Sep 30, 2010 | Leadership, Operations
The word “leader” can have a range of meanings depending on the context.
It can mean someone who holds a position of power, and it just defines the position. It can also describe someone who inspires, who points the way, who commands loyalty without asking for it, totally independent of the position held.
Years ago, in a factory I was running, there was a quiet bloke, uneducated, and unassuming, but one who could make or break any initiative management proposed in the factory. He led, not by position, but simply by the force of his presence, and capacity to engage and inspire the others in the factory. He was a “leader” who led.
Sep 27, 2010 | Management, OE, Operations
Continuous improvement initiatives I have seen almost always impose a “finishing line”, correctly believing that focusing on an objective is a key to motivate performance.
However, what they often miss in this approach to improvement is the cultural aspect of continuous improvement, the recognition that there is no finishing line, just the next challenge, and the real management challenge is to build a capacity to improve continuously as a foundation of the culture of the business,not just to address the current issue.
Another of the many paradox’s that exist in our world, to motivate, have a goal, but having a goal other than an inbuilt desire to do it better today than you did yesterday, can be counter-productive
Sep 26, 2010 | Demand chains, Management, Operations, Strategy
A while ago I wrote that there seemed to be the beginnings of some thinking amongst the smaller manufacturing operations I interact with about the relative value of manufacturing in high cost Australia, and retaining control of, and having the opportunity to develop, the intellectual capital involved, rather than sending manufacturing offshore in pursuit of lower costs.
I came across this article reflecting the same view, but amongst some of the biggest manufacturers in the US, and it also reflects the beginnings of this trend.
In Australia, we have let our trade skills erode so dramatically over the last 25 years that if we do start to see some sophisticated manufacturing return to our shores, and the obvious contender is photo-voltaic cells, now almost exclusively manufactured in China with Australian technology, we may not have the technical manufacturing skills to deliver.
If this nascent trend does harden, it will usher in a huge gap in our operational skills capability, one that will take a generation or more to fix, and most importantly to any solution, we need a recognition by federal and state politicians that we have a problem bigger than the next election cycle. The long term investment in education and the culture changes necessary will add another big chunk of time to the reaction, possibly a generation.
Sep 15, 2010 | OE, Operations, Small business
Focusing attention holistically on a whole process, end to end, and the productivity of the process will improve, improving the outcome.
When you focus just on the outcome, all you get is the opportunity to improve the efficiency of the existing process, but it will have no sustainable impact on the productivity of the process itself, and inevitably when you just focus on efficiency of one part, over time the whole process will at the very best, remain at the stable level, because as you make efficiency improvements in one spot, in another, something has gone wrong to reduce the efficiency of that point in the process.
If you want to improve, focus on the whole process, not pieces of it.
Sep 14, 2010 | Change, Management, Operations
In any environment, those on the front lines see ways to complete a task easier, faster, cheaper, better, simply because they are doing it all the time, it is just that we usually do not listen enough when the front line employees they try to tell us, and once bitten twice shy.
Labor costs are typically seen as an expense, something to be trimmed and managed, rather than as an investment that can be optimised and leveraged.
All the fancy computer programs, training, and supervision in the world will not even begin to replace the value of an engaged employee who has some control over his environment, and recognition for making it more effective.
What is it like in your factory?
Sep 9, 2010 | Management, OE, Operations, Small business
It seems almost all improvement programs I see have as a central objective the reduction of inventories. That is pretty easy to achieve, order less, less often, and in smaller quantities, objective achieved.
However, when you count customer service, and cycle times into the equation, something the financial inventory measures do not do, reduction of inventory can have a catastrophic impact on financial results, as if nothing else changes, you just fail your customers.
Reduction of inventory is usually an outcome of the reduction of waste, but should not be the objective, waste reduction, waste in all its forms, should be the objective.
