Promotion - Yay!

[Ed]

I'm heading for a big promotion at work, but I'm scared to death. For
the past five years, I've been a technical guy (3/4 networking, 1/4
programming). I got my undergraduate degree in information systems and
just completed my MBA in marketing. I'm 26 years old, with only five
years of solid work experience. Now they want to put me in charge of
customer service at our manufacturing plant.

I'll have 3-4 employees and around 50 accounts, some huge. The current
morale is very low, given the economic climate over the past 3-4 years
in manufacturing. Hundreds of similar plants have gone under, including
one of our sister plants. Everyone fears for their job (including me,
now that I might be leaving a fairly stable office job for a plant job).

The #1 problem I'm inheriting is outdated production processes.
Everything is still done on pencil and paper! Tickets are passed
between production lines, then recorded in books, which are then typed
into spreadsheets, and so on. I've been told efficiencies are in the
toilet. I know they are wanting to hire me since I have a technical
background and good working relationships with my current co-workers on
the IT staff. If anyone has the background knowledge and connections to
fully automate the line and design a new customer intranet as a result,
it's me. My problem, is I've never worked in a manufacturing
environment before. I've never worked in customer service either,
though I don't think it would be very hard given the trough we're in
now, especially if we can give our customers better information.

And that's the problem - our customers have lousy information, even
though our marketing objectives are prime customer service and product
quality (since we can't, and shouldn't, compete on price). We
constantly oversell our capacity, so we're constantly giving our
customers excuses on why we can't get product to them. Upper management
doesn't seem to budge on their position of overselling, and the plant is
a mad house because of it (more on this, if you're interested). I
believe we're shooting ourselves in the foot (on a side note, how does
one go about proving this in quantitative form where management will
listen?). Management's logic is running the plant 24/7 to spread out
the fixed costs. They say if we don't run we lose money. While I can
understand the logic behind that point, I also see us breaking promises
to our customers.

I don't know... this is the most uncertain position I've ever been in.
One part of me wants to jump in and save the day, while the other half
wants to jump ship and find a different company (or start one). I'll
either have to relocate or commute an extra 45 minutes each way. Right
now, my commute is a mere 10 minutes. The town is not nearly as nice or
big, and we like the place where we live. The sacrifices are fairly large.

Might be worth all of this depending on the pay. How much is reasonable
to ask for a top-tier manufacturing job that has so much positive impact
on the company (assuming, of course, that I can pull this stuff off)?
I've been shafted several times with regard to pay, but other factors
have made less pay worth it. Now I'll have 5x the work load divided
among two jobs (customer service manager and systems analyst), and I
don't want to get shafted again. Truth is... I like the people and the
company, but I have certain expectations for the well-being of my
family. If I'm going to be gone 15 hours out of the day, my family
deserves *way* better than $50,000/year. There are other important
intangibles as well, but the pay must be there.

The thing that worries me here is opportunity cost. I've been looking
strongly at starting my own business. I have ties to good people at the
local university, and I'm passionate about several ideas. An average
40-hour work week has allowed plenty of time to pursue my ideas. Extra
time and effort at the plant means I'll almost certainly put my bigger
plans on hold for a while. I just don't know..... All I do know is that
I'm ready to *DO* something with my life that's worthwhile - something
that betters my life and everyone else's.

I need some sage advice from the wonderful people on this group. I
would appreciate any insight you have, as I'm way too close to the
situation to think clearly. If you've read this far, thanks for listening!

[John Senior]

I wouldn't accept any job where you know going in you are looking at 5x the
workload and 15 hour days. Life is too short to kill yourself like that.
At least not working for someone else.



No offense, but you admit to zero experience in manufacturing or customer
service and they want to put you in charge of customer service at a
manufacturing plant? I'd ask them to explain their reasoning. My chief
concern would be being set up as the fall guy for an already bad situation.



At the very least suggest they hire someone to assist you and lessen those
15 hour days. If they balk at that I'd turn it down as they aren't making
sensible decisions and are putting you in a no-win situation.



John

[___cliff rayman___]

Post by Ed
I'm heading for a big promotion at work, but I'm scared to death. For
the past five years, I've been a technical guy (3/4 networking, 1/4
programming). I got my undergraduate degree in information systems and
just completed my MBA in marketing. I'm 26 years old, with only five
years of solid work experience. Now they want to put me in charge of
customer service at our manufacturing plant.

sounds like you have enough experience and education to take advantage
of a great opportunity

Post by Ed
I'll have 3-4 employees and around 50 accounts, some huge. The current
morale is very low, given the economic climate over the past 3-4 years
in manufacturing. Hundreds of similar plants have gone under, including
one of our sister plants. Everyone fears for their job (including me,
now that I might be leaving a fairly stable office job for a plant job).

