Manufacturing CEO

I interviewed the CEO of a 200+ employee manufacturing company a few months ago. He was brought in from the outside with the task of "bringing organization to chaos." There was a major disconnect between management and the line. He focused on the front line workers, asking them a series of questions. At first, it was not about speeding about production. It was about personal motivation: "What is expected of you everyday? Who do you report to? How can we make this a more pleasant work epxerience?" The answers he received were astonishing. It was in fact, chaos. He defined roles, empowered front line management and implemented many of the ideas to change the work environment.

From there, the goal was to figure out how to produce more, while eliminating a defect rate that at his hire date was close to 10%. Again, he went from the bottom up and asked the front line people: "How do you do it? What can we do better? How can we do it differently?" After analyzing the information, they implemented new processes based on the information of the line. Imagine the feeling of ownership of a front line worker when the CEO actually listens and implements an idea! Their effort skyrocketed because they are now part of the process. They were not told do it this way because we say so, they told the boss how to do it better.

Via implementation of new processeses and constant communication throughout all members of the company, the chaos was calmed. The results were astonishing. Turnover went from 30% to less than 5%. The defect rate went from 10% to less than 1%. And sales increased by over 50%. All because they harnessed the power of their people.

He laughed as he told me the story. "Andrew, wisdom comes from the line, not the CEO office."