Pragmatic Plant Manager

Why The Pragmatic Plant Manager website:

 

 

There is a proliferation of literature and firms prescribing lean, operational excellence, manufacturing excellence, lean-6s, and other derivatives of manufacturing systems and continuous improvement. These all come at a cost; each slightly different. How does an operations leader know which to choose to satisfy their current need? 

 

Underwhelming results may be the fault of an eager executive at a critical inflection point of the business or the grand vision of the lean consultant. Perhaps expectations are too ambitious regarding the magnitude of the results in a rather brief period of time. The Pragmatic Plant Manager prescribes to reasonable expectations that are scalable as a function of effort, resources and commitment. 

 

“Are you better today than yesterday, will you be better tomorrow than today?”

 

The word “better” is subjective and scalable. “Today” and “tomorrow” are also subjective. One should move as quickly as the the organization can absorb the change or as quickly as business conditions require.

 

The production philosophy pursued is not as important as the conviction to succeed. A discipline with execution leads to success. Therefore, you, the leader, must decide whatis appropriate for the organization and how quickly change is necessary.  The Pragmatic Plant Manager will articulate a framework from which improvement tools can be successfully deployed. The Pragmtic Plant Manager will discuss what should be considered as you choose to introduce them to your organization. 

 

The objective of PragmaticPlantManager.com is to present a framework that is simple to understand and relevant to most. It is not prescriptive. The reader who elects to exploit each page of the site will find a complete playbook for the manufacturing plant manager addressing Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost. The tools will be presented in a logical sequence assuming all tools will be implemented. However, each area of concentration could stand on its own. It is our belief success is more likely if the sequence is maintained. There is a reason the Pragmatic Plant Manager begins its journey with Safety. If the reader believes they have achieved excellence in one area, success is still likely in the other concentrations of the Pragmatci Plant Manager (Safety, Quality, Delivery, Cost).  An assessment tool will be available to evaluate the current maturity of your existing system and its compatabiity with other concentrations within the Pragmatic Plant Manager operations model.

 

PragmaticPlantManager.com will:

 

• Educate

• Summarize to create awareness for executives

• Have specificity to utilize as an implementation roadmap

• Suggest standard work for the leaders of the organization

• Refer to widely-available, well-documented, free resources and tools to assist with your journey.

• Enable the reader to develop a “personalized” plan.

 

 

The Website:

 

PragmaticPlantManager.com will evolve over time to become a complete source supporting your journey to become the best manuafcturing facility in your company. What you need will be found through the pragmaticplantmanager.com portal. PragmaticPlantManager.com will provide references to widely available, well-documented free resources. It will also provide sufficient content, unique to PragmaticPlantManger.com, to stand on its own.

 

The vision for The Pragmatic Plant Manager is to become a recognized brand in this space. Books are anticipated to provide detail for specific topics. The books will not be required to be successful but will serve as training tools and reference-guides for managers and associates. They may accelerate your journey toward excellence by reducing trial and error discoveries.

 

 

Operating Principles

 

Colin Powell suggested great leaders simplify to help others understand. The Pragmatic plant manager prescribes to just three principles:

 

Protect the Team,

Protect the Customer and

Protect the Shareholder.

 

Three simple statements all beginning with the same verb – protect. The word protect implies one must know what each constituent needs from the manufacturing system. The three constituents are logical, in priority sequence, and all inclusive. No one is left out. Without reading further, one may wish to debate the sequence in which they appear. The reader may not be fortunate to have his or her organization already aligned to these priorities. In many organizations there is a belief that reality reverses this sequence; prioritizing the need of the shareholders first and the team last. Please challenge this perception vigorously.

 

Consider this carefully. Actions must match your message. You cannot ignore the pressing needs of the organization or basic goals and objectives while you pursue the Pragmatic Plant Manager operating model.

 

Your organization must be profitable

You must meet the needs of your customers

Your products must meet the quality standards of your industry

Your must delivery products on time

 

These can’t be ignored. You must do enough to meet the basic needs of your customers and shareholders as you build the Pragmatic Plant Manager system. Meeting the basic needs and developing your Pragmatic Plant Manager operations model must be done simultaneously.

 

Start this journey re-committing to your current approach. You will compliment this with Pragmatic Plant Manager concepts. Eventually, these concepts become your new operating model and replace outdated policies, procedures and processes.

 

Protect the Team:

The Pragmatic Plant Manager protects the team by focusing on safety and measuring employee morale. The measurement of morale must be with sufficient detail to draw conclusions and develop improvement plans. Acting in these areas demonstrates the respect you have for the members of the team. You demonstrate their importance to the organization by taking care of their needs first.

 

Protect the Customer:

The Pragmatic Plant Manager protects the customer by focusing on quality and delivery. Quality is frist defined by the engineering community that designed the product. Delivery will be defined by your firm considering the needs of the market. Regardless of how one interprets the market, the Pragmatic Plant Manager understands the lead-times required of the production system and measures to this standard. Achieving excellence in these areas builds the reputation of your brand, enabling the sales team to sell your products with confidence. The reputation of your products and delivery reliability become a sales tool.

 

Protect the Shareholder:

The Pragmatic Plant Manager understands profit and loss. The Pragamtic Plant Manager understands the firm must make money to stay in business. Success in all other areas, without success here does not provide long term security for the Pragnmatic Plant Manager, his/her team or the facility in which they work. The Pragmatic Plant Manager will deploy lean tools and strategies to improve the cost structure and cash-flow. 

 

 

Policy Deployment

 

PragmaticPlantManager.com presents a roadmap to consistently meet these operating principles. Even with this simply understood roadmap, distractions occur and it’s easy to lose your path. You are strongly encouraged to consider this a journey. The annual planning module will provide a means for you to simply articluate the organizational priorities and monitor your progress.

 

Pragmaticplantmanager.com will not provide all of the answers to the challenges you may face. Each journey is different – but we can all reach our destination. Use pragmaticplantmanager.com as a forum to share your experiences and learn from your peers.You will make mistakes and you will learn along the way. You, as the leader, need to understand the capacity your team has for change. 

 

We encourage you not approach this as revolutionary change. Be patient. Your team needs time to understand the new philosophies and techniques. 

 

 

Enjoy the site.

 

Please conclude your visit at the contact page and provide feedback. We wish the site to evolve over time to meet the needs or our reader.