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Improvement initiatives need commitment
by CHRISTER IDHAMMAR
Not long ago, I was involved with a reliability and improvement initiative in a big plant. As always, the improvement initiative was received with skepticism since many other initiatives had come and gone with varying results during the last 15 years. The new initiative, management declared, would be different than the previous ones. This time, it would be a long-term reliability improvement initiative, not just a cost-cutting exercise.
OFF TO A GOOD START. About eight months after the improvement efforts started, improvement champions had attracted some followers, and improvements had been demonstrated. In this plant, it was important to change the culture from a poor management/union relationship to a relationship based on mutual trust and agreed-upon necessary improvements. As in most cases, the improvement work centered on better planning and scheduling performance, preventive maintenance, and root cause problem elimination.
Much hope of real and lasting change was based on the demography of the plant's aging maintenance workforce and the new employees currently in the apprentice program. The age distribution of the maintenance work force showed an expected attrition of 43% in the next five years and 62% in the next seven years. This presented a problem of skills retention but also a good opportunity for a cultural change. So, it was obvious that the apprentice program was of vital importance for success. The apprentice training was therefore redesigned to include more than craft skills. It would also provide a good understanding of results-oriented reliability and maintenance practices, including maintenance prevention; preventive maintenance; and effective organization of work, multi-skills incentives, etc.
It was soon demonstrated that some of the best results were achieved by new employees who applied in practice what they had learned in the apprentice program. Many of the apprentices found it very interesting and motivating to add skills to their traditional crafts. They argued that this was good for their own job security; they understood that they were not guaranteed a job for life in this plant, unlike much of the older workforce that thought they were entitled to a job forever. While the traditional unionists among the craftspeople continued to argue that the new positions as preventive maintenance inspectors were a new classification, the new employees would just perform the inspections because they viewed them as a normal and interesting part of their work.
Planners and maintenance coordinators had also been reinstated, and their roles were clarified. The backlog, which was identified at about 12,000 jobs, was soon reduced to a more realistic 3,000 jobs or an estimated 18 days. The total maintenance crew was 120 employees. Planners were planning, and performance during shutdowns as well as weekly and daily work improved significantly.
The vice president of manufacturing recognized the progress and understood that this would lead to significant and sustainable improvements. He also knew that it would take about one more year of management demonstrating its commitment to the changes before the majority of the workforce would be on board and the improvement initiatives could be declared instituted and a success.
STOPPED SHORT OF THE GOAL. At this point in time, a message from corporate declared that the maintenance staff was to be cut by 15% within 30 days. The vice president of manufacturing tried to no avail to resist this decision, arguing that it would only take 18 months for attrition to take care of the reduction.
To make a long story short, the corporate decision was recognized as shortsighted but necessary. This explanation does not, of course, make sense if the purpose of continuous improvement is to be believed. It is more to the advantage of shortsighted shareholders, but it is not good for the survival of the plant. It is also questionable as to whether it supports the popular concept of "building shareholder value."
The vice president of manufacturing left the company, and his replacement carried through the corporate directive within the given time period. Planning and scheduling, or management of maintenance, regressed to worse than it had been previously. The saddest aspect of this story is that this plant was forced to destroy its future maintenance organization because when a forced layoff occurs in a unionized environment, the newest employees are first to go. In this case, it was the apprentices who had shown much potential. Even sadder is that only four months after the layoffs, the plant had to rehire many of the people it laid off. Many of them worked for a contractor who had contracted them to the plant after they lost their jobs!
Soon, this plant will start talking about another new improvement initiative, and new management will wonder why it is so difficult to get people committed to it!
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