HIGH MARKS MANUFACTURING

Congratulations! You've just opened up insight which can help your company grow to exciting heights while expanding the skills and performance of the leaders building a more energized workforce.

"You're About To Have Exclusive Access to your own advocate, dedicated to helping you by targeting area you want to see improvement."

When you've dealt with the same problem more than once...and it still keeps coming back, it's time to bring in a closer to finish the repair, to put it behind you...for good. Sometimes a quick call, or text is all it takes, to spark a thought for your next best move.

Not every company has money laying around to attract and keep a full-time trainer who's developed hundreds of powerful teams who's trained thousands of jobs on hundreds of machines, to do hundreds of procedures that they've had to learn them selves. But you may not need them full time anyway.

"The Best Trainers, Always Teach Everything They Know." This is not always a given, with a company's full time staff. Nobody wants to feel like that they're risking being expendable or even dispensable, let alone, all used up. It's common.

Along with the comfort and peace of mind, comes Proven Systems of Developing Strategy from the moment the broad strokes, elements or factors are being reviewed, whether machine, a process or a skill or difficulty posing a challenge to a people.

Launching Your Own Strategies, With Just 1 Simple Call or Text to get that help at Anytime, well that may just be priceless at times, and a welcome surprise as well, let alone, a big relief!"

Not Every Plant has that one person, solely dedicated to being the "Go-To Person," and one to call for anything at anytime, if they still have other things they have to do.

Now you have one who's done it without fail for over 20 years.

Retaining this resource and ability is now more palatable for companies who cannot wait for things to be changed, restructured or leaving problems go unaddressed for days or weeks of work over multiple machines or operations...until it isn't as busy.

Like an old Swiss Watch; No matter the age of your company, the timing has never been so critically important than now, that your company continuously works to wisely update and streamline each operation, job and process.

This is impossible to achieve without having the buy-in from each and every Agil-Empowered-Employee in each perfect position.

The overseers are your staff, who do what no single person could ever manage. The ability to watch everything "At-Once, is what makes Miracles In Manufacturing Possible.

Engaging and calling out all eyes and resources to check and maintain the precision with which each operates...from now on, is how you will survive and thrive.

NOW YOU HAVE A MEANS TO WHAT COULD BE YOUR GREATEST ALLIANCE, AT ANY PLANT IN THE COUNTRY...OR THE WORLD:

ATTENTION: PLANT MANAGERS, Presidents and CEO's of Manufacturing Industry:

Would you like the help of another experienced Critical Thinker, who can come-up with even more ideas which can be quickly developed and implemented in the the most practical, principled and perfected manner and then put into practice? Do you want access to a Manufacturing Muse or Guru striving for Continuous Quality and Efficiency Improvements?

Great-Done!! You are not alone. You now have your ticket to gain your confidential and aligned advocate.

I help and advise all Plant and Department Managers, who have any issues or concerns, by alleviating any chronic problems.

Positions/Industry Experience:

Quality Control Consultant, Corporate
Trainer, Process Engineer, Post Processing Manager, ProductionTrainer, ISO Consultant, Policy and Procedural Manual Writer, Copywriter, Inventory and Document Control Specialist, Troubleshooter of Equipment and Process Improvements, Project Management and Team Building.
Print/Mail/Plastics/Fluid Power/Construction/Tool & Dye

Retain On-going, On-Call Availability 24/7 Client Consult On-Demand: Trouble-Shoot and Assessment of Best Options suited to your needs.

This service is available by special arrangements designed to your needs and assignment of sufficient resources supporting full “in-the-loop” data tracking and feedback reporting to identified standards of established performance capability...for accurate assessment purposes only.

Free Quote to establish needs, frequency and custom design features to build the support package to best serve you, any-time, anywhere, come-what-may "ON-SITE" or "Remote." You will have the comfort and extra peace of mind, to extend help to your personal staff, whenever you need it.

Initial Reports within 24 hours, followed by Clarification and/or Confirmed Change Order Reports, which are collaborative-dependent. Text in an emergency before thousands of dollars are lost on any single days worth of production, due to any process, equipment or manpower related issue.

If your company needs help with a new project or client roll-out, and you are striving for continuous improvement to earn and win-to-keep your deserved current or emerging market share, contact me.

I offer on-site and remote support for any plant location. Simply call, text or email me your interest, and we can work through the perfect plan, arrangement and details to get started right away.

Occasional or random quality checks don't work by-chance if they are inconsistent and merely incidental encounters and adjustments, Like a bandaid which never sticks, they simply instill a false sense of blind hope, tantamount to crossing your fingers.

