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The right type of training can mean the difference between engaging and alienating a workforce. I spoke to Peter Johnson, production director for Trox UK about their implementation of a strategy which is already making a difference to their bottom line.
Peter spent the early part of his career in the automotive industry which is renowned for its state of the art front line manufacturing techniques, but his move to Trox UK highlighted that despite the fact that they were a successful company they were very traditional and lacked knowledge of training techniques which are essential to any company.
Peter says: "Although the two industries are very different, when I started work at Trox it soon became clear that we needed to implement some form of training strategy in order to move the business forward. There was a big emphasis on globalisation and therefore companies with low labour costs were clearly the ones who were going to be successful. We had to change our cost base dramatically and raise the level of technology in our products in order to secure manufacturing for the UK."
Implementing a strategy
The answer for Trox came in the form of Six Sigma, a unified approach to achieving improved performance which, when implemented correctly will quite quickly show a dramatic change in performance.
Six Sigma is a means to drive quality to near perfection, and is a disciplined, data driven approach which aims to eliminate defects in any process from manufacturing to accounting and services. It uses a data based approach and encompasses an extremely wide toolkit aiming to increase customer satisfaction, drive out errors and waste, reduce costs and improve delivery.
Peter says: The Six Sigma process was developed by Motorola during the mid 1980's as a way to eliminate defects in standard processes and since then it has gone from strength to strength saving in excess of $17Bn to date. Because it can be applied to any process whether that is manufacturing or accounting, it can be introduced as a company wide approach, ensuring that it has the backing of every member of staff."
A sense of ownership
Trox started the Six Sigma process last year with a pilot scheme of two groups totalling 24 people who went through the first stage of training. Peter says: "The whole process is a bit like martial arts in that the Green Belt is someone who is part of the team, knows the techniques and is able to act jointly to solve a problem. The Black Belt is a team leader and the Master Black Belt is a guru - put simply the Black Belt runs the team and the Green Belts carry out the tasks, which is no different to the way most people do business. In addition to this there will be a Champion, the person who comes to the improvement team with a problem and asks them to sort it out.
"The real difference with this process is that you don't have to be a member of the management team in order to suggest a process improvement. For example, very early on in the training we had a situation with our paint plant because in this area of the factory we were constantly struggling with the organisation of work patterns due to space constraints. The team running the paint plant modelled their solution on the pc and then presented it at the next board meeting complete with a cost analysis to show the benefits of the investment.
"This is a good example of how the introduction of Six Sigma has changed the way that the company thinks and that because we are giving staff more control over what they are doing it also gives them a real sense of ownership."
How does it work?
The Six Sigma process works using the acronym DMAIC to achieve results:
- Define the problem - this includes setting the objectives to achieve the desired result.
- Measure the process - what is coming into the process and what is coming out.
- Analysis - look at all the data and use the statistical techniques to try to analyse what is going on and what the key drivers are.
- Improve - look at ways to improve the process and prove that the counter measures are working.
- Control mechanism - make sure that it continues in the future.
By following this simple procedure it means that everyone is working on the same level and in the same way. The other key part is the use of statistics in that if you have a process there will be both inputs and outputs and it doesn't matter what problem you are trying to solve, the theory will be the same.
The important part here is the output because this is what you are trying to achieve, and the use of the Bell Curve in the Six Sigma process is a powerful way of profiling the output. Put simply the Bell Curve profiles an output variable of the process and the goal is to make the curve as narrow as possible in comparison with the design tolerance (see diagram 1).
Peter says: "What Six Sigma is trying to do is reduce the variation of any process and thus reduce the number of defects. By using this Bell Curve it will force you to look at where you are going wrong and therefore reduce the variations in the process which are causing problems and with it the costs associated. If the width of the Bell Curve is reduced such that at least six standard deviations are contained between the mean and the nearest tolerance limit then there will be only 3.4 defects per million opportunities. The power of this technique is that it is possible to control your costs by reducing the variation."
Six Sigma in action
The basic problem with introducing anything new is that people are by nature resistant to change and if they don't wholeheartedly embrace it then it is doomed to failure, but according to Peter they have had a very good response from the whole workforce. "What we have done is introduce a new culture to the company where everyone is allowed to confront the issues which are causing problems and make changes to overcome them.
"One of the most encouraging things is that some people who were part of the pilot scheme last year are now Champions this year because they see the benefits and they want to use the processes to change the way they work. Most people are frustrated if they see a problem and don't know how to solve it but by giving them a means to provide a solution you will get the commitment that you need from everyone to make it work.
"We are basically trying to get to a situation where everyone feels that they have a part to play. By seeing the link between the effort which is put in and the results which come out of the other end, people are empowered by their success and the influence they have had which leads to a far more efficient and effective operation."
And finally
Training has always been a big issue for this industry and with budgets being cut it is easy to say that there just isn't enough money for it. This is a good example of why everyone needs to re-think that strategy. Yes it takes a lot of time and effort to get everyone trained to the same level but ultimately you will end up with a workforce empowered by the training they have received and will be looking for ways to save money.
If you are one of those companies where only the management team make decisions then you may want to take a long hard look at your strategy because here is proof that everyone has ideas and if you allow your employees to be creative you could be on the receiving end of some cost savings in the same way that Trox are.
