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ITW Coding Products
Manufacturer of transfer ribbon and hot ink rolls – Kalkaska, Michigan
ITW Coding Products,
located in Kalkaska, Michigan, manufactures hot stamp ribbon, thermal transfer
ribbon and hot ink rolls for printing on a wide variety of materials. Key
markets supplied include communication cables, plastic pipe, food, parts
packaging, medical credit card, print shops and bar code labeling.
During their strategic planning process in June 2001, company management decided
they needed to do things differently. Employee turnover was high, employee
morale was low, and on-time shipping was less than 90%. They knew that they
could do better.
A Management team comprised of eight Coding Products employees was created to
take a new look at the organization. The team consisted of the General Manager,
Manufacturing Managers, Sales Managers, Controller, and Human Resources. The
Management Team began looking for answers to questions such as: Is there a way
we can better serve our customers and employees, and how can we make Coding
Products a better place to work?
In 1999 and 2000 Coding Products had experimented with a team approach that
attacked new product development and scrap issues. Those teams were very
successful, and led the Management Team to determine that a team-structured
organization would best achieve their goals.
The Management team objectives were to:
-
Create a structured
environment where all employees can be most effective by adding value to our
customers and serve them well.
- Position the company
to adapt and respond to the changing world and markets.
- Improve internal
communication to effect change, react quickly, better solve the customers’
problems and preserve the long-term survival of the company.
The decision was made
to align human assets and equipment resources by the market segments they
served. According to Human Resources Manager Marcia Anderson, “The structure
needed to satisfy customers first and focus, focus, focus! We felt we needed to
change and simplify our processes. We knew it wouldn’t be an easy task and the
team couldn’t do it alone. We needed input and involvement from all employees at
our facility if we were to succeed.”
Coding Products’ transition to a team structured organization began by inviting
twenty key employees to a meeting to discuss the future direction, and adopting
a mission statement. The steps they followed to achieve the reorganization
included:
· Establishment of focus groups to develop a Value Proposition (VP), a source of
sustaining competitive advantage, for each major market segment by analyzing
what Coding Products was good at, what was their competition good at, and what
the customer wanted.
- Involving all
employees at an off-site meeting.
- Providing financial
and business operations training as well as reinforcing the VP strategy.
- Utilizing small
focus groups divided by business unit and by market focus to develop VP
strategies.
After several meetings,
lots of discussion, and involvement at every level of the organization, Coding
Products was ready to launch a team environment at their facility. The
foundation had been laid, but the Management Team knew that just forming teams
was not enough. The two ingredients necessary to make the transition successful
were the buy-in of key employees, and training on team concepts for all
employees. To accomplish this, Coding Products contacted GDC – Total Business
Solutions, to see if they could help with the transition. The objective was to
improve all team members’ interpersonal skills in order to improve the
effectiveness of their teams.
Curtis Walker of GDC responded, and developed a program to provide team training
for the entire Coding Products organization. The program included 16 hours of
required off-site initial team training for all employees. The training was
comprised of experimental exercises, stages of team growth, Myers-Briggs type
indicators, listening skills, consensus decision making, conflict resolution,
conducting effective meetings, and problem solving models. The training was done
by business unit, within the market-focused teams. In addition to the initial
training, each employee received 20 hours of follow-up training. Financial
training was also included so that all employees had a basic understanding of
the business including revenues, costs, profits, etc.
Making the transition from a departmentalized structure to the new team culture
made 2001 a very challenging year for Coding Products. But the benefits have
been remarkable, including lowered scrap, reduced costs, lower turnover, greater
employee involvement, improved decision making at every level, reduced
supervision, and increased profitability. “The training program provided by GDC
has been a big factor in the success of our switch to a team culture. All of the
Management Teams’ planning would have been in vein if the employees didn’t
understand, and buy into the changes we made. Curtis did an outstanding job of
working with our employees, “ said General Manager Jim Landry.
“All of the benefits we’ve seen as a result of our transition to a team
structured organization have contributed to providing a great work environment
for our employees. We celebrate our successes, we’ve improved pay and benefits,
we’re expanding our facility, and hiring new employees why they enjoy working at
ITW Coding Products, they will respond it is the people they work with,” says
Human Resource Manager Marcia Anderson.
Summary of Results
- Developed company-wide team culture
- Improved employee morale
- Reduced employee turnover by 25%
- Reduced costs and lowered scrap rate by 60%
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