The Good News for those who realize early when it's time to gears or reset elements of the operation suspect of chronic failures, whether bent, warped or plain broke, that it's high time to change, and get the help you need to build a stronger company.

Now you have your personal means to have, "On-Demand Consulting" with either snap-shots, a video clip to be reviewed and assessed, an active ZOOM consultation for custom applications of "Train the Trainer Development."

This is may be your wisest decision and most cost effective investment in the future of your company. In fact; compounding benefits in dollars generated and saved, may be impossible to track over the life of your company, but your growth will reflect every dollar generated and saved.

Arrange for your support mechanism and grow your success today. You don't need to hire your own full time Corporate Trainer, when you have one "On-Call."

Care to read a few quick stories which typify the level of quality and performance results, which can be put to "GOOD USE" for you and your company...with a simple phone call or text, ANY TIME?

I've copied a sample that will go on to my next page for a quality consultant trainer to Presidents, CEO's and Plant Managers who will want to have the chance to become familiar with the kind of results I can help them achieve.

Please forward this and if they so choose, they'll at least know that they have someone waiting in the wings to help with any problem they need help with, on a contract-consultant basis, or as a direct hire to work from within.

Thanks You.

CEO, President and Plant Managers of Industry: This is a copy of a recent letter to one company who has a high employee and supervisory turn-over rate, and currently experiencing low levels of quality and efficiency for their clients...who are having trouble in figuring out, exactly why.

If H.R.Managers are tipped off at the numbers and corresponding dollars that you see every day, and understand those you are trying to build and claim, then they too will fight harder for you to find that person who proves they can get you what you want.

FYI: With Full Knowledge of the Fact that “Only a hand-full of Presidents & CEO’s in mid to large manufacturing industries will ever acknowledge and admit along with their staff, that they need help in achieving the heights of hundreds of thousands of dollars, leaving them “On-The-Table.”

If you “Know You Have, This Kind of Potential,” yet to be realized, then...I look forward to your call.

(Excerpts born from a copy of a letter sent to one large St. Louis employer who understands, just how impossible some jobs can "Seem-to-be.")

Forwarded to handpicked others, who'd appreciate them as well, and posted here as examples for Marketing Services Industry Leaders who understand, relate to and appreciate them, since they too have been faced with similarly unimaginable obstacles from time to time.

Some content may spark a thought to revisit time-tested management principles with benefits which will help them somewhere down the line, or spark another great idea of their own. For this purpose, I've copied a few of those leaders in who need my help in areas only they know.

I have trained literally over 10,000 employees to run printing and mailing equipment and jobs for R.L.Polk Publishing and NorthBridge Marketing, Corporate Communications Center, EcoCenters/TMSI Total Marketing Solutions.

At Polk, I designed countless Quick Reference Sheet Matrix Job Aids for Screened and Approved for accurate, applicability and use by the USPS. This plant ranged from 200 to as many 500 persons, running 2 to 3 shifts, of both Union and Non-Union employees. Our production volume and rate of output required an On-Site Post-Office to weight and check in and directly ship mail to Bulk Mail Centers around the country.

In addition to training plant employees my daily responsibilities included, but were not limited to monitoring the performance of Client Jobs, Machine Production Efficiency, Trouble-Shooting and Fine-Tuning Equipment, Scheduling and Assigning Staff, Conducting Employee Reviews and Evaluations as well as Supervisory Training.

I developed and maintained training manuals, procedural quick reference guides and tools, daily updates to plant policies and change-order procedures, including an industry glossary of terms filled with tips, tricks and techniques to adapt and adjust to keep machines running consistently.

With years of experience spoiling client contact with optimal service levels of success, tours, orientations, mid-level and through the insights gained providing advanced training of tips, tricks and tactics to make production sing right along, through to supervisory quality check secrets to aid supervisors in getting their jobs done easier by building their own devoted teams that can be trusted...I've enjoyed having a hand in helping them all.

I was the guy called when there was any problem on any job, no matter if it was a client's job, a process, a personnel problem or a training issue or an adjustment or the slightest modification in procedures.

I loved this company and job, and evaluated most all of the employees I've trained once, if not twice. I even wrote all of the evaluation criteria and tracked the performance of every employee on each job, sort, version, panel and tier, tracked and compared their performance efficiency numbers to each of their individual standards since they've been employed, and worked closely with Industrial Engineering Department and Corporate Office to refine reporting.

