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MiMfg Magazine
Premium
Associate
Member
July 2019
Doing Less with Less
By Chuck Mouranie CTP • EDSI Consulting
Manufacturing is constantly challenged by never-
ending market pressures and declining budgets. This
is even more prevalent as we approach an economic
slowdown. The opposite is also true when plants are
above stated capacity; hiring is a struggle due to lack
of available trained candidates and the push for
profits seems to overtake logic.
This “more with less” philosophy ultimately causes
increased stress on existing staff. It tends to place
more burden on the highest performers who remain.
Eventually, these performers become disenchanted
with the organization yielding reduced customer
satisfaction and potential revenue reduction. Another
downside of this decision is valued employees giving
up on the company or organization all together and
seeking employment elsewhere. This makes a short
staff even more strained.
Disconnected leadership propagates this short-
sighted vision. Lack of communication either
through unrealistic metrics or by hiding behind
big oak desks or closed conference rooms leads
to worker trust issues. All facilitate a two-class
workforce and deficient overall performance.
Consider another way to handle this situation by
doing “less with less.” Legacy products and services
with declining demand could be considered for
elimination thus refocusing the organization on the
most important functions and profit-making
products. A methodical approach of consolidation of
resources, production line optimization, and enhanced
metric focus make this transformation possible and
fruitful. Forward thinking organizations address this
during good times in preparation of the inevitable.
Attacking unprofitable production lines is
another option. Every effort should be made to
squeeze cost and inefficiency from existing lines.
This is done by applying lean production principles
such as single piece flow, line balancing, elimination
of the cost of non-conformance and error proofing,
just to name a few. The application of automation
of repetitive functions should be a critical element
to this process as this will permit reassigning
critical manpower.
Manufacturing organizations also need to be
addressed. “Traditional” organization structures
must be challenged to free up existing leadership.
The new structure must support a culture that
continually challenges the norm, allows for greater
growth within the organization and enhanced
communication with those that truly make money
for the company.
This transformation permits new stars to shine.
Younger workers want freedom to be creative. This
new structure should drive decision making to the
lowest levels of the team thus expediting change in a
quickly evolving market. This change empowers the
workforce thus adding to job fulfillment and
employee retention.
Let’s recap. Doing “more with less” eventually
gives you less — not more. It might be a near-term
improvement but ends up being a longer-term disaster.
Doing “less with less” refocuses the organization to
maintain or improve customer satisfaction and
profitability by narrowing the organizational reach
to those things that are truly important. It also
facilitates better communication and builds powerful
teams to take on the ever-changing markets.
Focus on what the company does best and your
customers will be happy. A significant biproduct
of this transformation is energized employees.
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Chuck Mouranie CTP is partner & managing director for
EDSI Consulting. He may be reached at 313-271-2660.
EDSI Consulting is an MMA Premium Associate member
and has been an MMA member company since January
2013. Visit online: www.edsisolutions.com.