To improve plant organization, take some tips from other sectors that have high performing maintenance departments.
You are in the engine room of the USS Lincoln. Your job as an oiler is to perform the cleaning and lubrication routes for the steam turbines. You are watching a control panel that monitors all of the ship’s mechanical functions. You have trust that the folks up on the bridge are in agreement about where and how the ship is to travel. All 2,000 sailors rely on the functional teams working in concert to make this voyage a success. You also have faith that this is the finest ship ever built.
From Robert Williamson’s NASCAR model of teamwork to this very large aircraft carrier, there are well-coordinated activities and responsibilities that are carried out in world-class style. This article is to cause you to pause and examine the possibilities for you and your organization.
In my role as manager of the U.S. Postal Service’s Technical Support Center, I approved all maintenance management and maintenance work directives and manuals that were transmitted to the 450 plants to the 16,000 field technicians through their plant maintenance organizations. When I occasioned to visit plant workroom floors, I sought out the maintenance technicians and let them meet the name at the bottom of the directives. I usually inquired about the working environment in which they carried out their daily tasks. The usual questions were about information, tools, scheduling, equipment conditions and the visibility of top management (does your plant manager ever walk the floor?).
The responses were what I expected given the metrics I reviewed and my knowledge of the individual plants. What I began to focus on was the response to this question: If I was able to clap my hands and something magically changes in your plant, what would you want to change?
More often than not, their response was: “We want managers to talk to managers and there be continuity in our operations across shifts and interfunction! It appears that managers are competing within their ranks – for what, we don’t know.”
Over the years, I probably asked this of several hundred employees, and many of the answers related to the interaction of management within the plant. They wanted the magic fix to be management that worked together, shift changes that were transparent, maintenance to work with operations, supervisors to be knowledgeable about expectations, and to feel part of the team. In essence, they wanted to perform like the USS Lincoln.
The best model to explain their chagrin is that of an organization chart turned 90 degrees. Think of the “Sweet Sixteen” in the national college basketball tournament. Where the normal organization chart represents structure, information and decision flow, the employees view it as a competition chart with management competing for different prizes which they do not understand. Is it power, turf, pride, confusion, floundering, ineptitude, leadership or mission that causes this issue?
I asked them to give examples. Their responses:
Operations priorities do not match those of maintenance or customer service.
There is no shift transition process. This can be between maintenance shifts or within operations.
Process improvements on one shift are discarded by the next shift.
Managers purposely avoid other managers.
On-the-job training and breaking in new employees take too much time away from productive activities.
The most important employees (the machine operators and the maintenance technician) are not a part of the management team.
Human resources does not support the supervisors.
The plant is dirty and signage is outdated.
We are unaware of the mission and goals.
There are conflicting goals.
They don’t want to run the place; they just want to know the game plan and where the ship is on its voyage.
You can probably add to this list. In fact, you may feel the same about your own plant. You are not a party to this.
What if the oiler was able to make the same statements and he can’t walk out the door or even get to fresh air? He’s buried in the hold of a ship going 30 knots, worried about his life? (His worries? Nuclear plant, munitions, jet fuel, fire, collisions, conflicts, etc.)
Which way is your organization chart oriented? In the next blog article, I will give a case history of a major turnaround that changed the focus of all employees to understand that their product and service was why they all existed. The maligned 16 chart morphed into a vibrant organization chart that reflected why the ship always accomplishes its mission.
I encourage my maintenance readers to share mine and other management blogs with their operational counterparts. And, I welcome everyone’s input.
When you ask front line supervisors or team leaders if all people in their teams are performing to the same standards or if some are doing more work and achieving more results than others, you will often get the same answer. All over the world, the most common answer, after some analysis, verifies that about 30% of the people do 70% of the work.
When you ask front line supervisors or team leaders if all people in their teams are performing to the same standards or if some are doing more work and achieving more results than others, you will often get the same answer. All over the world, the most common answer, after some analysis, verifies that about 30% of the people do 70% of the work.