I've also trained over 50 Supervisors or Admin, as a Corporate Trainer, and facilitated their Employee, Performance, Development and Review Job Standards, (Each Responsibility was weighted, data collection sources and means were identified, peer reviewers were designated, and data tracking systems were put into place.)

I became a skilled trouble-shooter due to the nature of the responsibilities of my job which were ever expanding and changing with each daily challenge, new client or job, or issue in the scheduled work which needed to be tended to in prompt, efficient and complete manner.

I've written thousands of procedures for most every Automobile Manufacturers Mail Campaigns, and made sure that they ran smoothly, by getting the production counts every two hours on each machine, which was an invaluable asset in monitoring and adapting, to be in the right place at the right time, helping the people or processes before signs of trouble took root and spoiled a productive potential.

I had anywhere from 6 to 16 trainers I assigned to do targeted training and oversee role machines on dedicated jobs of each day, and they were absolutely amazing in leading other teams.

My new hires in a group was wound down to less than an hour before being assigned to hand-picked employees to table-work and load machines, and as many as 1/2 of a group of 25-20 new hires were running a machine and sorting mail by the 3rd hour under the care and guidance of a trusted employee or group leader.

The productivity of some of those Phillipsburg, Pitney bowes, Stackers, Master-Mailers or Plastic Machines was phenomenal by any of today's standards with the same capacity. From Selective, Variable-Print, Triple to Six-Way Match, it didn't matter, we tackled them all.

Once we were forced to field modify 12 National Saturation Full Lists, for Car Rt, 5-Digit, Basic into ONE MAILING sequence, which started with a call saying, Rick we have a problem, we cannot reprint these lists without compromising the deadline, can you make it work. (I won't bore you with the details, but it was a hoot and miracle accomplishment that started with a normal kick-off team meeting of hand-picked leaders who were shown the challenge, we worked through the kinks, and yet, it's hard to believe, all 12 teams, simultaneously ran on the same sequence, sort, panel and tier, which went down the line, correct bags and order as it was being filled as it passed by each of those 12 machines.) Our USPS station, was floored with how accurate the counts were, and how smoothly it went, and we made the deadline. This was our 20,000,000 Publishers Clearing House Run.

If you have a plant manager who'd be interested in hiring me, or just have him or her "Sharp-Shoot-Me," for pop quiz "Pepsi-Challenge" on any given problem, I welcome that at any time, on any process. You can even run this question and scenario by them:

Great Training, isn’t supervisors standing over their employees; it’s quite the opposite for a well trained and supported staff of coworkers.

Impossible Heights of Wide-Spread Quality and Efficiency of teams is always possible, blowing standards away, without a supervisor riding “rough-shod” over a single person. Consider this job, where each operator did this on their own.

We’ve studied, refined and mastered “Methods and Procedures” right along-side each employee, on every job for each client:

“Like This Job for RCA.”

This job required 30 Phillipsburg stackers, to be a self-load, with 6 inserts, and they had to continuously sort to keep up with the machines, while loading, and this was over a 3 shift operation. They had to quickly fan and work each stack of the 6 stacks of different size, weight, thickness and texture, they way each hopper wanted each to be worked to best run.

As the letters were filled, they had to fan-out the letters to see each address and flip through them to find each and every break point to bundle with rubber-bands, by hand, and put the correct sticker on the face of each bundle, put it in the right back, place a the correct back tag in the right bag, or even write their own back tag, as they looked up the correct location in a hand-book, and yes, all while the machine is “Still Running”. I’ve never witnesses such control of groups of employees to master so-many on-going demands and tasks. If you watched them, you’d have seen that they even made it look easy, without breaking a sweat.

There's not a supervisor in the world who can watch 30 of these machines and employees, answer all the call lights for a mechanic, stock or supervisor, hang the close line samples with the correct versions, panel and tier of sort, do the start-up samples on each machine and version, get it approved, take hourly samples on each machine, do enough quality checks to make sure the right codes are on each component, and do change-overs, and then do the time-cards for each employee, including entering and adding up the counts on every machines versions in the right place at the end of the night, collect and count all spoilage, and calculate the down-time, and get a total averages ranging from 3000 to 3500 per hour, with any team on earth, unless they are well trained, and greatly appreciated and supported every step of the way, throughout their employment.

I recall the wage some of these souls were making, and the varied backgrounds which were mostly unskilled and unschooled beyond high school. But who in their right minds, would force more work on themselves, at that pace loading 6 inserts at that speed to have to sort, unless they were very good and comfortable at what they did. One last note for anyone who remembers that Stacker Machine...If you got behind, the exit stacking hopper jammed and went out-of-time, and if you could manage to get it cleared and put back in-time...you needed to make sure that hopper never got too heavy again...or just like that, you'd be right back "In the Soup."

