Doing the impossible - all the time

One of the most frustrating situations for a consultant to encounter is as follows: A client calls and asks for help in improving operations. The consultant makes a site visit and gets an overview of how things work in the facility. If things work so well, consultant wonders why he was called. Then, a tour of the operation reveals that almost everything he sees is an exception to how things “normally” work. Observations include people performing almost impossible tasks, or at least difficult tasks with a low level of process and systems support. A sure sign that this is happening is that key people are working exceptionally long hours, with, or without compensation just to get product out the door.

People deal with extra late order cut-off times or late additions, inventory and location inaccuracies, products needed to fill today’s orders still enroute as the dispatch time close-in, handling physically awkward loads such as 100# bales of towels or even, as I saw recently, 250# trees with cumbersome, or no mechanical support - and somehow still get the job done.

If people are willing to stretch themselves to achieve daily success against all odds, then how do we justify making investments to improve the process? On the surface, it appears that we could spend some money to make the process better but won’t get a materially different result. We will make life better for those who are struggling every day to get the job done today, but we really won’t save any payroll dollars.

Where do we go from here?

It’s hard to justify spending any money if people are willing to knock themselves out to get difficult jobs done. But consider, if these people should choose to leave, could we find replacements who are as willing and capable? How long will it take to find them?

How long will it take for them to come up to speed in our business?

What jobs are not getting done or goals not being met because there is no time or energy
left after just getting to the end of each business day? How much are we limiting our growth potential with the current physical, emotional and energy constraints?

A business that is just getting by with the superhuman efforts of a few key people is taking a big chance. Making an investment to create jobs that can be done consistently right with some time left over to think about how to do them even better is just good business insurance. Sometimes that investment requires a capital expenditure. Often it can be just a commitment of management time to help think of a better way to do things.

Consider these ideas for rectifying the current situation:

• Log exceptions and their resolution to permit prioritizing them and performing root cause analysis.
• Find out how key people are spending their time and look for ways to off-load the most routine tasks or give them appropriate systems support to make the tasks easier.
• Follow the products through the process, looking for tasks that are physically challenging and find alternatives for automating or mechanizing them. It may only require changing the elevation of a container to make it easier to reach inside.
• Evaluate the trade-off between an open-ended customer service policy and one that sticks to the limits that make a smooth operation possible – and insures success!

Don’t let strongly committed employes lull you into a sense of security. There is such a thing as the straw that broke the camel’s back.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James M. Apple, Jr. is a Director in The Progress Group. Prior to co-founding The Progress Group in 1991, he was a Partner with Coopers & Lybrand's SysteCon division. During 1992-1995 he served as a Senior Systems Advisor with Vanderlande Industries, a major conveyor and systems provider in Europe.

Jim is an internationally recognized thought leader in the area of facility design and integrated distribution systems. His contributions to the improvement of distribution practices have been recognized by his receipt of the prestigious Reed-Apple Award, which is given for lifetime contributions to the advancement of the material handling profession. Jim has also received the Institute of Industrial Engineers' Facilities Planning and Design Award. He has written numerous articles and handbook chapters on warehousing and logistics operations and is a popular speaker on logistics seminar and conference programs.

Prior to SysteCon, Jim worked as an Industrial Engineer with IBM, was Supervisor of Facilities Planning for the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors and was Executive Vice President for an automotive aftermarket parts supplier. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.