How Manufacturers Improve

Your metrics should guide you in getting better results not leave you feeling like you’re on a rollercoaster. If you’ve ever jumped to conclusions, wanted to get to the root cause and never found one, or want to lead your team so they use data to make improvements then this week’s episode is for you.

In this week’s podcast episode we discuss Measures of Success by award-winning author, Mark Graban. You’ll learn how the measurement techniques in it can help you stop overreacting to every up and down in your performance metrics so you can spend more time making more improvements to your system.

Mark Graban is an author, speaker, and consultant. Mark is the author of the book Lean Hospitals and is co-author of a second book, titled Healthcare Kaizen. Both books are recipients of the Shingo Professional Publication and Research Award. His most recent book is Measures of Success: React Less, Lead Better, Improve More. Mark is the host of many podcasts including “My Favorite Mistake.” 

Be one of the first 10 listeners to claim your free book. Visit www.mfrall.com/MarkGraban

Stay interviews are growing in popularity for good reason. They can help you better understand the unique needs and interests of everyone on your team and do exactly what the name implies – help you retain talent.

Enjoy the conversation with Kirby Sneen from Manufacturers Alliance and Tom Goettl the Vice President of Konik Network as they discuss how you can overcome these challenges so you can successfully improve retention by implementing stay interviews.

Tom Goettel the Vice President of Konik Network, a technical recruiting and staffing firm specializing in engineering, manufacturing, and architecture. Tom has 20 years of experience in staffing and recruiting and is a Winona State University grad majoring in Human Resources Management.

Special thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Bremer Bank.  We know that the value of partnership is measured in trust, earned by helping you anticipate and grow through changes. Because right now relationships matter more than ever, and understanding is everything. Find out more at www.bremer.com

This week’s podcast episode is all about Improving your OEE that is your overall equipment effectiveness. You won’t want to miss Rick Bernett share from his 30+ years of operations management experience.

Rick Bernett has 30+ years of operations management experience from a variety of manufacturing environments including high volume low mix, high volume, high mix, and job shops from several different industries including food, consumer electronics, and metal fabrication.

If you’re ready to learn and leverage best practices from your peers, check out our Operations Peer Group by visiting www.mfrall.com/peers

Special thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Konik. Whether you’re seeking a direct-hire or contract employee, Konik’s technical talent network can quickly build a high-caliber team to meet your needs.  Contact them today at https://www.koniknetwork.com

In this episode, Mark Stevens shares from his 25 years of experience in guiding companies through technology integrations and operational experience. Once you connect your equipment on the shop floor the data you collect can help you increase equipment uptime and availability, accelerate the pace of problem-solving, and improve your companies output despite material and labor shortages.  

You might be thinking that connecting equipment is limited to the new machines or big companies with big budgets, but even small manufacturers can do it, with these few important things in place. 

Enjoy the conversation with Mark Stevens who heads up Wipfli’s manufacturing consulting practice. Our discussion draws from his 25 years of experience in guiding companies through technology integrations and operational experience

Special thanks to Wipfli.  Their manufacturing team will guide you through the technology of tomorrow while optimizing your finances and operations of today. From optimizing production to managing distribution, we help manufacturers level up their operations and turn obstacles into opportunities. Learn more at www.wipfli.com/manufacturing

In this episode, Ryan Fleser, the Director of Quality and EHS at Uponor North America, shares how to take yourself and your team from fighting fires, to preventing problems from happening. This episode is all about preventing problems from happening. One of the biggest problems we all see that causes lower yields than what we’d like is scrap and day-to-day fluctuations in yield make it hard to figure out when your process is really reliable. So how do you prevent problem from happening and reduce variation to improve yields?

There are lots of ways to reduce scrap and improve yields like DMAIC or A3 but even they could present some level of “over processes”. A more straightforward approach with less complex tools like practical problem solving could be a great way for you to engage operators or technicians.

But most importantly is that you pick an approach so you can make the switch from fire-fighting to installing a sprinkler system to prevent these problems from getting out of hand.

