Lean: Listening to the Process

Lean: Listening to the Process

George was surprised when he walked into the conference room the next morning. I was already making notes on the whiteboard and all the members of Michelle’s work team were sitting around the large conference table.

I had written in large bold letters at the top of the board:

Balancing Work Flow

As George took his seat, the chatter in the room died down and we began the meeting. I started off by explaining that the crow’s-nest view made it evident that Michelle’s process was still the bottleneck.

Despite the obvious issues surrounding CNC machine #14 that George and I had looked at on our tour of the plant, we had to prioritize projects. Michelle and her team were already involved in the Six Sigma implementation and training and the problems they had on the main line were more important than the single CNC machine. We had to find a way to eliminate the capacity issue and free up some extra time so that Michelle’s team could run in sync with the rest of the plant.

I was starting to facilitate a brainstorming session when Michelle stood up and suggested that we move to the factory floor. Everyone thought that was an excellent idea, so we picked up our flipchart and walked out to the process. The night shift had agreed to stay over an hour to continue the process while we conducted the meeting and they were hard at work when we walked up to the line.

The Five S and Visual Factory work completed earlier by the team made it very easy to see the flow of the process. Material and quality issues were readily apparent just by watching the process in action. When the team members began brainstorming, the ideas came faster than I could add them to the list.

“Whoa!” I shouted. “I can’t keep up with you guys! Slow down! Or, better yet, who wants to take over as scribe for this session?”

George didn’t really volunteer; he just took the pen from me and started writing. While relieving my hand cramp, I had the opportunity to watch the process for a while. I turned to George and said, “Add

‘rework’ to the list.”

George started to write down rework, but Michelle stopped him. In fact, all of the members turned around and looked at me like I was crazy.

Bob, one of the newer employees on the line, spoke up.

“What are you talking about? We don’t have any rework on this line. Our first-time yield on this process is over 98%.” 

I held my hands up to stop Bob from going on.

“Wait, wait, wait! I’m not trying to insinuate that you guys are doing a poor job. I just want to make sure we capture all the opportunities available to us.”

Michelle spoke up next.

“Well, what are you talking about then, Sam? We don’t see any defects on the line, the scrap bins are empty, and there’s nothing piling up for quality inspection.”

I couldn’t argue. The team had done a great job of setting up a visual workplace. A casual observation would not reveal any problems.

I walked toward one of the workstations and addressed all of the team members.

“Well, let’s talk about the tools you’re using to complete the tasks at this process.”

I turned toward George and said, “George, flip the page on the chart and let’s list all the tools we are using for each station.”

Watching the process will allow you to see waste in the system. You cannot find the problems from a computer terminal or an office. Look for things that are not required for the value added activities of the tasks being performed.

George began writing as we dictated a complete list of all of the tools being used in the process:

1. impact wrenches

2. rubber mallet

3. square

4. drill for reaming

5. tap

6. hoist

As we finished the list, the class turned back to me and Bob asked

again, “OK Sam, where is the rework?”

I started to explain, but then one of the operators gasped.

“It’s the reamer,” she said. “We are using the reamer on every

unit!”

Michelle shook her head.

“It can’t be the reamer. We can’t build parts without it, so the

reamer is not rework—it’s part of the job.”

I prompted Michelle for more information about the process and, in particular, exactly what caused them to ream every unit of production. As I spoke, I started timing the reaming process. Michelle spent the next several minutes explaining the process to me.

“I’ve been working on this line for more than 20 years, Sam, and we’ve always reamed these holes. You can’t expect to join three pieces of metal together in multiple locations without reaming the holes so that bolts can fit through them.”

She smiled patiently and went on to explain.

“If we don’t ream the holes, the unit won’t be square and the components down the line won’t fit properly. So,” she concluded with a smile, “reaming isn’t rework; it’s just part of the process.”

“Well, Michelle,” I explained, “while you were talking just now, I timed three cycles of production. Reaming multiple holes adds over five minutes to the total cycle time for your process.”

I didn’t want to push too hard, but I needed to make sure that she understood where I was trying to lead her.

“What if the holes lined up perfectly when the parts were stamped? Would you still have to ream them?”

While Michelle thought about my question, Bob spoke up.

“Of course you wouldn’t have to ream anything. But if you think you could ever stamp those holes that perfectly, well, you’re nuts!”

His coworkers paused a second and then let out a loud laugh.

I knew it was important to pursue the point while they were still laughing.

“OK, OK,” I smiled, “but if we could stamp the parts perfectly, that would eliminate the reaming process, right?”

They all continued to snicker, but Michelle nodded. I pressed on.

Often, improvement opportunities are pushed aside as being impossible before they are fully investigated because the historic knowledge of the organization will not accept the possibility.

“So if we could eliminate the reaming process, would our cycle time balance out better with the main line?”

George had been pretty quiet up to this point, but he finally spoke up.

“If we could drop the reaming process, we would be able to eliminate all the overtime from this process and still work slightly faster than the main line.”

He paused a second.

“But I have to agree with the team on this one, Sam. I don’t think it can be done.”

He went on to explain that they had looked at the stamping process a couple of times. The equipment was in good shape and the engineering group couldn’t find any problems with the program.

We didn’t notice, but Sid had walked up behind us and was listening to the discussion. After George finished explaining why the reaming process couldn’t be eliminated, I asked him to have the engineer

and the press operator paged to the stamping building so we could have a look at the process.

George looked skeptical, but he had the two men paged as I’d requested. Michelle said I was crazy and started rounding up her team members so they could get back on their process. As I walked over to the stamping building, I was wondering if I had lost my mind, as everybody seemed to believe.

At 11 that evening, I walked out of the plant and shook the hands of the two men who had stayed with me to look at the process for more than 14 hours. I was just about to get into my car when I heard someone call my name from across the parking lot.

“Sam! Hey, Sam, wait up!”

I turned to see George and Sid running toward me.

“We couldn’t leave while you were working out there all night,” George said, “but we didn’t want to interrupt.”

“I stopped by a couple of times to see how things were going,” Sid said, “but you three were huddled so tightly that I figured I’d just let you go at it.”

I was surprised to see the two of them hanging around there that late, but I was happy that they were interested enough to wait to see what we’d found out.

“Well, I didn’t figure it out. We looked at everything—the program, the specification, the equipment. Everything was within the tolerance limits defined by the design engineers and we couldn’t find a reason for the misalignment. We were frustrated.”

I paused as George and Sid nodded knowingly. Then I continued.

Brian, the engineer, looked at the program for most of the night but couldn’t find any fault in the logic. Jason, the press operator, showed me the dies and the setup tools he used and we couldn’t find

anything wrong there either.

