Management by Walking Around

People are inherently lazy and prone to indulging in a comfortable environment. Rather than wasting time sitting in the office, it is better to visit the workshops more often to gain more first-hand information. Especially for workshop managers, more time should be spent on "management by walking around," that is, to "walk, look, listen, and ask" more on the spot. Workshop management mainly involves the following five aspects:

1.Quality Management

When walking around the site, conduct spot checks on process report data, and immediately request improvements upon discovering abnormalities. Process control is a form of process management, where good results stem from good processes. Each job position has corresponding clauses, but there are discrepancies in the implementation process. Only through our management by walking around can we discover the actual implementation status.

2.Cost Management

Start by addressing aspects such as manpower arrangements, raw material losses, and energy consumption (water, electricity, and steam). When walking around the site, pay attention to "wastage, leakage, dripping, and venting" of energy. Refine the performance control targets to daily levels, analyze and resolve any exceedances on the same day to achieve daily improvements.

3.Delivery Management

Implement daily, weekly, and monthly equipment inspections during routine work, promptly address any abnormalities discovered, plan maintenance for equipment, and use the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle to improve maintenance plans, aiming to reduce equipment failure rates and avoid affecting delivery schedules.

4.Safety Management

Strengthen the safety awareness of all employees through continuous promotion and requirements, and improve the corrective ability of supervisors. Management should focus on prevention beforehand, control during, and summarization afterward, but the emphasis of safety management lies in prevention beforehand.

5.Morale Management

The effectiveness of team operations is closely related to personnel reserves. Therefore, in terms of talent cultivation, guidance can be provided in three aspects: knowledge, skills, and attitude. Practical abilities in various aspects can even be enhanced through job rotations.

Production management primarily revolves around these five aspects, which are interdependent and indispensable. However, the ultimate foundation of all these management practices ultimately returns to the management of people, ultimately reducing to human issues. But people are not machines or equipment; they have emotions and thoughts. Therefore, managing people involves managing their hearts. Only through positive communication with subordinates, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and leveraging strengths while avoiding weaknesses can we achieve the best use of human resources and materials.