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Expert advice on how to deal with difficult people
One of the first people to study difficult employees in the workplace and to assign specific characteristic descriptors to these groups of people was Robert M. Branson. In 1981, he wrote a book called “Coping with Difficult People.” In this book, he identifies seven categories of difficult
A game plan to resolve conflict in the workplace
Conflict in the workplace seems to be a fact of life. We’ve all seen situations where different people with different goals and needs have come into conflict. And, we’ve all seen the often-intense personal animosity that can result. Organization leaders are responsible for creating a work
Reduce or eliminate waste through training
Following along with my blog “Reliability is a green initiative”, I would like to talk about waste reduction by training. Waste is seen in many different forms in manufacturing, and many of these wastes can be reduced or eliminated through training. Training is one of the first costs to be
Lean maintenance: Is it a new concept or another ‘acronym’?
It seems as if new weight loss programs and products come out every week. The latest I saw was a plastic wrap that you place around your stomach called “Sauna Fit”. If you strap it around your stomach, you will sweat and lose weight. Brilliant! I’m thinking that you’ll probably
Money from honey: Africa lean project generates results
I recently wrote about my trip in August to Zambia in Africa. I was visiting with my friends John and Kendra who have been working in Zambia for the past 10 years and in Congo the previous 25 years. Their work is centered on setting up indigenous economic development to give Zambians a sustainable livelihood
Reliability reduces waste of time, talent and resources
Following along with my last blog, “Reliability is a green initiative”, I would like to talk about waste reduction. Waste is seen in many different forms in manufacturing. Some of these wastes include physical, time and talent. Physical waste is anything that is left over from the process
Bringing the message of lean to Africa
I just returned from a trip to the country of Zambia in Africa. I was there visiting and helping some close family friends that are missionaries. John and Kendra are not typical missionaries. While they do have a very nice training center which is used for a Christian pastor school, family activities
Why PM attainment needs to be a shared metric at your plant
Preventive maintenance (PM) is a cornerstone of reliability-based maintenance. It’s no surprise then that PM attainment has become a key performance indicator (KPI). But it may surprise you that in many organizations, maintenance is NOT primarily responsible for this KPI! Maintenance always has
The ‘White Glove Story’ and dirty little TPM secrets
Several years ago, a group called the Maintenance Excellence Roundtable met on the West Coast to present what it had accomplished during the previous year and where it was headed for the coming year. We were privileged to have Robert Williamson in attendance, and he told us a story that stuck with me
Plant maintenance: Is it just like the tale of Sisyphus?
I stumbled across some music trivia lately, that the old rock band Chicago finally had its album “Stone of Sisyphus” released last year. One of the more famous “lost” albums, it was originally recorded in the early 1990s but had languished for years, available only in illegal
