Share Your Hard Lessons Learned with Others Do Not Embellish Them

 

 

Share Your Hard Lessons Learned with Others Do Not Embellish Them

This is an excerpt from my book Leadership by Storytelling available at this link on Amazon. Enjoy.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1091175756?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

The production scheduler of a large Paper Mill was forced to retire and was downsized. He had been there for over thirty years. Much to my surprise and chagrin, I was forced to take his place. It was a large integrated paper mill with over 2000 employees and over 3000 different SKUs or brands. There were over 200 constraints and, in a scheduling, meeting the biggest bully usually got their way. I had industrial engineering experience but no experience in process industry scheduling. Worst, the retiring scheduler refused to help or train me. He did the entire scheduling by hand using long green sheets on his desk. All his knowledge was locked in his head and he refused to release it.

The job was a great responsibility, and downtime in a Paper Mill was tabulated by accounting, as being worth over $100,000 an hour negative impact to the budget. My boss got me a personal computer, the first in the plant, and I proceeded to put the production schedule on Lotus 123 file spreadsheets. I would print out the files and they sort of imitated the long green sheets.  I would glue them together on the wall of the office. I was so nervous that I actually scheduled an entire year’s worth of production, and hung up all the spreadsheets on the office wall. This project took me over a hundred hours. I did not stop until it was done.

After all this work, I was in my office late one evening staring at the hung-up production spreadsheets and had an “ah ha” moment. There was a pattern to the schedule for each quarter. The pattern roughly repeated itself for every quarter in the year. In other words, the schedule remained very similar for each quarter.

I decided to look up information on process industry scheduling. In one journal article I stumbled upon a concept called cycle scheduling. Basically, the concept establishes an optimal production cycle for the plant or mill. If the scheduler is forced to break the cycle for an extraordinary reason, the scheduler tries to get back to the cycle or pattern as soon as possible. The pattern or cycle remains approximately the same when in place.

I was ecstatic, now I was using a best practice for process industry production scheduling. I soon expanded my production schedule and built an in house MRP (Material Requirements Planning) system which really improved material flow.

At a corporate meeting of production schedulers, I shared my findings with all the other schedulers and explained the concept of cycle scheduling. I made sure that they also knew that it was an industry best practice and not something that I had invented on my own.  I made it clear that it was optional for them to use cycle scheduling and not a requirement. They understood the large amount of work that I had done and were very appreciative of my sharing it with them. I then helped many of them set it up for their plants. Share your hard lessons learned with others do not embellish them.

Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon.  He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children.

https://www.amazon.com/author/tomdepaoli    = Dr. Tom’s Amazon author’s page

http://www.apollosolutions.us  = website of Apollo Solutions his business

drtombooks.com  = more information on Dr. Tom’s books

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-thomas-depaoli/0/736/6b3/  = LinkedIn home page

 

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/share-your-hard-lessons-learned-others-do-embellish-them-depaoli-1ehttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/share-your-hard-lessons-learned-others-do-embellish-them-depaoli-1e

 

Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Why Procurement Savings are Especially Valuable in Capital Intensive Industries

 

 

Why Procurement Savings are Especially Valuable in Capital Intensive Industries

We all know the value of procurement savings both hard and soft to many organizations. They are often recoverable immediately with little or no capital investment. Often a cross-functional team comes together and develops the savings which does take time but usually very little if any capital expenditures.

The paper industry is very capital intensive. A new paper machine can cost over one billion dollars to install. This does not include the costs of warehousing, logistics, and other costs. Environmental permitting is long and costly.

One paper company that I worked for sold a popular roll of toilet paper for $.50. It was so popular that they could not make enough of the product. They made approximately $.05 profit on each roll. In order to make a million dollars profit they would have to make and sell 20,000,000 rolls of this brand. The company was currently stretched to its maximum capacity for this brand roll. In order to make more of the paper rolls the company would need more capacity or specifically a brand new paper machine costing approximately one billion dollars in capital minimum. There were other options, like buying another paper company for additional capacity, dropping other brands and reducing their production etc.

