They Just Don't Get It!

Real-Life Example: Plotting the Chaos The reality of manufacturing leadership is that priorities change. Market demands shift. What was urgent last quarter becomes an afterthought today. Strategic projects from three months ago turn into time wasters when customer needs evolve or economic conditions change. At one plant, we met as a leadership team quarterly to evaluate every active project on the matrix---CI initiatives, capital projects, HR programs, training efforts, everything. This wasn't about being indecisive; it was about being responsive to reality. Some initiatives that had seemed critical were now draining energy with little return. An "urgent" packaging change that would have required $200K in new tooling turned out to be a customer preference, not a requirement. We killed it. New Quick Win opportunities always emerged as we learned more about our operations---like addressing newly discovered elephants that data had revealed--- giving us immediate traction with minimal effort.

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