These are the praises I sing to those who've I had the pleasure of working with.

Yes, it's all landfill now, but it was just a good days work done by people who just loved being that good at their jobs. These are the folks at our outings, soft-ball games, and the people who got the incentives through programs we ran which worked. Our supervisors were masters of management, and if I wasn't working closely with one to aid them in getting great performances, I routinely covered for anyone in any department when they were out for the day or on vacation, and had a good staff to delegate to, who always came through too.

Seemingly Impossible? Asked and Answered, and Delivered

We had a client Suarez with too much work for our Berea Plant, so I was asked if I thought I could train our sister plant in Toronto how to do American Mailings. I picked a few key people and headed off to shut down the plant while we trained them, and showed them the logic and ease of the system, and worked through the steps until they all got up to speed in marked time, to beat a crushing deadline imposed by the SEC. We calculated that we'd a team of 40 people in their plant running 2 shifts for 3 weeks who could produce achieving 70% of our U.S. plant's mail producing production capacity coupled with ours, to meet to be delivered back in the states, in order to meet our critical deadline.

We were overwhelmed at the team-work, cooperation and initiatives, let alone celebrated our "Wrap-Top-Off of Party," two weeks from the date we arrived in Toronto, If you know the difference between U.S. and American Mailers, you can appreciate the dramatic success, especially since you can probably imagine the rather fridge reception we first got, when walked in, turned off all-their machines, and gathered everybody around, to explain what we had in store for them.

The initial "What?" looks of confusion, coupled with their non-too-pleasant demeanor, was hair-raising, and we already knew we wouldn't be received with an walk XOXO's reception and that it wouldn't go-over well, since it was going to "Rock Their World," just as much as the ground that seemed to shake beneath us, when we imparted the "Good News" we were toting and handing out.

Our greatest assets were our people and how we regarded each other's job. Our greatest unsung hero's rose to occasions to surmount challenges never to-be-known, and many times it may have due to a simple post-it-note of the thanks they found on their machine, from a tipped off plant manager or supervisor, acknowledging how great-a-job they were doing. Our plant manager loved getting a daily "head's-up," on where to stop and take a peak at who, which jobs, and which issues needed a "One-Minute-Management-Like," smile, or handshake or whatever was most appropriate and timely.

My point is simply this, name your challenge. If you or anyone on your staff is now, or soon will be, facing a challenge or struggling with a chronic problem, I'll make myself available for a consult, if you cannot manage to find a place for me right now.

In our plant, we rarely had 40% of our plant scheduled in the same department, the same job, same machine, with same supervisor 2 or 3 days in a row. This demanded teaching every trick we knew on trouble-shooting, knowing the paper, the techniques for working magic so difficult stock could run, including, fanning, air, butterflying, let alone the countless adjustments that needed to be made by only those proven to a level of proficiency in determining the best options for each one's use to achieve the optimal performance from each and every hopper, machine and situation.

Considering most supervisor didn't even have a chance to know all the names of the people they were supervising on any given day, much less their skill level on each type of equipment. They did not know their current production efficiency compared to standard, which mad it imperative that we “Taught and Trained Everyone the Same Things,” and most importantly, that we “Taught Them Everything We Knew,” about how to deal with “Every Possible and Foreseeable Situation” that they would ever encounter.”

The “Very-Real and Many Hidden Benefits,” which are “Intertwined” and co-dependent upon each other, all have a universal impact on processes before, during and after each of the collective others. They and the dollars impacted are literally incalculable.

Contact me when you’ve decided you’d like to enhance and improve your plant’s rate of success.

Rickey Bates
618-610-7590

(Part 1 of over 40 such examples. Samples of Impossible-looking jobs, which truly were realized, and more-over, most which simply blew all expectations away!! To continue with with full access to more stories with your own links to amazing performance, call or text 618-610-7590)

HIGH MARKS MANUFACTURING
MANAGEMENT
QUALITY ACRONYMS AND BUZZ WORDS CHANGE AND FADE WITH TIME;
BUT WHEN "CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT" STOPS,
SO TOO WILL THAT COMPANY FAIL, FADE AND SOON AFTER...CEASE TO EXIST.
Inspiring and Engaging Collaborative Successful Teams Can meet your desirable and sustainable change improvements possible.

