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"It is impossible for ideas to
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THE ART OF MANUFACTURING By Ron Chase This is the first of a monthly series of articles pertaining to manufacturing; what it is, what the state-of-the-art is, examples of it, and some explanations of where it stands today versus pastimes. This first article will be a purely subjective look at manufacturing, from my point of view. Being such, I expect that some will have various opinions about the points made here. I will ask for inputs on your thoughts later in the article and give you information on how to communicate them. We begin. The story starts when I was very young, probably 6-8 years old. In one of the few vivid memories I have of that time of my life, I received a toy Gasoline Filling Station from Santa at Christmas time. This little station was amazing! It looked real, with brightly painted emblems of gasoline and oil companies, stacks of automobile tires, two bays for automotive repair, and four gasoline pumps. Even more amazing was that the four pumps actually did pump - water, that is, from a plastic reservoir that I could fill. I did not understand it at the time, but the construction of the toy station was sheet metal, bolts, and metal tabs placed into holes and then bent to secure them. The reservoir and connecting hoses were plastic and rubber respectively; with the four pump hoses all connected to a plastic manifold. Each pump had a valve to turn on the water flow, that flow coming from a small hand pump, similar to a hand pump for a bicycle tire. Truly fascinated by this mechanism, I did not know exactly how it worked, but really enjoyed playing with it. “What does that have to do with manufacturing?” Okay, here it is. After a time, even though I loved playing with this station, my curiosity got the better of me, and I just had to find out what this contraption was all about. So, using my father’s screwdriver and pliers and crescent wrench, I set to taking the station apart. It took me several days to do it, because I wanted to be careful not to damage it. In the end, I was successful in my endeavor, and the station was now in about 15 or 20 pieces. None of them was damaged, but I had no clue as to how to put all of it back together again in the proper order to make it operate as before. After several attempts with not-very-good results, I asked my father, who was truly upset when he saw my dilemma, to help me reassemble it. He finally did and we were successful. The lasting effect of this story was that it began my fascination with things that get built. There, my friends is the manufacturing connection. My simple definition of manufacturing is the art of building things. This fascination was why I got my engineering degree and why I have always worked for companies that are highly technical and that build interesting and complex things. Now that you know how manufacturing became the focus of my adult working life, let’s talk about one of my favorite subjects - manufacturing in the USA. Why is the United States of America the greatest nation on earth? People may have several answers to this question, but I am convinced that it is our ability to manufacture things better than others. Using this hypothesis, why do Americans manufacture things better? It is because of the American people!! Why American people as opposed to British, French, Italians, etc.? My opinion - because Americans are the result of the mixture of many different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, brought together in an environment that is the right mix of determination, talent, need, and availability of raw resources. Sort of a comparison to the supposed “big bang theory”, which hypothetically was the right mix of stuff to form the universe and eventually, mankind. A happen chance, if you will, which just worked right. Like winning the Revolutionary War, when we had no right to, or like getting Alaska, with its tremendous resources, for a very, very, very low price. Things have just worked right for Americans. Not without some struggles, you understand, but in the end, fate and all the other stuff came together and here we are! Why do I think that manufacturing is the key to American success? There are reams of data that show manufacturing is the center of our economy, even as software and intellectual property have become more and more a part of the mix. Each manufacturing job creates a group of other jobs, primarily service-oriented, for support. This ratio is significant, as much as 5-7 to 1. This is a proven fact based on several studies done by academicians and business statisticians. What does this mean? It means manufacturing is the engine that drives many other components of the economy. Manufacturing supplies food, medicines, autos, electronics, oil/gasoline, aircraft, computers, and on and on. I think we can all agree that as manufacturing goes, so goes our basic economy, and certainly a large portion of the U.S. technology base. From the macro view of manufacturing, let’s travel down one level and look at a composite view of manufacturing companies - what are the common characteristics of these entities, what makes them successful, or not? People are the key to the success of manufacturing companies! Surprised? No, you probably are not surprised to hear this emphatic statement. Well trained and motivated personnel, supplied with the proper systems and tools to effectively communicate, buy, manage, participate, assemble, test, and ship products are the key to success. As mentioned above, America, with its great diversity and resources has taken maximum advantage of its workforce. Once we agree that people are the key, what are the components of manufacturing success generated by a good workforce? These are summarized below:
Now let’s define each of the components for success listed above.
The nine components listed above are not just pulled from the air. I have attended several Best Plants Conferences sponsored by IndustryWeek magazine. At these conferences, I have discussed with key members of the different Best Plants’ teams, what it is that makes them Best Plants? The answers summarized are the nine components listed above. Below is the process used by IndustryWeek to identify America’s Best Plants. Industry Week
began accepting nominations for the 1999 America's Best Plants awards in
October of 1999. More than 400 plants were nominated and were sent copies of
the entry form and guidelines. A panel of IW editors reviewed the completed
15-page questionnaires, which ask detailed performance questions about
quality, customer and supplier relations, employee involvement, use of
technology, cost reductions, on-time delivery rates, inventory management,
environmental and safety programs, productivity, new-product development, and
overall market results. Below is listed the median performance achievements by the Ten Best Plants:
Quite remarkable! Using these key components all of us can better our manufacturing operations by getting our people involved. We are already the best in the world, but continued improvement should always be our goal. Thus ends my first article for the Business Forum Journal on the state of Manufacturing. In the future we will discuss some specific examples of Southern California manufacturing in action. Recommendations are appreciated for topics to be discussed.
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