Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
This podcast offers business solutions to help listeners develop and implement action plans for lean process improvement and implement continuous improvement projects, cost reductions, product quality enhancements, and process effectiveness improvement. Listeners come from many industries in both manufacturing and office applications.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 00:04
It needs to be a come to a reckoning to say, hey, the way we have done work and the way that us older generations have seen work has to shift.
Matthew Rassi 00:14
There are many in the older generations like, just let me do my job. Like, no, we all collectively need to work on the business. So as we start to bring in things like, we're gonna spend 50 spend 15 minutes a day working on the business, what does that look like? Well, it starts with linking, then it's organization, and then it's problem solving. The generation that embraces it grabs that is these Gen Zs. If there's
Andy Olrich 00:33
people who have more energy and want to see that impact, and they really want to make a difference in this world, I think it's right for the picking. So to get those ones in and excited and trying to lead the way.
Andy Olrich 00:52
Hello everyone, and welcome to this episode of the lean solutions Podcast. I'm joined by my co host, Shane dauphinbaugh, and I'm Andy Ulrich, and we're thrilled to have you on this next episode today. Really exciting. We're going to be talking about Gen Z and the future of manufacturing. So this is something we haven't really peeled back into before, so I'm really excited. Jane, how are you? Mate,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 01:40
I am too. Yeah, I am. I am doing well. But I'm really excited about this, because this is speaking to the human beings that I have in my house right now, like I have two Gen Zers in my house. And I would love to to kind of hash this out and talk talk about this just a little bit. So this is good. How about yourself? How are you
Andy Olrich 02:00
I'm good. It's cold down here. We've been getting smashed by storms again, down down under. So it's our winter down here, and we're certainly feeling it. But other than that, Tip Top, life's good. Works. Good. You look great. So yeah, I'm ready summertime, buddy. Somebody be able to wait. We're out of our skins this morning. But would you or this afternoon, mate? Would you be able to introduce our guest please?
Shayne Daughenbaugh 02:22
Yeah, sure enough. Our guest today is Matthew Rassi. He is a mechanical engineer, having earned his BS from the Illinois or the University of Illinois. He has 15 years of production leadership experience with high volume sheet metal production, another 10 years as director of operation in the highly regulated medical device manufacturing industry. He obtained his Lean Six Sigma master black belt in 2020 he's a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and currently serves on the board of advisers for FCS manufacturing. Matthew has been teaching Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt courses for the Governor's State University since 2020 he currently is providing lean consulting services for many companies Chicago and surrounding areas, focusing on engaging employees and building self directed workforces. Matthew has a heart for individuals getting back on their feet. So he is not only done consulting work, but he also was involved in life house group supporting those who just finished prison terms in getting certified and finding jobs. Now hold on just a second, because outside of those interests, Matthew also cares for a very large family, 11 kids, three grandkids, and for whatever reason, he's decided that fixing up old houses is a great passion of his. So Matthew, we are super jazzed to have you on the show. Thanks so much for being here.
Matthew Rassi 03:51
Thank you, Shane, what an introduction. I'm thrilled to be here. I
Shayne Daughenbaugh 03:56
mean, yes, yes. So let's talk about real quick before we get started here, 11 kids, some of them, I'm assuming, could be in this Gen Z, like kind of framework. But just to make sure that we're all on the same page with this foundation, can you give us an understanding of what you mean when we're going to be talking about Gen Z? What do you mean by that? What is the Gen Z?
Matthew Rassi 04:18
Sure. So they've broken up. Each of us are falling into different categories. The Gen Z then would be those born from 97 to 2012 so I do have 11 children from the ages of eight to 27 and 10 of those children would be qualified as Gen Z. Now they don't like the title Gen Z any more than some of us like the title of Gen X or millennials, or those types of things, but nonetheless, that's kind of the period of time that they have in there. So these are both basically folks 13 to 28 so there are many of them already in the workforce, and new ones are coming every single day,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 04:53
right? So, so if having the pulse on you know, you have a pretty large. Data Set there in your household. What? What do they prefer? If Gen Z isn't the preferred do they have a preferred nomenclature for it for their generation?
Matthew Rassi 05:09
Well, I think it's common to all of us. We don't like to be grouped in with some unless it's really aspirational or something that we want to be part of it, right? And so oftentimes, the discussions about these generations are usually focused on the negative aspects of them, and so each person wants to be their own individual and not really fit in there. So I wouldn't say that they aspire to be millennials, Gen X, boomers or anything else. They just simply are in the Gen Z. And that's just just where things are at,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 05:35
right? And it just kind of having that label, as much as much as I don't like labeling things that just kind of help us understand, like, who are we talking about, because I do believe they have very unique, very unique personalities, very unique experiences, and they come to the workforce with some very unique skills and some very unique needs that I may not have. I mean, when I think about like my kids. I have two kids that are, they would be qualified in there, like I mentioned, and and they, they approach work differently than I did when, you know, when I was their age. So it's, it's, I think this is, this is super important to just like, hey, let's, let's peel back some of these layers and figure out what this is like. Andy, what's been your experience, any, any Gen Z experience in your back pocket there?
