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Sarah Mauragis on women in Continuous Improvement
During high school, Sarah Mauraugis read an article in Seventeen Magazine about women in STEM, which set her on a course towards engineering. Today, she heads Continuous Improvement at Flow-Rite Controls, a manufacturer of fluid control devices based in Byron Michigan.
Ben Merton talks to her about the advantages of being a woman in a male-dominated world, how she builds and manages Flow-Rite's Kaizen funnel, and some fascinating insights into methods she uses to build a culture of continuous improvement.
Episode Summary
- Why being a woman can give you an advantage over men to come up with creative ways to solve problems that men often overlook.
- How Flow-Rite's has boosted innovation by adopting a rule that every employee must submit at least one continuous improvement idea each year.
- How Sarah builds and maintains Flow-Rite's Kaizen funnel using Excel sheets and whiteboards to address the 8 wastes, reducing wastage of scrap, energy and other resources
- A deeper insight into the result of a Kaizen into how the company was using its inventory management system, and the problems that result from band-aid software customizations that often add unnecessary steps to repetitive computer-related work.
- Why the current and future shortage of labor in manufacturing will hopefully drive efficiencies in communication and team management.
- Automation needs a human touch: it's not good enough just to invest in the latest and greatest machine. You need to understand how your employees will interact with new equipment to avoid waste.
- How measuring the success of a Continuous Improvement project does not just come down to savings and improved material flow. It's when new ways of doing things come from within and happen without coercion.
- Continous Improvement is about shepherding from the rear. There's no such thing as a Continuous Improvement manager; you're really just a facilitator and cheerleader.
- Women should strive to overcome stereotypes and break the mould because manufacturing desperately needs diversity to solve its problems.
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By Ben MertonDuring high school, Sarah Mauraugis read an article in Seventeen Magazine about women in STEM, which set her on a course towards engineering. Today, she heads Continuous Improvement at Flow-Rite Controls, a manufacturer of fluid control devices based in Byron Michigan.
Ben Merton talks to her about the advantages of being a woman in a male-dominated world, how she builds and manages Flow-Rite's Kaizen funnel, and some fascinating insights into methods she uses to build a culture of continuous improvement.
Episode Summary
- Why being a woman can give you an advantage over men to come up with creative ways to solve problems that men often overlook.
- How Flow-Rite's has boosted innovation by adopting a rule that every employee must submit at least one continuous improvement idea each year.
- How Sarah builds and maintains Flow-Rite's Kaizen funnel using Excel sheets and whiteboards to address the 8 wastes, reducing wastage of scrap, energy and other resources
- A deeper insight into the result of a Kaizen into how the company was using its inventory management system, and the problems that result from band-aid software customizations that often add unnecessary steps to repetitive computer-related work.
- Why the current and future shortage of labor in manufacturing will hopefully drive efficiencies in communication and team management.
- Automation needs a human touch: it's not good enough just to invest in the latest and greatest machine. You need to understand how your employees will interact with new equipment to avoid waste.
- How measuring the success of a Continuous Improvement project does not just come down to savings and improved material flow. It's when new ways of doing things come from within and happen without coercion.
- Continous Improvement is about shepherding from the rear. There's no such thing as a Continuous Improvement manager; you're really just a facilitator and cheerleader.
- Women should strive to overcome stereotypes and break the mould because manufacturing desperately needs diversity to solve its problems.