Turning the Factory Upside Down

When a packaging company reached out to me about facilitating a 3P (Production Preparation Process), I was intrigued. It’s the most advanced Kaizen approach I offer. They wanted this to be their very first experience.

Fortunately, I had an ally. Brett, a longtime colleague from my Armstrong days, had joined the company and believed 3P was the only way to address the plant’s design and operational constraints. The plant was bursting at the seams, and their lease made change feel impossible. But Brett believed they could break through.

Our goal: Develop 1–3 bold options to get the plant back on budget and positioned for growth, without relocating, if possible.

As expected, day one brought skepticism. In 3P, we ask people to suspend their constraints and imagine possibilities no one has yet seen. That’s a tall order.

The team followed the process, even when it didn’t fully make sense to them. At one point, I had to give tough love to a company veteran who wanted to skip a step and revert to his usual methods. He didn’t talk to me for a few hours, but by day three, everything changed.

The energy flipped. They saw it. They believed it. They were building something new and it could work.

By week’s end, we had two viable plans. One that reconfigured the current space and one that required a new building. Both met the business goals and sparked new thinking across the team.

At the report-out, the excitement was contagious. Brett strengthened his credibility and standing in the company. The team felt empowered. Some have since moved on, but they still reach out to say how much that 3P experience shaped them.

Breakthroughs don’t come from doing what you’ve always done. When you trust the process and your people new possibilities come into view.