Andy Olrich 06:24
Yes, some little bits, not in my house, but yeah, definitely interact, some family, some friends and things like that. And I think it's a really good topic, because I'm very passionate about supporting the next generation coming through. So I was an apprentice myself, and in particular, in Australia, there's, yeah, we're wrestling with this thing around how we can support the younger ones, not only to get apprenticeships or set up, well, just to go straight into the workforce if school is not their thing. So yeah, how are we preparing? Or we've got this group in the workplace now. We've had a pandemic in the middle of some of them getting their career started. Then you throw in something like Lean and Six Sigma and discipline, or perhaps completely different ways of thinking. I think it's a really important topic, and I do think they as I'm sounding old here, but they're growing up at a different time. So I'm really excited that we've got it here. Matt, so when Thank you for clarifying that for our listeners, and I think we're leveled with with what kind of group we're talking about here, or age group even, what what do you think in that is the biggest misconception when it comes to the future of manufacturing. But the role that they play two ways we could probably look at this. One is how you or others may see them coming into the future of manufacturing or their perspective, feel free to to pick one or both mate?
Matthew Rassi 07:45
Sure, absolutely. So I think, from our perspective, those that are older, we look and say that they're kind of screen obsessed, but we have to recognize that they're just digital natives. Everything that they've done has been through and on screens. They're way more adept at things like remote meetings and those types of things. But as we get into the manufacturing world, what is that going to look like, the expectations that they have and how they able to perform? I think the second myth that we have is the work ethic myth, that they are not willing to work, or they don't know how to work. And I think that we really have to focus on the ownership drives effort, and so building ownership, just like for the other generations, but particularly for this one, taking the steps to help them have ownership of their roles. And there's some techniques, yeah, do that, and then the third myth is probably the aversion to hands on work. And I've also found that if the purpose and the understanding of what they are trying to do is demonstrated and shared that they're just as willing to roll up their sleeves and help make it happen, but they have a much greater desire for purpose, rather than just this is my job, and so it's going to be our roles as leaders to be able to provide those Three things to be able to engage Gen Z better,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 09:03
right? And, you know, I find it, I mean, those are some great, some great insights, Matthew, because when I think about Especially that last one, you know, the need for purpose, when I think back to, like my father, who worked in manufacturing, and then me coming up when I was, you know, in my early 20s and looking for a job. Purpose wasn't in the job. Purpose was to pay for my family, you know, to keep the house, all of those kind of things. But I don't remember them talking about I mean, we talk about it a lot now, so, you know, kudos to that. But I don't remember that being part of the discussion. So there are some of these misconceptions that you just mentioned. You know, they're not helpful whatsoever. Oh, those over generalizations. Now, there might be some things, but I really appreciate how we you just kind of went, Hey, what's behind that? You know, yeah, are they just about, you know, the screen? In their hand, and it's like stuck to their face. Well, another way to look at it, you know, and that that's kind of what, what you gave us there with those insights, is, here's another way to look at it and and understanding. And I think they're actually, it's almost like there needs to be a come to a reckoning, to say, hey, the way we have done work, in the way that us older generations have seen work has to shift. I can't expect to be able to just take these these mindsets and this worldview and place it on a generation that has had something completely different, like, if I'm just, there's just so many things. Andy, you mentioned the pandemic. You know, I remember, you know, for those of us that are, that are in the Gen X, we really didn't have any wars, right? Like it wasn't until we were an adult. We didn't have to live through all the different wars and now all the generations that are coming, just so much global changes and and things that are just back and forth. So thanks for giving us that. So in this, it with this, with this idea of coming to Reckoning and whatnot, how do you feel like manufacturers can adapt the workplace so that they can attract, so they can tap into these things you just mentioned, you know, I love, you know, ownership, you know, driving efforts and and giving that purpose and whatnot. So how else can manufacturers adapt the workplace for these?
Matthew Rassi 11:22
Well, in many of my responses, you're going to see a lot of lean, because I see that Lean is just an excellent we're going to see how this stuff ties together here. But involving them in things like Kaizen events and 5s events as a participant, and seeing the visual improvements that they have the daily huddles is something that really fits them, like they are. They are lacking in personal relationships that are not online. So almost all our relationships have been and are online. And so in building up relationships at work, not necessarily for the relationship sake, but in person, huddles where they get acknowledged, they're getting information and they're able to share ideas. This is really powerful with this, with this group, and it really drives both ownership and participation, and then, of course, providing the purpose. So this is a generation that when they were asked to consider their career like their options were so broad, they could choose just about anything. And so what? What were they advised? They were advised, oh, follow your heart, go after your passion, these types of things. How did they end up in manufacturing? So you've got to draw from that to say, Was it something that they had seen? Was it something that they felt they just kind of fall into this? How are we going to connect with how they got here, and then put them a vision of what that future can look like. And so these are ways that we're going to have to adapt the culture of our manufacturing operations to be able to engage and draw this group into participating, having ownership, and going beyond just getting a paycheck.
