Anyone who knows me to any degree will tell you I am not a sports fan, so it may surprise you to have me compare component manufacturing (CM) to baseball. But it makes sense when you talk about the Oakland A’s baseball team, general manager Billy Beane, and his business philosophies that inspired the book and movie Moneyball. The film shocked me, because it showed the same human behavior I deal with as a consultant to the CM industry.
Beane lacked the money to win bidding wars for the kinds of players traditionally thought to be keys to victory. So, instead of recruiting players using the traditional way of having scouts look for the best players and then hoping to be high bidder, he broke the rules. Beane used what many now call a sophisticated “sabermetric” approach that used lots of data and new metrics to scout and analyze.
In effect, Billy was telling people their old methods didn’t work as well as pure empirical analysis. As you’d expect, there was a torrent of resistance. But Beane’s squad that year of often overlooked and underrated players shocked the “experts” by winning their division.
This is a great lesson for CM executives, because managing a sports team isn’t all that different than managing a CM plant. Think about it: Both have a need for qualified personnel who have a set of skills to perform tasks so that stated goals can be achieved. All of us want to achieve something and be recognized for those achievements.
The complaints and resistance Beane stirred up when he broke baseball’s unwritten rules sound remarkably like what I’ve heard at CM plants when changes are made. Protests like:* “I have 40 years’ experience and know what I am doing!” I never doubt someone’s experience and deep knowledge, but have they been evolving over the years to better practices?
* “We have always used board footage, sales dollars or a number of pieces, and it is good enough!” These will never give you consistent benchmarks, so they are not reliable. There are better methods so why not take a risk and try them?
* “We have a labor shortage because we cannot find the right people!” There are ways to afford to attract better talent and getting more from who you have. And you are fooling yourself if you think somehow the world has changed and that the people are no longer available.
* “My vendor(s) will let us know what the best practices are and his/her advice is free!” Even if the vendor’s product is great, you are seriously mistaken if you think that the advice from that company’s sale rep is unbiased, free, or really the best idea. Somewhere out there are other ideas you are not exposed to and embracing.
Implementing change is difficult in itself because it is time-consuming and we can make mistakes. Failure is something we all do our best to avoid. Using older tried-and-true methods appears safer and creates far less resistance from the groups. But implementing change can and does provide results far more than many of us would initially believe. Find someone you can trust who can show you those changes and how they’ll affect your business. And at the same time, tell yourself: no more excuses, the time to start is now.
Today, every baseball team employs many of the same practices that Beane trailblazed two decades ago. Beane did it because he no longer accepted the status quo and was not going to listen to the excuses anymore.
Just like baseball, wood truss and wall panel component manufacturing is changing. Actual tried, and true common-sense methods are ready for you to embrace. And they will make you more money.
