BASIC SINS OF A TOOL(ING) · PDF filequestions: - Have I really ... especially key individuals...

Training Materials: Before Applying Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing Methodologies

BASIC SINS OF A TOOL(ING) MANUFACTURER

PROBLEMS

Dr. Viktor P. Astakhov Certified TRIZ developer

As understood

In reality

Dr. Viktor P. Astakhov Basic sins of a tool(ing) manufacturer

http://www.astvik.com

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1. The prime sin is to believe that experience is a suitable substitute for

knowledge (education). Look at multiple hiring ads for a tool designer/engineer/manager and even higher up: what is the most common educational requirement? Correct – only a High-school diploma. So…. Did you see any hiring ads for R&D in the tool(ing) industry (R&D engineers and/or managers and/or Directors/VP)? No – it does not exist. On the contrary, look for example at hiring ads for pharmaceutical, IT, medical and the food industries. You see the opposite picture – all the titles listed above are on great demand. And the required education level is PhD! No wonder there is a HUGE gap in the development between the tool(ing) industry and others. It is wrong to think that experience is a suitable substitute for knowledge (education) simply because Now How does not mean Know Why. You may operate your TV very skillfully, but you may not have any idea how it really works. A small malfunction of the working principle leaves you hopeless. The same happens when tool engineers and management staff in the tool industry do not know WHY – it just ‘kills” any new development because they learned the trade so they are doomed to do things using the old style they learned as a trade. They feel very uncomfortable and disoriented on any new ground. At best, they copy (CC-copycats!) what was done by the best overseas tooling companies. Naturally, because they do not understand the essence of what they are copying, the resultant copies are much worse than the originals. Please do not shed “crocodile tears” preaching: “Overseas companies are taking our business,” or “Our jobs go to Asia.” Better look in the mirror – I bet you will see the root cause of the problem without Six Sigma fishbone analysis.

A new competitive product (tool or tooling unit) can only be built if one understands the basic engineering principles behind the design of this new product and how to apply them to meet the needs of your customer. To test for the real needs of your customer, ask yourself the following questions:

- Have I really listened for the customer's true needs and expectations? - Do I really analyzed and understand them? - Can my product or service meet or exceed these needs/expectations? - Is there an alternative method or product that would be better suited? - Have I determined my customers average or expected product use? - Have I made recommendations to my engineering, manufacturing, sales departments

based on these estimates?

By filling the real needs of your customers, you will make significant investments in trust, integrity and professionalism. Moreover, it helps you to spell out in very clear terms the answer to the long-standing and burning question; ‘WHY ONE NEEDS TO BUY MY PRODUCT?” Do not try to use “Ostrich” Policy – bury head in sand – may be problems go away.



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2. Nonexistence of own testing and R&D facilities. This sets you behind your competitors. As the global competition of tool(ing) manufacturers continues, the value of in-house technological expertise assumes an even greater strategic importance because it is necessary to assess the threats and opportunities posed by emerging developments by the competition. So, an R&D resource is likely to be a powerful asset if it is structured to respond to the strategic interests of the business. Such a structure must be different from that of the traditional R&D laboratory, which has been organized as an autonomous (and sometimes isolated) engineering resource.

You should take a strategic approach to R&D. The strategic R&D should be diverse in its activities, extending well beyond engineering, and encompassing all those disciplines which must contribute to the development and evaluation of new business opportunities. It has to be managed by people who may well be trained as engineers, but who implicitly apply a holistic and commercial attitude to their projects. Their outlook therefore should be diverse, bringing them into contact with areas such as economics, ergonomics, psychology, sociology, marketing, or whatever knowledge is appropriate. Naturally, they cannot be experts in all fields, but they will be expected to communicate with, understand, appreciate, manage and inspire such specialists, who could well be working outside their organization. Strong interpersonal skills will therefore be an essential characteristic of the R&D project managers. The R&D department should certainly not be regarded as academic or elite, and its direction must be firmly integrated with the rest of the organization (especially its corporate strategy and marketing functions) if it is to play the desired strategic role. Its staff must identify themselves with the organization and must achieve satisfaction from developing and contributing strategic information as well as the more familiar engineering prototypes, theoretical analyses and reports. For many, this represents a different set of values and will be difficult to accept, so a change from traditional to strategic R&D must be accompanied by a sensitive cultural change program. The especially key individuals are those at the bridge between the technological and the general corporate strategies. Both technologists and their business-orientated colleagues must share a genuine appreciation of each other’s contribution to the overall corporate goals.