Andy Olrich 12:59
Oh, that. Amen to that. I think that is so great. And when I was either an apprentice or a new person at a company, even when I was a little bit older, just having that moment in those spaces, and you're asked, or you're you're contributing to those meetings, even if you the new guy, right, I think that's that made me feel really welcomed. And a part of whilst I was still working out, what is this place. The other bit is around having, you know, the, how did you get here? Why did what drew you to this place? Is it, I just needed some money for a car, or I've really, actually, but there's a story back here, and you can connect with that. So great points. Matthew and I certainly resonate with a lot of those. So it's, it's powerful stuff, especially like any worker, I think if you connect with who they are and why they're there, and that, obviously, as you said, lean is a big part of shining a light and keeping that cultural piece going. So thank you for sharing that. And you've, you've definitely got some Gen Z in the house, but also in your career, you'll be seeing a lot of that coming through in manufacturing. So you've likely seen what motivates younger workers when we've got purpose, flexibility and technology. Okay, how? How do they factor into some of those expectations that you're seeing coming through?
Matthew Rassi 14:16
Sure, there's a number of different ways to do it, but the first one with that purpose is to show that they make an impact. So they want to have purpose. They want to show that they are able to have an impact. And so I love visual boards, especially with that generation. Now they work with them, with all ages, but particularly for those that are younger. So I think of how it works for my children themselves, to be able to check mark something off, or to see that they have achieved a certain level, those types of visual things, so that they can see that they are having an impact. And that really helps drive purpose, and it really helps drive ownership. So if they can be marketing them marking it themselves, instead of somebody else, saying, here's how you did today, instead they're going to go and check and see how they did and market and they're checking out. Hour by hour or day by day, of how did they achieve? That builds ownership, that builds purpose, that builds impact. All of those types of things are very powerful. Now these are simple, Lean principles. It doesn't mean that they don't work for other generations, but particularly for these ages, they love to see it. And if you can help them so that they can do it digitally, they're going to love it even more, plus you're able to capture that data for the historicals. And so all of those things can kind of pull together on that impact. The second thing that this generation is looking for is the flexible schedules. And so that's very challenging in manufacturing has been in the past, but recognizing that if I can provide some form of flexibility, I will gain so much that they will, they will so be bought in, if they can just have some of the flexibility that they're seeing some of their peers have, or that they hear all of this talk about how it can be so flexible. So it's not like I can say, Oh yeah, you can work any hours you want, but I may be able to go to 410s I may be able to make adjustments so that on certain mornings, we some groups don't have to come in so early, or some can leave early, like they want to have a life too. So they're not in this that they can just work, work, work, work, work. They are trying to balance work life. And probably for most of us, we would say, well, they sure seem a lot more focused on life than they do on work, right? But how can we help them to advance that? Because in their minds, this is very important,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 16:20
I would say even, you know, maybe that's, that's a good trend, you know, a good shift, because we focus so much on work and this little piece of life. But, you know, work was bigger. I just remember thinking that, like my dad, I love him to death, but he worked overtime for 2030, years like it was, was just always there because he wanted to provide for his family. But did we spend that time? You know? I also want to just go back real quick, Matthew, you mentioned, you know, showing that they have an impact and and I want to acknowledge that what I think is an impact might not be the same as what someone younger might. And so I think there is an importance, and maybe you can speak a little bit to this, the metrics that we use, you know, sometimes the metrics we have really are just vanity metrics. You know, we're just trying to pad numbers, or we're just trying to, I mean, is there really does that? I'm going back to the idea of tying into their purpose. You know, do the metrics tie into their purpose? And are those metrics that we have that we're putting up there we're making visual, you know? What? What have you seen to be able to tie those two together? So it's not just a set of numbers, but in some way, it lets them know I am making an impact. I'm not just producing, you know, a certain number of boxes or, you know, whatever,
Matthew Rassi 17:46
absolutely. So some of the things that we do are the green reds. Every day you're going to have a green red, right? Did we achieve the goal? Or do we not achieve the goal? Now, focusing those goals on things other than just output can be very important. For example, if I'm in charge of inspections, did my inspection table get cleared today or not? Right? Did everything that was supposed to ship today ship today or not okay? And now imagine doing this across a dozen or a couple dozen individuals in a department or in a plant, and then every month, they share with their peers how they did so. They bring their monthly sheet in they show their greens and reds, and if they have reds right back to back reds, I need to get somebody else involved, to get resources over there to help out. If there's three reds in a row, it needs to go all the way to the plan manager, right? So we are drawing resources to ourself when we're not able to get there, so they see that others are willing to help them out, and then they also can take ownership and be proud of their KPI. And so the KPIs vary all over the place. Only for my bottleneck Am I actually concerned about the actual output. So at my bottlenecks, I need to know exactly what my output is. For my other areas, it may be other things that we need to measure, that they have ownership for, and that they can see that this contributes like our customers want us to ship on time. They want to see the lead time low. They do insist on quality. And these are things that each of you are contributing on a daily basis, and we either achieve the goal or we don't achieve the goal. So this has been a very effective program that I've used with a number of my clients to really engage across the teams that each person has their green red, and then we come and we meet with them together, and when the plant manager or the supervisor is walking about, that's one of the key things that they focus on. Awesome.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 19:30
