In many organizations today, team functionality is actually working against overall business success and efficiency. Organizations have become a slave to team models that are inefficient, unproductive, and bureaucratic. This Q&A with Competitive Solutions, Inc. answers the following questions about Rebooting Team Engagement and Execution: What are the main issues you see businesses experiencing in team engagement in execution? Why does team functionality work against overall business success and efficiency? What are non-negotiable systems, and how can organizational leaders use these systems to transform the business? When are continuous improvement tools no longer effective? In your experience, what has the outcome been like when team engagement and execution are rebooted?
Read More →New Year’s Resolutions: Create Successful Teams and a Sound Strategy
Dan Key, SVP, Operations & Supply Chain at Axalta Coating Systems spends a lot of time analyzing successful teams and how they win. He has found that many of them have similar characteristics. They have a system, they hire people that fit that system, and they develop that system over time. They mix A+ players with a lot of B players that know their role in the organization. They’re not afraid to let people go (not even the A+ talent), but rather see it as an opportunity to change and improve. They define a sound strategy that everyone on the team can understand. As we make our New Year’s resolutions to improve our organizations in 2018, consider some of Key’s tips to creating successful teams and a sound strategy.
Read More →Sustaining a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Implementing lean initiatives can be a challenge, but sustaining them is even harder. As Mark Reich, COO of the Lean Enterprise Institute, told the crowd at the American Manufacturing Summit, “to be sustainable, it has to be more than a program. As long as it’s a program, it’s not going to be sustainable. Because as soon as whoever’s program it is leaves, it’s not going to sustain. So it has to be built into the company’s fundamental way of doing business.” In other words, it needs to become part of the culture. Once you have made the case for change and built the concept of continuous improvement into the culture of your organization, it is leadership’s responsibility to continue to nurture this culture. In his presentation, “Culture: The Definitive Piece in your CI Journey,” at the American Manufacturing Summit, Mark Gooch, GVP, Operations & Lean Enterprise at Pentair, gave the following tips to the audience on sustaining a culture of continuous improvement.
Read More →Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement: The Case for Change
A lot has been written about how to truly implement continuous improvement processes and lean initiatives, you need to embed it in the culture of the organization. “Every company in manufacturing has to develop an operating philosophy, a standard methodology, and a language that creates a culture that focuses on continuous improvement,” Byron Greene, former VP & Head of Vehicle Assembly at FCA, explains. But how does an organization go about doing this? Michele Calbi, former VP, Lean Transformation at Navistar, told the audience at the 2016 American Manufacturing Summit, “You have to create a case for change. It is extremely powerful. If you can drive that passion into the employees, you will see amazing things.” She shared a few stories of companies that have pulled themselves out of dire situations by creating a powerful case for change.
Read More →Millennials in the Workforce: Implications for Manufacturing
As many manufacturing organizations are having trouble maintaining a steady pipeline of talent, their frustration turns to millennials. At the 2016 American Aerospace & Defense Summit, Curt Towne, EVP, New Business Development at TPT (The Productivity Team), gave the following statistics about millennials in the workforce, which have implications for how organizations should recruit, train, engage and retain millennial talent. Millennials are now the single largest group within the workforce, and will soon become the biggest consumer groups, too.
Read More →How Does Technology fit with your Lean Initiative?
With rapid innovation and the proliferation of data, technology promises improvements in nearly every area of manufacturing. The implications for increased efficiency are tremendous, but our experts warn that technology will not solve all your lean problems. At our 2016 American Manufacturing Summit, we spoke to some lean leaders about how you should think of technology within the framework of your lean initiative. The consensus is that while technology can be a great complement to your lean initiatives, providing you with insights you wouldn’t otherwise have, it cannot entirely replace the human aspects of lean. Learn what they had to say on this topic.
Read More →Case Study: How to lead progressive changes through project leadership
“Big new legislative requirements mean big changes at even the most efficiently run companies. But when the company uses project leadership to incorporate those changes into its larger business strategy, the benefits go far beyond compliance.” To learn more about the benefits from project leadership, check out the case study by Integrated Project Management, click here.
Read More →QReview: Supply Chain News You Can Use
Transportation Impact, a 4-time Inc. 5000 company, comes from humble beginnings. In 2008, Keith Byrd and Travis Burt, both then senior-level managers at UPS, left the world’s largest shipping company after nearly two decades, respectively, to launch their own start-up with the mission of providing clients with the most competitive small package contracts in the country. The QReview is a magazine that highlights Transportation Impact’s Quarterly Review learnings and is filled with supply chain news that delves into specific strategies, statistics, and stories relevant to the supply chain industry. Take a look inside and find out how to overcome market challenges, look for optimization opportunities, and more below! Subscribe to QReview here.
Read More →Performance Behavior: the Lean Methodology for Continuously Improving Performance Behavior
The book ‘Performance Behavior’ (by Neil Webers) describes how an organization can link performance to behavior to minimize waste and optimize performance behavior. 8 FORMS OF HUMAN-WASTE are outlined which obstruct continuous improvement: Leadership-waste the result from too much push-management (based on authority) Comfort-waste the result of targets that aren’t enough stretching Communication-waste the result of misunderstandings that usually originate from meetings Discipline-waste the result when people are not being held accountable for not adhering to standards Goal-waste the result of employees having no idea of what is expected of them Engagement-waste the result of asking people to take responsibility for events or results which they cannot influence themselves Solving-waste the waste of capacity to solve problems when people work on solving problems without focusing on the root-cause of a problem Tuning-waste is the waste where people talk about different problems or solutions Find out more below!
Read More →5 Operational Leadership Skills to Develop
We have addressed the importance of operational excellence in a number of past posts and have discussed the key role that leadership plays in maintaining competitiveness in the current tumultuous environment. The whitepaper below builds on the information we have already explored by defining the more refined skills needed by today’s modern operational leaders. In the whitepaper below TBM Consulting, a firm that specializes in maximizing enterprise value and growth potential for their clients, shares their insights into the five skills needed for the modern operational leader. For more insights, join TBM Consulting at the American Manufacturing Summit 2016 taking place in Chicago on February 29th – March 1st! Be sure to stop by their booth, Booth #14!
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