Then, around 9 p.m., we all sat down for some coffee. I asked Jason to tell me what had been done on the process over the past 20 years.

Jason explained that he’d been running the process since it was started. He reached into his back pocket and pulling out a small notebook. What a surprise! He had kept process notes on everything that had been done since the beginning.

I asked if I could take a quick look at his notes. They were particularly well laid out and very complete. I didn’t see anything that would lead me to believe that the process had been disrupted in any way.

I picked up my cup and finished my coffee. A strange look came over Jason’s face.

“You know,” he started slowly, “there was one thing. It’s probably not really important, but when we were setting up the process, we couldn’t be sure which side of the die was supposed to be facing up.

The process supervisor came out with the engineering team and measured the die and all the locator pins and they decided that the die was symmetric. The engineers said that since the die was equal on

all sides it didn’t really matter which side faced up. We marked the die so we could be sure we always do it exactly the same way—and that’s how we’ve been doing it each time we set up the machine.”

I looked at Jason and he read my mind. We ran back to set up the machine and run parts, not wanting to wait until the next day to check our theory.

After turning the die over and setting up on the opposite side of standard, we stamped enough parts for one unit of production in the assembly process and had the parts moved to the main line for a trial

run.

Michelle’s team—the morning shift—was long gone, of course, but the third shift team was more than happy to help. We threaded in the unit we had just stamped and, as they laid the parts on the fixture, Jason, Brian, and I held our breath.

One of the operators—a nice guy named Marty—came over with the reamer, but I stepped up just as he was moving into position.

“Could you try bolting it up without reaming?” I asked.

He looked at me and shrugged.

“Sure, but I’ve been doing this for over five years and I’ve never seen a frame go together without reaming. I don’t see why it would start working right now.”

Marty was kind enough to humor me. He handed his coworkers the bolts for the frame. They positioned the frame on the fixture—and the bolts slipped easily into the holes. Their mouths dropped open and all eyes shifted to me.

If employees are not trained to identify waste, they will adopt non-value-added activities, such as rework, as part of the process—even going so far as to write the steps of rework into their standard process documents.

Sid and George reacted the same way as I got to this point in my story. I recognized it in their puzzled expressions.

“Sam,” George started slowly, “I thought you said you didn’t figure out what was wrong with the process.”

I smiled.

“Not I. It wasn’t I who figured it out. It was Jason, when he remembered the problem and when it had started. His notes and his memory allowed us to fix the problem.”

I opened my car door and turned to Sid.

“You have a lot of great people in this company, Sid. Make sure you take advantage of their willingness to offer suggestions for improvement.”

I said good night and drove away. It had been a long day. But I couldn’t help smiling . . . because I love this job!

Key Points

• Examining the entire operation from the “crow’s nest” will allow you to find the problems in the system. 
• Oftentimes, the problems have become so imbedded in the process that they aren’t even realized as waste. If an organization is to achieve six sigma, employees must be trained to look for waste in every aspect of their jobs.

A New Commitment

A New Commitment

As I walked away from my conversation and tour through the plant with George, I couldn’t help shaking my head. All the talk and all the eye-opening conversations still hadn’t changed Sid and George’s approach to managing the business. It was still just project work. It was still firefighting to get the numbers.

I walked by Michelle’s operation as I headed toward the front office. She yelled at me from across the aisle. As I approached her station, she asked, “Who let the air out of your tires?”

I started to explain what had just occurred with George. She held up her hand.

“Don’t give up on us,” she advised. “Just keep working with George; he’ll get it eventually. We all think that George is a smart guy and he wants to make things better. You just have to give him some

time to understand.”

She was right, and I knew it. I couldn’t give up on George quite yet. I left the warehouse and headed for Celia’s office.

“Ms. Gordon, would you mind scheduling the large conference room for George and me tomorrow?”

Once again Celia caught me off guard with her response. “Oh, please, Sam, call me Celia. With all the wonderful things I’ve been hearing about the work you are doing around here, I’m happy

to help you out.”

Later that day, I made sure I just happened to be leaving the facility as George was walking out the door. I walked over to him and asked for a minute or two of his time. He said he was on his way to

grab a sandwich and a beer and invited me to join him.

“Beats the heck out of room service,” I replied.

He nodded and we walked out to our cars. He shouted over his shoulder, “Just follow me” and got into his car.

I followed George off the plant property and out to the country, where the blacktop turned into a lightly graveled dirt road. The setting was beautiful. The bar was tucked under a stand of trees that bordered a small but quickly moving river.

I took a deep breath of the clean air and laughed as we walked toward the bar. He grinned as usual and said, “You won’t be sorry.”

We walked in and sat on two of the mismatched chairs. George shouted out an order of two beers and two Cuban sandwiches. Then, he turned back to me and said, “Remember, you trust me.”

We started shelling peanuts and dropping the shells on the dirt floor while the owner made the sandwiches behind the bar.

I started the conversation head on.

“I’ve been thinking about our talk this morning, George. Something has been eating at me all day and I just want to talk with you about it. Did you notice that, even after we reviewed all the process issues in the facility, your last word in the discussion was that you had to fight fires again at the end of this month?”

I stopped short of asking what was wrong with him, because Michelle was right: this guy was not dumb. The expression on his face told me he’d already been thinking of this very issue. I hoped that he was ready to talk about breaking the vicious circle of practices and habits he was using to manage the business.

George popped another peanut into his mouth and said, “You know, I’ve been thinking about that too. We need to break this reliance on firefighting and fix what’s broken or we won’t get anywhere.”

I was relieved to hear him say that. I was about to encourage him to continue when the bar owner brought the Cubans and the beers. All conversation halted as I took my first bite of the sandwich.

“Oh, my gosh!” I exclaimed with my mouth full. “This has got to be the best Cuban sandwich I have ever tasted! How did you ever find this place?”

George explained between bites that the owner, Gloria, had been his fifth grade teacher and this bar was her retirement plan. He spent as much time in the place as possible to help supplement her income. George also explained that he made it his business to bring in as many people as possible to introduce them to the great ambiance of her fine establishment.

“Well, you’ve got me hooked,” I said, swallowing another delicious bite. “She can count on my business as least once a week as long as I’m working with SG!”

George and I laughed as he yelled the good news across the bar to Gloria. She said she wasn’t surprised and brought us another pair of Coronas without asking. This was somebody who knew how to satisfy her customers—not to mention how to promote her bar. There’s nothing wrong with being a good businessperson.

As we finished our sandwiches, George and I also finished pulling together a plan of attack for breaking his fire-fighting mode and tackling the organizational issues directly at the root.

We parted ways with the decision to meet in the large conference room at the plant first thing the next morning. I didn’t tell George that I had already reserved the room.

