A number of weeks ago I met with the Head of Manufacturing of an organization who enjoys the enviable position of being an almost competitor-less full-service provider for a major retailer. His moto was that ‘manufacturing should be boring’. What he meant by this, he explained, is he does not want to have any surprises in his production and wants everything to run smoothly so that he can get on with other projects. Now, I agree with this sentiment, but only to the extent that nothing untoward should happen. Kaizan, Lean, Six Sigma etc have taught us there will always be areas of failure in production, so organizations need to work on these to eliminate them. Creative agitation or trouble-shooting potential issues is a great way to mitigate the ‘what-ifs’? Looking for a boring life, is not preparing yourself or your organization for this.
This says to me that the organization is resting on its laurels and shows a disinterest in bringing additional value to itself, its industry or its client. Yesterday Nokia’s CEO said that they had failed because they stopped moving forward and their competition overtook them.
This Head of Manufacturing’s organization feels secure because of its unique position of direct competitor-less environment. There is no burning platform that will push this organization to change or get better so their people don’t see a need to change or to get better either. Their client (sole) is also not challenging them, so again, there is no need to up their game. I do not wish this organization ill. However, it should take a leaf from Nokia’s book and relearn the value of challenging itself to do better because no one is safe.
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