Awesome. Now, you mentioned, you know, we're going to be heavy and lean when we're talking about these so fantastic. What role do you see continuous improvement or this Lean Thinking play, you know, in making manufacturing appealing, because, I mean, I'm going to be honest either or for me, like when I think about manufacturing, my mind can go to almost two stereotypes or caricatures. One is, you know, the I Love Lucy scene, where she's, you know, trying to wrap the the chocolate. In the thing and, you know, and it's a very meaningless task, you know, and eventually, just stuffing your mouth. The other caricature that I think of when manufacturing is, it's hard, it's dirty, and it's just, you know, you're just nose down and doing this little thing, whatever it is. So that doesn't sound very appealing when, but you you hinted at some things you know, because it's appealing when I can satisfy the needs of other people. It's appealing when I can have teams that that back me up. I don't want to steal your thunder, but what? What are some things that you have found that's appealing to the next generation about manufacturing? So
Matthew Rassi 20:38
number one, as a manufacturer, you need to be getting up to speed on what is possible digitally, right? Because younger ones love the thrill of integrating technology into the process, right? So whether it's touch screens or mobile type things, but you get to things like the two second lean with Paul acres concept of taking a video of before and after with your phones. This is the generation that leads those things in my in the organizations that I help. So when we first get into that, people are like, I don't know, I use my phone. I can't do videos. Well, all these young people, they can do that, and they love it, right? They're basically making a tick tock about the manufacturing process. It just improved, right? So when they start spending 15 or 20 minutes a day working on the business, not just in the business, right? Yes, I need to make my things and do this, but now I'm going to step back and I'm going to make improvements, and I'm going to video how my improvement made a difference and share that. This is a group that loves to do that. They love to share and they want to see, and it's going to go far beyond the walls of your manufacturing plant. It's probably going to hit their Tiktok and their YouTube accounts. And if you're worried about that, you are so missing the point, because this is what builds the manufacturing, the excitement in manufacturing, at least, that's what I've seen, yeah, and
Andy Olrich 21:50
I think it's a great point. So we talked about not wanting to be grouped in the initial Gen Z piece, right? So I don't, I am living with technology every day as well. So I don't want to be seen on the other end. They look at me and go, Oh, this, yeah, these old fogies that or whatever, like group of Gen X or as but I think too, when it comes to manufacturing, shining a light on how diverse that is. And Shane, you said there's the stereotypes there, but there's so much going on under the banner of manufacturing that maybe they're not aware of, and especially additive manufacturing and modern type things that we're doing now still creating something, but I think that's I found that that's been helpful to us, to say you're actually transforming something or creating or, Hey, we need to make something, something that isn't here yet. Help us out. But I love the Paul Akers reference with the videos, and yeah, they're kind of doing it every day. If you can bring Well, they say, make your obsession your profession, and you won't work a day in your life. I think it's so true. And I have even myself upskilled some of the others who haven't traditionally had to work with some of that tech or needed to. It is it can really free up a lot of time to do other things or make a broader impact. So appreciate you sharing that. And I definitely think, yeah, this stereotypes and groups and things like that, this is all a bit of the conversation, right? It's kind of just recognizing the differences and seeing how we can use them to help everyone across the board. So looking ahead, all right?
Matthew Rassi 23:23
Before you do that, I just want to add one thing, because I think that we're almost getting lapped, if I can say it like that, by the warehousing space. So if we look at a typical job in a warehouse 15 years ago, compared to what the typical job is today due to the Amazons and the Walmarts and these big guys that have gotten into warehousing, the transformation that's happened in warehousing and what a job look like before, and now the technology that you utilize, you're almost outnumbered by the robots these days, right? But somebody has to run that, coordinate that, and help make that happen. And so no longer are you doing the lifting and the sorting and all these things that you had to do. But there are other jobs. Other jobs there. And so just as that transformation has happened in just such a short span of time, in the warehousing, I think in manufacturing, we have that same change that is coming and transformation, and in many cases, it's already occurred. And so just like you said, not everything is this deep, dark, dank manufacturing plant anymore. None of the plants that I'm working with today look anything like that. And I'm thrilled about that. I'm excited that it, it is up and coming and embracing new technology. It's not all about technology. It's not but in many ways, it can really help eliminate some of the boredom and stress that came with the old jobs. Yeah.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 24:40
So I want to, I want to talk real quickly to that. And then, Andy, I'm sorry, we'll, I'll, I'll hand it back off to you for your question, because we've talked about technology as a way to appeal What about Lean thinking is, have you found that there's just a different way of thinking that that they will just like, latch on to and. And absorb or or that captures their curiosity. You know, I guess it's I'm circling back to my question about, you know, what is appealing about manufacturing, but what about the way of thinking, not just the technology, but have you found some thinking?
