The Goal: a process of Ongoing Improvement

that
my fate? My God. And anyway, do lines like that even work these
days? Did they ever?
I must know 
somebody 
to go out with.
For a while, I sit there thinking of all the available women I know. Who
would go out with me? Whom would I want to go out with? It doesn’t take
long to exhaust the list. Then one woman comes to mind. Getting up from my
chair, I go to the phone and spend about five minutes staring at it.
Should I?
Nervously, I dial the number. I hang up before it rings. I stare at the phone
some more. Oh, what the hell! All she can do is say no, right? I dial the
number again. It rings about ten times before anyone answers.
"Hello.’’ It’s her father.
"May I speak to Julie please.’’

---

Pause. "Just a minute.’’
The moments pass.
"Hello?’’ says Julie.
"Hi, it’s me.’’
"Al?’’
I say, "Yeah, listen, I know it’s late, but I just want to ask you something.’’
"If it has to do with getting a divorce or coming home—’’
"No, no, no,’’ I tell her. "I was just wondering if while you’re making up
your mind, there would be any harm in us seeing each other once in a while.’’
She says, "Well...I guess not.’’
"Good. What are you doing Saturday night?’’ I ask. There is a moment of
silence as the smile forms on her face. Amused, she asks, "Are you asking me
for a date?’’ "Yes, I am.’’
Long pause.
I say, "So would you like to go out with me?’’
"Yes, I’d like that a lot,’’ she says finally.
"Great. How about I see you at 7:30?’’
"I’ll be ready,’’ she says.
The next morning in the conference room, we’ve got the two supervisors
of the bottlenecks with us. By "us,’’ I mean Stacey, Bob, Ralph and me. Ted
Spencer is the supervisor responsible for the heat-treat furnaces. He’s an
older guy with hair that looks like steel wool and a body like a steel file.

---

We’ve got him and Mario DeMonte, supervisor of the machining center with
the NCX-10. Mario is as old as Ted, but plumper.
Stacey and Ralph both have red eyes. Before we sat down, they told me
about the work that went into this morning’s meeting.
Getting the list of overdue orders was easy. The computer listed them and
sorted them according to lateness. Nothing to it, 
didn’t even take a minute.
But then they had to go over the bills of
material for each of the orders and
find out which parts are done by the bottlenecks. And they had to establish
whether there was inventory to make those parts. That took most of the night.
We all have our own photocopies of a hand-written list Ralph has had
prepared. Listed in the print-out is a grand total of sixty seven records, our
total backlog of overdue orders. They have been sorted from most-days-past-
due to least-days. The worst one, at the top of the list, is an order that is fifty
eight days beyond the delivery date promised by marketing. The best are one
day late; there are three of those orders.
"We did some checking,’’ says Ralph. "And about ninety percent of the
current overdues have parts that flow through one or both of the bottleneck
operations. Of those, about eighty five percent are held up at assembly
because we’re waiting for those parts to arrive before we can build and ship.’’
"So it’s obvious those parts get first priority,’’ I explain to the two
supervisors.
Then Ralph says, "We went ahead and made a list for both heat-treat and the
NCX-10 as to which parts they each have to process and in what order—
again, the same sequence of latest order to least late. In 
a day or two
we can
generate the list by computer and stop burning the midnight oil.’’
"Fantastic, Ralph. I think both you and Stacey have done a super job,’’ I tell
him. Then I turn to Ted and Mario. "Now, all you gentlemen have to do is
have your foremen start at the top of the list and work their way down.’’
"That sounds easy enough,’’ says Ted. "I think we can handle that.’’

