Solutions Operations management

The city manager has heard a lot of complaints about the work of the municipal garage.

Question: Question 10: The city manager has heard a lot of complaints about the work of the municipal garage. Last week, the sanitation director complained that too many refuse collection trucks were down for repair and that slow turnaround time was making it difficult to maintain the route schedule. Today, the parks and recreation director complained about the quality of repair for lawn mowers and other small-engine equipment.

You are the city manager’s administrative assistant and the city manager asks you to look into the situation at the municipal garage in hopes that you can offer some suggestions that might address these problems and head off others. With the help of the garage superintendent, you develop the work-distribution chart shown below, depicting current work assignments at the garage. What observations can you offer based upon the chart? What questions does the chart raise regarding operations and work assignments? Does the chart offer any clues that might be helpful for solving the problems mentioned in the complaints? (this is based-on the material in chp 9)

Process/Task Description	Total staff hours	% Total	Garage Superintendent	Mech. 1	Mech. 2	Mech. 3	Mech. 4	Mech. 5	Mech. 6	Mech. 7	Laborer
Refuse vehicles—maint. & repair	41	11.4	3	38
Fire Equipment—maint. & repair	23	6.39	5		8					10
Heavy equipment/Public Works—maint. & repair	43	11.9			25					18
Other Heavy equipment	7	1.94			3					4
Pickups—maint. & repair	26	7.22					16	6		4
Police sedans—maint. & repair	39	10.8				35			4
Other sedans—repairs	38	10.6					20	14	4
Other sedans—preventive maintenance	26	7.22						18	8
Small-engine repairs	10	2.78							10
Tire repair/tire changes	37	10.3							6		31
Misc. and unassigned time	38	10.6		2	4	5	4	2	8	4	9
Administrative duties	15	4.17	15
Supervision	17	4.72	17
Total staff hours per week	360		40	40	40	40	40	40	40	40	40