This once regional company committed to go full throttle growth in an industry that was on the verge of exponential expansion.
Guiding the organization to achieve and sustain industry leadership status was further complicated due to the lack of a regulatory framework. Manufacturing and distribution was managed on a state-by-state basis. The SVP Operations applied his 25+ years of experience in consumer products manufacturing to develop and deploy a network optimization plan that would meet the aggressive business requirements.
Core to this strategy was the workforce and work processes. FSO Institute was brought in to develop an engaged workforce in the company’s two flagship plants.
Challenge
- Millennial workforce with a perceived resistance to standard work processes
- Production was constantly behind schedule due to order fulfillment and quality issues
- Rapid growth of industry, company expansion, and the continuous influx of new people
Action
- Worked with leadership to give shop floor techs the accountability and authority to implement new processes
- Bi-weekly coaching sessions with focused teams to educate and develop short term action plans built competencies and provided proof of concept
- Helped teams develop ‘snap shot’ tracking indicators for rapid feedback of process changes
Results
This fast-growing vertically integrated company, with agricultural, processing and dispensary operations, was very successful in engaging their predominately millennial workforce. At the onset, FSO focused on creating BOA (Buy-in, Ownership, Advocacy) within the workforce. This was accomplished by developing and deploying standard work processes for short term and long-term gains.
Initial deployment was against short term productivity and quality improvements by engaging shop floor team members in lean processes such as one-piece flow and 5S.
The second phase consisted of longer-term gains by more fully engaging the workforce in the implementation of a Pay for Skills system and a formal Qualifications process.
