Production Manager Application

I would like you to prepare a 2 page proposal outlining how you would go about executing the build of the Brick Press in 1 day, including as much detail as possible that would show me that you understand the procedure by working with the existing CEB 5 design and its Ikea-style blueprints. I would like to discuss this proposal with you in our call.

These are the assumptions for the build: 12 people are present, and that 4 of the people on the team can weld and torch, and that 1 is familiar with the electronics, and 1 is familiar with hydraulics, and that the other 6 are helpers (who would be taught in a 1 day fabrication crash course that would be part of this build - so we should treat it as a 2 day event).

It took us a number of tries to get the build down to 1 day in our collaborative production model. We know the difference between what it takes to do a 4 day build (October 2012), a 2 day build (Nov. 2012) and a 1 day build (Dec. 2012). I would like you to study and build upon our work.

In your 2 page writeup, please focus on describing the workflow for the entire production team - the procedure by which the machine is built starting from all of the parts - and in our case - including the laser cut parts that we sourced from Cloverdale Manufacturing. We may order these parts again from Cloverdale, but there is a slight chance that we may have our own torch table working by then. Please focus on the role division for building the modules - how steps can be done in parallel - and the sequence by which it all happens until the machine is finished. That should be visible in some of our production videos - but we are not claiming that we have our workflow optimized. Some of this is undocumented, so I would like to see what you would suggest as far as the procedure goes.

I am looking for something that shows me that you appreciate the efficiency required for a rapid time frame in which a build happens, as demonstrated, for example, by at least some quantitative description of specific times/role allocations for specific tasks. I need that so that I have an indication that you understand the flow/pace/labor requirement of at least some of the tasks required for a one day build. I will admit that this is a demanding endeavor, and if you do not feel that this is something that you are up to at this time, I can understand completely. Eventually, we will have an excellent training infrastructure where we walk people through the learning process required to do the one day builds, but right now, we are looking for people for whom such training is not really necessary.

Your 2 page writeup would be in no way complete - I just want to know how much of the process you can wrap your head around, so we can have a meaningful takeoff for discussion on our next steps regarding the actual build.

We are in a great stage of revamping our organization and developing our methods. I am taking charge of strategic vision and expansion - and the production runs are one area of expansion. If you have any questions regarding the 2 page document, please don't hesitate to email or call me.

-- Marcin Jakubowski, Executive Director Open Source Ecology http://opensourceecology.org