At a time when our supply chains need to be as connected as ever before on a business to business level, we find ourselves in a situation where we are more disconnected than ever on a personal level. This means that manufacturing sales teams have even more adversity when trying to secure meetings, identify opportunities, and close deals. This also means that the opportunities in our pipelines are more precious than ever and might be the difference in being able to keep the doors open or not.

I am receiving many questions on the Illinois Manufacturing Helpline about face covering and face mask use in manufacturing facilities. Some governing bodies are requiring face coverings and not providing clear definitions or specifications on what is considered a “face covering.” Add to this the fact that manufacturers must put in place a respiratory protection program if they require fitted respiratory protection such as N95s or half face or full face respirators (take a look at OSHA regulations around respiratory protection). So, what seems simple to do becomes a multi-layered set of decisions.

Governmental institutions and companies worldwide are tapping into giant data pools to combat the various public health and economic challenges manifesting from the COVID-19 crisis. During these troubling times, big data analytics is proving to be an ally for first responders and other front line workers in healthcare, food service, manufacturing, and other essential services to address the true scale of challenges.

Who would have thought that only a few months into the year 2020, we would all be living through another life-altering crisis? Like previous major crises, they are unwelcomed and unwanted. As we are in the trenches of this current experience, we must remain united and look ahead to a new world that will forever be impacted.

It’s 2020 - a year we will never forget.  The Coronavirus pandemic is unprecedented in its economic and social impacts.  We’ve seen nothing like it and hope to never see it again.  And now that we are in this and expecting to soon get on the other side of this, many questions surround what the new normal is going to look like.

A lot has changed over the past few weeks (I know – I sound like Captain Obvious) and the ripple effects of this crisis are yet to come. We are all entrepreneurs again.

What will your business look like in 3 or 6 months? How about in 2021? How will we prepare our teams and leaders appropriately? The questions go on and on, and while the unknown answers are unnerving, there are some constants that we can lean on for guidance as we work together to create our new norm.

In Richard Koch’s 1998 book, The 80/20 Principle, he makes a rather stark statement reflecting on the events of today. “The tipping point is ‘the point at which an ordinary and stable phenomenon – such as a low-level flu outbreak – can turn into a public-health crisis’, because of the number of people who are infected and can therefore infect others. Since the behavior of epidemics is non-linear and they don’t behave in the way we expect, ‘small changes – like bringing the number of new infections down – can have huge effects…  It all depends when and how the changes are made.”

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” — William Arthur Ward. 

Maintaining adequate cash flow is a major factor when operating a healthy business in times of growth and prosperity. During tough times it takes on an amplified role. The fundamentals of collecting on receivables, reducing expenses, reducing inventory investment, and the like are still in play, but these and different strategies need to be examined in difficult economic times.

Like most manufacturers across the country, Illinois manufacturers are answering the call of duty to help front-line COVID-19 warriors. Many are doing this by either pivoting their operations to produce critical supplies, increasing existing production, or finding other creative ways to contribute to the health and safety of our communities and environment.

Although hard to do, now is the time to start looking toward your company’s future. It is not likely we will go back to the way things were a few months ago. We may not have a clear vision of what the future holds; however, we still need to be proactive in shaping our destiny.

The Defense Production Act may require you to shift production to a different product and therefore you need to rapidly train your team members.  Others may need to reduce their workforce and move team members to other jobs that would require them to learn new skills.  And, some companies are hiring so rapidly that they interview a person, hire them on the spot, and the person is working on the job the same day.  These new team members require to be trained on everything from safety, time keeping, to their actual tasks and everything in between.

In March of 2020 business as we knew it changed, probably forever. The question is, what are we going to do about it? There are several options available; do nothing different, run and hide, or seize this as the opportunity that it is and become better. I recommend the latter. A key to becoming better is to determine how to differentiate your company from your competition.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis that came upon us just a few short months ago, now more than ever, manufacturers need to develop and implement an effective business continuity plan if they have not already done so.  While many companies who are ISO9001:2015 registered are required to identify risks and opportunities, as well to develop a response plan and integrate the response into their quality management system; this level of planning is wholly inadequate to support their needs under our current situation.  This is because ISO9001 asks a company to identify “what they will do IF something happens”, but now companies need to have a comprehensive plan to manage the business through the crisis now that it HAS happened.

