OPINIONS
BY
A. J. MILLOY
Wow, I bet you guys thought you were safe seeing as how I haven’t had a
printed opinion in such a long time. Fooled you, didn’t I?
Hey! How about that Caterpillar Team/Family thing the company has going on?
It really shows how much the so called “Company That Cares” really cares. They take
people who have graduated the Caterpillar apprentice program, taken classes at
trained from millwrights and pipefitters to be repairmen, or made it through the
Caterpillar 2+2+2 program and basically said you are no longer part of the Caterpillar
Team/Family.
These are people Caterpillar trained to do the things that Caterpillar needs
accomplished in order to have a secure manufacturing base that contributes to the
overall welfare of the Caterpillar organization, and doing them the way Caterpillar
needs them done.
So, what is the reward for your years of service? “Sorry, you are not part of
our core business and even though we spent thousands of dollars to train you just
the way we need you, since we don’t have a clue what you do, and aren’t qualified
to hand you a wrench, we are going to eliminate your job.”
Let’s face it, anyone who spouts “core business” probably does not have a
clue what it takes to actually run a manufacturing business. After all, all it takes to
be a manager is a 2 year degree in anything, and it appears that underwater basket
weaving is the main college major.
It makes me wonder if some of the rumors I’m hearing could be true. I’ve
heard that because of the less than good business decisions made at commodity
and line levels, the lack of values displayed on a daily basis by first line supervisors
and “team leads”, the inability for supervisors to distinguish between ego decision and
business decisions, that lower and some middle management may get replaced with
an outside contractor.
I generally don’t point fingers in these articles as far as individuals or even areas.
Most of my readers can relate to someone in their area that fits with the comments
I make. In this case, however, I have to say that two of our biggest areas that
qualify as “wounded by management”
have to be
decisions and line leadership, and manufacturing areas hurt by the elimination of our
repair people.
With the right leadership and business decisions, BB Forge could see a 20 to
30% increase in productivity, a corresponding drop in scrap, a decrease in their
“add-cost”, while generating increased engagement in (6) weeks or less. But they
probably didn’t cover any of that in underwater basket weaving, so the odds of that
happening under current management are absolutely minimal.
Let’s talk a tiny bit about engagement. When critical machines are repaired by an outside
corporation that is only concerned about money, that forces people to work
ten to twelve hours a day with no notice, that want their people at full speed for those
ten to twelve hours, that doesn’t believe in holidays or weekends or any quality
of life for their employees, you are not going to get engagement, loyalty or commitment
from those employees. 80% of an areas attitude can be directly attributed to its
treatment by the immediate supervisor of that area. That person’s attitude is controlled
by his immediate supervisor, which is controlled in turn by that immediate supervisor,
on up through the chain of command. This becomes glaringly apparent when a TPM
critical machine is down for 3 to 5 weeks because no one knows or cares about ordering a hydraulic pump.
After all, not my job, that’s my boss’s job. Far be it from me to give him guidance because he already knows
it all.
Another area “wounded by management”. Let’s face the truth – I’ve never heard
of a business being shut down because the local union involved forced them out of
business. The number one reason businesses fail is due to poor management,
and with just these two examples, it almost makes me hope that outsourced management
gets here before we lose our entire manufacturing base.
REMEMBER – It’s your job, it’s your