Matthew Rassi 25:15
Sure, I would say that that adaptation that I talked about before, of adapting to lean and that type of thinking like working on the business. There are many in the older generations like, no, just let me do my job. Like no, we all, we all, collectively need to work on the business. So as we start to bring in things like, we're going to spend 15 minutes a day working on the business. What does that look like? Well, it starts with cleaning, but then it's organization, and then it's problem solving. The generation that embraces and grabs that is these Gen Zs. They're the ones that are like, yeah, actually, yeah. I want to have purpose. I want to make a difference. I'm going to show that I can actually improve something. And like, excellent. That's exactly what I'm looking for. So it's a little harder to break the mold, especially for someone that's been there 1020, years already and has not been asked to work on the business. All they've ever done is work in the business. And now we're asking, I want you to work on the business. I want you to take dedicated time every day to think about, how can you make this better tomorrow? I often use the, you know, the Eisenhower matrix concept of urgent versus important. Urgent is the orders that are due today. This is about all that is promoted within manufacturing, and that's just such a crime against your people. Because what is important, the things that are important will make tomorrow better. And so we need to focus on the things that will make tomorrow better, which is working on the business. Otherwise, we have to live this Groundhog Day, day after day after day, and it only gets worse as things grow. And so that's kind of I find an adaptation. When you ask about do they think differently? They're far more open to working on the business because they want to see the impact that they can have in the things that they do.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 26:46
What that's a great characteristic, like you should be looking for that people, those of you listening audience, those of you that are in the hiring spaces, start looking for that, that they want to do that. Start change your questions. You know that you're using and ask those questions. Try to figure that out. Awesome. Sorry. Andy, go ahead. No,
Andy Olrich 27:04
no apologies. This is, this is the this is the job. Well done. So I think an adaptation that that really strikes out. And I think to me, and I think if you've been involved in a Lean transformation, or you may have someone that's done that same job for 1020, years, and they're not happy with that. There is actually a bit of a common ground there where you could find those opportunities from the, let's say, not the Gen Z person and the one that's been there a while with Lean if you're doing that transformation, sometimes they both have to change how they think, or, Hey, yeah, actually, yeah, we both, we both want that, but it's just different ways that we've got to work together. So I find that especially if you're bringing in a Lean transformation, sometimes it doesn't matter the age or experience, everyone kind of goes, whoa. Hang on. What's this? But the connection, the visibility, I think it's a great opportunity. And as you said, you can if there's people who have more energy and want to see that impact and they really want to make a difference in this world. I think it's, it's it's right for the picking, so to get those ones in and excited and kind of lead the way after a while, don't they? So I think it's a it's a great again, it's a great way to kind of shift that up. If you haven't got the experience and you know, we're in trouble, or maybe we won't pick them, it could be like, Hey, we kind of got to change how we think in this place and bring some fresh eyes in. So, really important. And so looking at, excuse me, looking ahead, what trends as leaders should they be paying attention to if they really want to see that competitive edge that you can get from that future workforce and this generation? What are some of the things that they can do to not only attract but make sure they can keep up, as you say, so they don't get lacked?
Matthew Rassi 28:47
Yeah, I would say there are some things that are of great interest to this generation, things like digital twins. When we talk about digital twins, where we're going to take what we're doing and we're going to make it digital and see what it looks like, before we actually make the changes. This is something they're super adept at. They know all kinds of softwares to use, and they're happy to do it. And they've been doing this, you know, their Minecraft world and all those types of things they've been doing this a virtual reality that now becomes the reality, and so they can build it all up for you. My kids do this for everything. We were doing a church remodel, and they took our church and and built the whole thing in their little Minecraft worlds. This is what it could look like doing that in the manufacturing. Is one example. Another example is this gamification. Like all of my kids are on games, and they have running streaks, whether it's Duolingo or any other thing that they have with school or those types of things. How many days a row can you keep something going? If you can set that up so you have that same type of thing with work and either their KPIs or something within their team that they need to be able to do like they are hooked. They are into it. They're going to be driving it. They will find a way to make it happen. Now, many of us are like, well, work is not a game. And other. Hey, well, you can take that approach, but you're missing out, because there is so much opportunity here, and I see it within my own kids and the chore charts and things that we end up doing here, they want to win. They want to find a way to make that happen. And it wakes it so much more fun if you approach it like this and let them help build these systems that they can excel in.