Part 4 of "The New Supply Chain" blog series by Mike Loquercio, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Expert.

I think we should all take a moment and recognize the extraordinary efforts by everyone involved in healthcare, police and fire departments, emergency responders, research scientists, lab workers, social workers, ANYONE helping feed and shelter the homeless and the entire list of essential employees making a difference.

We are still seeing shortages of PPE and medical equipment, food crops and products with expiring shelf life, stores with empty shelves, and other parts of the supply chain working to make it day to day.

In this new normal, many of us are working from home. Some of us may be old pros and have it all figured out. However, for so many this is brand new. Add to this new home office the fact that you may be sharing it with other people who also have to work from home – roommates, kids, spouses, etc. – and you probably feel pretty unbalanced.

Respiratory Protection Programs are a little more complicated than other aspects of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for many employers.  There are annual requirements for training and review.  Now is a good time to consider the current state of your program and make some goals as needed to maintain and improve. 

What is the post-Covid 19 workplace going to look like? How will companies thrive? In some ways, it could be a very different world from as recently as 2019; or it could be more of the same as the past decade or two. Or the past century. The march of productivity has been going on for a very long time.

It’s hard to be a leader right now. You have people relying on you that are worried about their jobs, scared that they or someone in their family may become ill, or are just incapacitated by the overwhelming sequence of events that have occurred due to the COVID-19 crisis. At the same time, you may have some of these same worries and concerns. So, how do you take care of yourself and all the others who are relying on you?

This is an original article taken from the NIST Baldrige blog, written by Harry Hertz, Director Emeritus of the Baldrige Program. 

Over the past 1 1/2 years two iconic corporate leaders of the 20th and early 21st century passed away: Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines and Jack Welch of General Electric. Both built phenomenally successful companies during their tenures. Both had unique leadership styles, that differed in many ways. However, there were a number of striking similarities, that provide leadership lessons for all times and some specific pointers for surviving times of crisis. Not surprisingly, these are characteristics called out in the Baldrige Excellence Framework and displayed by leaders of Baldrige Award recipient organizations across all sectors. Let me share the characteristics I gleaned from numerous readings about these two leaders and summarized in these articles about Kelleher and Welch. I will relate them to the Baldrige framework and then to important lessons for times of challenge.

COVID-19 has brought the world to its knees! For most people in the world, daily life has been disrupted in an unprecedented way. Besides the awful toll on human life, job losses, business failures, etc. are now becoming more prevalent. The impact on the global economy has barely begun to be measured.

You shouldn’t wait until an employee is exposed to or tests positive for the COVID-19 virus. Rather, you should create a facilities plan that will help keep your employees as safe as possible.

Here are some things to consider as you develop your plan:

In times of uncertainty, it is best to focus on the things we can control. So as organizations face a slowdown in incoming orders or employee absenteeism, now is the time to address those nagging equipment issues. Companies can stay productive and have confidence that when things get back to normal, they will be ready since they’ve used this time to complete equipment overhauls / preventative maintenance projects. As with any project, following a structured procedure is key. Follow the steps below to ensure an efficient and productive project.

Part 3 of "The New Supply Chain" blog series by Mike Loquercio, Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Expert.

Co-authored by IMEC Technical Specialists John Remsey, Ken Wunderlich, and Hanoz Umrigar.

Risk, as viewed as an exposure to a negative event, is a very broad and commonly used terminology.  From the insurance industry, to medical services, to business operations, “Risk” is deeply ingrained in common vocabulary.  With the recent global events, the question being asked frequently is how to effectively evaluate and manage risk when it seems that nearly everything is at risk?

Co-authored by Ben Krupowicz, Executive Director of the IMEC Recognition Program and Holly Bender, IMEC Recognition Program Specialist.

It all happened in March.  The impact of the Coronavirus became real with social distancing and the stay-at-home order in Illinois.  We listen for updates, statistics and clarity on a daily, even hourly basis.   This is a period of great uncertainty.  We look for answers. How serious is this pandemic, and how long will it last?

Did you know that completing just the first "S" (Sort) of the 5S strategy may double your productivity? As you are thinking about navigating uncertain times and maintaining your productivity and quality levels, 5S can help!

During this time, we need to be more alert than ever. In many cases, the demand from our work has increased, our families continue to need our love and support, and we as individuals need to make sure that we are mentally focused.