Brian Kovach
BS ISE 2004
The Kroger Co.
Cincinnati, Ohio
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As an IE at Kroger, one of the projects that I have worked on involves building work standards for our employee scheduling system. For the last couple of years, I have traveled all over the US to film and apply labor standards to a variety of different tasks. I have analyzed many of the different tasks that are performed in a store--from checking a shopper out at the register to helping a customer in the deli to stocking the shelves overnight. It’s an interesting job and each day is different.
Labor standards are important in a grocery store (or any type of facility with workers) so that scheduling can be done accurately. Knowing that a worker takes 60 seconds to stock one case of dry groceries and that a given store is getting 960 cases on a truck next week, I can determine that we will need to schedule 2 workers working 8 hours in order to get the whole truck put away.
I build a standard by going into a given store and filming the workers performing the task that I am studying. I then analyze the video step-by-step and enter each of the worker's motions into a computer program that applies the appropriate times to each motion. For each motion in a task, I calculate the time it takes to perform the motion using predetermined times, similar to MTM (Methods Time Measurement). With MTM, all motions--like reaching 12 inches, grasping an item, or placing an item 18 inches--have a predetermined time assigned based on the type of motion that is being done.
On my down time, I also study other issues that are important to the operations in a store. For example, I have studied what types of equipment to use for stocking, how to set up departments so that a worker doesn't have to walk far between tasks, and evaluating the ROI (Return on Investment) for new machines that the company is considering for installation, like robotic pharmacy prescription machines. Being in a large company like Kroger allows me to work in many different areas and keeps each day interesting.