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3. Poor Tool Design Practice:

• Misunderstanding/Ignorance of basic working principles of your tool(ing). This unavoidably leads to copying the tool produced by other companies. The only justification to your designs becomes: “Because everybody does so…” I often ask: “If everybody jumps from the top of the Sears Tower, would you follow the lead? And Why not?

• Ungrounded selection of materials for tools and tooling, their heat treatment and processing. Unfortunately, the available information is of little help on this matter. This is an extremely important but separate issue that will be addressed during a special session titled “Materials selection – basic guidance and principle of proper selection. ”

• Poor Designs and Drawings. Any new line of tools to be designed and produced by your company should be first discussed at the design review meetings. It should be a number of these meeting but the first one should approve the basic design idea to be worked on further. It should be a common practice to present and thus to discuss three to seven different ideas, culling from the total set of ideas the ones that represented the most distinctive or meaningful choices. When in a meeting, you walk through the different tool(ing) designs, calling out what the key trade-offs are between them. When discussing ideas, you call out important negative qualities that are only answered by the idea you are recommending, which helps set up your recommendation to be well received. Often someone will make a good suggestion for taking something from design A and adding it to design B. That wouldn't be possible if you had only a single idea. When the final idea is approved, a set of drawing is to be made where this idea is materialized. Unfortunately, it seems that many practitioners in the field are not aware of the simple fact that a drawing is THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENT that sets all qualities of the tool to be made according to this drawing. All other documents and procedures are developed using the information provided on the drawing. Therefore, a drawing should say it all. In reality, however, this is not the case. Many tool(ing) drawings lack proper quality and materials requirements. The common justification: ‘They know how to do that.” Experience, however, shows that THEY do not.

• Ignoring GD&T. For clear unambiguous drawings, Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing (GD&T) rules govern size, location, orientation, and form expressions for each part Surface. GD&T leaves no room for ambiguity; it assumes the person reading the drawing has no knowledge of part function. Unfortunately, dimensioning rules are violated frequently while designing tools. These errors have appeared so often, and for so long, unfortunately they are accepted without question by many drawing makers and users in the cutting tool industry. Violations, however, are dangerous and expensive because they introduce ambiguity, multiple interpretations, and guesswork into the manufacturing process. Before a company can eliminate errors, it must be able to recognize them. A designer or design manager with a high school diploma is of little help here. Even hiring a high-level GD&T consultant would not help to resolve the matter. Often, it makes it worse. This is because tools differ from ‘normal’ machine parts



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so GD&T system well-developed for standard machine parts (shafts, housings, brackets etc.) may not be suitable for tools. Only when one understands both sides of the issue, namely tool optimal working conditions and its GD&T assurance, he/she can assign proper (efficient) GD&T requirements to the tool and to all its part drawings. Working example here is SIMPLE and CLEAR: a HSK tool holder that looks very simple. However, experience shows that the HSK holders made by European companies are much superior over those made domestically. Besides a number of materials and manufacturing related causes for that, GD&T for this holder is of prime importance because proper assigning of datum and tolerances make this holder work.

4. Poor quality. Poor quality can have numerous causes including ineffective design and/or manufacturing systems, inadequate training, and poor quality management. In his book Qualitysense, Martin R. Smith lists ten "deadly sins" of quality assurance, which inevitably undercuts quality. They are:

1. Too much attention to technical razzle-dazzle; not enough attention to profits, sales, and costs.

2. Too much time trying to stop defects; not enough time trying to

prevent defects. 3. Too much reliance on statistics; not enough reliance on good judgment. 4. Too much concentration on product specifications; not enough understanding of

customers' needs. 5. Too much devotion to nit-picking; not enough attention to solving major quality

problems. 6. Too much concentration on manufacturing; too little attention to quality of design and

service. 7. Too much time in the office; not enough time on the firing line. 8. Too much technical education for quality assurance technicians; too little practical

education of operators, draftsmen, servicemen, and others responsible for getting quality.

9. Too heavy a focus on quality levels; not enough devotion to quality cost reduction. 10. Too much time spent complaining about poor attitudes toward quality; not enough

focus on motivating people and convincing them of the value of quality.

