The purpose of this paper is to give you a basic understanding of industrial engineering concepts and how they may be applied in your manufacturing environments. The primary emphasis will be on labor cost control: it is hoped you will be able to apply some of the techniques discussed to improve your labor efficiency. Should you decide to pursue the implementation of a standards program within your facility, you will have a working knowledge of how this is done. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our hosts, Dave Schneller and Eddie Bell, for allowing me to speak on this topic. Two of the goals of the Santa Fe Symposium are to blend theory and technical production knowledge, and encourage the use of more systematic and scientific approaches to problems. I hope you will agree this paper meets those requisites.

Author: Norm Lamontagne