ASK Ed Carne
- What benefits will I see?
- What are the tangible results you guarantee?
- When is the the best time to undertake a Process Improvement project?
- Why do I need to do an end to end analysis?
- Why do you think Cool Running can find more profit? Our managers are very experienced and knowledgeable.
- What Process are important to look at?
- Aren’t automated systems expensive?
- Is automation the best way to solve problems?
- We meet the quality standards of our customers, how can I do better than that?
- Why do I need policies and procedures?
- Why does hiring new employees cost me more?
- What do your survey’s ask that will help with employee retention?
- My managers are doing the best they can, how can you help them?
- What do you do to help improve employee relations?
- Does bill C-45 apply to me?
- How do you get my employees to buy in?
What benefits will I see?
Ed Says: It depends on what your problems are, and where you need the most help. If your issues are centered around inadequate processes. Then we will tune those processes so that they run more efficiently, and often with fewer people.
If your issues are around retention of people, we can help you build the systems that will support your employees resulting in reduced attrition.
If you have concerns over your safety program, we can help you build solid, effective systems that will reduce the likelihood of an accident, provide your employees with the right training, and can help protect you and your organization in case there is an accident.
And if your concerns are around quality, then we can build a program there as well, one that will prove that “quality is free” that is, that the cost of poor quality is always higher than the costs associated with building an effective program to prevent non-conformances.
What are the tangible results you guarantee?
Ed Says: We guarantee that the savings that you gain from the improved efficiencies in your operations will more than offset the cost of our services. If you don’t see the improvements that we promise, we will work with you at no additional charge until you do see those results. We are absolutely confident about this because we have done it many times before in a broad spectrum of industries.
In some cases we engage in work where we know there is no payback. Often because of a shortage of workers, we may engage in a project where the objective is purely related to efficiency, and not to dollars, for failure to do to the project would result in lost contracts. In those cases, we guarantee the efficiency improvements that we promised in our contract with you.
There is a condition however. And that is simply that you purchase our warranty contract. We know from experience that it is very easy to fall back into the “that’s the way we’ve always done it” mode. To ensure that you are successful, we feel strongly that we need to be back in your plant several times over the next year to ingrain the changes in your people and to help them overcome some of the challenges that change brings. The warranty contract merely offsets the cost of us helping you to maintain the momentum.”
When is the the best time to undertake a Process Improvement project?
Ed Says: There are advantages and disadvantages regardless of when you do a plant assessment.
When you are relatively busy, we can see where the problems more easily, and sort out potential solutions quicker. but it is also the time when you may be least available to support us when we have questions, and to review results. It may also be more difficult to schedule downtime to implement some improvements. Although we can work around schedules pretty well, it is difficult to implement a project without some level of disruption.
When you are slow, the problems are more difficult to spot, but you are likely to be more available, and it’s easier to “steal” some production time to implement the changes.
The best time to do something is NOW! I have been told “there’s things we would like to do, but we’re too busy now” and “there’s things we’d like to do, but we’re too slow now”. In both cases, the end result is simply wrapping dollar bills around your inefficiencies. In a booming climate, you are missing out on the gravy – the added profit that you could and should have. When slow, thse lost dollars are eroding your cash flow, and damaging your opportunity to weather out the storm. At the end of the day, putting it off simply erodes your profit.
Why do I need to do an end to end analysis?
Ed Says: Your systems are built from a series of integrated processes. In a simplified plant, to build a widget, you need to have an order from a customer. You then schedule the build in your plant, buy materials, adjust the schedule as the build gets closer, build it, package it and ship it. Suppose that you have a problem with shipping in time to meet the customer-required date. You have identified a bottleneck in your process that frequently has work waiting for that process. So the logical course of action is to fix that part of the process and the problem is solved.
That’s what most people do, and they almost always have it wrong. That backlog of work may be related to the machine that it’s waiting on, but more often it has to do with ineffective scheduling, or poor purchasing practices, or sales always slipping in “rush” orders that cause endless setups, or…or…If you just look at the symptom of where the problem shows up, you will almost always spend too much fixing something that wasn’t broken.
Our approach is to treat your plant like the system that it is. We look at the entire system, from order entry, through customer service, scheduling and purchasing, manufacturing and shipping. We understand that a change in one part of the system affects the entire system, and if changes are made without that in mind, then things can easily get worse – not better.
Why do you think Cool Running can find more profit? Our managers are very experienced and knowledgeable.
