SHOOT…Please!
- Marty Schad
- Sep 12, 2019
- 2 min read
“You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.”
- Wayne Gretzky
Gretzky was a singular hockey player, almost superhuman in his abilities. Although his quote seems obvious, it has a lot of wisdom wrapped up in it. Let’s think about his words from The Process Perspective.
Robust manufacturing processes WIN, every time. So…what is the shortest and smoothest path to that win?
We are trying to make bold and noteworthy improvements by either:
Creating and developing a significant and useful new manufacturing process/product, or…
Dramatically improving an existing manufacturing process.
So, what is needed to “take the shots” to create great processes?
Another quote can provide some clues...
“You have to have the courage to be different. You can never do anything better, unless it is different. That is an impossibility.”
- Dr. Amar Bose (founder of Bose Corporation)
Dr. Bose says taking the shots really ultimately boils down to having the COURAGE to take them:
Some implications of this line of thinking include:
To create a new and robust manufacturing process it WILL HAVE to be different than the existing process/materials. This is the only way to improve a process (either a new process or an existing one).
A different process MAY or MAY NOT work, depending on the inherent practicality and the ability to come up with clever workarounds. Gaining this knowledge requires sweat and time and effort.
People (including myself) worry how they will look if things don’t work. Managing this worry without ignoring it requires COURAGE. Focus must be maintained.
I have seen this in the real world, on my projects. We proposed inventing a new material to significantly and permanently fix an important customer problem. People thought it was too ambitious, but not crazy or stupid, only difficult. Our small team persevered and patented and commercialized the new material, and our customers were delighted. However, I had many doubts along the way, but we all kept going because we had not run out of good ideas and were going to do “whatever it took” to make it work.
My main learning from this line of thinking is that courage is as important as all the technical mumbo jumbo. Courage enables us to start on bold projects, who wants to strive for small improvements? Courage keeps us going during the inevitable setbacks, because we want to see if the new thing can be done after all.
CHALLENGE TO READERS
Please think about the most intrepid material development/process engineering efforts that have been made in your organization over the past 5 to 10 years…
Where was your own “courage-meter” on the most daring projects? Were you openly supportive of the effort during the unavoidable rough times?
How does your organization reward the people who take the greatest risks? Supportive and encouraging mindsets are the hallmarks of seasoned players who do not get ruffled easily.
What do you think the relationship is between courage and great manufacturing processes? I’d love to chat about it with you (508-410-8081) and learn what your insights and experiences are.
If you email me I’ll get back to you promptly, thanks.
All the Best,
Marty
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