Seems obvious, doesn't it? But, if you know me, these are probably the first words out of my mouth when I start a project. It is nearly a constant in the Lean Six Sigma world. Companies (not knowing what to do), hire an army of workers to deal with the poor quality and fall-out from inefficient/ineffective manufacturing or business processes. If it's a manufacturing process, it's a lot easier to see and correct with the right Lean Six Sigma professional. Business processes are a little bit tricker for anyone outside of any Higher-Level Lean Six Sigma training/experience to see. Usually, the pain point management & Sr. Leadership hear is, "I can't keep up...", or "There's too much work"... what's the usual solve? Hire 3 more people of course. This is exactly my point my friend, you are definitely "Mopping up the Floor".
Without the help of a Sr. Lean Six Sigma Professional, Sr. Leadership all-to-often see's all of the water, hit's the "Panic-Button", creates a "Swat-Team" of sorts, spends tens of thousands of dollars to have the group, yep, you guessed it... Mop up the Floor. Which is all good and everyone can celebrate and get handsome bonus' and promotions, however most often this is very temporary and short-lived. When it happens again, Sr. Leadership often thinks of the first temporary success and creates an up-suffixed "Swat-Team 2.32456, Star-Date 41153.7"... gets the temporary solution they want, and of course, rinse & repeat.
How about this? Hire someone that has many years of Lean Six Sigma experience, to... Turn off the Faucet. For good. Then mop up the floor. Then, focus on the next project, the next sub-standard metric/KPI. Reward the employees for Turning off the Faucet instead of repeatedly "Mopping up the Floor".
This will pay dividends to you and your company. Your employees will know that they made such a positive impact that it will not happen again. Your management will be able to focus on other meaningful tasks/projects... and above all, everyone will know who to call when you want to "Shut off the Faucet".
Now, what's better... Hiring one Navy Seal? Or training up key employees so that you have multiple "Seal Teams" that you can call on at a moment's notice and get the Faucet turned off, before the factory gets flooded.
Having worked at Motorola for many years, key people, were given the explicit instructions that if they suspected quality issues, that a handful of people and I could walk up to any line in any factory that was underperforming and shut the whole line down in an instant. We stopped production and Turned off the Faucet. When the Faucet was turned Off, and the Floor Mopped, the line could resume quality production.
Why should you and your company expect anything less than top quality, exceptional employee morale and soaring profits?
Next Level Lean Six Sigma
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