Go & see - a wonderful and very powerful management tool

 Hi everybody. Good to meet again with You here in my blog after exactly 1 week. Normally I would consider a week as a hell of a time span but ultimately things have dramatically changed and the clock runs much faster than before. At least that`s my sensation. Very much due to the non-stop participation in conferences and all types of exciting online events with people from all over the world. 

Since the middle of March, from the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis here in Brazil on, I have been working from out of my home office in our house in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo. And this has been functionning wonderfully since then for my own full initial surprise. During the 4 months from March until July I have only been 3 or 4 times for 2 or 3 hours each to our beautiful factory in Itatiba, Sao Paulo, for having a look how things were going there, for "showing my flag" to our employees and for fetching or signing and dropping some documents in my office. 

About 1 month ago my management team colleagues Luis Traúzola, Vice President Admin, Ferdinand Senske, Vice President Operations, Marco Santos, HR & Special Projects Director, and I have started to meet 1 day every week physically at our company. And I must admit, that I really enjoy these wonderful opportunities to meet with my colleagues, to visit personally all areas and departments of our factory and to talk to many of our employees. 

Maybe this sounds crazy for You, but since I made my first experience as Managing Director for a company, which was producing products which I could individually see, identify and touch, I identify myself very much with these. During my times at Schwarzkopf & Henkel`s factories in Germany and Spain our products were tubes, jars, flasks and bottles of cosmetic products, during my times at the autoparts suppliers ElringKlinger and BOS in Mexico our products were motor gaskets, heat shields, arm rests and luggage covers, during my time at Oystar/Fabrimar in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo, our products were packaging machines for the pharmaceutical industry, during my times at GEA at Franco da Rocha, Sao Paulo, our products were all kinds of heat exchangers for mainly the oil & gas industry and since I started at Vulkan in Itatiba meanwhile 6 years ago, our products are couplings, brakes, backstops and Lokring tube connectors and accessories. 

I`m not just amazed by seeing our wonderful products beeing designed and manufactured - it`s equally exciting for me to see our products installed and functioning at our customers in all their different processes and machinery. During my times at Schwarzkopf & Henkel, where we did not produce B2B products but B2C products, I was always looking up our own and our competitors products in the shelfs of the supermarkets. It gave me an almost conspiratory and highly satifying feeling, when I deciphered the bar codes on our own products and thus got to know, at which production plant, on which day and on which production line they had been manufactured. Full personal identification with the job, the employees, the products and the customers is fundamental in my eyes for people who have been awarded general management responsabilities and must show performance and results under all types of circumstances.

During my in total 6 years of experience as Managing Director at the autoports manufacturers in Mexico, I have learned a lot about the processes and management philosophies which have become predominant in this industry. My real "teachers" during this period were the guys from Toyota. During numerous launches and PPAPs of new products, I became quite familiarized with Toyota`s world famous "production system" and lean philosophies.

After all, the Toyota principle Genchi Genbutsu (= Go & See) is the one, which has impressed and influenced me the most. Let`s ask wikipedia for helping us, to understand a little more about Go & See:

Genchi Genbutsu literally translates "real location", "real thing" and it is a key principle of the Toyota Production System. It suggests that in order to truly understand a situation one needs to observe what is happening at the site where work actually takes place: the genba. It is "collecting facts and data at the actual site of the work or problem". The only way to truly understand what happens on the shop floor is to go there. It is where the value is beeing added and where the waste can be observed. Go & See is therefore a key approach in problem-solving. If the problem exists on the shop floor, then it needs to be understood and solved at the shop floor.

Since my times in Mexico during 2003-2009 I have deeply internalised this understanding and made it part of my normal management routine. Nothing better, than to see and understand all kinds of challenging situations with Your own eyes and exactly at the places, where they are happening. 

With this orientation and conviction, I always have a complete and extensive tour through all areas and departments of our factory when I go there. I normally invite Ferdinand Senske, our Vice President Operations, or other management team colleagues to accompany me during these walks. And whatever appears and does not explain or arises questions or even critics is beeing mentioned, discussed and generates decisions for actions to be taken afterwards. Thus these factory tours are very helpful and productive for all of us. 

Upon my last week`s visit to our factory I visited in detail our Test Center area, where we have installed during the last years several test benches and other devices for testing, measuring and analysis of our couplings, brakes and backstops. This area has been created almost 6 years ago when we started with the development of new products at our company in Itatiba. Josias Leal, Development and Engineering Director (josias.leal@vulkan.com; +55 11 98571 2107) and Marcel Moraes, Development Manager  (marcel.moraes@vulkan.com; +55 11 97335 3875), are responsible for our DPPA (Development of Products, Processes and Applications) department and also for our Test Center. Our highly experienced and qualified colleague Robson Matiello, Testing Engineer, is the area responsible for our Test Center and accompanies all activities full time there. 

I am always highly satisfied and proud, to see all areas of our beautiful factory very clean and well organised. This does not only proof that all systems and processes which we have implemented there continuously during the last years are beeing efficiently and with a very high discipline used, but it also reflects the high identification and motivation of all our Vulkan do Brasil (https://www.vulkan.com/en-us/holding/vulkan-companies/brazil) employees. 

On monday next week I`ll have my next factory tour and I will select another area there for a more detailed visit and for presenting to You. 

I hope the sharing of these personal & professional insights and experiences was interesting for You and anyhow I wish You a successful week and lots of good health and fun.

Looking forward to meeting with You here in my blog again by next tuesday.