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THE FUNDAMENTALS: How to Execute a Rapid Manufacturing Transformation!

6/15/2024

We found $100K on Day 1!

My Greatest Mentor taught me how to get "lucky" on day 1...and EVERY DAY thereafter!

Every rapid transformation starts with a reality check and a stake in the ground.

Where are we at currently, as in, today, with no shame or false metrics? Based on that (mediocrity), where do we want to be 1 year from now?

Define it, write it down, and recite it EVERY DAY with EVERY TEAM in EVERY MEETING until it is achieved. It will become a defining moment for all plans and decisions throughout the next year: does the "thing" help us get to our 1 year goal or not?

If the "thing" doesn't - we put it on the backburner for next year's strategic planning session.

Are you using PDCA as the guiding principle for your manufacturing organization? If not, you are unfortunately encouraging idle thought or even worse: apathy!

PDCA inspires the pursuit of excellence. It never assumes anything is "perfect" or at it's best. It's a scientific methodology which also promotes basic math to force rank risks and opportunities so daily adversity gets put into the right "buckets" to be solved immediately, within the week, quarterly, or NEVER if the risk is low and rarely happens.

Leaders at every level within the organization must be bought in and willing to check in at a SET, PREDICTABLE cadence. This means the C-SUITE as well!!!

When the MOS (manufacturing operating system) starts to generate ideas and risks, all leaders must engage and take action to start helping teams solve problems because those models become the methods we can then teach, train, and deploy to almost everyone in the business.

This is how we create a constant BIAS FOR ACTION. It's learned by doing and interacting, not telling others what to do and criticizing when they don't do "it" right.

Clarity is NOT "the how."

How to GSD (get sh!t done) is planned and executed dynamically, daily, using a Lean Six Sigma framework that is also loose enough to adjust to each business unit or department's needs. Sometimes 1 piece flow is the answer. Sometimes pull systems are the answer. Sometimes kan ban systems are the answer.

EVERY TIME we enter a new arena we define WHAT first, never HOW until we have performed OBSERVATIONS in the shop floor arenas so we can see how the material, information, and people currently flow (often chaotic and disconnected).

Don't be fooled by the word ATTAINABLE in the acronym SMART objective.

It doesn't mean the lowest bar possible that the most conservative people within the group think we can achieve. It is in between the words SPECIFIC, MEASURABLE, RELEVANT, and TIME BOUND because it is the pivot point and anchor for SMART. It often means we need to take smaller or incremental BITES in planning and execution to ensure the HUMBLE BRAG 1 year goal is achieved in LESS THAN 1 YEAR.

Teamwork requires a singular methodology that takes all things COMPLEX and enable leaders and teams at all levels safe and simple tools to FLAG "things" that appear to be GOOD versus BAD in relation to the goals and objectives we've set as milestones or inch stones to the goals or key process indicators.

Teams that learn how to master the fundamentals of PDCA are POWERHOUSE competitors. We can sense and feel their pride and competitive nature within minutes of interaction with each other, leaders at any level, spectators, and visitors.

Teams that "pretend" are not teams AND are detected in minutes or seconds...just ask them 3 questions about any form of mediocrity that's obvious and by the end of the long winded excuse(s) you'll hear the words "they, them, everyone, nobody!"

Despite Mediocre Belief...

Discipline isn't punishment.

Discipline equals PROCESS DISCIPLINE which means we are extremely hard on the processes and EASY on the people until we are certain we have given our people a competitive advantage. It easy to blame people when the lens is subjective and based on a novice's interpretation of skill, will, competency, and capability.

If that statement HURTS your feelings...you are a NOVICE!

It's okay to be a NOVICE in certain elements of any business. Many "production" and "operations" leaders are novices in the primary technical, cultural, and leadership areas of the job / role / title they hold. It's most often due to blind spots, not "common sense" or the ability to learn.

The MATH is where the rubber meets the road. In this example...and 1,000 times over again, a highly skilled professional was able to identify 8 weeks of wasted labor per year within 4 HOURS OF OBSERVATION in a shop floor final assembly arena. Do the math with your fully burdened cost of labor! Then multiply times the number of mechanics or operators you have in your shop...it'll land between $100,000 and over $1,000,000 a year in cost that can become HARD COST SAVINGS just by focusing on MOTION, which is just 1 single element of the Lean Six Sigma "DOWNTIME" acronym.

Are you, as a senior or executive leader, PURPOSEFULLY enabling, providing, or sponsoring a daily or weekly cadence for continuous, structured learning and development for LEADERSHIP and RISK MANAGEMENT? If not, wonder why variable costs are erratic month over month? THE SOLUTION IS 1 COURAGIOUS STEP AWAY!

the "MW" effect...

I used to HATE walking the shop with my GREATEST and MOST IMPACTFUL mentor, who also happened to be my boss on a few turn-around journeys. I was almost always known as one of the most relentless, efficient, and effective Manufacturing and Operations leaders on the planet in Aerospace & Industrial Manufacturing Companies.

BUT...walking with him was like Luke Skywalker getting his whole @ss kicked off by Darth Vader the first time they decided to dance! I'm pretty sure my mentor is my real father, even though he never said it out loud.

ANYWAY...he taught me the importance of walking the shop with an aim to constantly develop people and process so we all reach our highest potential every day - NEVER to walk the shop and "admire" or "pet" our ego for how far we've come.

It is worthless and impossible to stand on perfection as a milestone. It is our duty as leaders to constantly grow and help make everyone around us (who want and deserve it) GET 1% better every day.

How in the HECK do some leaders and people seem to have unlimited, progressive, attractive ENERGY?

They know the "secret" and PRACTICE it every day. It has replaced all other beliefs with 60-70,000 automatic prompts in their mind with 1 singular mental model and call to action.

It's the guiding principle that aligns physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual FITNESS into FULFILLMENT.

It's simple, NEVER easy.

It's as guaranteed as ADVERSITY is on a daily basis.

It's a limiting OR limitless BELIEF.