A cross functional team was formed, which included some suppliers, employees from other departments, additional stakeholders and procurement. The team came up with a list of paper machine process speedup ideas and waste reductions that saved one million dollars directly attributable to this brand. In essence the savings were equivalent to the profit of selling 20,000,000 additional rolls of this brand.

The issue is how do you count, justify or take credit for all the savings? I am not a financial or accounting expert I am just raising some questions. Most folks would agree that the $1,000,000 savings are hard savings and could be readily verified. It will definitely improve cash flow. Here are some other possibilities. What about much of the cost of goods sold avoided for not making 20,000,000 additional rolls? Is it a true cost avoidance? What about opportunity cost? By not spending the money making the additional 20,000,000 rolls the company avoided most of the costs of making them and thus could have created more options at investing in more profitable brands.  The assumption is that the company will use the cash to make a more profitable decision. This does not always happen, as indicated by many stock buyback efforts. What about the sustainability aspects? By not making the rolls how much carbon footprint was avoided? Can this be quantified monetarily?

Many including me would probably not include the complete capital avoidance of a new one billion dollar plus paper machine. But what if the demand for the rolls were so strong that the company could literally sell as many rolls as they could make? I recently wrote an article on that illustrates some other positive aspects and savings that procurement provides the organization.Take the time to review my recent article for more creative savings ideas.  I am sure the reader can infer many additional savings both direct and indirect.

Dr. Tom DePaoli, (Dr. Tom) is currently an independent management consultant, the Principal of Apollo Solutions, which does general business consulting in the human resources, supply chain and lean six sigma areas. His organization was self-founded in 1995. He retired as a Captain from the Navy Reserve. In other civilian careers, he was a supply chain and human resources executive with corporate purchasing turnaround experience and lean six sigma deployments. He has worked for over ten major companies and consulted for over fifty organizations throughout his career. Some of his consulting projects include: information systems projects, re-engineering organizations, transformation, e-procurement, e-commerce, change management, global sourcing and negotiating. His industry experience is in the chemical, paper, pharmaceutical, IT, automotive, government, consumer, equipment, services and consulting industries. He has been published extensively in journals, magazines and books. He is the author of eleven books all available on Amazon.  He has instructed at six education facilities in numerous roles. He is active in supporting the YMCA, Wounded Warrior, and the prevention of the bullying of children.

 

Procurement savings really count in capital intensive industries. #procurement #costsavings #supplychain

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-procurement-savings-especially-valuable-capital-depaoli

 

Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ

Dr. Tom DePaoli’s Nine Business Books Summaries Available on Amazon

 

Dr. Tom DePaoli’s Nine Business Books Summaries Available on Amazon  

 

Take advantage now of a new released book now Business Consulting Wows! Answers to Business and Life Issues. Available on Amazon It serves as an outstanding business desktop guide for growing the trust of your colleagues. The book has extra cuts or even more compelling and entertaining blogs, articles, reviews and real-life experiences. Enjoy the techniques like story-telling, imaginative training exercises, check lists, methodologies, humor, and ready to use outlines. You can gain much from these lessons. The examples are practical, to the point and enjoyable. The book provides solid elements for success in business.

This is not a book to read front to back in page order. It is organized by Dr. Tom’s book titles so you can go to the chapter of a book that interests you first and jump around. He has provided a summary index of all the articles in alphabetical order by title in the back of the book.  The index is probably the best and quickest way to explore the book and locate an article that interest you. It is designed to be a desktop guide to run your business and career.

