Page 59 - Make Work Great

It Starts with You

Certain parts needed special processing on the expensive machines.
This slower, complicated work was entrusted only to a select group of
highly paid expert workers. The goal was to get the special process-
ing done quickly and return the all-important machines to regular
work.
However, a resource problem plagued this operation. It was not the
multimillion-dollar equipment, the scarce raw material, the expert
personnel, or the complex processing information; those were all in
plentiful supply. It was a printer. Reaching the small label printer that
created the “special processing” tags required a round-trip walk of
about 10 minutes. The expert workers, who made this trip at each
step in the special processing, were getting paid their expert wage to
walk for what amounted to hours each week. Meanwhile, millions
of dollars of capital equipment sat idle, all because the company had
saved a few hundred dollars by not installing a second printer adja-
cent to the machines.
Is there a missing label printer in your work life? If so, becoming
more overt about resources may be of tremendous value. Three simple
questions will help.
The fi rst is whether you have clearly defi ned the resources you need
to complete your summary outputs. Many resources may come into
play: your time, other people’s time, capital equipment, offi ce sup-
plies, and money, to name a few. You can list the resources required
for each of your summary outputs or simply think through what you
need. A detailed conceptualization of your requirements is the goal.
The second question is whether the resources you need are avail-
able. If you need a forklift or time on a computer, does your employer
own one? If you need the support of other people, does your company
employ them? The answer may be obvious in some cases, but the
question is still worth asking. If you’re going to need a resource that
isn’t available, you need to know.
Finally, you must ask whether you have control of the resources
you need. Having money in a budget is one thing; having the author-
ity to spend it the way you need to is quite another. The same is
true if your resource list includes time with people or equipment; just

48