Question:            What is the basis for assigning a technician to a particular department, production or operation?

Answer:               Skills and the needs of the station.

Summary:           The technician’s skills will be used by management to decide which department, production or operation, according to their needs, the technician will be placed in.

Question:            Is the decision of job assignment the same; skills and the needs of the station? The manager assigns the job, right?

Answer:               Yes, skills and availability. Yes.

Question:            Is there a hierarchy? Is availability more important than skills? Is economics of the situation more valuable than the quality mechanism? Is overtime an issue in assignment?

Answer:               Overtime is an issue: availability over skills except when availability isn’t an issue.

Question:            When is availability not an issue?

Answer:               When the technicians and the skills are available simultaneously.

Question:            Are you saying it is your preference to choose based on the skills category rather than the availability category – for best product possible?

Answer:               Preference. Yes – for best product possible.

Question:            How do you get technicians and skills available simultaneously? How do you get preference? What if you had one department with all the technicians, do you think that would work? Since they all (technicians) operate the equipment, I mean.

Answer:               What you are saying is production, in essence, is a part of operations, in that the operations department, by nature, involves that which is operated on, less the administrative functions which facilitates the operations / productions. So, one department to accommodate the needs of the station, pulling from the category of skills rather than availability allows the decision making process to assure the best product possible?

Summary:           Yes.