Andy Olrich 30:21
Yeah, does anybody remember the Tamagotchi? Was that a thing where you guys were you got to keep this thing alive, this little gadget, you've got to keep checking in. I mean, it's not so completely foreign, if you think about it, but I remember those little things. But yeah, they want to win. And I don't meet many people coming through that are excited to be given an opportunity. And then they go, Oh, well, that's it, q in the rack. I'll just chill out for now. But I think, yeah, it's gamification. I personally, I love when I go to a training event or a conference or something like that, and they get you up and you do it through play. So Lego, serious play. I've got some Lego over the back here. It's, it's fun, and I want to do it, and I want to do more of it. And if you can integrate that into your work while still having that, you know, that serious edge that needs to be there, and safety and quality show me the way, because death by PowerPoint, I'm done with it. So that's such a cool I agree.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 31:15
It makes me wonder, is, is a trend, Matthew, that maybe you've seen having more experience with, you know, other CEOs and owners of companies, could you say adding joy? Because that's what we're talking about. You know, it gamification, yes. But you know, the overall umbrella is also adding joy to this work, like, because joy brings purpose and enjoy. You know, wow, is is could that be, or is that just a little bit too much? Because I think one of you just mentioned, just, you know, a minute ago, about, hey, work is work, play, do it on your own time. Work is
Matthew Rassi 31:53
here. I think it's the challenge portion of it that builds that purpose. So when you when you achieve a challenge as very joyful. That's very exciting, right? And so I don't, I don't want to just say it's just for the joy sake. Hey, we're just going to have fun, right? But it's because we have purpose, and we attempt a challenge and then we achieve that challenge that is so purposeful and so meaningful, and it brings great joy to everyone I look at, even my youngest, eight years old, and if he has purpose, if he can help along, if he can come alongside, and yep, it'll take me twice as long if he's helping if he's not, but that's what he needs right now, so he learns how to do it. And I want to, I want to build on that as well, because this cross generational cross training is very challenging, and it needs to get embraced by all ages, to recognize that we're losing so many that are retiring out and then we have these young folks that want to learn, and oftentimes those that have learned, like it took me 30 years to learn this, so you're just going to have to tough it out. Like that is the wrong attitude. Let's take what you took 30 years and see if we can't transfer it in three months to the next person. And so trying to find a way even to gain that of here's the things that they need to learn, right at it, beginner, intermediate and expert level. Here's the different things they need to learn. And now, how long will it take us to be able to get them to get there and make it into some type of a game or achievement or that type of thing for the younger person, for the older one to see? Oh, they actually are making progress. And it probably wouldn't take as long if I would approach training a little bit different than what I received. Right,
Andy Olrich 33:26
right? Yeah. Again, that's awesome. And you talk about joy. So here's, here's a nice segue, Matthew so rich Sheridan. He's Menlo innovation. So the the Lean summit that we're we're going to, the one of the tours is actually to Rich's business, and he calls himself the chief Joy officer. So anyone's coming along to the summit, check out that tour, because when you go in there, you will see joy in action. And some of the results they're getting, it's amazing, and their daily stand ups, all of the Lean principles and tools are in there, but it's just a really cool way to do it. And I think that's yeah, thanks. Thanks for calling that out. So I think when we're looking at the gray tsunami, they call it down here. I don't know. I mean, I've got a bit of I've been painting up the side of the house, I tell people, but it's, it's happening, right? And as you said, someone might go before that other comes in. How can we capture those 30 years of not only good things, but the pain or the risks make it easy to train, because things like standard work, Twi job instruction, training, but still, there is still a bit of paper and things flying around. There's so much cool stuff with adaptive learning or videos and things like that, because that's the risk, right? Is the skills leave and then the standards and things like that fall out. So they're just such powerful points that you're making here. And I think it's transcending just the generation piece. I think there's a lot of businesses, regardless of who they're looking to employ, facing these challenges. So again, lean is lean is definitely something that. Helps cover a lot of these risks, whether you are engaging someone just out of school or been in the game 25 years, and they need to learn how you need to work, what makes you successful in your place. So let's we've touched a little bit on visual management, but I think the tailoring of So we've talked a little bit about the digitization, but Yeah, can we just take a little bit of a deeper dive into that? So tailoring the visual management boards in your experience, Matthew, what seems to be working well, especially with getting them effective and efficient in their work? Well,
Matthew Rassi 35:31
it's using various apps on smartphones to be able to do some of these trackings. It's some of that gamification of, are we able to achieve those types of things and then something that they're really adept at and really good at. They're so much better at making video. So we've done a lot of our SOPs recently with like, a zoom type call where we're just videoing, and you talk non stop. I just want the operator to talk non stop as they do something, as we video it, we'll get the transcription of it. We'll make some edits. That becomes our SOP. And young people are really good at this. They probably already have their own Tiktok channel, their own YouTube thing. They're doing these types of things at home. So if you ask them to do the things that they're already good at at work, they're going to be very apt to step into those types of things. And so the visual management type things of the whiteboards and the screens and these types of things are things where they really excel at it, and then they can see it every day. And that just that builds an excitement. It builds an ownership. I just visual systems is one of my number one go to things for any organization to get off the baseline and get yourself moving in the right direction. Of course, choosing what you're actually going to measure is absolutely critically important, but it's also important that you get moving and so pick something, and let's go and let's have everybody on it, including the owner, including the supervisor. Each of them should have something, even if it's just something like, How many hours did you work this week? And how can we get that to a more realistic number?