Key Points

It takes intelligence to understand the advantages of Lean and Six Sigma. It takes courage and good leadership to take action on that understanding.

If managers put improvements on hold so they can fight fires, they can be sure that there will always be fires to fight.

Implementing Six Sigma

Implementing Six Sigma

When I entered the conference room, the tension was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. How could a discussion of a data driven problem-solving program create this much emotion?

It wasn’t as if it were an unproven entity. Six Sigma had been implemented all over the world. I assumed that the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division that drove the statistics would work the same here as it did in the rest of the world. Maybe the issue was the data-driven decision-making. The gurus always feel threatened. Kind of a territorial thing, I think. Time to enter the lion’s den.

When bringing a new order, the best you can hope for is lukewarm support from those who were not doing well under the current structure and outright hostility from those who were doing well.

Sid motioned to a chair to his left. That probably did not give the impression of power. It could have if I would have been on the right, but it was at his end of the table. I guess it would have to do.

Sid introduced me to his staff and then spoke directly to me. “We discussed the basics of a Six Sigma program, but it seems there are a few more issues. We would like to get your expert opinion on them.”

“I will try to answer any questions you have,” I told him, thinking to myself that it was nice to have the president characterize my opinions as “expert,” even though I wasn’t sure what data he had used to determine that.

Outlining how you will promote and support Six Sigma with the entire management team is critical to the acceptance of the deployment as it moves forward. Some will perceive any change as a threat.

Sid began the meeting by saying, “The idea of Six Sigma was initiated by our CFO, Bill Payer. Bill has read the reports about the large financial returns that many companies are reporting from using the ‘breakthrough strategy.’ Bill feels if it yields this level of return on investment, then we should get some of this breakthrough for our manufacturing. Ben Thair, our Vice President of Manufacturing, doesn’t like the insinuation that we are wasting that much money in our factories. We have already been engaged in many improvement initiatives, such as TQM. He doesn’t believe there is much opportunity remaining in our factories. What do you think?”

“First, we need to make it clear that Six Sigma has never been a manufacturing program,” I explained. “Even when it was introduced at Motorola, the objective was to be Six Sigma in everything we do, which included non-manufacturing operations. GE Capital and many other financial institutions, call centers, and public utilities have all had successful deployments. The financial returns are well documented. Most legitimate Six Sigma providers require that the financial community sign off on any claims about savings. Many of the larger companies are publishing these savings in their annual reports, which are verified by major accounting firms.”

I looked around the room to see if they were following me. Then I continued.

“As far as there not being any opportunities left because you have already done TQM, you have to understand there is a continuum of tools and techniques. When you reach a certain level, you have to find a way to move to the next level. It isn’t an issue of who is better; it is simply choosing the correct

tool for the job. Not every problem is a Six Sigma project. So, if you can fix it with TQM, then that is what you use. We couldn’t buy good quality then and it still can’t be bought today. Eliminating defects and waste and effecting change is a function of hard work. Period.”

Six Sigma should not just focus on manufacturing or operations. In order to optimize the opportunity,

all processes should be improved with the MAIC methodology.

Sid said, “Thank you for the input. We have another issue. Our Vice President of Quality feels that Six Sigma isn’t anything new; it’s just the same collection of tools that have always been around. We’ve trained a lot of people over the years on how to use these tools already. Besides, consultants for Six Sigma charge a lot of money. You’ve been through the training, Sam. What do you think?”

I tried to remain calm—which was difficult because the answers seemed to me like common sense—and a waste of time. But I took a deep breath and addressed the question.

“The point of Six Sigma is not now and never was about introducing new tools,” I explained. “We really don’t need any new tools at this point, since the quality community rarely uses the more sophisticated ones we have. The Six Sigma methodology focuses on being able to link the tools together into a logical flow. Data is moved from one tool to another so that there is a synergy throughout the project. It’s that synergy that increases the probability of problem resolution,” I concluded.

I could see several nods of comprehension from around the room, so I moved on, to tackle the financial issue.

“As far as what the consultants are paid, it is a business decision, like any value proposition. Most credible Six Sigma providers have track records of verifiable results. It’s not just a training program for the sake of training. A Black Belt candidate who doesn’t produce results doesn’t get certified.”

Sid thanked me for the information and asked if there were any other questions. Nobody had any further questions. Sid told them where I was working in the factory and suggested that, if they had any other questions, they could find me through Celia. I was sure it would not be the end of this conversation.

Key Points

Any change to the current process will be perceived as a threat by employees. The Champion needs to understand and address this issue.

Outlining the entire Six Sigma process with every member of the management team is an essential step in a successful implementation and will result in complete understanding of the process.

Six Sigma is for the entire organization, not solely for manufacturing or operations. Every process needs to be addressed.

Defining Six Sigma

Defining Six Sigma

“Shall we continue?” I didn’t want to overwhelm Sid. “Sure,” he replied. “But remember I have a staff meeting at 10.”

For the next hour, I explained to Sid that, regardless of the various window dressings consulting companies hang on Six Sigma, it revolves around a basic problem-solving equation, Y = (f) x or Y = (f) x1 + x2 + x3 . . . . This equation defines the relationship between a dependent variable, Y, and independent variables, the x’s.

Y = (f) x is the basic equation for life. You can be sure of the output only if you can control the inputs.

In other words, the output of a process is a function of the inputs. You know it’s just like your mother used to tell you when you were growing up—you’ll get out of it exactly what you put into it .… This simple problem-solving equation serves as a guide for the Six Sigma methodology of MAIC.

M: Measure

A: Analyze

I: Improve

C: Control

During the Measure phase, the project focus is the Y. Various tools—such as process mapping, basic statistics, capability studies, and measurement system analysis—are used to define and quantify the

project. Besides applying the statistical tools, we also write a problem statement and a project objective and we form a team. At this time the financial impact of the problem and the potential solution to the problem are assessed. Also, members of the company’s financial community must assist and concur with the assessment.

When the Measure phase is completed, we move on to the Analyze phase. Following the problem-solving equation, during this phase we begin to identify the various x’s that are causing the Y to

behave in an unacceptable manner. As we identify the various x’s, hypothesis testing is used to either verify or disprove the various theories and assumptions the team has developed around the causal systems affecting the Y.

Then, after the Analysis phase comes the Improve phase. During this phase, regression analysis and Design of Experiments are used to identify the relationships among the x’s. The x’s are the independent variables in terms of the Y, but that does not mean they’re independent of each other. Variables such as temperature and pressure affect each other and the interaction of the two also affects the Y. We can never completely understand the effect of an interaction without the use of Design of Experiments.

It is the complete understanding of the x’s that allows us to arrive at an optimized solution to the problem at the end of the Improve phase.

