The float manufacturing process has moved most of the shop floor employees to monthly salaries away from weekly paids. Some weekly paids, however remain. There is a desire to move all the remaining hourly paids who work in teasers. Mobile plant operators, services in the cold end process and the raw materials handlers in the batch process into monthly salaries. If the salary hourly paid issued is not resolved, barriers will exist to a successful job redesign exercise. Float manufacturing management would also like to redesign the jobs to bring about greater flexibility within and across the batch, cold and hot areas so as to create intra- and inter- team flexibility. Also build in the redesigned best practice of autonomous maintenance, performance measurement, problem solving and quick fix routines. The existing grading system has driven in barriers between jobs graded differently and seems to be an unsuitable system to reward the redesigned jobs that cut across traditional demarcations. The grading and wages system required must support and drive world class performance, incentive training and skills acquisition, promote flexibility and teamwork and encourage the sharing of skills.

The salary system needs to support this. Any new system should also recognise skills generic to the hot end, cold end and batch processes and those that are specific. By necessity, float manufacturing management would also look to develop shop floor employees in line with a career path through to shift manager level.