Ed Says: The simple answer is that often you are too close to the problem – the proverbial “can’t see the forest for the trees”. When you work in a plant every day, the systems and processes that you have in place are perfectly natural for you. If I were to ask how you schedule a job, or assemble a widget, you can tell me in detail exactly how it’s done.
We are outsiders. We have no pre-conceived views of your plant or how you do things. But we do have decades of experience in managing processes, of all kinds. We are not constrained, nor is there a vested interest by our people in maintaining a process because it was designed by the owner, or the plant manager or by someone else of influence. We don’t believe in the ‘”that’s the way we’ve always done it”. But we do ask Why? A lot! Not to put your people on guard. We need to understand how things have evolved, and what your objectives are, and then we can really move forward.
What Process are important to look at?
Ed Says: Everything is a process. Entering an order is a process. Taping a box closed is a process, as is ensuring that the right label goes on the carton.
Your plant systems are full of processes, and it is only by looking at the sum of those processes that we can identify the right course of action for your plant.
Aren’t automated systems expensive?
Ed Says: They can be, but that’s not always true.
We have never believed in automation just because it looks sexy in the plant. For us to do an automation project it must make sense. There has to be real payback. And the project has to work.
There are many levels of automation. Taken to the extreme, you could have a “light’s out” plant where everything is automated. On a smaller scale, you could replace a manual operation with a machine run by an operator, one that is run at a much faster rate than the operator could do it manually. The payback comes from the reduced labour to do the operation, versus the increased overhead associated with the machine. Payback is usually less than a year, and in many cases, can be as fast as a few months.
We are experts at automation, and are very careful to only accept contracts for projects that are appropriate to your situation. Most of the projects that we get involved in are worth under $50,000, or the equivalent cost of a single $18.00/hour employee .
Is automation the best way to solve problems?
Ed Says: Before getting involved in an automaton project, you must be confident that there is a solid reason for doing so.
Payback is the best reason, reducing your total manufacturing cost per widget is a great way to improve the bottom line.
Lack of skilled people is another. When in the middle of a serious labour shortage, finding enough people to do the necessary work is a constant challenge. Replacing the need for additional people through the use of automation is a good reason to consider a project.
Sometimes the specifics of the job are too much of a challenge for people to do. This could be because of the precision required, or the physical needs of the job, be it heavy lifting, repetitive operations, or simply monotonous work. Automating to prevent injuries is a great reason to initiate a project.
Our automation audit looks at the objective of a project, the feasibility of doing it, projected costs, and the overall benefit to the project. Usually he benefit is in dollars, but sometimes the reasons are to ensure continuity of production, and injury prevention.
Finally, we look at how it integrates into the rest of the plant operations. If completing the project only serves to create problems elsewhere, then it ceases to be a viable project.
We meet the quality standards of our customers, how can I do better than that?
Ed Says: Meeting the quality requirements of your customers is one of the prerequisites for maintaining the right to supply him, but it should not be viewed as an end point.
In many cases, there are cost of quality savings that can result from improvement, as well as improved plant capacity and reduced landfill / rework costs. It may even be possible to command a higher price for your product as the quality of the product improves. Either way, you will see a positive improvement to the bottom line.
Perhaps one of the greatest benefits to improving your quality even further is that you may well be qualified for additional business with other customers that previously were out of reach. The opportunity for growth may be the best motivator.
Why do I need policies and procedures?
Ed Says: Procedures provide for consistency of performing a particular task. Policies lay the foundation for your expectations from your employees. Both are important.
It is virtually impossible to maintain any level of quality without procedures. What you might not realize is that even if you don’t think that you have procedures, you still have them. The problem is that they are informal, often created by the employees themselves, and are often unique to the individual employee. Since they are not documented, there is no accountability, and obviously, no consistency.
Formalizing these procedures into an employee handbook or operations manual, allows you to capture the best methods for accomplishing a task. this ensuring that everyone does it the same optimal way. Your quality will improve, as will your productivity since everyone is now using the improved work methods. And your costs go down.
Policies guide your employees in terms of expectations. For instance if your policy is one break in the morning and afternoon, plus a lunch break, you now have a guideline that allows you to coach an employee who takes a 10 minute smoke break every hour.
Policies also provide for consistency in the way that you work with and discipline your employees. It reduces the potential for favoritism, and provides for additional security for your employees — one of the key motivators to improved performance.
Why does hiring new employees cost me more?
