Flexibility
CMC is no different from many other companies in that we have our share of employees who have been known to say “it is not my job” when confronted with an issue or problem. It is unfortunate since the people here or anywhere that prove themselves to be flexible and to be problem solvers are the ones who get the promotions, more pay and more opportunities. They help smaller companies like CMC to thrive.
I recently read in “Supply Chain Management Review” magazine that a new survey was done which confirms the importance of “Operational Flexibility” in the manufacturing world today. The article by Geissbauer and Householder, two authors from a global management consulting firm, says that “flexibility is not just a source of competitive advantage—it is fundamental to staying in business.” Volatility in customer orders, markets, demand patterns and business in general has become a “new normal” for companies in the global economy. You might be thinking that this doesn’t apply to little CMC but almost all of our customers are global companies and the need for flexibility is being driven by their supply chain managers.
CMC needs to improve our systems. CMC needs to improve our demand forecasting capability and supplier base. The article pointed out that “many companies are developing flexible shift models to quickly ramp up or ramp down their supply chain capabilities.” I am glad to report that I think we are better at “flexibility” than we were a few years ago but we need to get better. We are examining a new education and training software system that may be of great value to us as we pursue our improvement programs. Our Working Group Leaders are managing staff on multiple shifts and communication between shifts is getting better due to systems and people improvement. New equipment purchases recently have positioned CMC for further growth.
Without a doubt, CMC has aspirations to grow. We do not want to be small forever. We need CMC personnel to realize that “we have always done it that way” is not an acceptable answer to any question. Our ISO Quality system is specific in what we need to know about our customer specifications and what we need to know about our system capabilities. Our job is to deliver for those customers. It will become even more important that our people and systems become more flexible in order to attract more and more world class customers.
