Certified Employee-Owned’s Post

Manufacturing companies make up about 21% of ESOPs in America, making it the largest industry sector for employee ownership.   But why do manufacturing companies gravitate towards employee ownership? The answer may lie in the alignment of benefits and values.   Brian Baker, president and CEO of Sentry Equipment sums it up well: “the key is that if people own a piece of the place that they work, they are just going to care more. You’re going to try harder. You’re going to serve customers better. You’re going to be more engaged. You’re going to be more passionate about the business than if you’re just an employee showing up every week to get a paycheck”. Read more about employee ownership in the manufacturing sector here: https://lnkd.in/dNXmmtS6 To see a full list of employee-owned manufacturing businesses, check out certifiedeo.com/companies.

I have found many times that we get ourselves in trouble with our day to day carry over of in process work. This can blurr the projections and cripple opportunities for new business. Often we get comfortable with what we have going and more times than not it doesn’t come together as planned by the end of the week. It’s always that $5.59 one time use stretch bolt that punches us 😉 I have specific processes in place for bigger labor jobs, so I can help analyze the cost comparisons of a downed rack and help teach shop efficiency and continued increase in productivity. This helps alleviate payroll surprises and upset technicians…Upset customers and directly impacts car count. Minimizing downed racks is critical for production! Are we putting off for tomorrow…. What we should be completing today ? How do you all handle these situations?

Manufacturing Tip – Do you hate Mondays?  Use systems to smooth out the start of the week!    Setting schedules and creating systems will smooth out the start of a week.  Systematic tasks like prepping paperwork, loading materials, warming up equipment, and PM’s at the end of the week or before the shift starts setups you up for success the rest of the week.

Keys to Driver Retention: Celebrate good driver performance in Public. When someone does good work, it’s in your company’s best interest to acknowledge, celebrate and incentivize that.  When your top performers feel appreciated and valued for their contribution, or even rewarded for exceptional performance, they’re more likely to stay and do their best.  Set goals or milestones for your drivers and associate their accomplishments with meaningful incentive programs. 

The March issue of Pallet Enterprise is live on the Web!! Don't miss the cover story on Niagara Pallet, the first pallet company in North America to install the IVISYS pallet inspection system. Also, this issue includes a Grinder Guide, ideas on how to end the revolving door problems with employee retention, a look at the issue of pallet quality and standards, and much more. https://lnkd.in/gYN5dqDC

A must reed for your H&OP journey. This guide offers a practical strategy for understanding and implementing error reduction concepts to manage human potential.

This is just me thinking out loud, so just bear with me here: The longer i work in manufacturing, i start to notice what really makes a company “tick” and i believe i have found at least 1 major issue alot of manufacturing companies share collectively, and that is “Tribal Knowledge”, amongst how things are done within a company. This way of running things absolutely needs to go. Way to many times i see new hire employees not stick around at a company due to the frustrations of simply just now knowing how to do the job, due to poor training and tribal knowledge, if you cant do your job because there is no proper training documentation, then your management team is failing. Removing tribal knowledge from a company through proper documentation and training, not only will improve Company morale (less mistakes happening causing “trickle down stress” from upper management to production floor employees) but it will improve efficiency across the board. The point of manufacturing is efficiency and making money. You very well may see employees sticking around and becoming loyal. Strictly my own opinion on how I would change things and do my part in improving employee morale and company efficiency. Thanks for listening to my “Ted Talk”

Efficiency and safety are our top priorities in the production shop. With LEAN management principles at the core of our operations, every process is optimized for maximum productivity while ensuring a safe working environment. Together, we're setting new standards of excellence in manufacturing. #ThePanelGuys #JoinOurTeam #LEANmanagement #Efficiency #SafetyFirst #ManufacturingExcellence

Many production companies are currently short-staffed or on holiday break. Should you wait until September to make your production or processing request? Absolutely not. Stay proactive and lay the groundwork now. This is the ideal moment to define and submit your request. Even if responses take a bit longer (which I’m noticing too), you'll be part of the new production plan when they're back. Come autumn, you’ll be ready to go while others are just starting to prepare. Plus, with many people waiting to submit their requests, there might be available capacities right now. Just like our recent project, where 8 truckloads were spray-dried on short notice. Such quick turnarounds are rare. Don’t miss out on this opportunity. Tell me which material should be processed and get started. FYI: My #ProcessOnDemand team is working until mid-August before we also go on holiday.

Manufacturing Tip – Watch out for the past due death spiral!    A common trap we see at client sites is that they fall behind on deliveries, start shorting filling work orders to meet delivery dates, and thus causing extra changeovers in the process.  This takes away precious productive time from catch up efforts, causes other orders to fall past due, and increases the product cost.  We understand this is necessary at times, but its benefits are short lived.  If you are not able to recover after a couple weeks, further focused action is necessary to get out of the trap.