When I began my career in the chemical industry, my company’s initiatives impressed and intrigued me. The leadership would lay out our direction and focus, as well as the metrics by which we would measure success in the coming year. Eventually, I came to understand that, even with the push to improve profitability through various company initiatives, it makes good business sense to not lose sight of the measurable basics. While that concept seems simple enough on the surface, it is often forgotten in the drive to meet all the demands in today’s manufacturing operations. Moreover, these metrics are intertwined when delivering continuous improvement.
The foundation of continuous improvement is predicated on four basic interlocking pieces and their corresponding metrics: safety, planning, efficiency, and reproducibility. To achieve these milestones, operations staff cannot work in a silo, but rather need to be engaged with other internal teams (e.g., R&D, technical, marketing and sales) and, most importantly, with customers. These types of interactions within a company’s various disciplines are critical for a successful product and a profitable company by every measure.