Church Pews
A manufacturer of church pews was having trouble keeping up with the increase in sales. The plant was operating two full-time shifts and a partial third shift when sales peaked. The current process involved joining wooden parts using a cumbersome gluing technique: apply glue, assemble and clamp parts, allow glue to cure, and remove excess glue when needed. Soon a full third shift would be needed. It was time to develop a new manufacturing process/equipment to improve quality, reduce cycle time, and eliminate the need for multiple shifts and overtime.
An engineering consulting firm was selected and project requirements agreed upon. The project plan called for delivery of the first new machine in nine months. The engineering consulting firm would install the equipment, establish operating procedures, train operators, and oversee start-up. A start-up team of two engineers and two technicians deliverd the equipment on time, and the equipment was meeting all the agreed upon requirements within one week.
Three days after the start-up team returned home, the owner of the church pew plant reported that the operators could not keep the machine running. The start-up team returned to the plant and could not find any reason why the machine could not perform as specified. They reestablished production conditions and ran the machine for three shifts. Three shutdowns and three start-ups were performed during the three shifts. The process was turned over to the operators meeting all the agreed upon requirements.
Three days after the start-up team returned home, the owner of the church pew plant delivered the same message! The operators could not keep the machine running. The start-up team returned to the plant and found the same situation as the first return trip. They left the plant with the process meeting all the agreed upon requirements. Three days after they returned home, the owner of the chruch pew plant delivered the third message of processing problems. Something was very wrong! The president of the consulting firm came along on the next trip to the plant.
As the start-up team was going through its troubleshooting process, the president was taking a coffee break in the plant cafeteria and spotted something on a bulletin board that solved the mystery. He went out to the production floor and instructed the start-up team to shut down the process, pack up the equipment, and send it home! He met with the owner of the plant and told him that his notice on the cafeteria bulletin board made it impossible for the new machine to ever work in his plant.
ATTENTION ALL EMPLOYEES
In approximately nine months a new manufacturing process will be installed that will…Improve Quality and Shorten the Production Cycle.
The employees had become used to the overtime pay, approximately 20% of each paycheck, and were not about to help the new process take that away. If the plant owner had set-up the new process in a pilot location away from the plant, and staffed it with employees from outside of the current plant population, he could have gradually made the transition from old to new technology in a rational manner.
An appropriate settlement regarding project expenses was ultimately agreed upon with some legal help.
THE GREATEST BARRIERS TO INNOVATION ARE VESTED INTEREST AND INERTIA!
ANALYZE THE EXAMPLE
* What were the dynamics?
* Which supports and barriers were in play?
* Who, or what, won the Tug-of-War?
* Discuss the outcome with your friends and family.
* Use Post #4 as a reference for the dynamics and the relationships between supports and barriers.