Now that we have a solution to the problem, we move to the Control phase to institutionalize the solution. During this phase, quality tools such as mistake proofing, quality systems, and control charts are leveraged to make sure that the problem is eliminated for good.

After explaining these basics of MAIC, I glanced at my watch. It was almost 10 o’clock, so I stopped.

Sid thanked me for my time and left for his meeting. Confident that he now better understood the basics of Six Sigma, I returned to the factory to continue where I had left off the day before.

In retrospect, I’ve been around management long enough that I should have realized it would not be quite that simple.

Although it was a short walk back to the factory, I had barely arrived when Celia called to say that my presence was requested immediately in the executive conference room.

I hung up the phone and started back over toward the conference room.

Key Points

Y = (f)x: Y is the output, the final product. The output is a function of the inputs (the x’s). Only by controlling the inputs can you completely control the output.

Six Sigma methodology:

• M: Measure

• A: Analyze

• I: Improve

• C: Control

Six Sigma Strategy for Sid

Six Sigma Strategy for Sid

“The Champions are typically selected by the Leadership Team. They are people with influence and usually some level of formal power inside the organization. In the Champion role, they are the bridge between the strategic plans of the organization and the operational level. Are you clear on everything so far?” I asked.

Sid thought a moment. “It sounds like a pretty easy job just picking things for other people to work on. Do they do anything else?”

The success of any Six Sigma deployment is based on how well the role of Champion is played.

“The Champion role is not a full-time position,” I replied. “An equally important role for a Champion is to remove barriers for the Black Belt as he or she works on the projects. The job normally takes about 20% to 30% percent of the Champion’s time, so you’re correct—it’s not a full time job.”

“So these Champions are going to spend about eight to 12 hours per week supporting a Black Belt?” Sid inquired.

“That would assume they work a 40-hour week now,” I replied. “Actually how much time they have to spend dealing with barriers is up to you. The initiatives all deal with change to the organization. Remember Juran’s distinction between control and breakthrough. I am sure that in your reading you’ve seen Six Sigma called a ‘breakthrough strategy.’ Accepting that definition means you’re embarking on a change program.”

“Gotcha,” Sid interjected. “But still, what’s that got to do with me?”

“Well, we said that some of the most recognized programs were at Motorola under Robert Galvin, AlliedSignal under Larry Bossidy, and GE under Jack Welch. None of these men were spectators during the program. They sent very clear messages to their organizations, messages that were visible at all levels of the organization. The message was that these leaders were solidly behind the programs and they expected every level of the organization to respond.”

I paused, to let my message sink in. Then I continued.

“Leadership in absentia doesn’t work when you expect serious change. Clearly defining and communicating the company’s expectation belongs to the highest level of leadership in the company—and that’s you.”

“So,” said Sid, “you mean you want me to tell everyone in the company that this is my program?”

“Exactly,” I replied, “and repeatedly. That’s the only way it stands a chance of working.”

Change does not happen by accident. Leaders must find a way to make the status quo uncomfortable

for everyone in the company.

“OK, I got it,” he said. “Isn’t this the same stuff I read about in that book The Fifth Discipline? What was it they called it?” Sid wondered out loud. “Intrinsic and extrinsic messages?”

“Exactly. It’s more than just what you say; it’s also what you do. I believe there have been several books and articles that have reiterated the benefits of value-added communication. You remember the

idea of management by walking around, from Tom Peters. This is the same kind of thing. Visible leadership isn’t new, but it’s an idea still waiting for its time.”

“Alright,” he said, “I’ll check my schedule and see how much extra time I have. My employees will know that this comes from the top.” He paused, then started up again, as if he’d just remembered something.

“You said you were a Master Black Belt. So what is that?” Sid asked.

“Some Black Belts are chosen to receive additional training after they are certified as Black Belts.” I replied, “and they become Master Black Belts.”

“What do they do?”

“The Master Black Belts mentor the Black Belts and train new Black Belts.”

“What do all these Six Sigma consultants do, then?” Sid asked.

I smiled at Sid’s inquiry, because more people should ask this question.

The goal of a Master Black Belt should be the transfer of knowledge to the Black Belt.

“The consultants train and certify the first few waves of Black Belts. They help choose the Master Black Belts and certify them. Then, when there’s a core of Master Black Belts, there really isn’t any more need for consultants. Their job is to get the company to the point where they have their own standalone program.” I paused, because I suspected what was behind his

question.

“The Master Black Belts should be the exit ticket for the consultants. A good consulting partner,” I emphasized, “will insist on developing an exit strategy from the very first day of the deployment.”

“Alright,” Sid said. “I think I’m getting it. We have Champions, Master Black Belts, and Black Belts who work on projects. The projects address chronic problems and projects should be strategically

aligned with the objectives of the company. That about it so far?”

“Well, that and the concept of visible leadership,” I reminded him. “Oh, yeah, and visible leadership. That’s my job, right?” Sid asked. I smiled and nodded.

Key Points

• A successful Six Sigma operation begins with a clear definition of the goals of the organization’s improvement process. Without this in place, the change will never be “owned” by the organization. It will always be an outsider’s idea of what’s best for the company.
• The Champion’s role in any Six Sigma project cannot be low key: without an active, dedicated Champion, the project will fail.
• For change to occur, it needs to be known throughout the organization that the current way of doing things is not good enough. The status quo must be made to feel uncomfortable.

Six Sigma Strategy for Sid

Six Sigma Strategy for Sid

Back in the plant, Sid asked me to look things over and decide where I would like to conduct the next workshop. So I set up camp in the office where Celia sent me and headed out to the plant in order to find the next opportunity.

There were still many processes in the plant that needed addressing; I narrowed the list down throughout the day. I planned to make my decision first thing in the morning, but as I was finishing up for the day, I received a phone call from Sid’s administrative assistant. Celia informed me that Sid wanted to see me in his office at 6 a.m. the next morning. He had a staff meeting at 10 a.m. and needed to be briefed on Six Sigma. Sid had done some research from the books I recommended and was not quite clear on the subject.

I arrived the next morning promptly at 6 a.m. and found Sid poring over a stack of books, all with “Six Sigma” strategically placed in the title. Scattered across the desk were a variety of periodicals and Internet printouts with the same type of titles. Sid looked like he was suffering from information overload. He hadn’t even noticed I had walked into the room, so I said, “Good morning” and handed him a cup of coffee.

Sid looked up, took the cup of coffee, and leaned back in his chair. “So what do you know about this Six Sigma stuff?”

“In my previous job I went through the Six Sigma training. I am a certified Black Belt and Master Black Belt.”

Sid nodded his head and smiled. “So you understand everything about Six Sigma?”

“Well, I don’t think I really understand everything about Six Sigma, but I will try to help you.”

Sid waved his hands across his desk at the piles of books and pages.

