My Job No One Knows

My first job after college was a career I never heard of. Even though my parents are engineers, never learned about Manufacturing Engineers. Am not alone, there are many careers no one knows about or understands.

Design engineers are what everyone thinks of for engineering. The people who can take a idea and create from scratch new products is what people think of engineers. (That and we drive trains and sound the whistle) Truth is even simple products need vastly different skills and talents to be made successfully.

Manufacturing has designers, design engineers, toolmakers, tool designers, industrial engineers, machine designers, planners, production mangers, and the craftsmen who put products together every day. Every small product takes a team of people to accomplish everything you touch or hold.

Manufacturing and tooling engineers are often considered second-class citizens by management. The example that comes to mind is I was in my thirties before I had desk younger than I. Sales had the fancy offices. Production is industrial. And manufacturing engineers plan, coordinate, improve and team to make it happen.

Why do it? I love it. Am fascinated by technology, products and services. The challenge of find the easiest way, the least cost, a faster way, a safer way, and to make your product better is consuming. People need help and you solve problems. You wake up at night with new ideas how.

Nothing happens instantaneously. The first version doesn’t work. The second round can’t be made as designed. The third version needs to be more reliable. And competition means the cost has to go down. There are always problems and challenges that have to be overcome. Innovation, creativity and persistance are key. You work hard to make your team succeed.

Production celebrates shipping new products like teams winning playoffs. Anything great is the result of lots of hard work.

There is a sense of accomplishment and knowing you have done what others could not with new products. New production systems may be invented, tools created specially for your product, people need to be trained, instructions and documents written, and schedules met.

Manufacturing is a great career even if no one understands what you do.

“Make Something Better.” Bill Boeing

The Liar’s Club: Concealing Rework in Concurrent Development

MIT posted this interesting article about the issue of hidden rework in the development cycle. Your project can crash with surprise delays that destroy delivering on time, much less on budget.

http://web.mit.edu/jsterman/www/Liar's_club.html

Firms seeking competitive advantage to increase market share, profit, and growth have turned to concurrent development to speed the introduction of new products and beat their competitors to market. However like any other improvement process there are weakness and difficulties. Human nature does not want to be the bearer of bad news, and the managerial attention does not always help resolve the issue.

The F-35 is an example of concurrent development. While it looks like the development is now progressing well, the program looks like a money pit. The idea was instead of doing all the development on test planes, they could start production while still testing and writing the software necessary. Several years into the program design changes are still being made which require existing models to be changed, and the software is years behind schedule. The software on this program is critical to be able to use all the technology and weapons available.

The cost of the F-35 was getting close to breaking the Air Force budget before recently turning the program around. Some critic wondered if the day would ever come. (Don’t ask my thoughts on building one airplane to fill the needs of 3+ airplanes though) 

Did work with a smaller company that successfully implemented concurrent engineering in their development cycle. Why did it work? Reality was included with the plan, and being flexible enough to realize meeting schedule with an inferior product was worse than redesigning the product again.

On our first project we were working on the development schedule. The initial proposal was the standard design, prototype, testing, order machines & tooling, then start production. I asked, “Has any design worked the first time after testing?” The answer was no one could remember that happening. We need to plan for at least one redesign after testing and have a contingency plan for a second redesign. Including normal contingencies with average lead times in standard planning processes made the concurrent engineering process work. We used it both for new product development and product line extensions.

Back to fudging and hiding rework during development. This is a dangerous practice that can come back to hurt the team and the company. The natural tendency this setback is a small problem, and management does not need to know. What you don’t realize is your sponsor and other leaders may have more resources available that can speed up the redesigning and keep your project on schedule. Second the later a problem comes to the surface, the bigger the consequences for everyone involved.

Worked for a company that taught about Malpractice and the dangers to your career and the business. They made a video and repeated it yearly. Such danger for fudging, and little reward for doing it. We had one customer, the US Navy, and could have lost the business without their trust.

Leadership is doing the real work of getting things out of the way of your teams so your people succeed. Leaders have to make sure teams know they have your support to be comfortable to innovate. Besides only about 40% of software development project complete all features, on time, and within budget. Projects failing should not be a crisis but a normal situation to be handled calmly.

The quote jumped out at me ‘‘... don’t tell someone you have a problem unless you have the solution. You’re supposed to solve it—and then tell them.’’ This thought limits the chance to get more suggestions, ideas and develop more alternatives.

Found it helped if I showed up with the bad news, with some suggestions of my own or my teams, and was prepared for getting feedback & suggestions. More productive engagement came from being prepared and open. Make sure you are ready to deliver bad news and have leaders engaged when necessary.

Microsoft Marketing and Advertising

John Dvorak has a very good article commenting on Microsoft’s advertising. (See link below) His main point is Microsoft is only advertising for lowest price versus Apple. Microsoft doesn’t sell laptops, they sell software. This is a recipe for disaster. Low price means low margins. It also means low respect and lower profits.

I much preferred the ads with the kids and adults showcasing their talents on a PC. “I am a PC” was that slogan. It at least showed why you want a PC.

Not sure the advertising was working. Apple makes superior hardware with software that is convenient to use. Look at how easy it is to integrate your iPhone and iPod with your Mac. All these affordable apps make owning and synchronizing multiple machines easy so your time is productively spent.

Now Microsoft is no slouch in software. Apple is now able to make us of multi-core chips. Microsoft developed this capability with multi-core chips three years ago (more or less). Second the biggest U.S. gains in productivity came when businesses starting using Microsoft Windows machines with Office. How many businesses have not used this combination? Microsoft is still superior for large corporations. Their server and pc software is productive to manage for IT. They improve and service their customers well. Updates are ready regularly to keep your computer safe and sound.

Microsoft is not the greatest innovator for software. Others often came up with ideas how to use computors. Microsoft is the integrator of software supreme. Buy what you need, and Microsoft will take care of you. Really when you look at their marketing for many years they were leaps ahead of any competitors. Who else would a business work with?

When Microsoft focuses on business benefits and advantages for small pc owners and business they market successfully. What advantages? How about more programs for any purpose available. Why does Apple offer programs to mimic Windows? Because you can’t get everything for a Mac. My business card scanner is one application that won’t transfer to a Mac. In fact even though Apple offers compatible programs to Office, most small business owners will buy Office for the Mac just to make sure.

Let’s get back to your business. How are you Marketing and Advertising Your Business? Are you showcasing your advantages and benefits for your customers? Let’s focus on benefits. It is not you offer a product or service, it is how the customer benefits from buying your product or using your service. This is what you have to do for your marketing to succeed.

Also check out John Dvorak’s good article. Very good read.
Steve

Apple vs. marketing on 'best price'
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-vs-marketing-on-best-price

The Myth of the Rational Buyer

How Too Much Thinking Can Hurt Your Brand

BY Mark Dziersk

Fast Company blog

A wonderful question is conventional marketing hurting sales. What if the best thing is to market emotionally to your customers. After all, what are you offering them?

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/mark-dziersk/design-finds-you/myth-rational-buyer-how-too-much-thinking-can-hurt-your-brand

The truth is often simpler. People want what works, looks good, and give pleasure by doing what it is suppose to. How can product development be easier.