Page 176 - How To Implement Lean Manufacturing

154 Cha pte r Ni ne

Our problem, he went on, “We bow to the god of company politics and it’s the squeaky
wheel that gets the grease not the wheel that needs to be greased.” He continued, “The
Division Production Superintendents look at the schedules, see their project, and com-
plain that it takes too long. They then go to your bosses who crater immediately, and
your bosses then come to you and you revise the schedule and republish it. Then the
next superintendent complains, and the cycle starts all over again.” I countered with,
“But we get no guidance from them, only criticism.” At which he said, “Your boss is not
doing his job, and he never will. So quit whining. You need to do some things.”
He told me to “put together a preliminary plan and highlight each commitment you
will need from each superintendent. Then put together a serious plan that you can do, and
then do it. Go directly to the superintendents, get those commitments from them, and
don’t let them off the hook. Badger those @#$%!s until you get the needed commitments.
Make no mistake about it. They will turn on you like a dog when things go wrong, unless
you get their fingerprints on your murder weapon.” My mentor then went on, “Review it
with all the superintendents and make them commit to the needed completion dates, and
also commit to doing the work they need to do so your men can complete the projects.”
As was normally the case, I took his advice and we did just that. I persisted, and
persisted, and persisted, and we finally got all the needed commitments. We then put
together a plan that included all the jobs of all the engineers, all on one schedule. It was
reviewed and we put it in service. It worked, and very soon our group was significantly
outperforming the other design groups.
The division goal was to have the cost of engineering and drafting less than 15 percent
of the project total—a goal that was more often missed than met. After we got ourselves
organized, we averaged 8.6 percent and led all groups by a large margin. In short order,
this was noticed. I’m not sure how it got so quickly noticed, but I believe that this man
who had adopted me as his student had done some “behind the scenes politicking.” Not
only did we spend less engineering time and money, we routinely met the project startup
dates, projects took less time from start to finish, and our schedule meant something. The
schedules of others were still looked at skeptically, but ours now had credibility.
Some other unintended consequences arose from this effort. First, no good deed
goes unpunished. I found that the size of my group grew with the resultant increase in
responsibility. Most engineering groups had five to seven engineers; ours routinely had
11 to 15. Although this was more work, I took it as the supreme compliment: They
trusted us to get things done. Second and most importantly, I learned the value and
power of good planning. While others were busy revising schedules and making
excuses, we were finishing projects at a record pace, gaining self-confidence, and earn-
ing respect—both of the latter borne from our success.
The lessons I was taught by my mentor—about leadership, working together, mak-
ing and meeting commitments, and planning—I never forgot. In every management
position I have held, we have used goal development and deployment, and it has
offered immeasurable success in our ability to meet our objectives.
Yet I see so many businesses slight this powerful tool, which further baffles me
because it’s relatively easy to use. I find time and again that poor planning is a critical
weakness in plant performance and plant improvement. Consequently, I have expanded
this chapter in the hopes that it will not only help in the implementation of your lean
initiative, but that it will carryover into the entire management of the business as well.
So I ask you, as my mentor asked me: “What’s your plan, man?”—and I have included
some materials that should help you.