VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [13]
“So you’re married?” asked Peter.
“I’m widowed. My husband died a few years ago.”
“Kids?”
“Two. Boy and a girl. May I please ask why you sent for me?”
“We’ll get to that soon enough,” said Peter. “Since we’ve never met, I’d just like to get a sense of who you are.”
“Sure, Mr. Winn. Ask whatever you’d like,” she said.
“Any plans to remarry?”
She hesitated; the question seemed too personal, but she answered it anyway.
“No. None.”
“Have you had any operations experience, Amy?” Peter asked. “Any experience managing production?”
“Not really. Briefly, I worked in production planning at the steel company.” She chuckled. “And I’ve taken plenty of customers through our Oakton plant on tours – prior to playing golf – but that’s about the extent of it.”
“Tell me, are you familiar with Lean manufacturing?” asked Nigel.
“Yes – I mean, I’ve heard of it,” said Amy. “I think it has to do with eliminating waste, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but more exactly, it’s about creating value for customers by means of eliminating waste,” said Nigel.
“In fact, Amy,” said Wayne, “anything that does not create value in the customer’s eyes is considered to be waste in the Lean view of things. It’s a long-term, evolving process of continuous improvement. Eliminate the waste, focus on increasing value, do it all faster, and keep striving to please your customers – that’s the essence of Lean.”
“I see,” said Amy, looking at Wayne and wondering what his role here was.
“How about Six Sigma?” Peter asked her. “Are you familiar with that?”
“Again, yes, I’ve heard of it. Six Sigma was, I think, originally developed by Motorola, wasn’t it? It’s a quality … thing.”
“Six Sigma is one of the best quality management and improvement programs that’s ever been developed,” Wayne chipped in. “In a nutshell, it’s about reduction in variation – and through that reduction, the elimination of errors and defects.”
Amy nodded slowly and solemnly.
“You see, the Greek letter sigma,” Wayne continued, “is used in mathematical notation to represent a standard deviation within a statistical population – in simple terms, a spread of values, or numbers. By applying Six Sigma techniques, the spread becomes tighter and tighter, meaning that the process is coming under closer control, and the results of the process more predictable. When a process reaches the sixth sigma, it is thought to be just about as close to perfection as it possibly can be.”
Nigel cleared his throat.
“Sorry,” said Wayne. “Didn’t mean to lecture.”
“That’s fine,” said Amy. “I always wondered where the name came from.”
“In any case,” said Nigel, “Winner has made a major corporate commitment to both of these programs … these methodologies, if you will. And in recent years Lean and Six Sigma have been conceptually and synergistically combined to create what is known as Lean Six Sigma or LSS. Over the years, we have invested millions of dollars–”
Peter Winn grunted and muttered, “You bet we have.”
“–in the training and education of our employees, process and equipment changes, and so on. And we fully intend to bring Hi-T up to speed on both these initiatives, but so far we’ve held off due to the need to stabilize the personnel issues and, shall we say, digest the acquisition.”
“I see. Well, if there is anything I can do to help–”
“Are you aware of the delivery and quality problems that have been happening of late?” asked Nigel.
“Yes, I am. I’ve been getting calls and emails from our salespeople, and I’ve been on the phone myself talking to customers.”
“What have you been telling them?”
“Mostly I’ve been apologizing … and doing what I can within my limited power to expedite whatever the people yelling the loudest say they need the most. And, I have to say, it’s frustrating, because I’m not getting a lot of cooperation in many cases. I was on the phone a few days ago talking to Murphy Maguire–”
“Who?” asked Peter.
“He’s their production manager,” said Nigel. “Randal Tourandos was telling me he’s a … well, a