The Truth Shall Set You Free

A key part of the Harbours' re-search is the plant visit. The numbers provided by automakers are important, of course, but the Harbours knew that if they wanted to understand what was really happening inside automotive plants, they had to go behind the scenes and see them up close. And automakers--well, most--are eager to show off a much-improved plant or a recent launch, or to solicit feedback on problem factories. On average, the firm visits nearly 50 plants a year in North America and Europe. (Harbour launched a European report in 1997, but only automakers can order it.)

Flint is a typical visit. Plant officials give a couple of detailed PowerPoint presentations on the "new Flint," highlighting the new $50 million stamping presses and the new ways that workers prevent and correct errors. They conduct a two-and-a-half-hour tour of the plant floor. Harbour and Associates, which has 15 employees, sends four staffers. While Ron rubs elbows with the GM bigwigs, the rest of the team looks around and interviews line workers.

"You need to hear about the culture from them," says Tom Andrew, Harbour's manager of corporate communications, who writes the plant profiles. Like from the brawny guy with a mohawk, tattooed biceps, and a Harley T-shirt: "I've worked at four plants in two years," he says. "This place is a resort. They let us do what we need to do to get the job done." Andrew shoots Felax a did-you-hear-what-I-heard look. A stamping plant likened to a resort? That's a first.

If a plant claims to have improved sharply, the Harbour team tries to assess the changes. "Plants can fool you," says James Ricci, a senior manager at Harbour. "You can make something look clean and well-organized. That's why we ask people on the plant floor, 'How does this work? How often is this updated? Who does what?' If they don't know, you start understanding that it's management, not workers. People don't realize how much we're looking at when we go in."

While the plant tour moves on, Felax pauses to talk to a woman in a Rose Bowl sweatshirt who's carrying 38-pound metal cradles from one workstation to another. She tells Felax that her team rotates jobs now, so no one does the same work for eight hours straight. It's a big improvement. Soon, the team hopes to rearrange the workstations to eliminate the need for someone to lug the parts back and forth. Union workers trying to eliminate work? That's something else you don't hear every day, Felax says.

The new Flint seems real to Ron as well. "This is a very different place than the last time I was here," he tells a packed auditorium. "Unless you completely snowed me, the right processes are in place, and the numbers will improve significantly."

The workers pepper him with questions. What kind of car does he drive? A Chrysler (the crowd groans). What should Flint do to improve? There's no magic technique or equipment, says Ron, who has visited hundreds of plants over the past 10 years. Smart manufacturing grows out of a relentless plantwide focus on continuous improvement. "You're getting there," he tells them. "But don't stop now. You have a lot of work to do."

It's more of a pep talk than a finger in the back, but the GM workers respond with long, enthusiastic applause before heading back to stamp more car parts. How they ultimately respond, of course, will be chronicled for all to see in the next Harbour Report. Somebody has to keep score.

Sidebar: The Harbour Hallmarks

Harbour and Associates president Ron Harbour has visited hundreds of plants around the world. While the industries, products, and equipment vary, he says common principles guide the best manufacturers.

{ Focus on people. }

Anybody can buy the latest, greatest equipment, but manufacturing is not a purely mechanical system. It's the "people systems" that determine a plant's productivity. Without clear processes to change parts, clean machines, and report and fix problems, employees improvise, allowing inconsistency and inefficiency to leak in.

{ Ask the workers. }

Engineers don't have all the answers. Optimizing a complex manufacturing process requires the involvement of employees throughout the process. Time and again, Harbour has seen the teams that operate the equipment every day come up with creative solutions to problems.

{ Find out what works for you. }

It's tempting to copy what industry leaders are doing, but ultimately you must find the approach that works best with your employees, your equipment, and your products. Honda makes the same car model with the same features in a single batch. Toyota makes vehicles with different features, adapting to each one on the production line. Both approaches work.

{ Explain why productivity matters. }

The faster a plant can make a quality product (and no, speed and quality are not mutually exclusive), the less that product costs to produce. Those savings can be applied to new features (adding more leather upholstery, say). That's how you become more competitive, sell more products, increase profits, and ultimately improve job security.

Chuck Salter is a senior writer at Fast Company.