Collaboration breeds success

To win in a global manufacturing environment today, teams have to work together to achieve total effectiveness.
If you listen to the ARC Advisory Group the future is all about communities joining together to solve issues.
If you listen to Margaret Walker, vice president of engineering solutions, technology centers and manufacturing and engineering work processes at Dow Chemical, “It takes a lot of people to make things happen.”
What is true is companies have to work together within its own boundaries and also with their partners to get ahead in a global environment.
“To run a plant effectively, you need to work with the enterprise, engineering and design, and operations. You have to work with all these partners to achieve greater success,” said Andy Chatha, president of Dedham, Mass.-based ARC during today’s keynote address during the company’s 12th annual forum in Orlando, Fla.
There is no doubt technology has brought global communities closer, but it is not just using the latest and greatest advances that will get a company ahead, Walker said.
“Success is all about collaboration. Success is all about working together.”
Things can not remain the same, so that means the concept of change will always be in the business plan.
For successful change, there needs to be strong leadership, Walker said. “Leadership helps secure buy in from all parties. Without leadership support, all project energy is wasted. It takes the right people at the right place at the right time.”
There also should not be any hidden agendas.
“Leaders must be unselfish in their decision making,” Walker said.
In talking about decisions, aircraft maker Boeing had to make some tough choices. The company was doing well, but they knew they had to change. One reason was they had tough competition. Another reason is most their customers were operating in the red and they had to find a way to help them add new revenue streams, said Tim Opitz, director, Boeing 787 production and support, systems integration process and tools.
The company had to change its concept of working with partners to ensure they could get global delivery of airplane parts to the assembly plant. What they ended up doing was developing a “commonality matrix,” essentially a set of standards for all partners to work from. All partners would meet and then agree to the matrix, Opitz said.
Working on the 787 “changed the way Boeing is doing business and how the companies supporting Boeing are doing business,” Opitz said.