“Volume is lower, but you are further behind, shipping late, back-ordering and allowing stock outs. You have a veteran crew and the same manager. The biggest difference is that you are working without two supervisors. Is that about it?” I verified.

“You got it,” Edgar nodded.

“So, what were the two supervisors doing that seems to make all the difference?”

“You know, supervising. Helping a technician who didn’t quite know what to do. Fixing a broken machine. Covering for someone on vacation. That’s why we figured we could do without them. I mean, we still have a machinist who can fix machines when they go down.”

“So, who schedules the technicians to work the production shifts?”

“We just put everyone on a regular rotation to work their hours during the week to cover one full shift and a swing shift. That way, no one has to really schedule the technicians.”

“So, you always have the right technicians scheduled to do the right production work?”

Edgar stopped. His eyes fluttered, but still no response.

“And who makes sure you have the right raw materials before each production run? Who checks to make sure an order is pulled from finished goods instead of making a production run to cover? Who is making sure machines are maintained on a PM schedule so they get pulled down only when they are idle?”

Edgar was still silent. “No one is doing any of that, anymore,” he finally replied.

“Edgar, there is a very specific role, this first line management stuff. It is between a production role and a systems role. To make sure production gets done, on time, to spec, working our strategic constraint. Many companies don’t see it, or don’t define it effectively. And that’s why, the harder you work, the behinder you get.”

“How long has this been going on,” I asked.

“It’s funny,” Edgar replied. “Our production volume isn’t as high as in 2007, but we are further behind. My manager just can’t seem to get ahead of the eight-ball.”

“Besides your lower production volume, what else is different?”

“Since the recession, we have had to cut back on staff, but we have the same number of production people per units produced, so that shouldn’t make a difference.”

“What else is missing?”

“Well, we had to let go of two supervisors, but that’s only two people out of a production team of 50. And besides, our production people know the work, they don’t need that much supervision.”

“We’ve grown,” explained Edgar. “We have developed systems to make sure our product is consistently made. But we keep running into delivery problems, running behind, backorders, line shutdowns. There always seems to be a problem making sure things get done.”

“Which one person has that responsibility?” I asked.

“Well, that should be the manager,” Edgar replied. “But I wonder sometimes. Have you ever seen someone in the weeds?”

“What do you mean?”

“In the weeds. Like in a restaurant, where the waiter has too many tables. He can go as fast as he wants, but never catches up and every customer stays upset.”

“So, describe your manager’s role? What do you expect from him?”

Edgar paused, “He’s the manager, he’s in charge of everything that goes on out there. It’s quite a big job. We have several assembly lines, lots of machines, each a little different. We have raw material and finished goods inventories.”

“Where does the breakdown occur?” I pressed.

“There are two kinds of problems I see my manager facing. Sometimes he seems to fix the same problem over and over, one band-aid after the another. Other times, he can tweak our system to fix the problem once and prevent it from happening again. I call it a system fix.”

“And?”

“Sometimes, there is too much going on and he can’t study a problem long enough to make a system fix, so he is back to band-aids. And that’s when we get behind.”