Care and Feeding

[Harrison Owen]

Paul - this is a marvelous story! - And I look forward to the sequels. Do
you happen to have any names, phone numbers, or emails??? I would love to
get some follow on from the folks who were there. The story in itself is
superb, but a few juicy quotes might make it live just a bit more. And if
you are uncomfortable about me following up - would you be willing?  I am
really curious about how minimal management got, and what they did with
their egos??? Of course, I guess they had been through something like this
before, but what did they really think they were doing. Thanks - and more
please!!!!

 

Harrison

 

Harrison Owen

7808 River Falls Drive

Potomac, Maryland   20845

Phone 301-365-2093

Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com <http://www.openspaceworld.com/>


Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org

Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
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-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
EVERETT813 at aol.com
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 11:40 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Care and Feeding

 

In the spirit of Discovery, and trying to keep it short:

Several years ago I was doing an extensive education and training sequence
in World Class Manufacturing for a paper manufacturer in LA.  Yes, Los
Angeles, CA.  Their raw stock was pre- and post-consumer waste.  I was
engaging the entire workforce in the ideas of WCM, so it was a big project,
many months.  

One of the principles in WCM is the idea of the Outrageous Goal---the target
that can't be met by doing what we are currently doing, only 20% harder and
faster.  Rather, it is the system that must be changed.  It forces
significant, often radical thinking and systemic change.

They had an opportunity to re-start an idle paper-making machine that had
been idle for two years on a new, high-demand product. (A paper machine is
HUGE---this one was two stories tall and 1500 feet long, 12-feet wide, with
dozens of giant drums to form and dry the paper at 1800+ feet-per-minute
speeds).  Management's plan was a for four-month start-up sequence.  One of
the engineers said "Let's listen to Paul and set an Outrageous Goal."
Challenged by the group as to what that would be, he said "How about two
weeks?"  Lots of laughing.  He persisted (brave lad).  After some lengthy
discussion they decided to do it.

It's the "rules" they set that make the story one of self-organization:
1.  Everyone in the plant was eligible to do the work, both production and
maintenance personnel.  All the work rules and other distinctions were
suspended. 
2.  They could work with whom they wished to work, as many hours as they
wished to work (with a mandatory 10 hours off in every 24), on what part
they wished to work (subject to getting it all done--there was a huge
checklist).
3.  Safety was paramount and not to be compromised.

So, these self-organizing teams got the machine up on test paper in 14 days
and delivered good paper to a desperate customer on the 17th day.  Over 100
people were on the floor cheering as the first roll went out the door.  The
QC manager accompanied the first rolls to the customer, who ran up and
hugged him---a first experience in 35 years of papermaking!!  Furthermore,
because they were first to market, they captured $2.5 million in additional
sales over the four-month management start-up plan.

That's the story. As close to an industrial miracle as I've witnessed in my
40 years of manufacturing experience.  I have several other such stories,
one regarding plastic pipe extrusion, but the principles were the same---set
the Outrageous Goal, set the "new rules" and get out of the way.

Paul Everett, Consultant
Lean Systems Thinking (WCM)  

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