I don’t get it, it’s so simple,” Mark complained. “All they have to do is check before they leave and make sure they have everything. How hard is that?
We had just finished a quick study that tracked how many times Mark’s construction crews had to stop at the supply store before going to the site or during the day. It was interesting, particularly when tracked against what they bought; tape measures, screws, bits, saw blades, and an occasional bit of lumber or trim. Many of these items, the client bought in bulk to save money and stored at his shop.
It was not so much the expense of buying the items retail that hurt, but the amount of time spent. Much of the client's work was out of town and the round trip could take an hour or more. Many times the whole crew would make this stop, multiplying the time wasted. Overall each of the client’s 5 crews lost 20% of their time to waiting for materials or equipment each week. It was like he had one whole crew that was charged with doing nothing each week.
“I’ve told them 10 times about this," he cried. “You figure out who the worst ones are. Heads are gonna roll!”
I decided to visit the shop early the next day to attend the morning meeting and see how things worked. I got there about 15 minutes early to find a locked door. It seems that the owner did not want anyone clocking in early so he made sure that no one could show up before the start time.
I looked over the trucks/trailers that were parked in the lot. Tools, chargers, and equipment were piled in the trucks and trailers every which way. It was hard to tell what was there and what was not.
Once we got inside the shop, the meeting started quickly as Mark did not like to waste time on things that don't make money like meetings. Part of his talk this morning was to go over what he and I had talked about the previous day. He expressed his frustration with the crews. I could tell from their expressions that this was not the first time they have heard Mark be frustrated. He gave out the assignments and admonished everyone to get out on the road as fast as they can and not waste money standing around.
“So how do you know what is supposed to be in the trailers?” I asked. “Everybody knows what is supposed to be in the trailers.” he snapped. “You need to use common sense here. Can’t I count on that?” The average age on one of his crews was 21. The experience that drives common sense in this case was probably a few years off. I also noticed that there was not a standard setup for trailers to make it easy to see what was there and what was missing.
We were going through a process that happens over and over in my business. We had just gained some Visibility into his process by learning how much time and money he was wasting by the crews not having what they needed to get through the day on the job.
Now we needed to look at his Process. Were all the requirements defined? Was there a way to measure how well the process is followed, providing more Visibility to the process? We need to document Standard Operating Procedures.
I came in with the crews that following Saturday. We cleaned out the trucks and trailers and took inventory of everything, replacing missing or broken tools, and establishing a place for everything in the vehicles. Mark decided how much should be on the trucks in terms of screws and other consumables and we loaded up.
When we were finished it was easy to tell what should be on the truck and where it was supposed to go. We took a count of everything and everyone signed for the equipment. Mark would replace anything that came back worn out or broken, but not anything that was just “lost”. Making the crews accountable for what was on the truck was part of the realignment of authority and responsibilities needed to get a more solid Organization.
Going forward at the end of the day, the crews put things back in their places, making it easy to see if something was missing and putting all the batteries on charge. In the morning before the meeting (doors open 20 minutes before) the crews resupply the trailers and trucks and check everything over once to be sure they have what they need, and sign off on an inventory checksheet.
I stopped back in a month later at the morning meeting. Everyone was checking out their gear and making sure they had what they needed. They had made some adjustments to the quantities and locations of gear as they used the new system but everyone was satisfied. A quick look at the books showed that nearly all of the trips to the supply store had gone away.
There is no substitute for experience, but with Visibility Process and Organization, you can bake your experience into the company so that everyone can benefit.
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