Look at it this way, you are young enough to recover. This is a good
time to take chances. Remember this, if failure is expected, if it
fails - you don't look bad, if it is a success - you look terrific.

Post by Ed
The #1 problem I'm inheriting is outdated production processes.
Everything is still done on pencil and paper! Tickets are passed
between production lines, then recorded in books, which are then typed
into spreadsheets, and so on. I've been told efficiencies are in the
toilet. I know they are wanting to hire me since I have a technical
background and good working relationships with my current co-workers on
the IT staff. If anyone has the background knowledge and connections to
fully automate the line and design a new customer intranet as a result,
it's me. My problem, is I've never worked in a manufacturing
environment before. I've never worked in customer service either,
though I don't think it would be very hard given the trough we're in
now, especially if we can give our customers better information.

You have more than enough experience and training to undertake this
project unless the manufacturing factility is very large, or you are not
given the proper authority to do so. It sounds like management knows
what they are doing by putting you in this position. You are an IT guy
with an MBA in marketing. Who better to use automation to make this
manufacturing facility efficient and responsive to the needs of the
customers.

Post by Ed
And that's the problem - our customers have lousy information, even
though our marketing objectives are prime customer service and product
quality (since we can't, and shouldn't, compete on price). We
constantly oversell our capacity, so we're constantly giving our
customers excuses on why we can't get product to them. Upper management
doesn't seem to budge on their position of overselling, and the plant is
a mad house because of it (more on this, if you're interested). I
believe we're shooting ourselves in the foot (on a side note, how does
one go about proving this in quantitative form where management will
listen?). Management's logic is running the plant 24/7 to spread out
the fixed costs. They say if we don't run we lose money. While I can
understand the logic behind that point, I also see us breaking promises
to our customers.

You need to create a financial model in excel. First test the results
of the changes you think need to be made, and then see how it effects
the bottom line. It is hard to sell management on a reduced bottom
line, but happier cusotmers. Of course, as part of customer service,
you can get quite a bit of feedback not only from your existing
customers, but more importantly, the customers who are no longer doing
business with you. Call up some of them and ask them why they are no
longer doing business with you and record their answers. If the
majority reason seems to be lack of good service and on time deliveries,
then you might be able to show management how much in sales and
therefore profits is being lost because of this overselling of
capacity. You can do this directly in the spreadsheet. Perhaps prices
can be raised a little to make up for the reduced capacity utilization.

Post by Ed
I don't know... this is the most uncertain position I've ever been in.
One part of me wants to jump in and save the day, while the other half
wants to jump ship and find a different company (or start one). I'll
either have to relocate or commute an extra 45 minutes each way. Right
now, my commute is a mere 10 minutes. The town is not nearly as nice or
big, and we like the place where we live. The sacrifices are fairly large.

These types of issues are hard to quantify. Starting your own company
is probably more risky than trying out this new position for a while.
You can always resign if it looks like you can't make it work.

Post by Ed
Might be worth all of this depending on the pay. How much is reasonable
to ask for a top-tier manufacturing job that has so much positive impact
on the company (assuming, of course, that I can pull this stuff off)?

Need more information. How large is the total company in revenues.
What percentage of revenues and/or profits does this manufacturing
facility represent. What is your position relative to the person who
has income statement responsibility for this division.

Post by Ed
I've been shafted several times with regard to pay, but other factors
have made less pay worth it. Now I'll have 5x the work load divided
among two jobs (customer service manager and systems analyst), and I
don't want to get shafted again. Truth is... I like the people and the
company, but I have certain expectations for the well-being of my
family. If I'm going to be gone 15 hours out of the day, my family
deserves *way* better than $50,000/year. There are other important
intangibles as well, but the pay must be there.

You need to ask for whatever seems worth it for you to take it on.
Remember, you can ask for a regular salary plus a success bonus. Only
ask for a success bonus if you believe that you will be supported in
achieving your objectives by the management directly above you as well
as all the way up the chain of command.

Post by Ed
The thing that worries me here is opportunity cost. I've been looking
strongly at starting my own business. I have ties to good people at the
local university, and I'm passionate about several ideas. An average
40-hour work week has allowed plenty of time to pursue my ideas. Extra
time and effort at the plant means I'll almost certainly put my bigger
plans on hold for a while. I just don't know..... All I do know is that
I'm ready to *DO* something with my life that's worthwhile - something
that betters my life and everyone else's.

