| Analysis Paralysis |
 |
There is a story about a donkey placed equidistance between to piles of equally appealing food.The donkey unable to decide which pile of food to eat eventually starves to death. This often happens within manufacturing companies. When faced with a decision of which project to move forward with, or when to implement a change, the organization ultimately does nothing and loses market share to its competitors.
When faced with decisions, especially in tough economic times, I see too many companies fall into analysis paralysis and by default choose the third option: Doing nothing. Nine times out of ten, doing nothing is not the best decision.
Let's face it, the timing is almost never right, there is never enough money in the budget, and it's always harder to change than we think. Yet, if you are going to not only survive, but THRIVE you have to take a step forward. Because if your competitors are also frozen with fear (analysis paralysis), you just moved a step ahead of them.
|
 |
| Operations Strategy Consulting
Megan E. Burns,
Managing Director
| |
|
Greetings!
We are excited to launch our monthly newsletter, The Manufacturer's Edge. In each issue you can expect to see articles on industry trends, tips on improving your manufacturing processes, and ideas for working with your suppliers better. If there is a topic you would like to see us address, let us know.
Here's to your competitive edge!
Megan E. Burns
Operations Strategy Consulting
|
|
U.S. Manufacturing
Makes a Come Back?
Quality issues and concerns, the falling dollar, and rising fuel and energy costs are causing some manufacturers to reconsider their offshoring practices. In a recent AMR Research survey, 24% of 113 executives polled cited quality concerns as the greatest risk of sourcing in China, passing raw material costs as the main concern. In the same survey, 23% of the executives plan to increase their sourcing activities in the U.S.
When you consider the weakening dollar against the Chinese yuan and the increasing cost of shipping those products, the U.S. is looking more appealing. The question for U.S. manufacturers is are you ready? Domestic manufacturers can't rely on increasing shipping costs and the weak dollar alone to win back this work. Companies need to evaluate their own processes and ensure they are controlling their costs and have quality controls in place to look as attractive as possible. The good news is some companies are already benefiting from this shift in sourcing.
The irony is, most manufacturers scale back their improvement efforts during turbulent economic times, when that is exactly when an organization needs to focus on becoming leaner and more efficient. By putting forth the effort to evaluate and eliminate the waste in your processes you can position yourself to gain market share and thrive when others are just trying to survive. |
|
Too Much Training
If I asked for a show of hands, most (if not all) people would agree that training is important. However, I think companies are spending too much time and effort training people. Surprised? The poet Maya Angelou once said we should train animals, but educate people.
Training is defined as forming by instruction, discipline, or drill. This implies changing behavior through repetition and correction. Education, on the other hand, is defined as developing by formal instruction and supervised practice. Isn't that more reflective of what a company desires for its employees?
Now, some of you may think I'm just nit-picking over grammar, but there is a deeper issue. When we train someone, we are conditioning them to respond a certain way to a given signal. Or, as is often the case, a person is given instruction on a subject and then expected to apply that information the next day in their job. Instead, we should be educating employees: giving them the necessary formal instruction, but then following that with coaching on how to apply that information. In short, teaching them how to think and independently act and apply the tools.
Let's take the example of lean manufacturing tools. You could train your employees in the various tools and they would know what 5S is, what a kanban is, and name the seven wastes. However, if you educate your employees on these same tools, that may involve coaching them through a Red Tag exercise for 5S. You may take a few days and actually do a Value Stream Map for an area with an action plan and future map. The employee that was educated on the lean tools will understand when to use each tool and have the practical experience of applying that tool versus just having some head knowledge.
The question I hope you're asking yourself is do we train our people or educate them? Then, decide if you're getting the full return on your "Training" investment.
|
|
Monthly Tool Tip -
Value Stream Maps
Did you know that Value Stream Maps can be done on Engineering/IT processes (concept to launch) and administrative processes (order to cash)? In fact, these areas can have a bigger impact on an organization than the manufacturing process. Companies that do value stream mapping on engineering and administrative processes have seen a 400% improvement!
| |
|
As you begin the second half for 2008, I hope you are well on your way to achieving and exceeding your goals.
Sincerely,
Megan E. Burns
Operations Strategy Consulting, LLC |
|
|
