“Engaging the hearts, minds, and hands of talent is the most sustainable
source of competitive advantage.”
from Greg Harris, Quantum Workplace
I
met with a customer recently who spent most of our time together discussing the
subject of “Culture”. He discussed at
length the time it takes to prepare a team to usher in new technology properly
and the pitfalls of overwhelming your people. In essence, the people aspect
must be considered as much as value of the solution.
Often
in the sales process, we focus so intently on delivering solutions to our
customer’s efficiency problems; we don’t consider the associates who must
implement the solutions we sell.
Although many of our warehouse and manufacturing team members are
talented, dedicated and engaged, dropping a high tech solution in their laps
often creates frustration, anxiety and a sense of powerlessness.
As
a remedy to this problem, perhaps a more phased approach may be considered that
presents technology at digestible bites.
The phased approach can take many forms. From a material handling
perspective, the focus can begin on areas of your facility that involve
excessive handling of product or long lengths of travel in the picking process
or in the transport of orders from picking to packaging.
Getting
your associates comfortable with the benefits of automation and enabling them
to see the potential to make their tasks easier engages them in the process of
removing the inefficiencies out of your operation. As your facility performance metrics start to
incorporate the results of smaller automation initiatives, your associates will
more willingly embrace future larger capital investments that may include more
sophisticated automation.
Usher
in a new culture of continuous improvement but let’s make sure we bring
everyone along for the ride!
For
more information from Greg, view his page at www.trifactor.com/greg
