Page 17 - MetalForming Magazine October 2022 - FABTECH
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 Tooling by Design
By Peter Ulintz
Firefighting
Early on during my Die Mainte- nance and Troubleshooting tech- nical seminars, conducted for the Precision Metalforming Association (PMA), I define the differences between repair and maintenance, and then ask attendees, “How many of you have a for- mal die-maintenance program at your facility?” Most hands in the room go up. I follow with, “Now that you understand the differences between maintenance and repair, how many of you would say that your organization spends sufficient time maintaining your dies and equip- ment?” Few, if any, hands remain up.
now, we can’t miss today’s shipment; we'll worry about tomorrow later.” In these cases, supervisors respond by pulling out all of the stops—ignoring protocols, reassigning responsibilities or performing other people's tasks for them—to get the job done. This creates two possible outcomes: They extin- guish the fire, or they justify why they couldn’t.
The first outcome earns glowing praise from management for being an excellent firefighter. The second leads to question- ing and a defensive position, but in the supervisor's eyes it avoids a reprimand, and so is perceived as a success.
Symptoms of Firefighting
• Urgency supersedes importance— ongoing problem-solving efforts and long-range activities, such as develop- ing new processes, repeatedly are inter- rupted, or deferred, because fires must be extinguished.
• Many problems become crises. Problems smolder until they flare up, often just before a deadline, then require heroic efforts to solve.
• Performance drops. Overall business performance plummets, with so many opportunities forgone, due to inadequate resolution of so many problems.
Causes of Firefighting
Most supervisors earn promotion to their roles due to their strong tech- nical aptitude and extensive experi-
The main reason cited by attendees for the lack of die maintenance: “There is no time, we’re always putting out fires (making repairs).” Most of their daily interactions revolve
around events taking place
that day, such as delivering
a hot order to a customer,
getting a machine running,
or repairing/replacing a
broken die. Anyone having experienced these interac-
tions understands the
intense focus on today's performance with little
regard given to what will happen tomorrow, next week or next month. Management’s attitude: “Get it done
Peter Ulintz has worked in the metal stamping and tool and die industry since 1978. His back- ground includes tool and die making, tool engi- neering, process design, engineering manage- ment and advanced product development. As an educator and technical
presenter, Peter speaks at PMA national seminars, regional roundtables, international conferences, and college and university programs. He also pro- vides onsite training and consultations to the met- alforming industry.
Peter Ulintz
Technical Director, PMA pulintz@pma.org
According to an August 2000 Harvard “Most supervisors earn promotion
ence—the exact skill set required to fight fires. But this differs greatly from the skill set required to identify and resolve systemic prob- lems. Administering and auditing processes require the ability to gather and interpret data, clearly com- municate what is required, and challenge individuals
whose performances do not meet expectations. In many cases, strong technicians earning supervisory posi- tions do not possess these skills.
Furthermore, technicians that rou- tinely fight fires often feel a sense of immense accomplishment and heroism in addition to receiving constant rein- forcement that they are appreciated and needed. These feelings can per- petuate the cycle of firefighting in busi- nesses because these employees—con- sciously or unconsciously—are not willing to sacrifice the ”high” that comes with saving the day for the company.
A business culture that reinforces firefighting behavior compounds the imbalance of technical skills over lead- ership ability. During a crisis, upper
 roles due to their strong technical
and extensive experience—the exact skill set required to fight fires! But this differs greatly from the skill set required to identify and resolve systemic problems.”
Business Review article, “Stop Fighting Fires,” firefighting can be characterized as a collection of symptoms. Chronic presence of three of the following linked elements define your organization as suffering from firefighting:
• Not enough time to solve all prob- lems—more problems than the problem solvers (engineers, managers, or other knowledge workers) properly can handle.
• Incomplete solutions—many problems are patched, not solved, i.e., superficial effects are dealt with, but without fixing the underlying causes.
• Problems recur and cascade— incomplete solutions cause old prob- lems to reemerge or create new prob- lems, sometimes elsewhere in the organization.
to their
aptitude
  14 MetalForming/October 2022
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