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A newsletter of the
Work in Northeast Ohio Council (WINOC)
October 2007
This Issue:
Data rich, information poor... if we understand the ways that we use our data maybe we can sort it all out.
Customer satisfaction... the four things every employee should know to satisfy their customers.
WINOC client wins Ohio Award for Excellence... County of Summit Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (CSBMRDD) won the OAE Silver Award.
Turnaround Ohio... are you eligible for a Turnaround Ohio Grant?
Cardinal Fasteners' Lean Journey... WINOC/WIRE-Net forum a success.
Skills Gap Hurts Economic Health and Competitiveness
TeamNEO's Quarterly Regional Economic Review... click here.
Green Buildings... LEED®
Coming Events... see right panel.
Why is it that so many organizations seem to be swamped with data yet the information they need to make decisions is often not readily available? Maybe if we understand the uses of data we can get some answers.
Data has many uses. Some of these uses include:
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Work Quality: using data to know that the work that we do is right and right the first time.
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Problem Solving: using data to analyze problems and evaluate solutions.
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Benchmarking: using data to explore whether or not there might be better ways to do things.
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Hypothesis Testing: ‘mining’ data to test hypotheses in support of design of improvements.
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Assessment: using data to understand the current state of an organization.
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Depiction: describing or characterizing attributes, such as demographics.
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Goal Setting: using data to quantify organizational goals and objectives.
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Performance Evaluation: using data to track and evaluate the performance of individuals, processes and organizations.
[Continued below.]
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There are four things every employee should know about satisfying their customers: 1) how customers see their work, 2) who their customers are, 3) what their customers' requirements are and 4) how to specifically address customer requirements.
How do your customers see your work?
Often we see our work in the context of our dealings inside the organization… that is a complicated view (illustrated to the right) that, thankfully, our external customers do not see. We need to understand our work in the context of what our customers see.
[Continued below.]
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The County of Summit Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (CSBMRDD) was awarded the Ohio Award for Excellence (OAE) Silver Award. CSBMRDD was a first time applicant; first time applicants do not usually win Silver.
WINOC has been assisting this county agency with their quality initiative, called QUEST, since 2004. QUEST is being implemented in three phases as shown below:.
The leadership engagement phase includes deployment of vision and values followed by an emphasis on performance management. The Employee Involvement phase focuses on teaching all employees how to solve problems and how to improve the quality of their own work. The Baldrige phase entails using the OAE Feedback Report to drove further continual improvement... including a major revision to the QUEST Master Plan.
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Events
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Manufacturing Forum Event
December 4, 2007
8:00 - 10:00 AM
at
20200 Sheldon Road
Cleveland, OH 44142
Hear about and see Foseco's quest for innovative products and increased productivity in today's competitive industrial world, by focusing its renowned innovative strengths on its customers' needs
To register contact Bob Meyer here.
Further details, including directions, will be posted at www.winoc.org/programs.html and notice will be sent to COMMUNICATOR Subscribers.
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For other programs and events of potential interest to WINOC COMMUNICATOR Subscribers, such as those sponsored by MAGNET or WINOC Partners, go to our Partner News and Events page.
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For further information on Programs and Events contact us at Progrms@winoc.
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Turnaround Ohio aims to keep and grow the jobs we have by investing in Ohio’s strengths and bringing the jobs of the future by making sure we have the most educated workforce possible.
The State of Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services, which administers federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds, has funded a program, administered by the Ohio Jobs Strike Force (in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Development and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services) to provide grants for consulting services to recommend and implement internal operational, marketing or product changes that could address critical problems in Ohio companies, improve operations and prevent layoffs. Project funding is related to employment at the facility threatened by layoffs and to the cost and scope of study done. Standard funding level for facilities employing between 50 and 250 can be expected to be in the $10,000 - $20,000 range, depending on the scope of work proposed by the selected consultant. Larger facilities or special circumstances may justify higher grant amounts of up to $45,000.
You can find the application by clicking here. To learn more or to consider WINOC as your Turnaround Consultant please contact us here.
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Cardinal Fasteners Lean Journey [Courtesy of WIRE-Net]
He blew up what??????
That's right…John Grabner, President of Cardinal Fasteners in Bedford Heights, claims he "blew up the place" when, eight years ago, he introduced his staff to Lean Manufacturing. That's the story he told to over 50 people from more than 20 northeast Ohio manufacturing companies, on September 18th. In addition to hearing John's tale first-hand, the visitors had a chance to tour Cardinal's lean operations and to learn from management and floor personnel, how they spear-headed their Lean journey, realizing some incredible results.
[Continued below.]
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Leadership Theories... In a prior issue we talked about Servant Leadership as one of 110 leadership theories. Most leadership theories can be placed into eight main classifications:
For a further breakdown of some of these classifications go here.