Your company deserves and needs a continuous improvement advocate, who is skilled and masterful with the art of engaging teams through proven practices in tangible ways, both directly and indirectly that helps inspire and lead them to success.

Suggestion box; The place where good idea go to die and be buried. Great ideas need a life, and they need the brains, toughness, focus and stayed minds on the goal, they need the arms to grab it, as well as the legs to run with it.

If you're anything like most companies, you too may have logged previous attempts and failures to support great ideas which should have worked to improve something or maybe many things within the company. When they fall short, it's logged as a failure, recalled with every new mention of any new idea...to dampen the enthusiasm which may be justified, but you'll run smack-dab into those who well know and may say, "Oh no, here we go with more work on another lame effort to change things that don't have a chance."

Don't feel bad...and whatever you do, don't give up, and don't let anyone shoot it down, and there are simple tips and guidelines to help you make sure to keep the naysayers at bay...and even win them over, if not lead your greatest efforts for forward progress. When you log your very next win, changes are made and it's seen and felt by everyone, your next idea and step to success is not far behind.

Ask a seasoned manager or senior employee if they want to be your new continuous improvement manager. If your company has fallen into a hum-drum, average is perfectly acceptable way of life at work, its likely that you’ll get no takers. You wouldn't ask them to if they wanted to stick a fork in their eye would you? This too can change, and changing the way they think is key...and it truly is one of the best places to start to make a difference.

Dig up those old coffers or coffins of ideas. We can help you dust them off, bring the good ones back to life and check the options and plan a better strategy on any idea with a worthy mission with promise to change the entire culture of a company, or issue, department or operation at a time.

Knowing what has been thought of before, and maybe never tried, or if they were never really rolled-out right to give them a fair shot and chance to work, doesn't mean they were bad, they just weren't unfurled like a flag has to be, to be truly be seen.

The work starts with the right plan to work that idea, bend it and shape it to do the work it's supposed to do, in achieving your aim and high mark of your intent. You and your staff must get behind the work willingly, and be equally determined with a persistence which will bring it to pass, with a an effort that will make you and everyone else proud.

IF you're the one dealing with the problem, you've probably thought long and hard enough about the problem to have a direction, which may only need to be tweaked to get started, to check it, adapt it and maybe adjust; well we can help you find those quick and easy solutions right away too.

You may need an outsider for the objectivity benefits that work like Superman or a Superwoman, to get past the obstacles and paradigms appearing too tough to abolish. Paradigms shift, and they can be removed.

You may need a champion to single-handedly taking on small army amongst a traditional and familiar culture that may be hard to budge, let alone move over a mountain of terrain. We've got this too.

Assigning a current manager by adding to their responsibilities to fix the problem doesn't work without the support needed to be successful. Think about it …after he or she has been a part of it, and even contributed to or helped shape its current state, it's a thin hope to expect anything different, if an accurate assessment and proper plan is not put in place.

• Adding to the duties,of a current employee probably won’t work unless he/she is Super-Human. Dividing up the role of Continuous Improvement Manager among several employees, assigning multiple roles and capacities, prioritizing and managing additional responsibilities is likely to go nowhere fast or effectively.

• Send your situation for review to a Remote Advocate Support Professional and get an email response with tips or suggestions that address your situation, pose suggestions and an actionable plan to move forward.

• This advocate will work independently and decisively while building strong teams who seek and find continuous improvement opportunities.

• Solving quality or efficiency problems objectively, subjectively completely and effectively may not be possible remotely, however an experienced expert with an extra set of ears, who has seen photos, videos and read or heard a good description of the problem may be able to help stop the bleeding.

• The expert hearing your description of a challenge may be able to give you an idea proved to work in a similar situation.

•He may be able to suggest a new tack, a way to check something else or maybe a simpler way of something you tried which came close to a fix, can be tweaked a little to work temporarily until the permanent repair or corrective change is made.

• The possibilities are endless for the good of your company, which could begin with one simple phone or email.

Build and Support Agile On-Site Teams:

Release the power of leadership potential in the hearts of motivated people who take pride in their work who can teach and develop the same performance in other employees.
Don’t settle for less than the desired impact.
Consider the positive and Negative impacts of "NOT HAVING" this resource or ability...when you need it most.

The list of negative possibilities is endless...cite your own, and get the help you need. Fight for your company to win, and win again...by being prepared with the flexibility to always provide sufficient resources for your current production needs and
staff, and for the employees who deserve to be well trained...for the benefit of all.