This is a tough decision. Perhaps you need an executive coach to help
you make this decision. I know of a good one if you are interested (I
do not get any commission or any other benefits by recommending his
service).

Post by Ed
I need some sage advice from the wonderful people on this group. I
would appreciate any insight you have, as I'm way too close to the
situation to think clearly. If you've read this far, thanks for listening!

Good luck!!

[Wayne Lundberg]

Post by Ed
I'm heading for a big promotion at work, but I'm scared to death. For
the past five years, I've been a technical guy (3/4 networking, 1/4
programming). I got my undergraduate degree in information systems and
just completed my MBA in marketing. I'm 26 years old,

Been there, done that. I have a formula for you to use that will bring you
success, both personally and for your company. Please start by making an
honest evaluation of your manufacturing processes using the following
checklist. Then get back to me in person or via this newsgroup for
additional instructions. Believe me, manufacturing is my game and I have
turned enough companies from losers to winners to know what I'm talking
about.

1- Clean employee restrooms. If they are messy, as in most cases, it is a
clear indication that management does not really care about their front line
employees and may be difficult to introduce any change.
2- Ask any employee their reason for being there and if a hint of the
leaders mission statement is not perceived, then again, chances of making
any significant improvement are nil since its obvious the enterprise is
without a helm.
3- Look for suggestion boxes, or at least a clearly defined method for
employees, customers and vendors to get their ideas up the chain of command
in such a way that they will be listened to. Actively listened to!
4- Area managers and supervisors use critical variable checklist every day?
5- No conveyors. More movement from station to station by hand. Enough
space for only a few articles in queue. It is impossible to determine the
slowest station in a moving conveyor or rotary table system with more than
three or four operators. By observing queue an ME can focus on speeding up
that particular station and continue to do so again and again, forever
speeding up the line and making work more fun for employees and management.
6- Tools in good shape, instructions clearly written and amply illustrated,
good lighting conditions, comfortable work areas.
7- Quality materials are fed into the system and are there when needed.
8- Kan-Ban type supply system where everything is where it should be when
needed.
9- Neat reward system such as early time off when quota is completed,
simple celebrations from time to time, recognition for exceptional work.
10- A method for people to work on exceptional projects which means the
organization has a CPI in place and there is a potential for a success
spiral.
11- Supervisors are teachers and leaders, the foreman blames himself for
errors made by his people and takes corrective action to make sure they don
t happen again by implementing better tools, training or systems for people
to succeed.
12- A real and working Request for Corrective Action process throughout the
organization including vendors and customers.
13- Measurables, clearly in sight, well understood, including financial
information so employees know the consequences from activities, mistakes,
advances, etc.
14- Does every employee know the destination of their work upon completion?
15- Are designs drawn in 3D database, under configuration control, and used
as-is to generate tool-paths, jigs, fixtures, molds, gages, final packaging,
assembly instructions, sales literature, spare parts catalog?
16- On NC mills do you see two vices, one being machined while an operator
services the second vice by taking off the finished part and reloading with
raw material?
17- Do you see evidence of quick-change tooling at work?
18- Do you see a proliferation of job aids, ready and available on demand?
Things such as cardboard templates, plastic molded fixtures, modified hand
tools, one-shot bench cutters, trimmers??
19- Is there a dual career path open to those wishing to stay in technical
fields?
20- Is training considered an expense or an investment?

Post by Ed
From JohnN486

Waste takes on many shapes and forms. It can be associated with, but is not
limited to:

Wasted time.
Wasted materials or parts.
Unplanned equipment downtime.
Scrap production.
Poor quality.
High overtime.
Absenteeism.
Accidents.
Inventory.
Obsolete equipment, sitting around and taking up space.
Poor communications.
Stocked tools that haven't been used in years.
Things you see in trash bins, that are still usable; i.e., nuts, bolts,
pipes,
etc.
Environmental fines.
Missed customer shipments.
Customer complaints.
Misdirected freight.
Old problems keep reappearing.
Redundancies and duplication of work.
Misdirected efforts.
Wasted time on nonessential activities.
All things that have to be redone.
Accounting errors.
No parts in warehouse, to include wrong or bad parts.
Excessive paperwork.
Computer, LAN or system down-time.
Not receiving the right training to do a good job.
Substandard equipment that always is in the maintenance shop
Etc., etc., etc.