Leadership

  • The Importance of Cross-training and Succession Planning in the Days of COVID

    • May 5, 2021
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
    No Comments
    Two workers discussing a building that's being built. It's an illustration for cross-training workers to create positive redundancies in the factory.

    When companies are running short of employees and can’t find people to fill the vacancies they do have, they run into all kinds of problems. In the everyday world, we can see it in fast food restaurants that can’t find enough people to fill their openings. They’re closing their stores an extra day per week

    read more

  • Want to Be Lean? Improve Customer Value

    • April 21, 2021
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Manufacturing
    No Comments
    A factory worker checks his equipment for problems. This is how you run a lean manufacturing operation.

    So many companies have bought into the Lean philosophy, which can be downright silly at times. Not that the idea of streamlined operations is silly. Not at all. When I think of all the money companies have wasted over the years with bloated operations and “that’s the way we’ve always done it thinking,” I imagine

    read more

  • A Crisis Really Determines What Kind of Leader You Are

    • March 24, 2021
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
    No Comments
    Sir Winston Churchill. Whatever else you could say about him, he had a cool head in a crisis and he made sure he was seen by the British public during WWII.

    “In a crisis, don’t hide behind anything or anybody. They’re going to find you anyway.” — Bear Bryant, former Alabama football coach. The way you handle a crisis shows what kind of leader you are. Are you like many other executives who are afraid and hide in their office? Do you send out your PR

    read more

  • Quality is a Function of Attention to Detail

    • March 17, 2021
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
    No Comments
    A worker inspecting a ship's anchor chain. Quality starts in the smallest details, and is found everywhere.

    How do you drive quality in an organization? If you believe in the old business adage that a fish stinks from the head down, then you know where it has to start. It starts with your vision, your philosophy, and your commitment to quality. It requires that you make it a priority and then drive

    read more

  • Invest In Your Associates to Help Your Company Thrive

    • October 21, 2020
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Innovation, Leadership, Productivity
    No Comments
    Photo of a person welding

    A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how you can win your associates’ loyalty by involving them in the decision-making process when it comes to new technology and equipment. Another way you can invest in your associates is to give them an opportunity to participate in the business. For example, at Robroy, I instituted

    read more

  • Win Trust of Your Associates If You Want to Make Technology Changes

    • October 7, 2020
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
    No Comments
    Photo of a handshake

    I recently read a story on IndustryWeek.com that has elements that should be familiar to anyone in manufacturing management. Years ago in Detroit, the author, John Sobel, and his company installed a system that used AI and machine vision to examine the tailgates for any quality problems. To spot defects, the tailgates had to be

    read more

  • The Problems With Outsourcing Manufacturing

    • August 26, 2020
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Manufacturing
    No Comments
    There are a lot of problems if you outsource your manufacturing. This is a photo of a man in orange coveralls using a grinding machine to cut a piece of steel.

    I’ve never been a fan of outsourcing manufacturing, especially to overseas providers, for a couple of reasons. For one thing, you can very quickly lose control of the quality of your product. Your supplier can make several thousand units but slip on the specs even a little. Something’s a little off, or they used a

    read more

  • Five Strengths Every Leader Needs as We Resume Operations

    • June 10, 2020
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Leadership
    No Comments
    Photo of a Zoom call on a laptop. Communication and technology are two traits leaders will need as we resume working.

    I read a recent article in Industry Week — Five Strengths Every Leader Needs as We Resume Operations — that discussed what leaders at every level need to bring back to their manufacturing operations even as states open up and try to return to normal. As the author, Jay Richards said, “where some see doom

    read more

  • How Did We Handle Racism at Robroy

    • June 3, 2020
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
    No Comments
    Anti-racism sign held up by a protestor. The sign says "Racism is not patriotism."

    We never had to deal with too much racism during my time at Robroy, mostly because I made sure people knew that wasn’t allowed. One day, we had an incident where someone had scribbled someone’s name on a bathroom door, and calling them a racial slur. I certainly wasn’t going to stand for that or

    read more

  • Your Return to Normalcy May Depend on How You Treated Your Associates

    • May 20, 2020
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Leadership, Management
    No Comments
    The way you treated your associates during the pandemic will influence how they feel about you when they return to work.

    The last few months have been pretty rough, and many companies had to lay off associates or at least furlough them, just so they could collect unemployment for the 2+ months no one was working. But now that we’re reopening the country, the return to normalcy may be a little harder for some companies than

    read more