The "Best of Both worlds" when trying to develop a great crew throughout the entire plant:
Put “Train Trainer Policies and Procedures” in place, and keep them there!

Demonstrated instructional ability to trDemonstrated instructional ability to train, develop and engage employees merely requires capturing the steps, detailed criteria and blending it by intentional design to fit the application.

It’s not “Rocket Science” nor is it “automatic,” and it’s certainly not perfected by accident. However it can be developed to levels close to perfection with a little planning and effort, coupled with people who collaborate well to help achieve it.

For new employees, to move them to high levels of competencies starts from the point of orientation and basic machine skills, covering the scope of work, multi-tasking, standardized techniques and methodologies, priority management, observation and listening skills.

It’s important to control training as it is tempered and tailored to rates of employee competency and proficiency, which instills the value and critical importance of retaining instructional material.

A great definition of “Wisdom” is “Knowledge Applied.” It’s best to use an experienced and seasoned trainer who is proficient on the equipment or process. A top performer can make a great trainer most of time. They are key assets to a company that keep saving the company money over many job and many years.

If you “Top Performer” willing to train, who has trained, they should be committed to the same goals, expectations and methods on which employees need to be trained. A half hour or so of reviewing the order of training, key areas confirming the agreeable order and course of training, ensures uniform consistency of operations and production processes.
ain, develop and engaging employees to high levels of competencies from orientation, basic machine skills problem solving, multi-tasking, improved medologies, management observation and listening skills aid in assessments and troubleshooting to help people, processes and equipment achieve "Just in Time" and Statistical Process Control standards at any phase.

The value of a problem: Perpetually Costly at whatever rate of cumulative rate of attrition is allowed to survive, mutate, grow and compound.

When allowed freedom, it transforms and morphs into a controlling factor, in all areas left open for prey.

It breeds and mulitplies like a monster taking endless forms and shapes to eat at and holds down forard progress at will.

It moves in all directions dispersing unknown levels of negative energy when it hides, is undescovered, left unchecked or given a free pass to continue along any path.

There is no value in a problem, other than those experienced after it is properly and permermantly delt with, once and for all. The value throughout each cleared path, can then be measured, by what ever value is gained on whatever you can move through those same, previously damaged or blocked paths, which are finally free and clear for safe travel.

No wonder people initially try to ignore them, hope they go away, pray they'll be delivered from, and then, when people finally realize that it's time to "take the gloves off" and do some serious battle. That's the moment any value can be seen in the light of exposing the problem, so it can be clearly seen an dealt with.
Within each contolled work environment, the knowledge and the will to use the power need to be fully equipped and fully stoked and urged into action. Their is only one mind and one's own will contolled by a single decision which is in on the challenge at first. Not until it is known to others, will anyone have a choice, option or ability to do anything more, than assume that it doesn't exist.

Everyone else is out of the loop is clueless with good reason, but supervisors are absolutely wrong to assume that there is not a problem if they don't hear about one if they don't make sure everything is running well, frequently, using all data, feedback streams and methods available to them. Interaction a few moments with each employee, checking counts, watching the scope and span of progress, looking closely at any equipment and suspect areas for the more common problems, checking the material before it's processed, checking the current quality, and checking the recent production, are all clues and touch stones which hold the most direct and highest yield of information to check for signs of trouble.

Unleash at least enough and be ready to release a little more reserve power previously kept in reserve which was "waiting in the wings." Employees should be comfortable knowing that their supervisor actually invites and welcome a heads up about any problem. To the degree this is true with all employees, will directly correspond an enhanced capability to discover and deal with problems sooner, sufferning less loss, damage, spoilage, rework or lost production. You might say that being advised of one early enough, holds that greatest value for everyone on the receiving end of the problem. Supervisors keeping cool head, even if the employee screwed up, goes a long way in being a telling sign for the future, as to whether or not that same supervisor will be informed early with the next problem, or much too late.

The way problems are reported, when they are dealt with, when the alerts go out to whoever can help, this all works together and needs to handled and managed well. The outcome is always tainted with the manner, tone and conduct with which it was handled. Mutual success should be shared doled out when winning over problem that you, and they tackled together. When this news hits the floor, it travels fast, whether it was handled well or poorly, that too will hold clues to how others will, may or could handle the discovery, delay and decision as to when to inform people about a problem. Solve them early at the source and core, completely and permenantly, by having people know...that your company, and every manager and supervisor is there willing to solve the problem, and prove to them consistantly,.,exactly how well you manage each of them.

