Production Machining - Your access to the precision machining industrial buyer.
Issue link: https://pm.epubxp.com/i/144459
TURNING POINT Sometimes the Tail Wags the Dog istractions are all around us. Trying to get a job done, be it writing about technology as I try to do or making quality parts at a proft while satisfying a customer, is your primary charge. My guess is I am not alone in noticing that our businesses have become more complex over the years. Being just a good metalworker, while vitally important for precision manufacturing, increasingly is insufcient to operate, and in many cases, participate in a successful business. Tere are many more hats on the rack in today's shop. Obviously, none of us know everything about business. We need to rely on experts to support the infrastructure of a manufacturing enterprise. Accounting, IT, human resources, billing, insurance, regulatory compliance are some of the ancillary functions that are part of the business environment that can be classifed as indirect costs; necessary, Being just a good but not directly involved metalworker, while in the shop's primary vitally important function of selling, making for precision and delivering good parts manufacturing, to the customer. In my mind, I compare increasingly is these indirect and direct insufcient to functions with a tail and a operate, and in many dog. Of course, I'm refercases, participate in a ring to the adage of "the successful business. tail wagging the dog." My question is, how many of your company's activities are led by the dog and how many are dictated by the dog's tail. I ask this because, while many of the indirect people know their jobs, many do not understand the business, yet may exert a disproportional infuence within their area of expertise. I'm not advocating a hierarchy of importance here. On the contrary, I see these diferent functions as opportunities to strengthen the overall organization by educating employees about how each function fts into the overall picture. One might call it leveling, cross-training or simply communicating. I am reminded of a time when design for manufacturability wasn't a widespread concept. Design engineers worked in their world, and once their job was done, they would fguratively and literally toss the job over a wall for the manufacturing people to make it. In those days it was bad form for the shop foor to suggest changes that might make a better part for less money. Enlightened companies eventually fgured out what D 6 PRODUCTION MACHINING :: AUGUST 2013 CHRIS KOEPFER Editor-In-Chief ckoepfer@productionmachining.com President Reagan said in Berlin: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Today, like united Germany, most companies have torn down the wall between design and manufacturing, and the resulting open communication channels have proven to be a huge beneft. And in many cases, this back and forth extends to the customer, as well. Shops that once wouldn't consider going back to a customer with manufacturability suggestions routinely prove their mettle and value by saving the customer money while delivering better parts. For many vendor/ customer relationships, it's become a win-win scenario where the key is communication and earned trust. Recently, I received a new computer with upgraded software. My IT guys swooped in and set it up. I didn't ask for the computer, but it's a company-wide upgrade, so my turn in line came up. A change in such a tool, critical for my job function, is not something I take lightly. My generation uses these tools, but unlike my young IT folks, we tend to see them as a means to an end, not the end itself. I remember the last time I had new software "given" to me— it was tortuous. Te main reason was that I failed to tell my IT folks what I needed. At the time, I had no idea what I needed. IT simply installed it, and default became my new normal. Tis time, I asked them to upload a bunch of things that I had labored to learn and learned to use for more efciency (such as shortcuts to important fles and address directories). Last time, it took me months to recreate my contacts list. It turned out that they were more than happy to accommodate my requests. I was assured that the settings I needed and wanted would be there. Sure, many of the buttons were in diferent places (Microsoft loves to do that), but my important things were right where I left them. It's been a very smooth transition. My point is that by communicating with my IT group, they were able to help me transition to a new computer and software suite. However, since they can't read my mind I had to let them know what was on it. Sometimes the dog needs to chase its tail.