Door 1 or Door 2?
- Marty Schad
- Jun 27, 2019
- 3 min read
Which door do you want? Behind Door 1 is Company A, behind Door 2 is Company B. Assume you are working on building manufacturing processes. Which company would you rather be working at? Both of these companies have been clients of mine and I know both of them very well. I have plenty of first-hand knowledge of both companies. I’m most interested in what we can learn (and apply) from their behavior. Both are large US companies with sales in the billions of US dollars. The company names are (perhaps interesting but) fairly irrelevant. A bit more background: both companies rely on manufacturing of atom based products (they are not software companies) and they both have sizable R&D/development organizations. The behavior and mindset of the two companies when developing new manufacturing processes are described in the following two tables.
Door 1: Company A…Approach to Building Manufacturing Processes (Table 1)
A defined company-wide innovation process exists and is used, with mandatory gate-stage reviews.
Strong stomachs: founded on past experiences and boldness being part of the company’s DNA.
Process learnings routinely documented and available for future projects.
Cost of quality known and measured routinely.
Researchers held accountable for commercial impact.
Expertise in partnering and joint-venturing for process efforts.
Door 2: Company B…Approach to Building Manufacturing Processes (Table 2)
No companywide innovation process exists.
Weak stomachs: founded on lack of experience, inherent timidity, and R&D orientation.
Process learnings undocumented because of bureaucratic system, knowledge transfer mostly verbal “tribal knowledge” system.
Cost of quality unknown, making systematic and focused efforts to reduce this waste impossible.
Researchers not held accountable for commercial impact.
No expertise in partnering and joint-venturing for process development: insular approach.
Now we know something about how these two companies approach building their manufacturing processes. “So what?” you say. How about if we look at some of the outcomes and results at these two companies? Please refer to the following two tables.
Door 1: Company A…Manufacturing Processes: Current Status (Table 3)
Expanding manufacturing footprint.
High reliability products ensured by robust and company-owned processes.
Recognized as best in class at innovation.
Company owns and controls all important manufacturing process intellectual property.
Top leadership has significant and meaningful manufacturing experience and contributions.
Door 2: Company B…Manufacturing Processes: Current Status (Table 4)
Decreasing manufacturing footprint, considerable manufacturing assets sold to contract manufacturers.
Product reliability and quality insured by contract manufacturers.
Considered average in innovation performance.
Company shares (by necessity) manufacturing process intellectual property with its competitors.
Top leadership has very little manufacturing experience or first-hand contributions.
A comment: not all of the differences in outcomes are due to the mindset differences in Tables 1 and 2: this is not claimed and should not be implied. However, I am very confident the differences in outcomes and results were significantly and meaningfully influenced by the mindset and behavior of the two organizations. So which company would you like to work at? I would pick Door 1, Company A. They would also be a better client for my consulting company because they truly understand the manufacturing game and want to consistently improve.
My main learning from this line of thinking is that some companies’ culture or DNA is very well suited for building great manufacturing processes and it happens naturally and consistently. Other companies do not have the culture or DNA for building great manufacturing processes. Unsurprisingly it ultimately comes down to whether the companies’ “heart is really in the game” when it comes to building robust and notable manufacturing processes.
CHALLENGE TO READERS
Please think about your own and your organization’s approach to and results from building manufacturing processes over the past 10 years…
Are you closer to Company A or Company B? Why do you say that, what is your evidence for that?
How does your manufacturing performance stack up against your competitors and against “best in class”? You should have this information on an ongoing basis to make informed manufacturing decisions and investments.
The mindset needed to build great processes is very interesting to me, and I’d love to hear what your take on it is. Please call me (508-410-8081) so we can compare notes and learnings, and discuss how MPES Consulting can dramatically accelerate your progress.
If you send us an email, we will get back to you promptly, thanks.
All the Best,
Marty
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