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Skills Gap Hurts Economic Health and Competitiveness... This Primer (click here) from KnowledgeWorks identifies four factors contributing to a skills gap: 1) jobs are changing, 2) educational attainment is lagging the need for skills, 3) workforce growth is slowing, and 4) businesses are not leveraging their learning investments effectively. The biggest gaps are in basic skills, technical and professional skills, management and leadership skills, and emotional intelligence. Closing these gaps will require organizations to work independently and with public- and private-sector partners.
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Green Buildings...LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary, national green building standard and certification system created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Developed through a consensus process, LEED sets the standard for high-performance green buildings. It is based on well-founded scientific standards, accepted principles and best practices. For more detailed information click here. It includes a rating system.
NOTE: A forum/seminar event is being planned for early 2008 by WINOC and WIRE-Net on the subject of energy management and conservation. COMMUNICATOR subscribers will be informed when plans are finalized.
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Data Rich, Information Poor [Continued]
Although we may loathe to ever get rid of any data that we have created clearly for some data applications we should at least archive the data and put it out of sight. The data we used to solve a problem, once the problem is solved, can archived. The data we used for benchmarking, once the benchmarking project is complete, may be archived. The data we used for assessment may be archived.
For the ongoing applications of data we may want to keep these concepts in mind.
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Maintaining/sustaining data takes effort so do not create any more of it than you need.
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What gets measured gets managed. Thus if you want to manage it create the data, BUT if you do not intend to manage it do not create the data.
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Stick to the vital few measurements. Determine the smallest set of data that will serve your purpose.
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Data is a leadership tool. What data do you need to a) help communicate what’s important and b) help you know that the important things are going well?
Another way to view data is from the perspective of how organizations perform. They perform at the Work Level where the work gets done, at the Process Level where the value of products and services is passed along to those who use it (customers) and at the Strategic Level where leading, decision-making, planning and organizing get done. So, for example, if you are a leader concern yourself with Strategic Level data and let managers deal with Process Level data and let workers deal with Work Level data.
And by the way do not forget the vital role technology can play in helping you deal with all that data.
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Customer satisfaction, the four things employees need to know (continued)
Customers see what you passed along to them. They see it as completed, not as being in-process. They see something that has value to them, that they can use or consume. They do not see the ‘help’ you received from others, such as your boss. They see your “output”, not the goals or outcomes you achieve. Can you describe your work in terms of the outputs you pass along to your customers?
Who are your customers? Is it just the next person you pass your outputs to? In a restaurant the cook's output are passed along to the waitress or waiter but don't you regard yourself as the cook's customer?!
We need to understand what happens to our outputs all the way along until its value is used up or consumed (in the case of the cook). All those that make use of our outputs until it gets to end-users or thee external customer. All these 'downstream' customers may have important requirements to place on us as we produce our outputs, i.e., do our work.
Next we need to know what the requirements of (all of) our customers are. They are what they are. Some are vague, some are specific. Some are easy to address, some are difficult. Some are explicit, some are implicit. Some conflict with each other. The simplest way to find out what the requirements are is to ask.
Once we know our customers' requirements we need to make them specific enough to use to do our work. If I tell you I need that report by December do you have until November 30th to do it? December 1st (a Saturday)? December 31st (a holiday)?
What if you cannot satisfy a requirement or requirements conflict? Converting requirements into specifications may require problem solving or negotiation or both.
If you know and practice these four things about customer satisfaction you will avoid becoming a basket case... someone whose job it isn't until it is in her/his in-basket and whose job it isn't after it is in her/his out-basket. Tell you suppliers your requirements and get the requirements from your customers.
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Cardinal
Fastener is yet another example of a small, specialty manufacturer in
northeast Ohio who is "doing it right". By teaming well-read,
committed leadership with empowered, engaged employees, Cardinal has been
able to reduce forge lead times from 6-8 weeks to 5-7 days. They boast 68%
on-time delivery for forging up from a mere 15%. Threading has reduced
lead times from 4-5 days to same-day service, while increasing on-time
delivery from 30% to 81%. And it is not just on the production side that
Lean has impacted Cardinal. Sales orders that used to take 2 days to get
to the floor, now are responded to, quoted, and in the schedule within 8
minutes. 
Those that attended the tour were asked to complete an assessment of the Cardinal plant using a Rapid Plant Assessment tool developed by R. Eugene Goodson to "tell if a factory is truly lean - in less than 30 minutes". Energizer has standardized the RPA process within their facilities to "read a plant fast" and provided tour attendees with information regarding the process.
The visit to Cardinal was the 3rd in a series of Northeast Ohio Lean Benchmarking Tours sponsored by WINOC and WIRE-Net. Thanks to John Grabner and his staff for hosting one of the more interesting and successful Lean tours to date.
For more information about WINOC sponsored manufacturing forum events contact Bob Meyer here.
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