Great business, life, career and advice book on Amazon. #businessbooks #leadershipbooks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/good-review-business-consulting-wows-answers-life-issues-depaoli-1c

 

 

In Common Sense Purchasing Dr. Tom DePaoli reveals many of his tales and lessons learned on his journeys in various purchasing organizations and companies. His keen insights into relationships and what really counts in purchasing will astound and entertain both purchasing and non-purchasing professionals. His admission that he has made just about every mistake possible to be made in purchasing just adds to his credibility and his ability to teach the hard knock lessons that he learned.  He hopes that his insights will perhaps cushion the hard knocks for those willing to practice common sense judgments. One of the top 5 purchasing books other organizations. Available on Amazon

Use common sense in purchasing. #purchasing #procurement #supplychain

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/common-sense-purchasing-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli

 

Common Sense Supply Management’s author Thomas DePaoli offers no-nonsense strategies learned from his diverse career in many organizations. Told in part via a story format, Common Sense Supply Management uses real life examples to discuss what goes right, and often wrong, in the supply chain management trenches.  The stories are told factually without any embellishment. By following this book’s accounts, supply chain professionals can learn a career’s worth of what to do and what not to do. DePaoli provides practical lessons launched from real-life cases and tested in the unforgiving supply chain management reality.    Available on Amazon

Get Common Sense in your supply chain. #supplycahin #procurement #businessbooks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/get-common-supply-chain-sense-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli

 

In Broken Windows Management for Business, a lot of broken windows management is learning by doing. There is ample room for creativity and having fun with broken windows management. Broken windows management is a journey not a quick fix. It remains one of the most viable and practical ways to achieve quality of work life improvement. Dr. Tom DePaoli, the author, relates some for the principles of 5S and the kaizen methodology to the broken windows management approach. Broken Windows Management for Business uses real life examples to discuss what goes right in the broken windows management trenches. It never ceases to amaze me that many organizations waste money on high priced team-building consultants and exercises to improve team work. If an organization does not have the trust of their employees or treat them well, no amount of wilderness adventures or zip-lining will build team work. Integrity is the first rule of teamwork. The military is so successful in team building because of the clear mission and the fact that soldiers know that their lives may depend on their teammates. The team often is very close for long periods of time. You must adapt to your teammates. Many of their leaders are committed to honor and commitment. Available on Amazon

Improve employee morale. #empowerment #businessbooks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fix-your-employees-broken-windows-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli-1c

 

In Kaizen Kreativity (Oops!) author Dr. Tom DePaoli offers an entertaining and creative approach to improving work design and work processes. He uses a variety of techniques including story-telling, imaginative training exercises and ready to go outlines of PowerPoints on Kaizens.  He recalls the times when he stumbled, when trying to implement Kaizen events. It is a good desktop guide to Kaizens with great information on how to organize for a kaizen. It is a practical book. He shows that just using a few Kaizen tools can result in great gains. The book will help the novice and the experienced Kaizen leader. Available on Amazon

Run kaizens. Have fun. #kaizens #businessbooks.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/run-kaizens-have-fun-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli

 

You can learn to be a dynamic and authentic leader by storytelling Dr. Tom DePaoli insists in his new book Leadership by Storytelling: The Best Way to Learn Good Leadership Principles Dr. Tom uses stories that are genuine from his own and others careers. Dr. Tom has diverse experiences with leaders in corporate, non-profit, academic and military organizations. As a consultant, he conducted extensive group and personal training on leadership skills. He has over 1000 hours of formal leadership training and teaches leadership courses at the graduate level. He strongly believes that the growth in leadership abilities will be much greater with the use of storytelling. Available on Amazon
The book includes:
Principles and practices of great leadership.
Compelling stories of these leadership principles in action.
Reinforcing illustrations of the principles.
Tips on how to tell the leadership stories.
How to develop trust with your followers and employees.