Ed Says: Let’s look at the cost of hiring a new employee; Estimates for the hiring of an unskilled hourly worker tend to range between $4,000, and $7,000. Replacing a middle manager earning $48,000 annually costs about $40,000. These costs arise from:
- Departure Costs (downtime, administrative costs, etc)
- Replacement Costs (advertising, screening, interviewing, admin, orientation, etc)
- Training and Development Costs (training, coaching, etc)
- Misc. Costs (Overtime by other employees, lost opportunity, lost goodwill, potential loss of other employees, decline of customer service, etc.)
If there is an otherwise good employee, that requires some coaching to tune up some skills, or if management needs to look at fresh approaches to the way that they work with their employees, then the math is pretty easy to work out to see where there is payback. Employee reward programs can cost very little. Direct coaching of an employee to get through a behavioural issue may cost a few thousand dollars. — Both are considerably less than hiring new, employee retention saves thousands of dollars.
What do your survey’s ask that will help with employee retention?
Ed Says: We look for specifics that indicate how an employee feels about the organization — whether they feel supported or used, exited to come to work, or not, about their feelings toward the work environment, the difficulty of the work, and so on.
Although the survey is the first step to retaining your employees, it is not going to help you retain any employees by itself. It will tell us how your employees feel about their jobs, their peers, their supervisors, management, and the organization in general. From those answers, we need to devise a strategy to improve their perception of the workplace so that they will be compelled to stay.
My managers are doing the best they can, how can you help them?
Ed Says: In his book Here today, here tomorrow, Gregory Smith states the number one (through number ten) reason for people to leave their job is management.
The reality is that many managers are not skilled at managing people. Often managers assume the role because they were good at their old jobs so they must be good at supervising that job. And usually with no training in management principals.
We know that for most, management is a learnable skill. We can provide coaching, either one on one, or in groups. Or we can provide specific training in the principals of management, and then through role play, put those managers in a position to practice those skills immediately. And we encourage managers to constantly practice those skills with each other to help refine them.
For those who just don't have the talent to be a manager, and not veryone does, we
can help with a graceful transition back into a role where the employee can excel.
What do you do to help improve employee relations?
Ed Says: There are literally thousands of ways to reward and motivate employees, and no one solution that fits all.
I once worked in a plant that had a housekeeping problem. Someone came up with the “Silver Broom” award. Actually, it was a whisk spray painted silver and stuck on a board. The whole award, including the cost of the spray paint had to be under $10.00 It was awarded monthly to the department with the neatest work stations. When a new department won, the one that last had it had to present it to the new winners. They hated to give that cheesy award up, and the departments got pretty competitive. But the work areas were kept clean and show-worthy all the time, and the employees had fun with it.
Sometimes it is just that simple.
Does bill C-45 apply to me?
Ed Says: Bill C-45 is an amendment to the Criminal Code of Canada affecting the Criminal Liability of Organizations. This bill came into force on March 31, 2004.
If you own a business and have employees, or if you are a supervisor or manager with employees reporting to you, then Bill C-45 applies to you. It also applies to all employees who through their negligent behavior either cause an accident directly, or allow an accident to happen.
If there is an accident in the plant, and the corporation is found criminally negligent, individuals can receive up to 6 months on jail and/or a $2,000.00 fine for a summary conviction offence ( a less serious offence) and a corporation may now be fined up to $100,000. For more serious, indictable offences, there is no limit on the fines that may be imposed. In addition, restitution may be imposed by the courts to compensate the victim(s) for their losses.
Personally, I place safety above everything else on the scale, including, and perhaps especially profit. If we can’t run our business safely, then we have no right to be in business. We have a strong moral responsibility to the people who help our business succeed. And when we formed the company, the Safety Policy was the first policy written. It’s just that important.
How do you get my employees to buy in?
Ed Says: There is often resistance to implementing any new program. The best way to gain buy-in is through effective training. I remember when the seat belt legislation was introduced and the amount of non-compliance initially, and now virtually everyone snaps on their seat belt. And when was the last time you saw someone riding a motorcycle without a helmet? The biggest objections to the new ‘rules’ will be from a lack of understanding. As a manager you need to coach your employees so that they understand the why, and the how of doing the work safely.
We can help by providing the training courses that you need, even running the courses ourselves if you prefer. We can help coach your supervisors on how to approach violations in the safety policy (yes, there will be violations) and how to work with the few employees who just don’t get it. Periodically, there will be an employee who absolutely refuses to abide by the program, and who won’t accept the reasons why it’s so important. You will have just identified the employee who is most likely to have an accident, and you have a difficult decision to make.
