THE SECRET ENGINEER
BETTER
PRACTICE
40
There are a number of
general techniques that
have been introduced by
various companies over
the past few decades in a
bid to remain competitive.
All follow a similar method for
implementation: send a group off
on a course, the group comes back
either evangelical or dismissive
and then they apply what they’ve
learnt, teaching others along the
way. Some aspects of company
and process management are
even enshrined within ISO 9001,
illustrating how crucial this is all
seen to be for industry in general.
I always think that none of
these techniques, whether overall
industry practice or job specifi c
expertise, give a clear advantage
as such but rather remove a
disadvantage when compared
to companies that have already
introduced them. It’s worth
remembering that companies
do exist without any of these
formalised strategies but, equally,
to dismiss them out of hand
would be a mistake. Therefore
what’s needed is a judgement
call; a review of the benefi ts any
particular methodology or process
can bring to your company and an
understanding of the best way to
implement it.
Personal experience of two
conspicuous failures regarding
this spring to mind, the fi rst being
from a couple of positions back.
At Company X there existed a
culture, led from the top, of seeing
the core disciplines around ISO
9001 (adopted because others had
an expectation that we would
conform to it) merely as “box
ticking” exercises.
This is never a healthy a itude
to take about anything. It shows
an approach where the company is
concentrating solely on customer’s
expectations rather than the
reasons that may lie behind them.
The result was, in what struck
me as being a ma er of u er
absurdity, a situation where we
were going through all of the pain
regarding learning certain project
management techniques and
writing the procedure documents,
but not implementing them to the
depth where we could gain clear
benefi ts. A li le consideration on
the ma er would have resulted
in the understanding that this
was actually an opportunity for
the company as a whole to be
improved.
The second example comes
from a short while ago when
a senior member of staff
consistently and ruthlessly
applied certain aspects of 5S,
specifi cally the discarding
of items judged as being of
no further use. However,
unfortunately it was done without
consultation with those who
“owned” the items and straight
to the skip rather than into a
quarantine area for secondary
assessment. This resulted in
the scrapping of important test
reference material. A case of
wholeheartedly embracing the
basic concept without considering
the subtleties. The overriding
conclusion that springs to mind is
“a li le knowledge is a dangerous
thing.”
Moving on from this universal
truth, perhaps we need to consider
how we approach embracing
emerging ideologies and
techniques more specifi cally. On
the whole I have found middle to
upper management rather averse
to releasing me so that I can a end
seminars and / or trade shows. I
did initially get a touch paranoid
about this but can confi rm that
it’s not just me who’s denied such
opportunities.
As professionals we have a
duty to our employers to keep
up with the latest ideas but this
needs a li le more than searching
the internet, or even avidly
reading the latest copy of The
Engineer when it drops through
the le erbox (either virtually or
physically). The seminar or trade
show gives the opportunity to
see beyond our expectations and
paradigm led assumptions.
After all, any research
undertaken by us must have our
current level of knowledge as its
start point, something that cannot
be anything other than inherently
self-limiting.
What’s needed then is a culture
of promoting visionaries to the
top of the tree. Those who can see
the advantages to be brought from
exposure to environments that
promote the cross fertilisation
of ideas rather than just seeing
the hours that someone may be
out of the offi ce a ending a show.
Coupled to that is the need for
these visionaries to be capable
of grasping the potential of new
ideas as they are brought in, and
for them to be meticulous enough
to ensure that they are correctly
applied. Surely that’s not too much
to ask?
Our anonymous blogger calls for a
more nuanced and visionary approach
to embracing new processes and
methodologies
May 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk
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