“I have read all this stuff and it is really difficult to determine what Six Sigma is. Some of these tell me it is a philosophy. Some say it’s a quality program. All are full of statistics that are talking about things I don’t really understand. It seems they all talk about saving money with some kind of connection to quality. That seems to be an oxymoron in my experience.”

“Sid, there are various opinions on what Six Sigma is,” I said as I leaned back in the chair and smiled. “It actually began in 1964 when Dr. Joseph Juran wrote his book Managerial Breakthrough. The book

distinguishes between control, which is an absence of change, and breakthrough, which is change.

“Motorola initiated a Six Sigma program in 1986 and really perfected some of the techniques. A few companies, such as Texas Instruments and ABB, picked it up later, but it really came to prominence

with the deployments at AlliedSignal and General Electric in the mid-’90s.”

Sid shrugged and waved his hands again. “Thanks for the history lesson, but I still don’t know what it is.”

All leaders must spend time up front defining what Six Sigma will mean in their organization. The

definitions need to be as specific as possible.

“While it seems to be different things to different companies,” I admitted, “there are basic elements that are common among all the companies that have deployed Six Sigma. The program centers around using a problemsolving methodology called M-A-I-C. That stands for Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. Those are the four steps used in the Six Sigma problem-solving methodology. The methodology is used on chronic problems selected for Black Belts to work on.”

“Wait a minute,” Sid interrupted. “What is a Black Belt and where do the ‘chronic problems’ come from?”

“Black Belts,” I said, “are people who have gone through a training process and completed projects to gain certification in the Six Sigma problem-solving methodology. The projects are selected by

Champions to address chronic problems in strategic alignment with the company’s business objectives.”

“OK,” said Sid, “so what is a Champion and where do they come from?”

The Results of Five S Implementation

The Results of Five S Implementation

T he team was ready on the morning of the presentation. They had chosen to type up a list of their accomplishments over the past few days and made copies for each of the managers in attendance. They also decided to position themselves around the meeting room in such a way so that the managers were forced to sit intermingled with the operations employees to foster open communication.

When the meeting started, I took just a minute to introduce the group to the managers and the team members took over from there. As the most vocal of the group, Michelle was “volunteered” to speak

for everyone. She was nervous, but her excitement provided her with the strength to get through the presentation.

Michelle started in a surprisingly challenging manner when she asked the managers, including Sid, “What the hell took you so long?” She then discussed what the team thought of the training and what

they’d learned. Next, she showed the before-and-after pictures. Finally, she wrapped up by reviewing the list of accomplishments; the rest of the team chimed in where they were needed.

The managers asked several questions and Michelle eventually told them that it would probably be easier to go out and physically review the changes. The difference was like night and day. Everything

was clean and well organized. The excess inventory was identified as waste. Excess walking and material moving had been eliminated from the process. Work in process flowed in a single-piece manner, which provided the employees with the opportunity to shut down the line when they observed a problem or had a concern about product quality.

Five S implementation is the first step toward a successful Six Sigma integration. It gets everyone on

board and excited about change and solving problems in the organization from within.

After the tour of the process, we retreated back into the meeting room for a wrap-up discussion. Sid was first to speak. He stood up and looked at the team.

“I’m pleasantly surprised.” Sid looked directly at George when he made his next comment.

“There were a lot of us in this company who really didn’t believe you guys would do this. None of us thought you would accomplish as much as you have. I have a new respect for my employees and I’m

embarrassed that it took an outside influence to bring this to light.”

Sid went on to talk with his employees in an open and honest dialog that included answering some basic questions about the state of the business. The operators were eager to provide more improvement suggestions and the entire room agreed at the end of the meeting to continue to apply the learnings from the past week to the rest of the processes in the facility.

Sid asked me to stay and talk with him after wrapping up the meeting and he invited George to join us. We ended the discussion by agreeing that I would return the next week and we would take it

one week at a time for the next month or so. Sid and George were starting to believe that we could seriously reduce costs without large capital investments.

As I left the office, Sid asked me to bring in some books on Six Sigma and Lean that I had mentioned previously so that he could begin to better understand the concepts.

Back in the car, I was glad to be going home because I was completely exhausted from my week with Sid’s employees—but I was also glad to be coming back the next week. There was work to do!

Key Points

->Implementing the Five S’s slowly starts the ball rolling toward Six Sigma integration. Employees get excited and upper-level managers begin to see how to change things from within.

->Dialogue between management and employees is an essential part of implementing changes in any organization.

Workplace Organization and the Five S’s

Workplace Organization and the Five S’s

The process was fed by work in process (WIP) from a subassembly area located across the aisle. The subassembly operators had produced so much excess inventory that they had built a “wall of inventory” around their work area. As we continued to tour the main work area, the subassembly process operators came across the aisle and asked what we were doing.

I stepped aside and allowed the operators on the main line to explain what they had learned. I was surprised to hear them repeat what I had told them during the previous afternoon. It wasn’t just that

they had listened to what I taught them, but that they were actually excited about what they were going to do to eliminate waste in their process.

The subassembly operators started talking about what they could do to bring their process into the main line. This move would allow them to build just what was needed to keep the main line running.

The savings for this move and the reduction of WIP inventory would more than pay for the class we were holding that week, including all the resources required (and my fees).

It was hard to rein in the team members to the point where we could get back into the classroom. They were so revved up that they wanted to get started right away. I asked them to bear with me and

we went back to the class to begin our plan for the next two days.

I started the planning session by explaining W. Edwards Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. I pointed out the logic of the sequence: plan for improving a process, do what you’ve planned, check the results, and act on the results to improve the process.

I made sure the group understood the importance of Planning. After some discussion, they agreed that we must plan for success or we would not get the job completed. Our first step was to list everything

that had to be done in the time allotted (two and a half days).

The first task in the Five S process was Sifting. We needed to check everything in the work area and remove everything that was not required to do the job. Next we would look at the flow of work and organize the tools and component items in such a way as to ensure safety and reduce walk and wait time in the process. The team had some excellent ideas. Once again I found myself trying to calm them down long enough to finish the planning.

Next we prepared for the Sorting of items. Each operator would be responsible for defining the location for his or her tools and equipment. All team members would provide their input, but for the final decision we would look to the process operator.

Last, the team would be Sweeping and Washing every surface in the work area and labeling all the items for semi-permanent storage. The goal of the Five S process would be to identify what was required in the work process and what, if anything, was missing—at a glance!

The final two S’s would come with time—and effort: Standardize and Self-Discipline.

After class, my pal Michelle stayed to tell me that she hadn’t seen the employees of SG this excited in over 10 years. They had apparently just given up. As the pressures of the business increased and the

company grew, Sid had apparently stopped listening to all but a few of his supervisors. Subsequently the employees stopped talking to him. Before long there was a wall between the workers and the managers that neither took the time to tear down.

