Just get on with it

“I’m a big IT supporter… Far too many people still view IT as a bit of a nuisance. That’s a very big mistake.” So says Bob Davis, a leading figure in the UK branch of the not for profit Association for Manufacturing Excellence, which now boasts some 150 members (6,000 in the US) since inception last year. And he goes on: “IT people and systems should be viewed as an asset to the business.” Obvious statements perhaps, but Davis, who is also managing director of Scunthorpe-based Deltron Emcon, the £9m turnover manufacturer of audio and video patch bays and enclosures for the broadcast and communications industries, believes it’s not happening. “And that’s partly why British manufacturing is in the state it is,” he asserts. Davis has been in manufacturing business management most of his working life. Now 55, he’s been MD at Deltron for 17 years, and with the company for 34. Direct and persuasive, very much a ‘doer’, he leaves you in no doubt that “digitising your business” is the only way to survive, but that doing it blindly is not an option. And bemoaning your lot is even less of one. “We all know there’s too much legislation for UK businesses, the pound is too strong, competition is difficult and Government doesn’t have a co-ordinated way of looking at things to help us. But you can’t do anything about that. You’ve got to face the facts, look at what’s happening outside and inside your business and first sort out what makes you different.” For him that puts priorities in three key areas: product innovation, supplier relations and business process improvement, with IT pivotal throughout. Most important, he says, “you need to think about how you can do business with your suppliers and customers.” Getting them involved as early as possible is key, he observers. And indeed having a supply chain strategy is a priority. Davis masterminded a drive from 275 suppliers two years ago to 150 today, with a target of 50 by October 2003, and expects savings of 15%, “which goes straight to our bottom line”. Changing the way things are done from reactive and compartmentalised, to proactive and involved up front, with the web as part of that, is critical to this achievement, he says. He urges manufacturers to challenge existing business processes. Pointing to best practice in the US, he observes: “In most of manufacturing 70% of your workforce are directly involved in production and they cost 40% of your wage bill, while 30% are not and they cost 60%.” For him, that’s where you start. “Map out manually what they do and why, and ask ‘which of these processes adds any value?’.” Culture and the ‘we’ve always done it that way’ mentality will get in the way, he warns. But he insists, “You just have to make yourself more competitive. I always say, ‘if you think the customer shouldn’t be paying for this, don’t do it’.” When it comes to ERP he cautions would-be users to think carefully not just about the functionality they need, but also about the business processes and style of operations they want. “You need to understand the processes of the software you’re looking at and decide, are they right for your business?” Having said that, he presides over a company that not only uses Geac’s System 21 on iSeries (AS/400) intelligently (“we use MRP as a guide, a tool rather than a discipline”), but has taken it onto the factory floor to help manage cell-based lean production, with screen-based operator interaction. “It’s the only way to get flexible, efficient cell manufacturing, and reduce your inventory, improve your stock turns and so on,” he says. If all this rings a bell, and you want more, it’s worth checking out the Association for Manufacturing Excellence website www.ame-uk.org. Go to AME Events in the UK, where you’ll find full details of its ‘Lean Thinking for Harder Times’ conference at the NEC Hall 1 on 1st and 2nd May, with speakers including AME UK president Professor Dan Jones (also chairman of Lean Enterprise UK), Joe Booth of Access to Growth and David Brunt, a lean manufacturing advocate with Porsche UK.