Unfettered expression and spiritual satisfaction? How does this relate to managing a maintenance department, especially one in the U.S. Postal Service? Open your mind. Take a page from the Zen Buddhist monks who preach: When you are quiet and listen, you become aware of sounds not normally heard. USPS maintenance leaders are listening and beginning to understand that maintenance success doesn't come through closed minds and closed doors.
Unfettered expression and spiritual satisfaction? How does this relate to managing a maintenance department, especially one in the U.S. Postal Service? Open your mind. Take a page from the Zen Buddhist monks who preach: When you are quiet and listen, you become aware of sounds not normally heard. USPS maintenance leaders are listening and beginning to understand that maintenance success doesn't come through closed minds and closed doors.
It is not uncommon that many reliability and maintenance improvement initiatives fail to deliver expected results. Why is it so? Some of the most common causes I have observed include:
It is not uncommon that many reliability and maintenance improvement initiatives fail to deliver expected results. Why is it so? Some of the most common causes I have observed include:
Why do improvement efforts fail or perhaps not sustain the gains? There are many reasons, but those most often stated are “lack of commitment” and not “following the process”. But why is there lack of commitment, and why aren’t processes followed? Here are a few of the reasons that I’ve seen:
Why do improvement efforts fail or perhaps not sustain the gains? There are many reasons, but those most often stated are “lack of commitment” and not “following the process”. But why is there lack of commitment, and why aren’t processes followed? Here are a few of the reasons that I’ve seen:
When a piece of production machinery broke down at the Whirlpool plant in Findlay, Ohio, several years back, it was accepted practice for the machine operator to call maintenance and then sit back and wait for the problem to be fixed. Critical information and knowledge was not shared between the operator and maintenance technician. Like many companies, these workers were stuck in traditional roles - operators run the machines, maintenance fixes the machines, and the two do not cross. As a result, productivity opportunities were missed.
When a piece of production machinery broke down at the Whirlpool plant in Findlay, Ohio, several years back, it was accepted practice for the machine operator to call maintenance and then sit back and wait for the problem to be fixed. Critical information and knowledge was not shared between the operator and maintenance technician. Like many companies, these workers were stuck in traditional roles - operators run the machines, maintenance fixes the machines, and the two do not cross. As a result, productivity opportunities were missed.
Many managers are unaware that best-in-class companies routinely design-out maintenance at the inception of a project. That, clearly, is the first key to highest equipment reliability and plant profitability. Whenever maintenance events occur as time goes on, the real industry leaders see every one of these events as an opportunity to upgrade. Indeed, upgrading is the second key, and upgrading is the job of highly trained, well-organized, knowledgeable reliability professionals.
Many managers are unaware that best-in-class companies routinely design-out maintenance at the inception of a project. That, clearly, is the first key to highest equipment reliability and plant profitability. Whenever maintenance events occur as time goes on, the real industry leaders see every one of these events as an opportunity to upgrade. Indeed, upgrading is the second key, and upgrading is the job of highly trained, well-organized, knowledgeable reliability professionals.
The true translation — might it be proper to say a new and improved translation? — is being used today by Cervecería Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, one of the largest brewers of beer in Latin America. Known throughout this company as Mantenimiento Alto Desempeño (MAD), or translated as High-Performance Maintenance, the concept of TPM is alive and well at the company's six plants in Mexico. Perhaps the best example is at CCM's brewery in Tecate, located a short drive from the U.S.-Mexico border on the Baja California peninsula.
The true translation — might it be proper to say a new and improved translation? — is being used today by Cervecería Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, one of the largest brewers of beer in Latin America. Known throughout this company as Mantenimiento Alto Desempeño (MAD), or translated as High-Performance Maintenance, the concept of TPM is alive and well at the company's six plants in Mexico. Perhaps the best example is at CCM's brewery in Tecate, located a short drive from the U.S.-Mexico border on the Baja California peninsula.
More often than not, their response was: “We want managers to talk to managers and there be continuity in our operations across shifts and interfunction! It appears that managers are competing within their ranks – for what, we don’t know.”
