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Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Adverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
January 2018 #10222 Page #46
Continuous Improvement Culture
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Ben Hershey, CEO & Coach 4Ward Consulting Group, LLC
hile speaking at a recent conference, I was asked a really good question from one of the executives of a Component/LBM company. His question prompted me to think about how I would start 2018 off in my articles.
The question was: “Our company does not have an incentive program in place though we arbitrarily reward performance at the end of the year. We are positioned as one of the top two suppliers in our market, and we are profitable though it could be better. But listening to you makes me consider, how do I motivate my team without too much reshuffling of what we have to date?” I have two answers for you: 1. Have you looked in the mirror lately and asked yourself if your expectations are high enough? 2. TIME TO SHUFFLE THE DECK! The way the question was worded to me tells a lot—there is already an awareness that this type of thinking, behavior, and performance was not acceptable to the owner. Phrasing such as “we could be better” or “we have opportunity” are indications that improvements can be made.
Continuous Improvement (CI) You cannot start a project, buy a new automated saw or new auto-setup gantry, and think that your need to continue to improve stops at the purchase. As a business, we are always looking to improve on the service, or bids, or software we use—but when it comes to our component operations or lumber yards, complacency sets in. Continuous improvement is a career-long commitment to improve one day at a time forever. If we say “we’re No. 1” and let that mindset become pervasive throughout the lumber yard and component plant, then we’ll see trouble on the horizon. We should always be looking at ways to improve at a rate that is faster than our best competitor, or the “industry average.” It may take your competition some time to catch up to you and exceed your “No. 1” status, but a committed team that is thinking and behaving the right way, making constant improvements, creating new services or products, will ultimately allow you to stay at the top of your market. This is part of the message I say to owners all the time, but many times is picked up more quickly at the floor/yard level. You do not need to reinvent the wheel (others in our industry have already done that); you need to change the culture of your team. Coaching them on the importance of each associate in the business taking initiative to apply lean thinking every day—that will lead you and your team to long-term success.
CI by Walking/Observing Now that we have our thinking/heads in the right place, let’s start reshuffling the deck. We have spent several months talking about the wastes identified in the TIMWOODS acronym. Last month, we even talked about implementing a plan to get rid of the wastes. But, too many times I will come into an operation and hear: “we read about that and I assigned it to my team,” but there was no follow-up. As owners and managers, we get caught up in the day to day and do not spend time, literally time, on the floor, in the design department, or out in the yard, looking at how our team is processing material or an order. We cannot just make a quick walk with the real intent of getting back into our four walls with a door and resuming what we were doing. Continued next page PHONE: 800-289-5627
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