I caught myself smiling that evening as I drove out of the plant. I was exhausted from working to keep the group calm long enough to get everything in line for the next day, but I was excited too. It’s not often that a consultant gets to break away from the managers of a company to work directly with the people who add value to the product. The experts of the process have always been and will always be the operators and no one can solve a problem faster than the people who do the work.

There are no shortcuts to “world class.” Bringing the tools of Lean Enterprise into an organization requires commitment and culture change. There is no more powerful tool in an organization than

the excitement of its employees. The Five S process requires that you think in a new way about what you do at work everyday.

We started the next day even earlier, at 6 a.m. The team was dressed for work in jeans and T-shirts and they gave me a pretty hard time when I arrived wearing much the same casual outfit.

The day was long. We moved out two large dumpsters full of trash, broken tools and containers, obsolete material, and basic junk from the work area. Then we cleaned everything with degreaser. The team still wasn’t satisfied. They wanted a fresh coat of paint on everything. Just about the time we were starting to put the stuff into the assigned locations, the subassembly team came over.

They wanted to talk to us again about moving their process closer to the main line. They had apparently continued their discussion after we talked the last time and had come up with some pretty good ideas. We took some measurements for their fixtures and outlined placement for the WIP on the main line. After we analyzed the proposal, everything looked like it would fit (with some minor maintenance and reworking of electricity and HVAC). We called the facility manager and asked for some help. He found a maintenance person and got the job done.

What a change the simple subassembly move turned out to be! The main line could run for over a week without the subassembly processes running. The main line would exhaust the overproduced

work-in-process inventory to reduce the storage space required. This would free up the subassembly operators to help out on the main line while the operators learned the new flow, which should speed up the process by more than 25%.

We attached the hand tools used by the operators to their workbench with retractable key chains to keep the tools at work height and readily available at all times. The operators said that this low-cost fix would probably save them about 20% of their time because they wouldn’t have to look for their tools throughout the shift.

By this point, so much had changed that the team decided to present the outcome of the workshop to the managers and asked me to invite them to the presentation. We had the foresight to take some

before-and-after pictures so the impact was pretty impressive.

Key Points

->Use Lean Enterprise tools to identify and eliminate all seven types of waste in all aspects of the organization—overproduction, correction, inventory, processing, motion, conveyance, and waiting.

->Five S is the foundation through which an efficient organization is built.

• Sifting

• Sorting

• Sweeping and Washing

• Standardizing

• Self-Discipline

Workplace Organization and the Five S’s

Workplace Organization and the Five S’s

On the appointed Monday morning, I arrived at the factory ready for confrontation. In fact, I was prepared for several confrontations. I walked into the training center guided by Celia and began setting the room up for the week’s training. I had planned on conducting the workshop as five eight-hour sessions, two of which would be used to actually work on making changes. I would start the class with some introductions and then head right into the training with a discussion on the identification and elimination of waste.

As the class participants—a team of workers on the main factory line—began to arrive, I realized that my planning was a joke. When the first person arrived, he plopped into his seat and simultaneously

threw his clipboard across the table in front of him. I tried to shake his hand, but he just grunted and turned away. This behavior was repeated several times over the next few minutes, until I had a total

of 10 sullen people sitting before me with expressions somewhere between anger and pity.

OK, so much for structured classroom interaction! There was no way I could direct these people until they said what was on their minds.

I began the session by introducing myself and telling some really lame jokes. Next, I asked each of them to take a few minutes to talk among themselves and find out something new about each of the

people in the room. They started off slowly, but before too long they were talking quite candidly and grew pretty animated when they were discussing anything other than SG.

Of course, every time I tried to join the conversations, they clammed up. Being the intuitively sensitive person that I am, it took only several dozen of these false starts before I eventually got wise

enough to sit on a table at the front of the room and keep my mouth shut.

After about an hour of classroom interaction, I asked if anyone needed a smoke break. More than half the class growled, “Yeah,” so I told them to take 15 minutes and we’d get started.

Nearly 30 minutes later, I finally got everyone back into the room and started trying to get them to talk. My first few attempts didn’t go very well. I was starting to feel pretty frustrated. Before long I was feeling sweat run down my back and I could hear my voice start to quiver.

These people were more than upset; they were downright pissed off! They weren’t happy about having an outsider trying to tell them what to do.

The only woman in the group finally took pity on me and stood up to discuss what she had found out about her classmates. She introduced one young man in the class and explained to me that he was

the cherry pit spitting champion of his county. It was comic, but the contribution broke the ice for the rest of the group—or at least cracked the ice a little.

By the end of the introductions, we were a little more relaxed, but not to the point I had hoped for. For the first half of the day, we spent more time on smoke breaks than working. But since they appeared to be as uncomfortable as I was, I decided to let it slide.

Just after lunch I noticed Sid ducking into the back of the room. I acted like I didn’t see him there and hoped that no one else saw him.

I just kept moving through the beginning of my talk on quality, hoping to increase the discussion among the members of the class.

But they noticed “the suit” in the room, and they completely shut down. He just sat and shook his head. I got the impression he was thinking that he had known this wouldn’t work. More importantly, I

figured he was probably right.

After he left the room, the workers relaxed noticeably and I said, “Man, that sucked.”

They did a double take and asked me what I was talking about. Many of the participants had no idea who Sid was because they had never met him.

I explained to them who he was and that he had asked me to help out because Sid realized that so many of their processes were awful. The participants seemed shocked to hear this.

The outgoing woman who had spoken up earlier, Michelle, said, “You mean he knows how bad things are getting here? We didn’t think he had a clue.”

I explained the concerns I had discussed with Sid on my first visit to the facility. I also told them he’d agreed to allow me into the facility for one week to see if we could make a difference. Last, I shared

with the group my discovery that Sid was convinced that the employees would not be willing to work to make the changes.

For a split second, I was pretty sure they were about to kill me. Then they opened up in a flood of conversation. “Why should we help?” “What are we supposed to do?” “How will this help us?” And

on and on .… For the rest of the day, we spent our time discussing what changes were possible and giving examples of how we could improve their processes.

I explained the seven types of waste and how to identify them in the work- place. They spent about half an hour listing examples of each of the elements in their own work process, a total of 21 examples of areas in which they could eliminate excess from the process. I also spent some time talking about workplace organization, introducing the Five S’s:

1. Sifting

2. Sorting

3. Sweeping and Washing

4. Standardizing

5. Self-Discipline

Next we discussed how the Five S process would improve safety and workflow and allow them to better manage the process as a whole. We also discussed how we could reduce the costs associated

with the rework caused by not controlling the process inputs.

