A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
~ Lao Tzu
In the middle years of my career in the packaging industry, I had opportunities to lead business operations in Malaysia and later in Vietnam. Mass volume manufacturing depended on being able to maintain standards and quality throughout the process. While the management systems and processes may be in place, it is people who make quality happen. Specifically, it is empowered teams that make customer satisfaction possible.
In both of these assignments, I started out on greenfield sites where systems were lacking and people were far from operating cohesively as a team. Top management, for sure, is always looking for quick results measured in terms of ROI. However, in executing the factory-floor operation plan, it’s always the main thing to address the people topics first. It’s somewhat akin to Jim Collins’s erstwhile thoughts on getting the ‘right people on the bus.’ A quote that is attributed to both President Theodore Roosevelt and John C. Maxwell says, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” This could define a fundamental approach to a philosophy on people management and could be the cornerstone in getting productivity out of people.
It was Dr. Edward Deming, a U.S. statistician, and management consultant, who is credited to have provided the Japanese, a foundation for sustainable quality. This was in the 1950s when Japan was still roiling from the end of the war. Japan’s rise as an economic miracle, its postwar industrial growth can be attributed to its diligent attention to people, systems, and processes. The Deming method always carried a focus on people, for Edward Deming was indeed a champion of the individual worker and always emphasized the need for “people have a right to joy in their work.”
Kaizen or continuous small step improvements, together with the 5S workplace organization were some of the Japanese productivity methods that I was introduced to, early in my work career. It’s a basic idea, simple to get across, and easily implementable. But unless it has some level of focus at the top, you cannot expect the discipline to make any traction on its own on the shop floor. To insist that implementing a simple system could have a major impact, and as the way forward took both self-belief and a belief in the people who supported its adoption. Actually, the implementation was the easiest part. The challenge always comes with sustaining the momentum. When we’re in a problem, sometimes we tend to easily lose focus. Every once in a while we have to refocus on this as a practice of habit. Needless to say, over time these and other useful methodologies moved the needle on performance. It was always about people before systems and processes. For sure it also required a good leadership team and a constant emphasis on the practice itself.
There is still a need for a buy-in before employees rally around the idea of Kaizen and 5S. What worked for me was always to address issues that will be of concern to employees while they are in attendance in the factory. Well before the implementation of the Kaizen and 5S in the factory, the admin and facilities teams worked on the general ambiance of the factory with a specific focus on the common facilities such as the restrooms, and the lunchroom, availability of clean water, and even the space assigned for smoking. Battles of the mind are won or lost in these places. You will already know that employees spend lots of focus time in these places. It’s a given that they would observe and they will gossip. At the same time, in these same spaces, it’s easy to “show” them the benefits of small improvements, using team ideas and how small change can be beneficial when adopted. They will always be interested in matters that matter to them. Change can be as simple as ensuring cleanliness or moving in an indoor plant into their lunch room to improve the ambiance, or making sure the flush worked properly in the toilet cubicle at every operation. An employee who’s frustrated that the flush did not work properly will be agitated. And help you God if the agitated employee is responsible for quality or inspection. It’s always the attention to the small things that give the payoff.
The man who moves mountains begins by carrying away small stones.
~ Confucius
