ICE! Balloon
- Marty Schad
- Oct 24, 2019
- 3 min read
“The Ice Balloon” (by Alec Wilkinson) is an amazing book. It recounts the Heroic Age of Arctic Exploration.
The hero was S. A. Andree, who in 1897 led an expedition to the NORTH POLE by BALLOON rather than the conventional dogsled.
His bold expedition (unfortunately turned adventure) was astonishing to read about…unimaginable hardships.
This book got me thinking about expansion and contraction, which can be considered in a much more general context. In this context, expansion represents growth of capabilities and impact, while contraction represents diminishment of capabilities and impact. Expansion of positive outcomes is obviously preferred.
Expansion and contraction can also be viewed from The Process Perspective. What courses of action and thought lead to the expansion of process innovation and reliability? What approaches lead to contraction?
EXPANSION
of Process Innovation and Reliability
New Processes
Evaluation of manufacturability ruthlessly, early, and systematically.
Be sure you can consistently make key samples of interest at will, and that you have not supplied a customer a “lucky” sample they love but you cannot make again.
Understand the impact of incoming material variations before committing to high-volume production.
Existing Processes
Serious and sustained and well-resourced Yield Improvement Teams.
Life-cycle impacts: examined and optimized (where possible).
Look extremely carefully for new problems that surface as sample sizes increase.
CONTRACTION
of Process Innovation and Reliability
New Processes
Equipment that does not address the (true) process needs and ultimately becomes an expensive “boat anchor”.
Expensive raw materials being used without question or understanding of cost-model impact.
Claiming victory too early and throwing unproven/unreliable concepts “over the wall” to production.
Existing Processes
Key Measurement Systems of unknown (and possibly unacceptable) capability.
Lack of reliable measurements with direct linkage to customer satisfaction.
Lack of understanding of current yields and the profitability impact potential of focused improvement projects.
My main learning from this line of thinking is that things are never static; they are either improving and expanding or declining and contracting. Leadership is one of the key levers that can catalyze expansion. Process Stewardship, both for early and late stage projects, is vial. Motivated process builders understand this need and create their own momentum and expansion.
An attribution: thanks to David Allen, who brought this whole concept of expansion versus contraction to my attention. David is the well-known author of the bestselling book “Getting Things Done”, which I very highly recommend.
This is issue #78 of this Process Perspective newsletter, the 1 & 1/2 year mark. Thanks to all the readers for their comments and insights: they are super useful to me and genuinely appreciated!
CHALLENGE TO READERS
Please think honestly and openly about you and your organization’s efforts building great manufacturing processes over the past 5 to 10 years…
What NOTABLE & IMPORTANT EXPANSIONS of process innovation and reliability have had the most business and customer impact? Can the lessons learned from this be codified and reused to accelerate ongoing/future projects?
Have CONTRACTIONS happened in any important process capabilities? Can you proactively devise and sell a proposal to stakeholders to reverse this situation?
Are your process capabilities expanding or contracting? What action can you take to leverage this situation and move forward confidently and successfully? I’d love to chat about it with you (508-410-8081) to discuss how MPES can help you dramatically accelerate your progress and profits.
If you email me I’ll get back to you promptly, thanks.
All the Best,
Marty
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