VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [95]
“What disturbs me almost as much as the lack of improvement to the bottom line,” said Amy, “is my sense that Oakton as a whole is not running smoothly. Look at the rise in WIP inventory – the very thing that Lean is supposed to prevent. Look at the overtime we’re paying. Look at the delayed shipments. What is going on?”
“I share your frustration,” Wayne muttered.
“And then we’ve got Rockville. That operation is as problematic as ever.”
“Now, hold on, please. Formulation and Design is not under my wing,” said Wayne.
“This is not just about you!” said Amy. “Unlike you and everyone else around here, I have to look at the whole picture!”
She rubbed her temples with her fingers for a moment, trying to massage away the stress.
“Do you know what I’m hearing from Garth Quincy?” she asked him. “He’s telling me that the sales force is becoming disillusioned. A lot of the salespeople are just going through the motions. Why? Because we’re losing credibility with customers. This is bad, Wayne. This is serious.”
“I’m sorry! What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to fix whatever is wrong! I want improvements that show up in a financial report! And I want it to happen soon, not five years from now!” she told him. “All along, you’ve been telling me to just be patient, just a few more months and we’ll have turned the corner. You’ve been telling me, and I’ve been telling Nigel Furst. I’m on the hook for twelve percent growth, and it hasn’t happened! What am I going to tell him now?”
As if on cue, her phone rang. Amy let Linda pick up, but a moment later Linda peered around the edge of the office door.
“It’s Nigel on the line,” said Linda.
“I’ll take it,” said Amy.
Wayne slunk out of her office.
Amy prepared herself for a moment, then lifted her phone and said, “Yes, Nigel.”
The only good thing about Nigel Furst’s call was that it was relatively brief. For the first part of it, Amy sat tight and silent while Nigel delivered a blistering diatribe expressing his displeasure – his “extreme displeasure” – with yet another “flop” of a quarterly performance.
“One year ago, approximately, you gave me a plan promising twelve percent earnings growth,” said Nigel. “By the end of the second quarter, you told me that there had been some learning curve issues, transition issues, whatever, but you thought you could at least do nine to ten percent growth given a strong fourth quarter. Well! Here it is, the fourth quarter has come and gone, and you have delivered nothing! You have delivered one percent year-over-year negative growth!”
He paused. Then:
“Well? Have you nothing to say for yourself?”
“Mr. Furst, when you made me company president –”
“Interim company president,” he interrupted.
“Yes, when you made me interim company president, you gave me Wayne Reese and a directive to implement Lean Six Sigma as quickly as possible.”
“Oh, come on! Don’t think that you are going to blame your way out of this, walking on the back of Wayne Reese!”
“My only point is that I did what I was told to do!” she said. “You told me Wayne was strong in operations, that I needed him, that I should listen to him – and I did! You told me that Lean Six Sigma was endorsed by Winner and that it would solve our problems!”
“I don’t believe I said any such thing.”
Amy forced herself to calm down.
“Well, sir, I believe it was implied. In any case, I took it on faith that LSS was the answer, and believe me, we gave it a sincere try. And the evidence suggests, we really have made improvements. We’re just not seeing the results on the bottom line.”
“My dear Amy,” Nigel said in his imperious tone, “let me offer a piece of advice: save your faith for religious services.”
She gritted her teeth.
“Would you like to know a little secret?” Nigel continued. “Actually, it’s not much of a secret at all. The truth is that I do not care about Lean or Six Sigma or any other management flavor of the month being touted. All I care about – essentially – is growth. Earnings growth in particular, with revenue growth and growth