I’ve spent over 10 years in manufacturing plants working as a machinist, brush plate technician, inspector, and CMM programmer. I’ve worked in aerospace, oil, and the medical device industries, and there has always been one problem that they all share. The processes suck. It’s not always their fault, and most places want to improve. Everyone always agrees there is so much that can be improved, but it stays in the discussion stages and remains stagnant. Sounds like they need help. Maybe you need help. Maybe you need …
A hero?
No; there are no heroes here.
In fact, you already have heroes. You may not have realized it, but they already work for you. That’s why you still hit your delivery dates (usually, anyways). Your heroes step up and put in the overtime at every end of month to make your goal. The problem with heroes, though, is they always have to fall. If you keep wearing them down, you will fall, too.
Villains to the rescue?
Well, yeah, I guess we are. Your heroes are probably tired of doing things the hard way for so long. Show them you appreciate their efforts by investing in your success. Improving process efficiency will let you reduce lead times, inventory, and burnout while increasing productivity, on time delivery, and morale. It can even give you the slack you need to add new parts to your product line (we can help with NPI too!).
