Stories of Leadership, Lean, and Learning
For part of my career, I worked for Dal-Tile in Dallas Texas. I was the environmental, safety, health, and mining liaison for our twelve manufacturing plants. My job was to help each plant stay compliant and safe, providing training and reporting support. We had a number of factories in Texas, and I visited each one and get to the know the employees and leadership. That way, I could develop a support plan that was mutually beneficial.
Read MoreMany of my early projects for Armstrong World Industries were at the Macon Georgia plant. This was and still is the largest ceiling plant in the world, with a capacity of over half a billion square feet of ceiling tiles produced annually.
Read MoreDuring my career at Armstrong World Industries, I honed my kaizen approach and spent more travel time at the Macon, Georgia plant than at any other location. That’s why I have so many stories to share about my time there.
Read MoreDuring my corporate career at Armstrong World Industries, I gained a reputation for many things: Lean zealot, “Conveyer Whisperer,” and someone who was willing to take on any challenge anywhere I was needed.
Read MoreWe were building a ceiling tile manufacturing plant in Russia. Like most projects, the engineering team was directed to save money, as long as it didn’t negatively impact safety or productivity. As most were unfamiliar with doing business in Russia, they used their experience with known vendors to acquire equipment for the plant. If there wasn’t enough capacity to fill equipment needs, the project team worked with local consultants to identify the “best” options for equipment purchases.
Read MoreIn 2005, I was asked to be part of a team to help Armstrong’s Mobile Alabama ceiling tile plant improve their performance. Production output had steadily declined over the first few months of the year, and they were well behind budget. The team was tasked with identifying and implementing improvements to the operation that would drive performance back to budget for the full year. The team leader called the effort a “Full Court Press”, meaning we would not give up until we accomplished our mission.
Read MoreSometimes we make things more complicated than they have to be. When we remove the complexity, things seem to get better. I have learned this lesson many times, but my trip to Macon Georgia proved it to me and my team.
Read MoreA global consumer goods manufacturer was experiencing high levels of downtime, jams, and long changeovers on a critical production line. They invited Process Improvement Partners to their plant to observe and discuss the problem and identify opportunities for improvement. After reviewing performance, we took a walk to the line. The line was running, and after a description of line components, it became apparent there were quick opportunities to improve performance of the line. The techniques we would use were quite basic: leveling, squaring, aligning, and centering of products with the process. It seemed so simple, and the customers were skeptical. We suggested a five-day Kaizen to improve line reliability, scheduled for January 2019.
Read MoreMany consultants train and teach. I like to demonstrate and verify with teams that they truly understand the techniques for improvement that I am sharing with them. Most importantly, I want them to be able to take this work and transfer it to other parts of the factory without my assistance.
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