us verses them

For as long as I've been in manufacturing, I have been aware of the 'us verses them' phenomenon. I'm talking about the exchange between new product and equipment engineers who create stuff versus the manufacturing engineers who are handed this new stuff and expected to make product.

The 'us' is typically the manufacturing guys who are handed the short stick when the development guys (them) use up all the customer timing and may not finish their work.

The problem arises with expectations I suppose.

The (new product) engineers expect the manufacturing plant to know everything they know * VERSUS * while the manufacturing engineers expect product and equipment to be delivered in working order.

I can see both sides:

New engineers are pushed on timing, timing to their managers or timing to the customer.

Manufacturing engineers are often in charge of multiple pieces of equipment and have less time to work on an incomplete designs.

So, how do we fix?

Meeting expectations is really the solution.

How? (some basic solutions often missed)

FOR THE PRODUCT & EQUIPMENT ENGINEERS

• Finish your work

• Do the high volume product run-offs to uncover (less than complete) equipment

• Find variation and fix it

• Complete documentation (and all 'PSO' materials)

• Create operator instructions specific to your machine/product

• Train the manufacturing crowd on 'how' to run it and how to fix it (note: see above where it shouldn't really need to be fixed at all!)
  

• Hand off all your documentation to help manufacturing stand on their own

FOR THE RECEIVING MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS

• Hold the developers accountable for delivering complete designs

• Be available to learn how to use the new equipment

• Understand basic problem solving and use of basic tools for basic fixes

Down in Mexico

Down in Mexico things are different.

Down in Mexico, people are genuinely interested in who you are. It's also good to know that while extremely hard working, time means much less than it does in the midwest.

What does this mean to you?

Your Mexican colleagues might not show up to the meeting at the same time as you, nor complete that project as you requested - at the same time, alternatives to your expectations might be caused by how you've communicated such timing and information.

Maybe it's you.

Cultural differences run both ways and it's important to understand how to say something as much as what to say.

What's wrong

There is a lot of focus on fixing what is wrong in our businesses.

Mistakes

Failures

PPM

Inefficiency

Fat

I do this in my business. In fact, I get a lot of business to come in to ‘fix’ what is wrong.

As a kid I learned fast to make do with what I was given. I learned to make do with what was known. I learned how to fix what was broken. I learned that their is always a positive solution.

I still apply this thinking and these lessons today making something work or developing something new with known quantities and information. Even in development, we know a lot – and are simply leveraging the little bit we know to solve or create something unique.

I dare say in focusing on what is ‘safe’, to focus on what is ‘great’, we thereby focus on what makes us strong as well as the strengths of others.

By focusing on what is good and expanding on what makes you great now, we can move forward to an even better place.

A better place to work.

A better colleague to work with.

A better team to leverage.

A better product.

A bigger bank account.