Shayne Daughenbaugh 36:55
Let me push back just a little bit in the idea of digitalization, in technology for the smaller business owners and the smaller manufacturers that don't have the budget for the touch screens and, you know, the the and on lights, you know, all over the place or whatnot. What are some updates to visual management that we could do that would appeal but not break the bank like maybe they just don't have those that cap capacity or capability to to get everyone their own iPad, or to, you know, to be scanning everything or whatnot. What are some things that could still using those principles of visual management, kick it up a notch for more engagement for, you know, those that are coming up, well,
Matthew Rassi 37:41
first of all, for those of us that are older to realize that the expense of these types of things is not much, right? So getting iPads, new iPads out in the area, 800 right bucks with a with the cover and those types of things, so it's not a break the bank like I don't have to get a whole another PC setup of 10,000 milers or something like that to be able to do it. And all the screens can now talk to each other. So I don't even need some type of technology to run my screen. I just get a smart screen for 300 bucks down at Walmart and put that thing up there, and now I've got something that's showing the information on there, and so it's not super expensive, at least in my experience, to be able to get there. Now I can start with whiteboards, and we do. We start with whiteboards and those types of things, and we've got to get the process going. But after we've got the process going, I want to find a way to be able to capture that data on a daily or weekly basis easily, and by switching over to digital type solutions, you're able to do that much simpler. And what I found is, I just asked those that are younger, what have they seen? What have they used in the past? And they'll jump right in there and say, Oh, I use this thing at home. My family does this thing, and we tech this and like, I think we could use that for business. So ask the questions, see what they have. It's one of the you know, the most to me, the largest of the waste is the underutilized talent. And we are so under utilizing folks, because they have so much experience in life, even if they're young, they've had a lot of experiences in life, in school and things that they've seen to be able to do it. So, I mean, in school, they were all, they were all using their phones or something that they were given so that they could vote together, right? So they could vote together on questions, like, when you have your company thing, why don't you get up there and do those types of things so that everyone can vote right now. Hey, what do you guys want to do on this? Instead of having some verbal thing, everyone pulls out their phone, they scan the QR code, they enter in their thing, and it pops up on the screen. That's so awesome. Kids love that kind of stuff. It's a way to really engage a team.
Andy Olrich 39:33
I love that sort I love that sort of stuff. But you know, then, apology, shame, I'm not having a shot here, but that, that little exchange that we had there around if they don't have the tech and the systems. And then Matthew came back with, hey, it's just this and it's this screen, and they all talk to each other. They kind of sounded like a bit of a Gen Z to Gen X, or beyond time. Because, and I was gonna, I was gonna say, if you didn't, Matthew, that you're like, ask the questions. Hey, we want to. We want what's. What's something that you've seen or you can do. And I think if you look at some of the at schools now, like in primary school, they're doing coding and all these sorts of things. You go along and watch that stuff, and they're they're just, it's amazing, whereas for someone like me, who's done PLC programming, I'm sitting there going, Oh yeah, I had to learn some of that in engineering trader, right? But these kids are doing, yeah, go into their world and have a look, because it's amazing. It's, you know, what? We could use that instead of buying that or having to, oh, this is, this has been great. And it is, yes. Shane, I hope you took that in the the nice way that I normally try to talk to you.
Shayne Daughenbaugh 40:40
You better believe you better believe
Andy Olrich 40:42
it. Oh, wow. So really great. So when you talked about those visual systems, so the impact here, you're kind of handing the keys over to the interactions and some of those things with that engagement, no doubt it's a winner. But what about this continuous improvement mindset? What does that do to the culture, not only for them, but the broader workforce
Matthew Rassi 41:02
well as as the team begins to see the changes that are happening on our daily basis, right, and then you are able to scale it up. So just like with quality or maintenance or safety, if it's delegated to one department and it's irresponsibly, then nobody else takes responsibility, continuous improvement falls into those same categories. If we just say it's a CI guy and he's responsible, nobody else is doing it. But if we spread it across the entire team and everybody is participating, particularly in something like CI, you begin to see a scale of improvements across the facility. Areas are starting to get clean. Problems are getting solved. Organization is happening. All these types of things happen, and it is contagious. And that culture of wanting to not get passed up by somebody else is also there. So this works as well on multi shifts. So multi shift organizations have extra challenges there. And yet, when you start to implement continuous improvement, and everybody is spending time working on the business, making the visual systems and these types of things. It is, in a way, contagious that it helps to get there. So you're always going to have that 20% that jump right on the 50% that come a little slower, but when that 70% of the train is moving the last 30% they can't help but step into that in most cases, right? That's awesome. Yeah, there's one other thing that that young people really crave and don't want to have so I want to be sure and get that in there. And this is the participation ribbons. Okay, they are not interested in getting a participation ribbon at work. Okay? They've gotten them all through their careers, and it has not satisfied them. They want the challenge, and if they achieve the challenge, they want to get recognized for it. So just like the rest of us, we do like to be recognized, but they in particular, so things like skill badges and white belts, green belts, those types of things, I find it is very appealing to this generation. They want the certifications. They don't really want to go for multi years to college. They want a certification, but they don't want one that doesn't mean anything. They want something that has shown they achieve something, and have achieved that skill. And so I am finding success with that as well, with particularly with this generation. Some of the older ones like, I don't want something like that, but some of the younger ones want to show Yes, actually I've mastered this, and I want to be designated for this. I'll be able to take that with me no matter where I go in the future. And I'm young, yet got lots of opportunities to go to so that's another,
Shayne Daughenbaugh 43:21
let me, let me, you know, dig that just a little bit from your experience, because there's one thing about, hey, we have these belts, right and, you know, and it's the challenge of mastering this skill and this, you know, methodology or this mindset or whatever. But there's also the other side of that, if we're talking about participation trophies, of the vanity metric of we really, you know, we just want the numbers, you know, we want 1000 white belts, or we want everyone to be yellow belt. But if they don't have the impact on how they do work, other than just saying, you know, as a company on the website. Hey, we have, you know, 95% of our employees are yellowle trained. Like, is that? Is that? Would you consider that a participation trophy? Yeah,
Matthew Rassi 44:10
that's like a vanity type metric. You're totally missing it, right? The things you should be focusing on is, how many improvements do we have in this past month or in the past period, those types of things, not necessarily how many people you have titled at different areas. And to me, the greatest opportunity as a trainer and a teacher is I get to come alongside as they're working through their challenges, right? So the a three that they have to accomplish to be able to get their green belt and actually solve a real problem, and they get to the end and they realize they solved a real problem that was complex and challenging. Like, okay, so now that's your first one. So what's going to be your next day three? I remember, as we were getting to the end of a Green Belt certification here in May, and I was sitting down with a young man he had just accomplished and finished that and we were going to wrap those things up, I said, What's going to be your next day three? And he's like, I have to do a second one for a green belt. I'm like. Well, no, you don't for the Green Belt, but the whole reason for your training, right? You're gonna pick the next one. He's like, right? Oh yeah, I understand that. I just didn't want to have to do all right? And it was like, okay, so it's that modeling, and then they see that they can do it, and it opens their eyes to say you could really have an impact on this. And the organizations then move that into their reviews, that you need to have so many improvements and so many a three level improvements, and people are are biting that up and saying, absolutely, I'll add that value if you're rewarding me for it. Yeah, because I don't, I don't
Shayne Daughenbaugh 45:31
think there's anything wrong with wanting to have your staff equipped with Lean thinking and with you know that methodology. But if it all is, is just so you can put numbers on your website, then you know you're actually doing more harm than good.
