Another LinkedIn forum question caught my eye (click here to see the forum). This one was from Mateus Machado. He asked, "What's the best way to change the mentality of workers that work on the production floor?"
I liked it because this is a common issue, yet I believe we choose not to “see” it because we are driven to “show individual effort” rather than “synergy”. My response:
“The best challenge I have used is putting the work force in the customer’s shoes. As an automotive example, get a group of people together and have them define quality outright. Then have them mentally go into a restaurant and define quality, and understand the differences each of them place on a quality aspect (hot food, quick service, etc). Have them mentally buy a car and define quality. Then have them think of the automotive customer they are now providing a product / service to and define quality if you were in the customer's shoes. Soon they understand who the customer is, how quality is defined at each level of the "quality stream", and most will get an “ah ha” moment.
The end product you are looking for is the work force developing their own work standards that will provide quality to the customer. They first need to understand what quality is as defined by the customer before they can do that."
The end product you are looking for is the work force developing their own work standards that will provide quality to the customer. They first need to understand what quality is as defined by the customer before they can do that."
We need to treat people at all levels with the same respect. Why would the worker on the shop floor not want to be mentally challenged, at least at some level? Why should the worker on the shop floor not understand what the customer is paying for?
One individual came up to me during work and asked, "why should I work harder without more money? The owner has the money to pay me, so why not let loose the purse strings and then we will work harder?" After a couple days I was able to refocus him on who defines quality, and that the person buying the product defines quality and also holds the cash. If you work status quo, the only option to increase your pay check would be to put more business into the same workplace. This does mean you will need to work harder. Lean manufacturing is intended to eliminate waste, open shop capacity for new business, without working harder.
One individual came up to me during work and asked, "why should I work harder without more money? The owner has the money to pay me, so why not let loose the purse strings and then we will work harder?" After a couple days I was able to refocus him on who defines quality, and that the person buying the product defines quality and also holds the cash. If you work status quo, the only option to increase your pay check would be to put more business into the same workplace. This does mean you will need to work harder. Lean manufacturing is intended to eliminate waste, open shop capacity for new business, without working harder.
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