As we went deeper into this discussion, they opened up and provided one idea after another for improving their work area. The group agreed to start the next morning’s session by touring their work area and teaching me the process as it was currently performed.

In the last 15 minutes of the day, Sid ducked back into the room and listened. As the employees filed out, they passed Sid with quiet greetings and reserved smiles. Sid looked like he was in shock.

Immediately after the employees had left the room, Sid looked at me and said, “What did you do, drug those guys?” I smiled and said, “Nope. I just talked to them and, more importantly, I listened.”

We started the next day’s session at 7 a.m. on the factory floor. The group took about an hour to show me the process and how the work flowed through their area—or, more accurately, how the work didn’t flow. As I went around reading inventory tags on the raw materials, I was surprised to see dates going back over five years. There was so much inventory it was impossible to determine what was actually needed in their process. There were spare tools and fixtures everywhere and nothing seemed to be attached to any particular area of the process.

First Impressions of the Plant

First Impressions of the Plant

When I sat down to collect my thoughts, I realized that my impressions were even worse than I had consciously realized. Without the threat of George knocking me on my butt, the truth of what I saw

came out pretty freely—and the truth was ugly. The word “ugly” stuck in my mind.

I remembered that when I got started in consulting, a friend in the business told me, “You never want to tell the customer he has an ugly baby.” That was his not-so-charming way of saying that you don’t badmouth the customers’ processes or initiatives—especially when they’ve attempted to instill a positive improvement.

I tried to keep that in mind as I prepared my notes, but it wasn’t easy. Sid had an ugly baby.

At exactly 4:30 p.m., I walked out of the conference room and headed toward Sid’s office. About 20 feet from the door, George called from behind, “Hey, Sam, wait up.” He jogged the few steps to catch up with me and said, “Hope you don’t mind, but Sid asked me to join you.”

Sid was waiting and looked eager, so I began talking as soon as we had exchanged pleasantries. Now, sensitive I’m not. If I were, I would have noticed the look on both their faces as I waded deeper into my impressions of the facility. When I was finished running down my laundry list of things that were wrong, I looked up at them and was genuinely amazed by the shocked look in their eyes.

I immediately looked down at the scribbled notes in my lap to see what I had said that would have been so devastating to the two men:

-->The plant is filthy.

-->There’s no control of parts that don’t meet specifications.

-->There’s no semblance of lot control for work in process or finished goods inventory.

-->Operators are performing their work sloppily and to no particular standard.

-->There’s no apparent flow to the processes.

-->There’s so much inventory that no one knows what they have and what they don’t have.

-->There are excess and broken tooling and fixtures scattered everywhere in the plant.

-->The lighting is very poor and work conditions are unsafe.

-->All raw inventory is contaminated and there is no sure method of controlling inventory. Raw material is stored alongside the production lines and appears to have been there for years.

-->Material handlers are running all over the plant with nothing on their forklifts, wasting gas and endangering each other and the process operators.

-->Hazardous material is not stored properly.

-->There are years of inventory on trailers out back. (This is what I was afraid of when I parked earlier in the day.)

-->The few control charts scattered about the plant are outdated by months—but no one is even looking at them anyway, thank goodness!

-->The processes are producing in batches because the setup times are so long.

-->The last processes before final inspection are being starved for part assemblies for hours because of the batch and queue methods.

-->People are standing all over the plant waiting for something to do.

Uh-oh, maybe I’d gone a little overboard! Sometimes I have a tendency to forget that I’m talking about someone’s business when I give my impressions.

From the looks on their faces, I may have just stepped over the line. I slowly moved my chair a little closer to the door. As an afterthought, I finished my onslaught with “Look at it this way: knowing there’s a problem is half the battle.”

Sid took a minute before he responded. I’m sure he was clenching and unclenching his fists under the desk.

“Sam, I’m not sure you remember why I asked you here.” He cleared his throat and continued. “I’m not looking for your opinion of the state of my company.” More throat clearing. “I just wanted to

know which machine I should purchase to make sure I meet my upcoming customer demands.”

My response to this comment made my earlier litany look like child’s play. I looked directly at him and spoke once more without my “fit for human interaction filter” in the “on” position.

“Look, Sid, if you keep up the way you’re going out there today, you won’t have any problems meeting your customer demands— because you won’t have any customers.”

Before Sid could get in his next comment, I decided to finish my thoughts.

I don’t know exactly the words I used, but they were something to the extent that SG’s quality had to be below one sigma with all the things they were doing wrong and that their inventory turns were a joke.

They looked puzzled. After I paused to let it sink in, I made my point. “One sigma,” I explained, “means your yield is only 31%. Most company operate at between three and four sigma, which means yields around 93% to 99%.”

Then I pointed out that if they wanted to compete in today’s market, they were going to have to learn to be more efficient and focus on eliminating waste from all their processes, because if their manufacturing processes were bad, I had to assume that their transactional processes were in even worse shape. Of course we couldn’t be sure because everything was in such disarray that we couldn’t even tell how bad things were. On top of all that, the employees were so pissed off that they wouldn’t tell you if the building was burning down.

George finally shook himself out of shock and said there was no way I could tell all those things from a brief 45-minute walk through the plant. He also mumbled under his breath that he should have

known I’d try to dig in and get paid my daily rate forever….

Ignoring the last comment, I conceded that George might be right about my quick assessment. So I asked some basic questions:

-->What are your inventory turns?

-->What is your overall quality level?

-->Do you measure quality as a percentage or as parts per million?

-->Do you final-inspect every product you build?

-->How do you determine your inventory levels?

-->What does your preventive maintenance schedule look like?

-->What is your operator interface? How does an operator know the state of the process?

-->Are your margins on some products negative?

-->Do your employees understand the concept of waste?

-->When was the last employee suggestion for improvement made?

-->How often do you conduct a physical inventory?

-->What is the rate of over/under you typically see in inventory?

As George responded to each of my questions (usually failing to provide an answer other than “I don’t know”), a look of caution began to form on Sid’s face.

By the time the questions were through, Sid looked at me and said, “I’ve heard about that sigma stuff and inventory turns, but I don’t really know much about any of it. So what should I do?”

The answer I gave really surprised Sid—and I think it pissed him off as well.

“We need to get organized out there.

“Just give me a week and I’ll work with one of your teams and we’ll start a program of Five S in your facility. I’ll teach them what Five S means and how it applies, then work with them to establish the principles in their work area. After that, we can select some of your more dedicated people and have them teach the technique across the organization.”

At this George started forming a smile that grew until finally he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Yeah,” he said, I’m gonna love seeing you try to get these guys to clean up their work area. There’s no way in hell they’ll ever do it. We can’t even get them to walk to the trash can at lunch time. They just leave everything laying all over the snack bar for someone else to clean up.”

