One important aspect in lean manufacturing is “Respect for People,” or more correctly, “Respect for Humanity.” But while it is mentioned frequently in presentations and books on lean manufacturing, what it actually means is often glossed over. And it is not an easy topic to write about. There is no “5 Steps to Respect for People.” Sorry. I have been thinking about writing a blog post on respect for quite some time, but it is difficult to write something substantial rather than just some anecdotes. It runs the risk of quickly drifting off into general management and leadership behavior. Nevertheless, I managed to write a series of three blog posts on it. Well, anyway, here we go…
People
Stories and details on the many people contribution to lean manufacturing and modern manufacturing in general.
How to Conduct a Shop Floor Meeting
In this last post (for now) on my series on shop floor management I will talk about how to conduct a shop floor meeting. Who should be there; when, how long, and how often you should have such a meeting; and what is on the agenda. I will also talk about common mistakes that you should avoid.
How to Set Up a Shop Floor Meeting – Part 2
In my second post in this series on shop floor management I will look at more things that go into the team corner besides the tracked KPI. How do you manage your improvement activities? What organizational stuff should go in there? Hopefully this will help you make more successful shop floor meetings. In my next post I will also talk about what should NOT go into a team corner on the shop floor.
How to Set Up a Shop Floor Meeting – Part 1
Regular meetings are necessary to keep yourself and others informed. This is also true for the shop floor. Many factories have set up meeting corners for the workers and their supervisors to meet. In this series of posts I would like to show you what you need for a successful shop floor meeting. This first post looks at the hardware and content of the team corner where the shop floor meeting usually happens, as well as the most important KPI that should be addressed in the team meeting.
American Factory – Documentary of a Chinese Automotive Factory in the USA
A good manufacturing documentary on Netflix is American Factory. This movie follows an American automotive plant that closed some time ago, and was reopened by a Chinese car glass manufacturer. It documents the differences and problems between employees and management in general and the cultural clashes between Chinese management’s and American workers’ expectations in particular. It is in fact very similar to the 1986 movie Gung Ho, except Gung Ho is a fictional comedy, whereas American Factory is as real as it gets. Good to watch! It also won the Oscar for “Best Documentary” in 2020.
Fictional Movie on US-Japan Automotive Culture Clash – Gung Ho
Recently I watched a few feature-length movies about automotive plants America. The first one is Gung Ho, a fictional comedy from 1986 featuring Michael Keaton. The movie shows a Japanese car maker purchasing a closed-down plant in the USA, and lots of cultural clashes that threaten to close down the plant again. While not Academy Award-worthy, it offers insights into the cultural differences between Japanese and US Industry, although often exaggerated on both sides for comical effect.
More Reasons for Working Less
You probably hate long drudging hours working in the office and feeling really worn out at the end of the day. Maybe you’re sitting in an office working right now (and of course your reading my blog means you are working 😉 ), knowing that you will be worn out at the end of the day. This post is especially for you, looking at work hours and productivity. The good news is: Less is more, but don’t overdo it!
On Adjusting Supervisor Workload
In my last post I looked at the span of control. This is very related to the workload of the supervisor. Hence in this post I would like to discuss how to adjust the supervisor workload. Usually, this is to reduce the workload, as most shop-floor supervisors are in my opinion overworked and have no time left for improvement. In some cases, however, you may have a situation where you want to give the rare underworked supervisor more work. Most of the approaches presented will work in both directions. Let’s look at some ideas: