Dan Creinin’s blog about “taking action” really grabbed my attention. Our business is built around companies taking action. Companies need to understand that they need help with a manufacturing challenge before they come to us for assistance. Companies that ignore and refuse to see the opportunities for better operations do not seek out help. You need to admit you have a problem before you seek a remedy.
Learned this Trick in the Army
I have been taught, throughout my career, that importance of “taking action”. In another life (i.e. twenty years ago), I was an American soldier. The Army taught me many things, mostly good, but one of the key lessons was to take action when action is called for. That may seem self-evident, yet it is something that has to be learned. When there is a dangerous situation is easy to be paralyzed and not act. Do not hesitate; move, react, and change direction to reach your goal. That goal could be a simple as running from an incoming mortar or as complex as re-establishing infrastructure in a war-torn area.
One example from my previous life of “taking action” was in 2003 when my unit helped provide food for a village in central Iraq. It was right after the invasion and there was a lot of uncertainty in the country. My unit went with a company of Marines to deliver food. There was no organization to the effort and the local population was fighting to get much needed supplies. I took action and organized food distribution. I set up system that had five local men help with the distribution and organized the lines so that we could efficiently provide for everyone. Adjustments had to be made as people found ways to cut back into line and take more than their share. We adapted and the crowd relaxed.
“Taking action”, as you can see from the example above, is more than just making a decision. It is the following through on that decision. It means making a commitment and following through. There are two examples I would like to share with you, one of a company that took action and followed through and of a second took the first step, recognizing they had a problem, but failed to take action to make any real changes to the status quo.
The Commitment to Action
Our first company is a division of a large company. The company produced equipment for the mining industry and was profitable. On paper, there was no need for the company to change. To quote one of our team members, they were fat and happy. Yet, a few leaders in the company saw that there were opportunities that the company was not realizing. Margins were consistently below expectations and the market was expanding and they did not have the capacity. What really tipped the scales, however, was seeing a competitor’s factory in another country. Suddenly, it became clear that their company operations were not world class and that, while it may not be an issue now, it will be in the future.
The company decided to “take action”. It found MTG through a mutual connection and requested an assessment. MTG’s assessment showed that there was a tremendous opportunity for efficiency gains (saving them millions of dollars per year) and greatly expanding their potential capacity. Our team was confident that they could increase their margin by 5 points. There were two catches: the changes would be fairly expensive, and it would be a radical change for the factory operations. What MTG proposed would change the entire manufacturing operation and require a lot of work from the team to adjust to a new normal.
The client decided that the risk was worth the reward, took action, and committed to improvement. At the end of the project, they had a world class facility and the ability to double their capacity. The project was long, and it required a lot from the team, yet they preserved and had a better more productive manufacturing operation.
Stepping Away
MTG had another client that decided not to take action when it came to time to commit to the necessary changes. This client was a small company that had well-respected products in a niche field. Yet poor planning and operational control meant that they were often late with deliveries and numerous returns for quality issues. These cut into their cash flow and profitability. MTG assessed their operations and saw that there were many opportunities to rapidly make cash available and mitigate their quality issues.
The company agreed with the assessment and to start the improvement process. However, while the operators were ready to make changes, the leadership faltered in its commitment. It did not want to give up its current way of doing business and continued to try to micromanage the operations. In the end, they cut short the project and did not realize the gains they could have had. The leadership chose the ease of the status quote rather than the more challenge, and rewarding, path of taking action.
Are you ready to Take Action?
Taking action is making a decision and following it through until completion. Adjustments can be made on the way to achieving the goal, but constant action towards that goal must remain. It is better to take that action yourself rather than have it thrust on you by outside events.
What actions are you planning to take this year?
What can MTG do to help you improve your operations?