George went on to explain how SG had to hire a cleanup crew to go behind every shift and pick up after the employees in order to keep the health inspector off their case.

I gave George my “I understand” nod and said, “Just give me the week and tell me where you want to start. If I fail, you pay for one week and I’ll be gone. If I succeed, you may find that we can increase

your capacity and margins considerably without any capital expense— and that would be a good thing.”

George started to argue, but Sid held up his hand and said, “You’ve got a deal. Tell us which day you want to start; we’ll have the training room set up and the people there for you. You have one week to make this Five S thing work. Then we’ll meet with the team you’re training and discuss the results.”

George just shook his head and looked at the floor.

After giving Celia the date I wanted to have the first session and shaking hands with Sid and George, I walked out to the car to drive home. It was already dark outside and I had a lot of planning and

thinking to do.

Key Points

-->To compete in today’s market, companies must learn to be more efficient and focus on eliminating waste from all their processes.

-->A good way to begin a Lean Six Sigma initiative is with a program of Five S.

First Impressions of the Plant

First Impressions of the Plant

As we drove up to the plant, my first thought was that Sid had done a good job picking out a location for his company. Instead of one single building, SG consisted of two moderately sized side-by-side structures. The two facilities were connected by a paved path with trees and shrubs planted on either side to make the walk between the two buildings more pleasant. The landscaping was nicely manicured and reminded me more of a park than a manufacturing location. The buildings were clean and the lawns were groomed professionally. In the back of my mind, I was thinking, “OK, I could spend a week or two working in this environment.”

As Sid motioned me into the visitors’ parking area, I caught sight of something that might have been a problem, but I decided to keep my thoughts to myself until I saw the rest of the plant. Still . . . in the

back of my mind was this nagging thought: “Why would an organization this small need to have all those tractor trailers parked back there? There’s no way they can be moving that much material in and out of this place.”

As soon as we hit the front door, a small, middle-aged woman in a snappy business suit met Sid. Before I was even introduced, it became apparent that this was his secretary.

I knew I’d better make a good impression on this woman, because I’ve found over the past few years that plant managers and business owners think they run the place, but the secretaries and administrative assistants are the ones who really keep things going. If I wanted to do any type of business with Sid, I’d better make sure this woman liked me. In order to make sure, I slapped on my best smile and extended my hand to introduce myself.

“Hello, ma’am, my name is Sam,” I said, “and who might you be?”

The no-nonsense look she gave me said she wasn’t going to decide she liked me just because I smiled and took the initiative to introduce myself. Within the blink of an eye, her words confirmed what her look suggested.

“Well, I might be Joan of Arc,” she said without the slightest hint of a smile, “but I am Celia Gordon. I’m Sid’s executive administrative assistant.”

“Damn,” I thought. “That didn’t go as planned.” Luckily she was in a hurry and scurried away without even a whisper of goodbye.

Sid just looked at me and shrugged.

“She’s always like that. Just ignore it and she’ll warm up to you.”

I didn’t say a word; I just smiled. I wanted to tell him that it would take a bottle of acetylene and a blowtorch to warm that woman up. But, like I said, I didn’t say a word. I just stood there and smiled.

Then we walked to Sid’s office. There Sid introduced me to George, the manufacturing supervisor. This was the same George he had mentioned in the restaurant, who had told him to buy the new

piece of equipment.

George shook my hand and said, “Pleased to meet you,” and we entered Sid’s office.

As we sat across the table from each other, George began telling me the history of Sid’s business. It was evident that George was very proud of the fact that he was one of only a handful of people left in the company who had been there since the very beginning.

As George went through the history of SG, I realized that he had good reason to be proud. In under 30 years, the company had grown from two guys machining parts to an organization with over 500 fulltime employees and more than $300 million in sales annually. They were well respected in their industry, although recent quality concerns and late delivery issues were causing problems with some of their biggest contracted customers. These problems, however, could be fixed with the new equipment. George had no doubts about that, and I certainly wasn’t going to say otherwise—at least not yet.

As George wrapped up his history lesson, Sid suggested that I might like to see the facility. George was between production meetings and said he would be happy to show me the plant.

As we walked into the facility, I had mixed emotions. The consultant part of me was screaming at all the things I saw wrong and I felt an immediate urge to point everything out to George as we passed

by. But the (semi) human side of me screamed that this would be wrong. Looking at him and listening as he showed me the various processes throughout the plant, I decided to listen to my human side for a change.

One thing that I couldn’t be quiet about, though, was the level of negativity I sensed as we walked through the plant. As we passed, operators stared at us or just scowled. I wasn’t sure which I found

more unsettling.

I asked George if SG had some labor problems and he just nodded. I decided to take the issue up with Sid later, after the tour.

When the plant tour was over, George led me back to Sid’s office and shook my hand at the door.

“I’m really glad you came to have a look at the place,” he said. “Since Sid will have the opinion of an outsider now, I’m sure he’ll listen to me.”

Then George walked away. I realized that he was telling me that when I gave Sid the same recommendation as he had, Sid would buckle and get the new equipment. Whoops! This was going to be a problem, because I had no intention of advising Sid that he needed a new piece of equipment. Not yet, anyway.

As I slowly opened the door to Sid’s office, I saw that he was on the phone. He motioned me to come in and have a seat. I sat down and began looking around at the plaques on the wall. Several were from

suppliers for outstanding quality, cost reduction, and on-time delivery— but none of the plaques had a date less than 10 years old. Not a very good sign, but I didn’t say a word about it to Sid as he hung up the phone. I just made a mental note.

“Well, waddya think?” he asked me. “Can I get by with the smaller machine or should I just bite the bullet and go all out?”

Sid spoke with such blatant pride that I almost didn’t have the heart to tell him what I’d seen. Almost.

“You know, Sid, it may be possible to raise your quality and capacity levels without buying new equipment. If you would like, I can take a few minutes to give you my impressions of the facility. Then we can talk about some less expensive ways to bring your quality up and your cycle time down using the equipment you already have.”

Sid smiled and said he liked the sound of that, so I asked him for a few minutes to get my thoughts together and write some notes. Sid said that was perfect, because he had a meeting scheduled that should take about an hour. He asked Celia to find me a quiet space so I could work and said he’d meet me back in his office around 4:30.

Judging by our first greeting, I expected Celia to put me somewhere in a cleaning closest filled with plenty of toxic chemicals. Instead, she showed me to a small conference room with a visitors’ desk and a phone and told me where I could find the rest rooms, the snack bar, and smoking areas. A definite improvement from earlier in the day and I even thought I saw a hint of a smile as she turned to leave. But it was probably just the light playing tricks on me.