to supply the medical industry with what they need to stay safe. Barksdale said, “We are currently making up to 65,000 face shields a day and sending them to local hospitals, as well as supplying KIA with 50,000 parts, such as foam and latex straps, per week so they can continue to produce product as well.” For the long-term, however their goal is different than KMMG. Prior to COVID-19, TSG Resolute had sold a few of their products to the medical industry, but had a five-year plan to break into this new-to-them market. Barksdale said, “We had just made a million-dollar capital investment to serve the medical industry, so COVID-19 has sped up our plans and instead of it taking years to make connections in the industry, it’s taken weeks to form important relationships with hospital chains and medical suppliers.” In addition, the company has used this time to complete construction on their clean room, form connections, educate themselves on the industry, and look at economical ways to produce medical industry products in Georgia, but at costs closer to overseas competitors, so they can continue to forge this new path for the future of the company and the growth of jobs in their community.

Prior to COVID-19, Barksdale and Countess had never talked nor was KMMG aware of the manufacturer less than 100 miles away, but for both groups, through their trusted relationship with GaMEP, they have grown to rely on each other and are exploring ways to work together even long after COVID-19 is a distant memory.

By Katie Takacs, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership