I've been part of the EMC activity in Brantford for over 8 years (first 5 years at a member company and last 3 as the Field Service Advisor).  The economy has not been kind to many Brantford companies and we have seen far too many companies leave Brantford and region.  That's why it's so cool to acknowledge 2 members who have been with EMC for over 10 years and have been members of the EMC safety group for that long: Rescraft Plastics in Paris and Ranpro in Simcoe. What's really cool is that…

Our first SIG focused on the challenge of performance appraisals at all levels of the organization (management, salary and hourly).  It was interesting to note that most of the participating companies didn't have a perforamance appraisal system they currently used for either hourly (union and non-union or salaried employees). 

Some questions we considered included:

• Who in your organization receives regular performance appraisals?
• Are performance appraisals tied to salary/wage increases in…

One of the neat strategies that Ranpro used was that they started their 5S in the common office areas - specifically the cafeteria, coffee room and office stock area.  They also have one of their more organized employees helping some of their less organized employees to organize their areas. Another strategy was to book an hour every week for staff to work on 5S.  They also mentioned that October 20^th was organize your desk day and suggested check out organizeyourdeskday.com

Some questions we…

Ranpro has been involved with the EMC safety group program and SIG sessions for over 10 years. 

A quote from John Evans, Manufacturing Manager at Ranpro, "It all started with the safety group of course. The key elements for the safety group was the ergonomics, the task risk analysis, and return to work. We evaluated all jobs for risk analysis and developed return to work specific jobs. I had hired a third year Kinesiology student from McMaster University (summer) to do the analysis. When we…

During our first session we discussed the challenge of ladder safety. The Occupational Health & Safety Act states that ladders cannot be used as a work platform and that 3-point contact must be maintained.  

We discussed the following questions:

• What do other companies use their ladders for?
• Do they have written Ladder Use policies? 
• How do you ensure compliance with this policy?
• Are there alternatives to using ladders that other companies have come up with?
• What other safety rules…

Bruce Craig from Value Stream Solutions joined us to talk about building a strategy for making daily improvements in work efficiency and effectiveness a part of everyone's job and work routine, while building commitment and initiative throughout your organization, department or work unit.   Too often Lean is seen as an isolated program that despite positive results does not sustain itself.  'Employee Engagement in C.I.' answers the question - "How do we sustain Lean and transfer Lean thinking…

Our April event was full of excitement as the wind and rain was crazy outside and the power was out.  We made the best of it and had a great discussion before heading on a quiet and flashlight lead tour.  Cayuga Displays designs and manufactures store fixtures and displays including shelves, racks, tables, dry cases, refrigerated cases, hot cases, carts, wagons, accessories and custom millwork. Their markets include grocery stores, bakeries, delicatessens, food service institutions, and other…

EMC: Brantford and Region SIG talked about recruiting, retention and government funding

Our first event focused on the challenge of recruiting and retaining employees. A lively discussion was had with some of following questions discussed:

• How do you post your jobs?  Is it different depending on the level in the organization? Which location is the greatest success for you?
• What unique recruiting strategies have you introduced?  Do you think they worked?
• Who is responsible for…

Our February SIG for Brantford and region took place at Ferrero.  We covered 2 very popular topics: attendance management and return to work.

Attendance Management

An interesting and lively discussion on Attendance took place during this event.

Some of the questions we discussed were:

• What challenges do you face regarding attendance in your workplace? 
• What strategies have you put in place to deal with it?  What has worked or not worked?
• Is it a certain age or position where your…