We are about to witness a transformation here at JSC over the next year. One of the strengths of the company has always been constantly trying to do things better, but over the last few years we have definitely lost our way with the Great Recession and when combined with all the growth of the last couple of years it just sort of died out.
Over the last year I have been looking for ways to get it back going again here at JSC and then I found her! Her, being Cathy Stuntz, was just finishing up on her latest project and therefore looking for a new challenge. Cathy will be here in a consulting role to help guide and teach us the right tools to do CI in a way that is sustainable for years to come. She also brings a high level of enthusiasm.
We have already picked the teams that we want to start with and as you read this we have just completed our first. One being a 5S event to help the fine blank team get more organized and give them the tools they need to do their job better. The other event was to help new hires get to know the company better and have mentors and defined programs to help them in their first year here.
We will also be reintroducing our CI boards and looking for everyone’s ideas on how we can be more productive here at JSC. I know that each of you have many ideas of how and what we can do better; so, please get those ideas flowing and as we re-roll out CI boards.
The one biggest tool we have to increase our standard of living is CI. If we cannot be more productive every year it is impossible to maintain our standard of living. If we did things the same way as 40 years ago we would have over 1,000 people working here and no business as we would not be able to compete with the best companies in the world. Every year, every company tries to do things better. The ones who do it the best win; they are the ones who grow and offer their employees the best places to work. We want to be in that group. Not only do I want us to be in that group, I want us to be recognized as being the best in that group, so that when potential new customers or employees come in, they will want to do business with us or want to work here with the best of the best.
I cannot think of a more important program then this; so, you will see and hear a lot about CI in the coming months and PLEASE get your ideas coming and we will do our best to implement as many as we can, or at least an answer back as to why it may not make sense at this time.
So join me in this exciting change here at JSC to journey back to what “we used to do” so well.
TJ