Lead by stories be authentic. #leadership

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lead-stories-authentic-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli

 

Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse! Purchasing and supply chain professionals, here is an alternative approach to becoming a Supply Chain Doomsday Prepper for a Supply Chain Apocalypse! In his creative guide Avoiding a Supply Chain Apocalypse - the Best of Dr. Tom, Dr. Tom DePaoli offers practical strategies and tactics, learned and tested from his purchasing and supply chain career. He does not recommend a single silver bullet or quick fix, but suggests a multi-faceted diverse approach to avoiding supply chain meltdowns. DePaoli challenges the reader to survey his best writings and to select what fits their particular organizational cultures. There is no one size fits all in the supply chain. As the importance of supply chain management grows leaps and bounds; the supply chain professional must develop multiple options and proficient tactics to ensure the continuity of the supply chain. Of particular importance is "Purchasing is the art of building relationships. It is not about negotiations, transactions, industry knowledge, market knowledge, know-how or technology. It is all about building strong relationships and gaining the trust of suppliers, customers, and colleagues. There is no easy way to get employees to trust you. One of things that I've always done is to make sure that I do what I told them I was going to do. Nothing impresses employees more than keeping your word. Another good tactic to use is to always admit your mistakes and do not try to cover them up. Employees appreciate when you invest the time and effort to train them. Make sure you have a training plan for all of your employees. Try to behave ethically, employees expect you to lead by example and to live by your word. Communicate to them daily if possible, in use as many different channels of communication as you can. "The fact is that purchasing also runs its own Research and Development (R&D) department. Suppliers, in collaboration with purchasing, are perhaps the most cost-effective R&D function in a company. Jointly they often come up with leaps in technology and transformations in products. When they cooperate, they can transform a company and its products. Breakthroughs that occur via this method should receive as much publicity if not more than those developed internally! In summary getting purchasing valued for its great contribution to revenue; requires both a bottom-up and top-down approach. Empower as many employees as possible to participate in purchasing and solicit their ideas and suggestions. Set up one-on-one executive exchanges with your supplier executives. Finally, systematically create a strong marketing plan to communicate your successes. “The book serves as a guide for the purchasing or supply chain professional to optimize their supply chain and avoid disaster. Available on Amazon

Risk assess your supply chain. #supplymanagement #supplychain https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/risk-assess-your-supply-chain-now-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli

Jayson and the Corporate Argonauts - the Quest for the Golden Fleece of Transformation is a clever, well-illustrated and brief business fable! The book follows the adventures of the Greek hero Jason and his Argonauts. Dr. Tom DePaoli, the author, uses the lessons learned from this epic voyage and examines how the Argonauts overcome the perils. He then recommends strategies for modern day Corporate Argonauts trying to radically transform their own organization. Available on Amazon

Business fable of the ages. Transform your company. #transformation #businessbooks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/business-fable-ages-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli

 

Have you endured awful leaders in your career? Dr. Tom DePaoli sure has. In his new book Boogeyman Leadership: How to Turn Your Employees into Listless Zombies, he showcases poor leaders and their tactics that inevitably failed. Dr. Tom believes it is very important to know what does not work first, so that an aspiring good leader does not waste time on such approaches. He does not pretend to offer any silver bullet solutions to these poor policies. Boogeyman Leadership recounts many bad leadership ideas and illustrative stories to make sure the reader crosses these schemes off their leadership list. The book is not a solemn academic book or a guide to great leadership success. Its purpose is to give examples of terrible leadership and management tactics that Dr. Tom and others have experienced in their careers. Dr. Tom urges the reader not to use them or support them. Dr. Tom has had careers in business, the military and academia. All these arenas had some terrible leaders that he had to endure. Available on Amazon.

Fight Dark Leaders. #leadership #leadershipbooks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fight-dark-leaders-dr-thomas-tom-depaoli

 

Nine outstanding business books to help your business and career. #businessbooks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dr-tom-depaolis-nine-business-books-summaries-amazon-depaoli-1c

 

 

Contact Dr. Tom = thomasdepaoli@yahoo.com drtombooks.com for newsletter sign up https://drtombooks.com/contact/ My Books link: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-DePaoli/e/B003XSV1IQ