Troubleshooting is more like a team sport than an individual one. Why would any supervisor want to tackle a single unknown problem on a machine that's running when someone else is running it 90% of the time at least. Their eyes, ears, hands, knowledge, skill, habits, training, thoughts, concerns, challenges are all on it, and working in concert with that machine, not the supervisor. Feedback is priceless, and advance detection and early warnings from an ambitious, attentive and competent employee who you happen to work great with, a key to successful trouble shooting which should not be nudged aside as a supervisor brazingly takes over and tells the employee, just step back and let me handle it. Operators should be involved in trouble-shooting. They'll learn from the whole process, and help, and will handle the same ones or alert you sooner for help with the fix, she knows experientially, what needs to be done.

If a supervisor handles problems as well as the trouble shooting process like the way it should be encouraged and followed as a standard, how many more problems would be solved sooner and better and how effective would that working relationship be for the company and each of them?

How many more problems may be exaserbated, overlooked, delayed in reporting, not to mention costs or the other probable gamut of ill effects...if poor soft skills are used instead of good ones...on say 10 or 20 machines or 10 or 20 problems....per week or per day?

It happens, and it is costly. Imagine having the 40 hands , the 20 pairs of eyes, ears and feet, and especially the extra 20 brains strategically placed to compute and process each owns knowledge base and skill to trouble shoot.

I've met some great trouble shooters and good superisors, and if they rely on them and their ego alone...they are wrong, less effective and probably causing other problems when choosing rely soley on their pair of hands, eyes, ears and feet as well as that single brain shared between the two of them...they just can't compare to the oversight of the collective others.

The operators and their scope, plan and execution of operational procedures, the status and state of problems which have to be dealt with 90% of the time...there are too many assets underutilized, too many ignored, and too many new problems created unnessesarily.

With this kind of available resources already there...who would ignore an opportunity to utilize their skill, talent and attentiveness during the problem assessment and solution process?

Why would any supervisor rely only on "their self, and their huge ego," and shut everyone else out of the operational and trouble-shooting process or corrective measures, so they can fix it and high tail it out of their as soon as they can?

Why would they do this, instead of tapping into the company resources of using the empowered employee and coworkers to help champion and fight the good fight together right by your side as a supervisor?

Check your staff on this. How do they rate?

Implement and Establish Uniformity and Sustainable Success

Engaging employees with interactive training support while encouraging the pursuit of excellence, completes the cycle of success throughout the company.

Develop skills and ability within each person to properly solve problems faster promotes an increase and an acute awareness to strive for perfection at the same time.

By doing this each person helps their self and everyone else, move a little closer to that mark. This is not new, and yet some people always react as if they’ve just been offended, or belittled with a reminder…when they already “know how” to do their job. The point is yes they do, but no they apparently weren’t. What in the world other reason could there be, for reminding people to do…what they already knew how to do…IF THEY WERE ALREADY DOING IT? Ahh…Unless of course it’s, only a reminder or a precaution?

Careless employees or those demonstrating a lack of effort are HYPER-Sensitive to instruction and direction, and the are always On-Guard.
If a supervisor has any question about how his corrective action or reminders are going to be recieved...take an associate supervisor there. This is a well known and frequently utilized method, but sometimes in some ways, this too can be intimidating for that employee, but it's never reason enough for a supervisor to avoid taking a necessary step to get the work rate back up to an acceptable standard.

Develop thicker skin if you want to use poor methods, drag your feet, or fail to pay attention…you’re going to need it. Why?

Supervisors make sure to address anyone who is not pulling their fair share or equal weight of work, especially right before their eyes.

If a supervisor winks at mistakes or a lack of effort, which is noticeably being ignored, and literally forgiving it, it’s like they’d be encouraging it to happen, giving a license to it, and it’s also called a free ride.

Supervisors are the eyes and ears as well as the direction and redirection required by their vary role, to make this company machine run. Nowhere in a supervisor’s job description does it allow them the right to ignore their own job, and poor production of any kind, in order to allow a person to put out shoddy work or forgive a slower pace.

Poor workers with bad habits are more aware of the problem than we give them credit for. Check out the machine and the process, and when they try to shift the blame on something else, you’ll be ready for it. Denials don’t win a free pass either, and nor does a shocked or offended reaction to a simple reminder they already knew was “on-the-way.”

Hold the line on this regardless of relatives, girlfriends, golf buddies, and even the bosses kid for that matter…if they are there to work, get the work you need to have done, done, and in so doing, you’ll gain the respect and appreciation of those who probably knew about the problem well before you determined the best way to handle it. Plus, that same respect will return from the vary person you’ve assisted by guiding them to a more worthy endeavor…of just doing a good job. This was the rule from their first day, and nobody has rewritten it since.