Andy Olrich 45:46
Yeah, when you say we've trained this many people, yeah, well, what did you get out of it? And it's a good filter. There's some, some yellow and green belts, for example, running around. My first question is, oh, okay, so what was your project? What did you Oh, we didn't do a project. We just just did the training. Okay, well, you've been trained. So, yeah, definitely, in the in the spaces I work, is if we're going to do some training, there really needs to be that competency, that, or if they say, Look, I am a green belt. And this is when you said, I've mastered this. Okay, how did you do that? What was the thing? What? What did you apply to? So it's a real story in a case study, instead of, I behaved myself for six days and enjoyed the sandwiches. So it is and the and the organization gets something back immediately too. So if people want to learn and burn and use that green belt as a ticket out of there, well at least you've got something back with a real, tangible project that you can point others to. When that person's not there, it's this is I was going to say before, wow, this has been such a great, great conversation. And definitely we could talk about this, and maybe we'll dive into a particular part deeper in future. But Matthew, it's been great having you on mate, where can people connect with you? We'll put some of you, if you, for example, if you LinkedIn and things like that, we'll put that in the show notes. But yeah, how would you how can people get in touch?
Matthew Rassi 47:01
Yeah, LinkedIn is definitely the best. I also have a website, website, 20 helping hands, spelled out, 20 helping hands. It was my wife and I and eight kids, and we have three more kids, so the numbers don't work out anymore, but it's still 20 helping hands. And our goal is to be able to help in many different ways. So I've got call bookings there that we can visit about the challenges you might be facing, how to be able to get involved. I've got a lean starter guidebook. It dives deep into visual systems and some of these very basics that anybody can have. And I've got a Lean journey navigator that would help you assess the behaviors of your organization, so that you would know where you're at on a Lean journey, so not just where you're at and what programs you have in place, but how is your team behaving, and so that indicates where the next step is and how we can continue, continue to grow. So all of that can be found at 20 helping hands.com,
Andy Olrich 47:53
magic, everything. Thank you for sharing that. And Shane, I'll throw it over to you. Mate, reflections, final final words, what do you think?
Shayne Daughenbaugh 47:59
Um, now, I guess the final words that I have is, as I'm hearing all of this, one of I guess a way of defining it is we're talking about cognitive diversity, and it like people think differently and and in cognitive diversity, when you embrace cognitive diversity, it means that I know that I think this way, but Andy, your the your worldview and how you think is just as valid as mine is, even though I can't relate in any way. I mean, you're upside down right now, and that boggles my mind. Yeah. But just, just that idea of, you know, it's, it's part of, part of this Lean Thinking is embracing cognitive diversity, is embracing this idea that, hey, just because my experience and the things that I went through is going to be different than than my other co worker, that that doesn't negate the fact that theirs is just as valid, and probably it's worked for them. So, you know, kudos for being able to, like, mash those two together and be aware of those. I think that's that's a very mature leadership style or technique or trait is embracing that,
Matthew Rassi 49:17
yeah, we have so much that we can learn from each other if we take the time to ask and we consider what other point people's viewpoint is. And so that is true across generations and across cultures. We need to take the time. There's so much we can learn from one another if we take the time to ask,
Andy Olrich 49:33
yeah, that's awesome. Respect for people that's at the heart, right? And we're, we're talking about that now. So thank you again, Matthew, it's been fantastic to have you on and I'd love to unpack that lifehouse journey as well with the prisons we will touch on that I think that'll that'll definitely be one to look at. So Shane, it's a pleasure, as always. Thank you to all of our listeners. And yeah, hope to see you all, or you see us next time on the Lean solution. This podcast, so thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time. Thanks, Matthew.