In
August, I spoke at a SME (Society of Mining Engineers) technical
conference. My topic addressed consistent plant performance when
“running” and during shut downs and start-ups. I opened the session
with a story about “Dave.”
QRS Co.
has a training program for control room operators. Dave has only worked
in the control room a few weeks. He was trained on SOPs for safe
start-up/shut-down procedures and operating the control panel. Dave has
been asked to focus on speed of the process as his key measure. He has
been trained by John and Andy, senior operators who both have years of
experience and have been through many unplanned events that stopped
production or impacted quality. Dave noticed that each man has his own
procedures for recovering from an event in the plant. Dave has
recognized an opportunity to change the sequence of steps in the
shutdown procedure that John taught him. He believes that this change
will shorten the procedure for problem correction. He wants to get the
plant back into production more quickly to help the operation and make
him look good as a new employee.
What was wrong with this scenario?
1. Operator training was focused primarily on procedures for “running”
and did not address consistent start-up and shutdown procedures.
2. Operators were given the impression during training that they were
free to modify procedures for startup and shutdown.
3. QRS management created the potential for a very costly event. What
if Dave’s procedure caused equipment damage and additional lost
production?
4. Emphasizing consistent procedures from shift to shift and operator
to operator was a form of “free” process control that is often missed
as an improvement opportunity. To capture it, management must accept
responsibility for holding people accountable.
The rest of the session addressed options for building and implementing
“Control and Response Plans” for this very purpose. After my 20 minute
session, I asked if there were any questions. There were no questions,
so I sat down. Then something very interesting happened. The man
sitting behind me whispered in my ear “You were exactly right about
what you told us, but I did not want to embarrass anyone here by
talking so that everyone could hear me.” In other words, he knew that
plant managers were at fault for allowing operators to choose their own
procedures, and that the managers in attendance could be embarrassed to
acknowledge this as an opportunity for improvement when they could have
taken more responsibility for the training approach in the past.
Instead, he chose to say nothing.
My name is Kay Sever. I am a sustainable improvement coach and
consultant and a certified management consultant (CMC) that specializes
in helping companies find and capture lost opportunities to improve
operational, financial and organizational performance. As part of that
work, I help clients remove the barriers that get in the way of their
success, including talking about what really needs to be fixed. NAQN
has asked me to write a monthly column to raise awareness about lost
opportunity and the barriers that prevent change. Since NAQN is the
“Rock to Road” Trade
Magazine, I named the column “The People Side of Improvement.” This
first article sets the stage for future topics.
I have met with hundreds of mining and plant people from every
organizational level during my career. Our work included a lengthy list
of activities involved in improving operating, financial and
organizational performance: identifying/valuing improvement
opportunities, capturing customer requirements (internal/external),
setting process optimums and process control limits,
collecting/analyzing data, selecting key measures, reviewing trend
charts, managing planned equipment delays, mapping processes, removing
organizational silos, facilitating process improvement teams,
implementing action plans for improvement, helping managers “lead and
manage” improvement, and communicating to solve problems and capture
opportunities. Without exception, organizational barriers impacted the
implementation of these tasks. People create most of these barriers
(often unintentionally) and their costs are real (lost production, lost
time, poor quality, dollars spent that could have been saved, high
frustration levels that cause people to leave, etc.). People can remove
them if they know how to recognize them and what action to take.
I look forward to sharing my perspectives about achieving sustainable
improvement in the coming months. We may not always agree, but that’s
OK. Each month I will leave you with a thought about what I call the
“people side of improvement.”
Here’s the thought for November: Lasting improvement depends on
changing what we fix, measure and talk about.
Kay
Sever, CMC, CQIA implements improvement programs and management
development programs for mines, plants and service organizations. Her
approach balances commonly used tools and methods with a focus on value
creation and the “people side of improvement.” Kay works with every
organizational level and department to find the highest dollar
opportunities and remove barriers that prevent sustainable change. She
helps management teams lead improvement and better execute the budget,
capital approvals, incentive plans, communications, etc. See
MiningOpportunity.com for details on her services and contact
information. Look for the mining edition of her first book “Building An
Opportunity Culture — Addressing the Barriers That Steal Profits and
Prevent Sustainable Change”, available on her website under
Products/Books.
Introduction to “The People Side of Improvement” Monthly Column and KAY SEVER
Meeting new people along the way in our journey is what makes life so
rewarding. Coal People has always been about the people in the industry
and we have met a woman — Kay Sever — who can bring a unique
perspective to your bottom line. Kay will be contributing a monthly
column we’re sure you will find very valuable and her writing approach
will be an easily understood format. All the new technology being
developed doesn’t stand a chance if the right “people” aren’t behind
the operations. She has a unique way of discussing the “people side of
improvement” and puts this into a great visual on her Web site showing
a 220 outlet labeled as Improvement Initiative and a 110 outlet labeled
as Organization and its Barriers. She states, “220 volts of power
cannot be received by a 110 volt appliance. Similarly, you cannot plug
your organization into a high power improvement initiative and expect
it to deliver the benefits if your organization is not positioned to
receive all the power.”
Many of you may already know Kay Sever as she has worked in the mining
industry for 27 years helping coal, copper, molybdenum, iron ore and
gold operations improve performance. Almost 20 of those years were
spent at Cyprus Amax Minerals in the coal, metals and gold divisions.
She designed and implemented Cyprus’s first mobile equipment tracking
system for Thompson Creek and several Kentucky coal operations,
assisted with the development of their first real time maintenance
system, and helped implement Cyprus’s successful continuous improvement
program that was focused on capturing lost opportunity.
Kay is a speaker, author, sustainable improvement consultant and coach
for surface and underground mining operations and downstream plants.
She graduated from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management
and since 2000, she has been consulting in improvement for the industry
as president of OptimiZ Consulting, LLC. She is a CMC (Certified
Management Consultant). Only one percent of all consultants achieve
this certification, which must be earned through client testimonials
and ethical practices. When she founded OptimiZ, she made a personal
commitment to maintain the highest ethical standards, joined the
Institute of Management Consultants and pledged in writing to abide by
the Institute’s Code Ethics as a condition of membership and
certification.
Her monthly column will cover areas of operations, maintenance,
engineering, other support functions, management processes (budgeting,
capital requests, communications, etc.) and culture. She will also
touch on the reasons why companies are on a continuous hunt for a “new
and improved” improvement initiative because they were disappointed
with the results from the last one. She will discuss what was missing
from these implementations that failed to sustain change and ensure
that more dollars would be captured.
We look forward to bringing you this monthly column. Her motto,
“Connecting People to Performance and Profits,” says it all.
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