Production will rise, the team is back together…and life is good again. Ignore it, and the chronic problem…and I guarantee it will be there later. It will sit and fester till something or someone has got to be removed.
It wouldn’t make sense and yet, there’s always someone trying to push back on simple directives.

All employees I’ve met know when they’re missing their mark, or cutting corners, and they expect to be caught and yes they are waiting to hear about it too. If this doesn’t happen, bad news travels fast, among those toting their share of the load. They’re also the ones who’ll probably end up having to pick up the slack on what the poor producer could not or would not do. The loss of respect from the rest of the productive employees could be clocked with that egg timer. When this happens, the quality of work and production output rates can fall just as fast.

Respect and support the workers doing a good and they’ll thank you for it, if not directly to you, it will show in their work, day in and day out. You’ve done before, and it worked for a while right? Well dust this off daily and make it policy throughout the plant…and make it stick this time! If all management holds this standard, it’s easier to correct every isolated incident before it grows into a chronic problem, creating habits that not be easy to brake.

If it’s not emphasized to a point of being “a daily minimum requirement” then the door is left wide open for many things less, Any less= less profit. This is a no-brainer point really, and shouldn’t have to be discussed, but it can be a slicker service in large plants than people realize, especially if a supervisor does not check their employee’s work performance consistently.

The only time they are not required to follow this policy…is when they clock out, or are working for someone else. This is hallmark of stewardship which propels companies more than any other to amazing heights of achievement inspires management to higher regard and sincere appreciation that they’d be feel foolish to ignore.

Company leaders are marked for their ethics, morals, principles and practices. Their actions and integrity hang in the balances, and if everyone is looking to the top for their own lead, anything less to the contrary is transparent, and hard to miss. And yes…they are aware of it. Just focus on getting the details, steps and costs under control, adapt and adjust to the mode of awareness to any continuous improvement principle and put them into practice daily. Make this commitment for “The Good” of the company as well as yourself, and “The Bad” and the “Ugly” go away.

Every company has different needs, only similar in main objectives within their niche industry and potential emerging or growth markets. Custom culture shifts and environmental changes happen as a result of each program in their manufacturing plant with each team. Results occur from deliberate decisions and choices, or the lack thereof. It's more practical,, easier and more effective whenever it's done from the inside with the people who care for it, support it, allowing the potential for growth who can infuse change practices with the power to do be fully engaged.

Here's a much earlier example of training, I developed that made helped the entire plant achieve the highest average per hour, for the most work, for the longest period of time in its industry. One employee and One Team at a time. It's seemingly simple an archaic compared to today's latest Quality Programs represented by infinite resources to support them.

Consult and pick your latest Training Acronyms and Programs, but to make them work continually, they must be fed and allowed to grow and evolve, being allowed to move with an agility free from any obstruction. Then they will grow and produce your intended results. This will be something more, for everyone to be proud of. Good Luck seems to come sooner with wiser choices and decisions from those who have the authority and responsibility, who can make the greatest impact.

When your trainers are not busy training, they are normally still the busiest and most productive people in the plant. Not every trainer, all the time, but for the most part, if this is a job they chose...then they are keenly aware of production, constantly watching out for a training need, or something which isn't, like a lack of effort to do what someone is already trained and qualified to do.

Having an on-site, well supportive training program in place, adapting and adjusting to change, with the flexibility and empowered workers who made thousands of decisions a day blew standards away in both quality and efficiency daily. They did it individually and in teams together, whenever and wherever possible.

They were independent of manager oversight...with results which would have been impossible had it not been for the people who knew the value and benefits of such confidence and trust being placed in them, and given the resources to accomplish it.

A canned program, lip service, sporadic efforts on whims and ideas once tried, just managed to log reminders of other failed attempts at change.

Making the changes from within, with a TRAINING PROGRAM and Leaders who were always there first, made the difference.

Polk was a great example: Training Structures change, as do Employment Roles and Objectives, putting each to work and testing them, meant they were tried and proven daily or adjusted accordingly.

The "Best of Both worlds" when trying to develop a great crew throughout the entire plant: Put “Train Trainer Policies and Procedures” in place, and keep them there!

Implement and Establish Uniformity and Sustainable Success

The "Best of Both worlds" when trying to develop a great crew throughout the entire plant:
Put “Train Trainer Policies and Procedures” in place, and keep them there!