Start with a dislike for Jell-o and an unwavering commitment to your people!
Last week I got the chance to go to a Modern Machine Shop seminar on what it takes to be considered a “Top Shop.” These Top Shops represent the top 20% of high tech machine shops that are consistently earning high marks on a wide variety of categories. High scores in categories such as: number of vertical milling machines, number or parts made, types of space-age material used, number of vacation days for employees. Wait, what? Vacation days for employees?
Shocking isn’t it? This ain’t your grandfather’s loud and greasy tool & die shop anymore. While, these companies are making super-sophisticated parts that can be found in: cutting-edge hospitals, the International Space Station, our nation’s best defense weapons, and many others; they also focus on another valuable asset – their people.
Top Shops invest heavily in their people.
They have consistently shown that the ROI gained from investing in your number one asset, people, they can produce more parts, provide higher quality, earn larger profits and retain more satisfied employees. The best shops deal with cultural issues, change management, process improvement, and other programs in a vastly different way. When these programs are implemented properly, they are embraced instead of being met with massive resistance. They are embraced because the transparency and trust that is instilled in employees on their very first day.
In “regular shops,” programs such as Lean are often met with a wall of pessimism and negativity. The thinking being that management is implementing this so that they can reduce workforce, and save money. This is largely because leadership has failed to come out in front of anyone to clearly articulate why this program is now being done. I spoke with a President of a high tech CNC milling shop who had a prior experience with Lean. She likened the experience to being like “Jell-o on a cutting board, just all over the place.”
Jell-o on a cutting board, it’s all over the place
What was the problem? No buy-in!
The best shops have participatory leadership and have gained buy-in from their employees as a result. It goes without saying, companies with this mindset, that have implemented Lean, are afforded tremendous growth and are revered by their employees and customers alike. The true mission of Lean is to enable people to perform at the highest levels, NOT to reduce the workforce to minuscule levels. It’s to fully dive in and ask the hard questions, challenge your status quo and reduce wasteful activities that your customer doesn’t want to pay for. This is the true purpose of Lean.
The best shops can pivot and acclimate to a changing landscape much faster than ordinary companies.
They remain the best by causing unrest.
They continuously disrupt the industry and are always finding new ways to improve.
When you evaluate yourself amongst your competition, where do you stand?
