Changing Lanes (CONT’D FROM PAGE 26)
Do you see the same analogy in your business? You won’t have the quick drop in speed in your plant as in the car example. But over a couple of weeks, what if you have dropped your average speed by a percent or two? We are still on the road and will get to our destination. This will show up in the length of time it takes to go from point A to point B. Or in MSF generated per hour, or in boxes made. Nothing I’ve written here is new or revolutionary. But sometimes we let our cars adjust to the slower speed and we become complacent. Just as we can do in our person- al lives. Have we let our manufacturing operations do the same? Are you moving at 75 MPH or 70MPH? The solution is to pay attention to even subtle changes in speed and sound and “listen” to what the machine tells you. In a car, you change lanes when safe and with no ob- struction in front, it will accelerate. The same is true in your operation. You may need to change lanes and increase speed safely. Ryan Chappell invested his skills over the last 35 plus years in various positions in the packaging industry, both domestically and internationally. He served on the Board of Directors of AICC. He also served on the Board of Di- rectors of Pilots for Patients, a non-profit organization, which helps people who are ill reach their medical ap- pointments. He has been published in local newspapers, Board Converting News, Box Score and The Journal of Accountancy. This is his final article for BCN.
We are still moving towards our destination. We are still learning, by listening to a podcast on how to sell and mo- tivate people, or learning more about history. But perhaps we don’t notice the speed reduction until many cars start to pass us. This is also true in life. Sometimes we are speeding along and then we have a very small decrease in intensity. New Year’s resolutions are a good example. Think about those that you made and how much you tried to stick with them in early January. Where are you with them in Febru- ary or March? Like the automatic speed control, we start off with good intentions and then slowly over a period of time, we slow down. We miss one day of exercise because it is too cold or hot outside to walk. There are many examples which you may be thinking about now. A lot of these happen slowly, and therefore, we don’t really notice. But we’re moving slower. Can you really feel the dif- ference in speed from 75 to 70 MPH? Perhaps the slow- down is only a few feet per minute. Most cars today have a digital speedometer. Just as most machines have a digital readout on speed. You look down and see 74. Is it worth your time and effort to increase back to 75? Let’s talk in feet per second. At 75 MPH, a car covers 110 feet per second. At 70 MPH the car covers 102 feet per second.
Our Story is Much Bigger Than The Symbol.
Rick Van Horne srvan614@me.com
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www.boardconvertingnews.com
April 26, 2021
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