Manufacturing Isn't Dead in Michigan, Either

Mid-Michigan Manufacturing Letter -

Here’s a letter from a manufacturing center leader at a small state
university in my home state, Michigan. Robert Schooks writes about
about the state of the industry and a visit to an electric motor
manufacturer. He writes:

I was very impressed with their “lean manufacturing”
cells and the efficiency of material flow.

The owner was complaining of the inability to hire people. His
needs are not just for highly skilled people, but good trainable
individuals as well. He comment was that they would look at anybody
who walked in looking for a job. Wouldn’t this type of need be a
welcome sign in our region?

I’m surprised there would be that much of a shortage of
employees in a state where unemployment is so high. A good solid
Lean company that treats its employees with respect should be able
to have their choice. The Toyota San Antonio plant had over 60,000
applicants for 2,000 jobs. If he *is* having trouble finding
employees, he should be looking for labor efficiency, not just
materials efficiency.

Many hospitals face severe shortages of skilled employees too –
nurses, laboratory technologists, and pharmacists. Lean methods are
one way of working yourself out of that problem, but reducing waste
and the need for as many people. It’s much better to close out
“open reqs” than it is to lay off people who already work for
you.

The first company he had visited reported:

They reported work of multiple shifts with overtime to
50 or more hours per week, and still unable to satisfy the demand
for deliveries.

The author asked:

Why can’t our Michigan manufacturing base gear up to
handle this type of capacity machining? Seems to me that if the
business is there, couldn’t we justify applying financial resources
to gear up for this kind of work?

Again, this seems like something where Lean can help. Can they
reduce waste and reduce setups in a way that frees up capacity?
It’s such a cliche’, I hate to use it, but can they work smarter
instead of working harder (longer hours)?

The second plant reported:

They also were in the process of expansion and had just
completed the build of an additional 50,000-square-foot
building…

Again, this is an area where Lean can help. Many factories (or
again, hospitals) are convinced of two things — they need more
people and they need more space. Using Lean, it’s not unheard of
for a factory or a hospital department to reduce their required
floorspace by 30%. This helps you avoid the need to spend millions
on new construction and expansion.

It could be, even in Michigan (the home to many Lean ideas,
tracing back to Henry Ford) that a lack of Lean is contributing to
problems in the state’s manufacturing sector? Manufacturing’s not
dead (as
we heard about recently with Wisconsin), but it is struggling?
Lean isn’t a cure-all, but it can help, right? Michiganders, what
say you?