Sometimes it can be pretty hard to tell whether folks are really dumb, or they are actually smart and are just being dishonest. The Mine Safety Appliance company is an excellent case in point. According to their corporate web site, they have no employees or workers – they have associates. In fact, their associates are so integral to their business the company proclaims …
"Yet, above all these strengths are what MSA considers to be its greatest global asset – its people. The high quality of MSA employees reflects a culture of people dedicated to protecting human life."
That said, the company announced that 65 of these great global assets are being laid off from the Vermont plant for a month or so while the Army tests MSA’s new helmet. "Company officials decided that since production might need to be adjusted after the testing, it made sense to stop manufacturing for a short period."
How about, Since the company really doesn’t view its employees as particularly important to their success – despite the self-serving blather in their web site – and the company really doesn’t know very much about manufacturing, it decided to forgo a great opportunity for training, an all out kaizen blitz, and a chance to make an investment in creating a high powered manufacturing machine.
The problem a client I am working with now has is how to free people from production for kaizen. Their business is so good and volume is increasing so rapidly they are having a difficult time balancing growing demand with a growing list of improvement ideas. Having 65 employees available for six weeks or so would be like manna from heaven for them.
Companies like Mine Safety Appliance just don’t get it. Their company literature is loaded with references to ‘innovation’ and platitudes about the value of their associates. Scratch the surface, however, and they are nothing but an old fashioned, 1950’s vintage outfit that has no idea how valuable their people really are. As a result, they have no idea how low their costs can go or how good their quality can be.
To my opening point, I suppose the management of MSA is neither dumb nor dishonest – just so blind to what manufacturing can be that they really see no choice but to take food from the mouths of their "associates", and to gut their paychecks at the same time their "greatest global asset" is coping with the cost of sending kids back to school.
You’ll notice that the MSA’s of the manufacturing world are the ones that bray the loudest about the difficulty of finding capable people to work in their plants – they want the government and the schools to turn out higher quality fodder for their mismanagement. There is no shortage of good, smart people to work in manufacturing. There is only a shortage of people who will tolerate working for a company that has no idea of their true worth.
Joe says
MSA, being a public company, wouldn’t dare let 65 employees run around and do Kaizen……Wall Street analysts wouldn’t look upon that activity as favorable, now would they…….
Bill Waddell says
You’re right, of course, Joe. I apologize for the oversight. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Mark Graban says
Ugh, how frustrating to read about that. I’m seeing that hospitals and the healthcare world are doing a MUCH better job of agreeing to and adhering to “no layoff” policies as the result of lean. Although, I’m sure we’ll read about a hospital firing nurses after a lean effort (but it won’t be one of my clients).
It’s too bad that this company’s “management” doesn’t see their job to include leveling out the workload so they can make effective use of people in a consistent way.
Gordon says
Everything that has been said about the mismanagement is correct, my question is how many of the executives went on a 6 week unpaid furlow because of the shutdown? Management in this country has insulated itself from the consequences of its decisions. We need to figure out how to change their thinking and their actions if lean/six sigma is to continue to evolve.
Barry "aka the Hillbilly" says
Bill through his many Articles has framed the Manufacturing crisis in America. Kudos to Bill for being able to write so prolifically. It is a Management crisis a long time in the making that started when the Professional Managers took control of America’s companies from the Inventors, Manufacturing Grunts and Engineers who actually created those companies. During that time, many companies have removed the Management of their companies from the reality of Manufacturing at the plant floor level.
Toyota and Honda have always understood that Manufacturing is their business. This focus along with good fundamental engineering (product design) has allowed them to focus more efficiently upon meeting customers needs.
Sadly I think the Management at MSA are no different from many of America’s companies. They just don’t get it. They don’t understand that the Company cars, the perks, the Golden Parachutes, the big salaries, the fancy offices, etc., does nothing but separate them from the very people whose good efforts they mightily need to turn their companies around. It does nothing to earn the respect of the Working man.
Perhaps today’s Auto leaders could start their companies recoveries by spending a month making Cars and Trucks with the normal Folks on some assembly lines. When that’s done, another 30 days working in the Service bays of Dealers and then another 30 days trying to sell the cars their companies are building. Some time outside of the Renaissance Center or the House of Mirrors might lead them to new perspectives about turning their companies around.
So What? says
So what if management are insulated from “the working man?” They don’t fear the working man, the working man has no power against them.
Tim says
Comment deleted.
You know the rules. Honest dissent and spirited debate are welcome – name calling and insults aren’t. Either debate the issue or find a juvenile blog.
Barry "aka the Hillbilly" says
Concerning So What’s comments. Maybe part of the problem is that fear isn’t the best way to create cooperation in business.
Things that have built up over the last 50 years that have insulated management and also of course the institutions that the working man used (Unions) just hasn’t consistently created cooperative business environments. If anything it seems to have driven these groups further apart, at least in certain Industries. In my opinion this seperation is a tremendous waste of the potential of both sides.
I also think that in markets with choice, the Consumer has the final say at the end of the day. The consumer votes every time they make a purchase. If the above groups have lost the ability to work together effectively to deliver products better than their competitors then they will end up loosing marketshare in the long run.
It has only been fairly recently and in the face of extreme competitive pressures that the UAW and the Management of the Big Three have realized the extent of their shared responsibility for the future of their companies.
Good things might start to happen at these companies if they start to respect each other and cooperate effectively.