Enjoy the conversation with Ryan Fleser, the Director of Quality and EHS at Uponor North America, as we talk about preventing problems from happening you’ll definitely appreciate learning from his 36 years of quality leadership experience.

Ryan Fleser is the director of Quality and Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) for Uponor North America. He holds 36 years of experience in the Quality field as well as 12 years in Environmental Management and has held director roles in various manufacturing companies since 1998, including Daiken Applied and Advantek. He has extensive training and experience in implementing Quality and Environmental Management systems that are certified to international standards, including ISO 9001, 140001, and 50001. For eight years, he served as adjunct instructor at the Dunwoody College of Technology in Minneapolis, Minn., teaching bachelor's completion degree courses in their Applied Management and Leadership Program. He has a Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology from Eastern Kentucky University. He is also a participating member of U.S. ISO Technical Advisory Groups 176 and 207, which involve the development and determination of the U.S. position for International Quality and Environmental Management standards.

If you've hit a roadblock in developing your team and you want the support, insights, and expertise of your peers attend a peer group meeting. www.mfrall.com/peers

Special thanks to this episode’s sponsor:  CBIZ works with manufacturing clients in Minnesota and beyond to pinpoint tax and operational savings opportunities, mitigate risk, identify improvements to controls and manage compliance requirements across jurisdictions. To learn more go to www.CBIZ.com

If you’re ready to take your growth to the next level, learn more about our Greenbelt Certification by visiting: https://www.mfrall.com/6-sigma-green-belt-certification/

In this bonus episode Kacinda Ruiz, Meg Hanaman, Jill Zoschke, and Kirby Sneen share how they have gone from an “us vs them” culture to a unified team.

In this episode Diane Bartels and Kirby Sneen discuss how you can leverage your success, attack the red, and draw out the natural problem-solving capability in all of us.

The idea of developing a critical mass of people at your company to be able to solve their own problems can sound great but can leave you wondering where and how to start.

But you’ve got to figure out because you know it will lead to a competitive advantage and you know it will help you retain talent and you know that developing the skill sets of others is the right thing to do for your company and the industry because problems never go away, new ones present themselves.

Diane Bartels is a strategic division operations manager at Parker Hannifin where she guides us through how to do this from a position of strength where you can leverage your successes and attack what is red from a position of green and draw out that natural problem-solving capability in all of us.

If you’re ready to take your growth to the next level, learn more about our Lean Practitioner Certification by visiting: https://www.mfrall.com/lean-practitioner-certification/

Special thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Konik. Whether you’re seeking a direct-hire or contract employee, Konik’s technical talent network can quickly build a high-caliber team to meet your needs.  Contact them today at www.koniknetwork.com

In this episode, we will cover our top takeaways from 2021 including working with different personalities, developing metrics that drive the right behaviors, overcoming significant supply chain issues, and creating a culture that is focused on accountability.

Thank you for listening to the show and allowing us to feature some of the best talent manufacturing has to offer and address some of the biggest challenges the industry has ever seen and as a result grow the impact of the Podcast to over 40,000 listeners.

To learn more about Manufacturers Alliance and to get a special membership offer for Podcast Listeners check out our website: www.mfrall.com/membership-podcast

In this episode, Kirby Sneen and Dan Powley discuss how you can perform at your best and lead others to a life that is significant. 

If you want to be an influential leader, you need to do a good job of leading yourself first. The challenge we all face is in clearly understanding our role, responsibility, and limitations.  In this interview with Dan Powley, a Continuous Improvement Leader for AbelConn, you will be guided through how to transition from survival to success, so that you can lead yourself and others to a life that is significant. 

To learn more about how you can grow as an influential leader visit www.mfrall.com/strategic-leader-certification/

The sponsor for today’s podcast is Konik. Located in Minneapolis, Konik specializes in finding manufacturing employees for direct hire and contract positions. Learn more by visiting: www.koniknetwork.com