[Ailist] (no subject)

Wed Oct 1 15:29:32 MDT 2008

Lionel, that is absolutely right.  It has been my dream no matter where
I took up work to see that the people who clean and maintain our work
environments consider themselves as professionals, not second class
citizens.  Allowing themselves to dream is where enormous reserves of
capacity are tapped and become available for conservation and for
innovation.

Sid Cooper
Asst. Director, Building Services
Memorial Union 
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon  97331-5004

(541) 737-4350  (campus)
(541) 979-2928   (cell)
(541) 737-2774 (fax)
sid.cooper at oregonstate.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Lionel Boxer [mailto:lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au] 
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 1:29 PM
To: CHobbins at ccint.net; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu; Cooper, Sid
Subject: RE: [Ailist] (no subject)

I recall the CFO sitting in a presentation with the maintenance guys
describing how they proved that their data formed a normal distribution,
which meant that the statistical analysis they had conducted was valid.
They then showed how to eliminate the pollution by running the equipment
properly (as proved by the statistical analysis results).  The look on
the CFO's face was amazing - he had been convinced that these guys were
idiots - I said to him, "look in the mirror and ask yourself who is the
idiot".

Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - +1-416-482-3203
Associate of RMIT University - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
Graduate School of Business
"I like action - moral courage is much less common than intelligence"
Prof Major Charles Boxer, Lincolnshire Regiment
The Sustainable Way: http://intergon.net/tsw
>>> "Cooper, Sid" <sid.cooper at oregonstate.edu> 02/10/08 4:36 AM >>>
Charlotte,

I will never forget the impact of an example of positive action by my
custodial staff.  This is something they did on their own.  In 1994,
while working with Hewlett Packard, I and my custodial staff were
perplexed by what to do in cleaning and maintenance of a particular grey
space (Class 1,000 in this case)wafer manufacturing area of around
40,000 sqft.  Inside the space, itself, particle counts were too high
and a lot of product scrap was being made.  Various TQM, TQC,
Kepner-Tragoe and other process engineering groups analyzed problems and
formulated causes and came up with no concrete process to move the
process back into specification.  Months elapsed. 

The custodial staff, a contract outfit, and their project manager were
unaware of this problem until I shared it with them at a staff meeting
one day.  They reacted to the news with their opinion that the problem
was related to general area cleaning and were frustrated that despite
their best efforts they had been completely unable to get the
manufacturing staff to see the problem or change their habits of
occupancy, which caused the surrounding support space to look a bit like
a teenager's room, which complicated cleaning.  No one felt good about
this problem and this area scored consistently low on inspections.

Then one of the area lead custodians arranged staff time on a weekend
for her and the area crew to come in and do a baseline cleaning.  But
they went one step further.  They reorganized the support area, making
it consistent with the needs of people and things.  So a place was made
for coffee mugs and soda bottles, lunch bags and coats, shipping and
receiving cartons, long term paper and documentation and shorter term
memos.  Then they gave the area a thorough baseline cleaning, including
stripping and re-finishing with a specialized ESD finish.

Needless to say, when the workers walked in at 0615 am that following
Monday, they could not believe their eyes.  The radical change in
appearance was applauded by staff and management at all levels and
people were even going out of their way to see the area.  Light levels
and illumination were raised, area clutter was reduced to the point that
a semblance of organization caught hold and the process line staff
became very protective over the quality of appearance of their work
space.  Wafer build rates went up and the good news is that this area
stayed this way throughout the remaining life of that production
facility.  The staff I talked to could not believe what the custodians
had accomplished and that they could care so much about their work and
the people they clean for.  

I asked the person responsible for organizing this effort what had
prompted her to do this and she said she was tired of existing in a
negative environment, and that she believed she could make a difference
and change the place she worked into a positive place to be.  

What I didn't realize at the time, but know now, is that this person was
practicing the AI process by asking herself how she could make a
difference through innovation while still valuing those things that were
necessary to keep and maintain.  The proof is that she was able to turn
around mass negativity by positive dreaming and positive action.  Though
this occurred almost 15 years ago, it is still one of my prime examples
in presentations about the power of positive action and that anybody,
including custodians, has a profession and a contribution to make.

I tend to look to TQC and SQC for answers when parameters are
established to allow these methods to be successful.  But they are
really negative processes looking at problems and trying to suggest
answers, which is not what AI is all about.

Hope this helps...

Sid Cooper
Asst. Director, Building Services
Memorial Union 
Oregon State University
Corvallis, Oregon  97331-5004

(541) 737-4350  (campus)
(541) 979-2928   (cell)
(541) 737-2774 (fax)
sid.cooper at oregonstate.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Lionel
Boxer
Sent: Wednesday, October 01, 2008 6:35 AM
To: CHobbins at ccint.net; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: Re: [Ailist] (no subject)

Have a look at this article:
http://intergon.net/phd/BoxerTQMEnv1991.html

It is typical of what can be achieved through giving ordinary people
access to enabling situations.

Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - +1-416-482-3203
Associate of RMIT University - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
Graduate School of Business
"I like action - moral courage is much less common than intelligence"
Prof Major Charles Boxer, Lincolnshire Regiment
The Sustainable Way: http://intergon.net/tsw
>>> "CHobbins" <CHobbins at ccint.net> 01/10/08 11:27 PM >>>
At work we are working on a video project to present to a conference in
November.

We would like to portray the message of " the strength and impacts of
ordinary people who achieve extra ordinary achievements in their
organisations."

Does anyone have any tips, stories or examples of people who through
something fairly small, have performed or produced great things?
Especially
in a manufacturing or industrial industry.

If anyone has anything to share it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks very much

Charlotte E-H

Kind Regards
Charlotte Egerton-Hobbins 

Competitive Capabilities International (Pty) Ltd
Cape Town, South Africa

Tel: +27 21 555 3610
Fax: +27 21 555 0922
Cell: +27 82 297 7810
Skype: chobbins_cci

 <mailto:CHobbins at ccint.net> CHobbins at ccint.net
 <http://www.ccint.net/> www.ccint.net 

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