Improving productivity and creating wealth

In recent years, our industry has had to deal with major changes, both in the quantities of steel to be produced and installed and the quality of the product to be delivered. With projects like Highway 30 and the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), AGF Steel Longueuil faces sizeable production challenges every day. To conserve and grow our share of a thriving market, our division’s management has decided to reorganize production operations, starting with a project to improve productivity.

First, external consultants conducted a study of our current processes and activities in order to identify opportunities for improvement. Based on the results of this analysis, the assignment was given to Proaction, a firm that specializes in operations and HR management. This productivity improvement project will run for 22 weeks, from October 2011 to February 2012.

For several weeks now, our management team, accompanied by Proaction’s consultants, has been examining our processes, optimizing our production management system and redefining our communications processes.  Moreover, throughout the project, each manager receives several hours of personalized training to ensure AGF Steel Longueuil can rely on one of the best management teams in Quebec.

The strategy adopted by Proaction calls for effort and involvement by all employees of AGF Steel Longueuil. The project began with a look of the current state of our manufacturing operations so that managers could understand it and develop the systems management tools needed to ensure that production operates smoothly. 

To support this process and help managers implement the various management tools and numerous communication points, a team of coordinators (also known as facilitators) was created. This team consists of seven AGF Steel Longueuil employees from various departments. Their task is to ensure that continuous improvement is maintained in the months and years ahead.

Proaction’s approach to improving productivity is based on training managers. Traditionally, companies that run Kaizen, 5S or lean manufacturing projects that impact the company’s performance focus solely on the process. The human aspect is often overlooked, so these projects generally have a limited lifespan since the people responsible for making the changes are not trained to do so.

Thus, in an overall long-term perspective, AGF Steel Longueuil concentrated on training its managers. With a solid management system and clear communications, managers will soon have mastered production activities and will have an impact on employee engagement. The final goal? Operational gains and creating wealth.

At the time of writing, the productivity improvement project has completed its seventh week. Since the outset, five weekly or daily reviews (or meetings) have been implemented. In addition, production monitoring tools were implemented and action plan registries are now used by many work teams. Lastly, there were workshops on coaching, active supervision and controlling variation in performance were held, in addition to hundreds of hours of personalized training.