---

"You know, we may have to go track some of these down,’’ says Mario.
"So you’ll have to do some digging through the inventory,’’ says Stacey.
"What’s the problem?’’
Mario frowns and says, "No problem. You just want us to do what’s on this
list, right?’’
"Yep, it’s that simple,’’ I say. "I don’t want to see either of you working on
something not on that list. If the expeditors give you any problem, tell them
to come see me. And be sure you stick to the sequence we’ve given you.’’
Ted and Mario both nod.
I turn to Stacey and say, "You do understand how important it is for the
expeditors not to interfere with this priority list, don’t you?’’
Stacey says, "Okay, but you have to promise me you won’t change it because
of pressure from marketing.’’
"My word of honor,’’ I tell her. Then I say to Ted and Mario, "In all
seriousness, I hope you two guys know that heat-treat and the NCX-10 are
the most important processes in the whole plant. How well you manage those
two could very well determine whether this plant has a future.’’
"We’ll do our best,’’ says Ted.
"I can assure you that they will,’’ says Bob Donovan.
Right after that meeting, I go down the hall to the personnel relations for
a meeting with Mike O’Donnell, the union local president. When I walk in,
my personnel manager, Scott Dolin, is gripping the armrests of his chair with
white knuckles, while O’Donnell is talking at the top of his voice.
"What’s the problem here?’’ I ask.

---

"You know very well what the problem is: your new lunch rules in heat-treat
and n/c machining,’’ says O’Donnell. "They’re in violation of the contract. I
refer you to Section Seven, Paragraph Four...’’
I say, "Okay, wait a minute, Mike. It’s time we gave the union an update on
the situation of the plant.’’
For the rest of the morning I describe for him the situation the plant is in.
Then I tell him some of what we’ve discovered and explain why the changes
are necessary.
Wrapping up, I say, "You understand, don’t you, that it’s probably only going
to affect about twenty people at the most?’’
He shakes his head.
"Look, I appreciate you trying to explain all this,’’ he says. "But we got a
contract. Now if we look the other way on one thing, what’s to say you won’t
start changing whatever else you don’t like?’’
I say, "Mike, in all honesty, I can’t tell you that down the road aways, we
won’t need to make other changes. But we’re ultimately talking about jobs.
I’m not asking for cuts in wages or concessions on benefits. But I am asking
for flexibility. We have to have the leeway necessary to make changes that
will allow the plant to make money. Or, very simply, there may not be a plant
in a few months.’’
"Sounds like scare tactics to me,’’ he says finally.
"Mike, all I can say is, if you want to wait a couple of months to see if I’m
just trying to scare everyone, it’ll be too late.’’
O’Donnell is quiet for a moment.
Finally, he says, "I’ll have to think about it, talk it over and all that. We’ll get
back to you.’’

---

By early afternoon, I can’t stand it anymore. I’m anxious to find out how the
new priority system is working. I try calling Bob Donovan, but he’s out in the
plant. So I decide to go have a look for myself.
The first place I check is the NCX-10. But when I get to the machine, there’s
nobody to ask. Being an automated machine, it runs a lot of the time with
nobody tending it. The problem is that when I walk up, the damn thing is just
sitting there. It isn’t running and nobody is doing a set-up. I get mad.
I go find Mario.
"Why the hell isn’t that machine working?’’ I ask him. He checks with the
foreman. Finally he walks back to me. "We don’t have the materials,’’ he
says.
"What do you mean, 
you don’t have materials,’’
I shout. "What do you call
these stacks of steel everywhere?’’
"But you told us to work according to what’s on the list,’’ says Mario.
"You mean you finished all the late parts?’’
"No, they did the first two batches of parts,’’ says Mario. "When they got to
the third part on the list, they looked all around and couldn’t find the
materials for it in the queue. So we’re shut down until they turn up.’’
I’m ready to strangle him.
"That’s what you wanted us to do, right?’’ says Mario. "You wanted us to do
only what was on the list and in the same order as listed, didn’t you? Isn’t
that what you said?’’
Finally I say, "Yes, that is what I said. But didn’t it occur to you that if you
couldn’t do one item on the list you should go on to the next?’’
Mario looks helpless.

---

"Well, where the hell are the materials you need?’’ I ask him.
"I have no idea,’’ he says. "They could be any of half-a-dozen places. But I
think Bob Donovan might have somebody looking for them already.’’
"Okay, look,’’ I tell him. "You have the setup people get this machine ready
for whatever is the 
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