Managing Automation - September 2008 - (Page 39)

HIGH ACHIEVER: LEADERSHIP MASTERY CARD-MONROE CORP . Football coach’s leadership and teamwork drills help carpet machine manufacturer’s staff embrace change. B Y E M I LY - S U E S L O A N E T here’s no such thing as sweeping problems under the carpet at Card-Monroe Corp. The maker of carpet tufting machinery has been weaving lean principles into its operations for seven years to gain agility in an increasingly competitive market that’s shifting to commercial and hospitality sectors worldwide as the U.S. residential swatch thins. Over a year ago, CMC’s lean pursuits led to a conversion from traditional assembly line production to a cellular structure, in which work teams build products from start to finish. Jim Joyner, director of lean, quality & ser vice at the Tennessee company, recalls CMC’s first cellular trial: “We tried it and we were just amazed. Our cycle times were cut in half.” The die — or dye — was cast. The operations overhaul demanded teamwork. The new cell structure required workers to cross-train to become generalists, able to perform any task at any time, and for some whose jobs were eliminated, it meant retraining. And it required many workers to step up to roles as cell leaders. To help the staff adapt to these massive changes, management adopted a Leadership Development program and made a commitment to help all employees recognize and develop their leadership potential. An article in a local magazine gave Joyner the idea to hire Bill Curry, former pro-football player and college football coach, as a leadership coach to help define and implement the initiative. Through monthly lectures and one-on-one meetings, Curr y — who Joyner says knew nothing about lean when he came to CMC early in 2007 “and still doesn’t” — taught the staff to work collaboratively and take pride in the team’s success. “Bill’s focus is on relationships, character — who you are and how you relate to other people,” Joyner says. “Most problems are now resolved in hours rather than days,” the company wrote in its project description in Managing Automation’s Progressive Manufacturing awards competition. The coaching program helped boost per-person output by 50%, Joyner says. Other measurable returns on an investment of only “tens of thouCard-Monroe Corp. sands of dollars” include inRevenue/Employees: Privately held; 180 employees creased machine usage, reduced Location: Chattanooga, TN; Ringgold, GA costs, record sales growth, and improved on-time deliver y of Industry: Tufting machinery for carpet industry service parts. Project name: CMC Leadership Development The intangible results are equalInitiative ly impressive: “We know that what Project leader: Jim Joyner, director of lean, quality we have done has helped relative & support to people’s willingness to accept, Core technology: PTC ProE & ProM drive, and implement change. We ROI/Business benefit: Manufacturing cycle time have a cooperative spirit in the cut 50%; on-time delivery of service parts raised to 82% from a historical average of 67%; record sales company. We are more comfortgrowth; customer survey cited CMC people as top able with change than we’ve ever differentiator been,” Joyner says. That holistic approach helped push CMC onto the red carpet as MA’s 2008 High Achiever in Leadership Mastery. One of the judges, Lisa Bodell of futurethink, says she gave high marks to projects like CMC’s that were based on both hard and soft metrics. “They approached it from both perspectives: time, money, participation, as well as morale and employee contribution,” she says. “I thought it was really inJIM JOYNER teresting that they went out and Director of Lean, Quality & Support hired the coach. It can be kitschy or cliché to hire a NASA astronaut or what have you, but in this case, they did it right. They showed that a change in leadership doesn’t have to happen through big investment, just smart investment.” Curr y left the CMC project July 1 for a job as head coach of a new football team at Georgia State University. But CMC’s lean and leadership efforts continue. “We’ll partner from time to time with different people who emphasize different things,” Joyner says. And as Curry was giving his final pep talk, the company was selecting an ERP/ CRM/PLM system to tie its disparate systems together. Furthermore, Joyner says, both suppliers and customers have come to CMC for help in understanding lean. 39 September 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - September 2008

Managing Automation - September 2008 Contents Take 1 Letters Tech Vendors Defy Economic Slump by Plugging into Developing World Growth New E2open Chief Outlines Plan to Accelerate Growth Is This Marketing as It Used to Be or Something New? The OMAC Group Attempts to Widen Its Influence Automation Federation Names Chief, Plots Growth Notes Cover story: The Innovation Gap Special Report: Meet the Progressive Manufacturing High Achievers Progressive Manufacturer of the Year Business Model Mastery Innovation Mastery Customer Mastery Supply Network Mastery Data & Integration Mastery Education & Training Mastery Leadership Mastery Operational Excellence Mastery Special Report: Catching the Wireless Wave Part 1: No Clear Infrastructure Winner Part 2: Wireless Apps Take Wing Part 3: The Human Side of Wireless Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - September 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.