Confrontation Leads to Opportunity

(a story from the field - slightly fictionalized for entertainment value of course!)

Charlie, the seasoned Operations Manager, and his boss, Jim, the younger Business Unit Manager, collide when the domino effect of layoffs and a responsibility re-shuffle pull a trusted supervisor off the floor to perform the daily scheduling function. Quick thinking, an improvement team’s good work, and process automation turn a potentially ugly situation into a bright result for everyone involved.

Charlie braces himself as he moves with determination across the plant floor. He’s heading for an uncomfortable confrontation with his younger boss. When he gets to the open door in the front office, he strides through without hesitation. As Jim rises from his chair in surprise, Charlie faces him across the desk and begins in a fast, frustrated voice, “Who’s bright idea was it to lay-off Rachel? My best supervisor is now off the floor for several hours every day doing her scheduling job. - Jim you know I’m getting things in better shape with your help but I’m not there yet. If you take Brad off the floor every morning, there’s going to be problems and it’s not going to be pretty. I give us 8 weeks before the entire savings you accomplished with lay-off’s is wiped out by a major quality problem or we spend it all on expedited shipments.”

Jim’s holding both hands up now, palms facing outward, a pen dangling between his right index finger and thumb. Charlie doesn't slow down, his frustration is quickly turning to exasperation and a look of exhaustion is sweeping over his demeanor as his voice becomes quieter. “And, when the inevitable happens, the goals we've worked so hard this year to meet will go down the drain. With morale around here already low; it’ll hit rock bottom if we miss our goals again for something that isn't our fault.” Charlie’s looks down at the floor, and talking more to himself now than to Jim, says, “I’m just getting too old for all of this.”


Jim, finally seeing an opening to respond, shows slight nervousness as he tosses his pen onto the desk, but his voice is measured and calm, “Charlie you know what the economy has done to our orders. We've all taken great steps to get this place in top-notch running order but we can’t weather this kind of storm without bringing costs in line with sales. I didn't want to lay off anyone anymore than you did, least of all Rachel; I know how your team depends on her.”

Charlie shrugs his shoulders and gestures questioningly with his hands, “What are we going to do? You know I’m right about how all of this will impact us by the end of the year.”

Jim, still standing, raises his index finger in the air, “I have an idea."

“I’m all ears,” Charlie responds blankly.

Jim goes on, “your process improvement team targeted scheduling earlier in the year right?”

Charlie, “Sure, and we identified plenty of waste but the project never got past value stream mapping. We need software automation to replace the complicated spreadsheets, and the job never hit the priority list.”

Jim, “Well, Charlie, I think it just did. I've got some budget left from things that pushed out when orders slowed. If the work has a fairly quick payback, we can get it done and you can get Brad back on the floor.”

Charlie, “Oh, it’ll payback alright - if we do it right.”

Jim – “What will it take to do it right?”

Charlie, “Several people, including Brad, are busy with double duty due the lay-offs. We need someone to come in and get the job done who knows what were up against; someone that won’t make it difficult.”

Jim - "Ok, what else?"

Charlie - "IT is going to need to be involved so whoever helps us is going to have to make sure the job is done i a way that works for us and for IT."

Jim, “How about the people we worked with last time, they specialize in doing just this kind of thing - they know know operations and information technology. "

Charlie, “You mean the guys who worked on the order write-up process? Those guys are great. All we had to do last time was tell them what our situation was and they knew how to take it from there. They got lot’s input from our team and worked togeher with us as we figured out exactly what was needed. They handled the coordiantion with IT, and in the end, the tools we ended up with were spot-on.”

"What’s even better," Charlie wnet on, "Brad worked with them last time. If he knows they've been hired to do this job, he’ll see light at the end of the tunnel and he’ll do whatever it takes to cover both the floor and scheduling until it’s done.”

Jim, “Great, I’ll make the call personally and see how fast they can get here.”
________________________________________________________________________________________12

12 Weeks Later ...

Jim stops Charlie as he is passing by out on the floor, “How’s the new scheduling software working out? I saw a report showing your new tool enabled you to drop schedule preparation time from three hours to 20 minutes."

Charlie smiles and says, “That’s right. I told you my team identified plenty of waste! One problem though – when orders pick-up, I’m not sure Brad will want to give scheduling back. He says the software helps him see things he couldn't see before. His numbers are up as a result.”

Jim replies, “That’s great! And don’t worry; Brad’ll have access to the software everyday from now on – he’s an important part of a shared process now. ….. “Oh, and Charlie, get ready - sales is forecasting a sharp increase next quarter. It seems pent-up demand is about to break loose.”

“Good,” Charlie replies as he raises his eyebrows and sarcasm seeps into his voice, “but, if you don’t mind boss, I’ll wait for booked orders before I start jumping up and down.”

“OK Charlie,” Jim replies as he spies Brad working with the set-up reduction team at one of the machines across the floor. Brad notices Jim, straightens up, and gives a hardy wave. Jim makes a single wave of his hand as he nods his head in a show of respect and appreciation. Brad smiles and gets back to the task at hand as Jim moves smoothly toward his intended destination.

…..meanwhile, …. at Division headquarters, the newly formed Sales and Operations Planning team……..