These critiques focus on the business objectives of quality, but they can be very complimentary to the goals of a tool manufacturer. They correctly focus not only on immediate quality problems, but the larger picture of quality, which encompasses the whole life cycle of the product, a proactive approach to quality, and using quality/GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) in a way that makes good business sense. Quality assurance is an ever-going continuous process that can be represented as follows



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If the top management of a tool manufacturing company decides to implement some advanced quality assurance methodologies, as the Six Sigma approach, at least a vice-president of the company should be responsible for its implementation. Moreover, he/she should lead all activities in this direction, should reinforce Six Sigma procedures and policies, and should first pass Six Sigma training remaining the most informed person on the matter all the time. Unless this approach is taken, quality assurance becomes eventually a fake and a nuisance.

5. Poor sales strategy and practice • Inadequately trained and

unprofessional sales representatives.

Your sales reps carry the image of your company to your customers. What do they know about you and about your company? The old phrase; "you never get a second chance to make a first impression" is about the image of your company conveyed by your sales representatives. Therefore their professionalism, intellectual ability and even appearance play

an important part of your success. Regardless of the type of tool they sell, their primary duties are to interest buyers and purchasing agents in their merchandise, and to address any of their client’s questions or concerns. Sales representatives also advise clients on methods to reduce costs, use their products, and increase sales. They market their company’s products



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to manufacturers, wholesale and retail establishments, construction contractors, government agencies, and other institutions. They often tell you: "If only the price of my product was lower..I could sell more!" Although this is a common sentiment among salespeople, it is not true. The truth, however, is that the price is only one factor in a buying decision. Customers are willing to spend more if they feel they are getting more for their money. A true sales professional MUST determine what the prospect defines as "more". Sometimes, higher prices can actually be considered a selling advantage. A higher cost creates a perception of higher quality or a "cut above the average" image. Top sales pro's welcome a price difference, it gives them an opportunity to demonstrate how good their product and the company they represent really are! Besides, if price were the only buying consideration, outside sales representatives wouldn't be needed, business could be handled via the telephone! • Poor value building before sale: respond to a customer call. Tool(ing) companies spend thousands of marketing dollars trying to stimulate customer interest prompting calls from customers. Unfortunately, this is the point where they often drop the ball! How effective are you at exciting the prospect into a demonstration or a meeting? What is your average response time to a prospect's initial inquiry? Strive to meet a customer's inquiry within 24 hours. A speedy response time not only builds value but customers see it as an indicator of your commitment to service. It also demonstrates how interested you are in earning their business. Conducting an appointment within one week of a customer's call yields a higher sales average because it capitalizes on his enthusiasm and readiness to buy. • Poor value building before sale: poor product materials (catalogs, brochures, articles, flyers etc). It is wise to stimulate interest and heighten product awareness by sending product materials in advance. Besides catalogs, consider sending the following items: - Technical or lab research on your product - List of product applications - List of customer testimony's - List of product benefits. • Poor value building during the sale. - Address objections squarely with customers. If the prospect appears to be happy with the competition, they aren't! If the customer were totally satisfied with their current product or service, you wouldn't have the opportunity to meet them. It is your job as well as the job of your sales professional to uncover what the prospect feels is missing or could be improved on. Once you discover it, fill it immediately with the unique benefits of your product or service. How can you build value in the face of resistance? Speak positively about the benefits and advantages you, your company and your product or service can deliver. - Exude an image of quality. Does your image and communication style convey responsibility, concern, and confidence? Do your customers see, hear and feel you are a knowledgeable professional with integrity? Doubtful image directly undermines such important issues as building value, earning customer confidence or success. - Do not over sell product capabilities. Superior quality products, service and representation costs money! Many salespeople exaggerate the capabilities of their product, service and company trying to make the sale. Unfortunately, this only leaves customers feeling let down and angry when these expectations are not met. Demonstrate confidence in yourself and your products true capabilities. Be sure, however, that they are enough...more than enough to justify the cost. - Listen for the real needs of your customer. Sell or recommend only products that are best for the customer's use and needs even if it means recommending a competitive product or walking away from the sale. Selling products that are not appropriate for the customer is wrong! By doing so, you are jeopardizing your relationship with your customer.



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- Emphasize the unique features and benefits of your product/service. This information gives the prospect the information he needs to justify the additional cost of your product or the motivation to buy from you instead of the competition. Identify the unique features and benefits of your product/service. Write them down! Be sure to list what special advantages the customer will gain by doing business with your company. Be prepared to answer a question: “How does this compare to the benefits customers perceive in buying from your competitor's?” • Poor value building after the sale. The value is in you! After the sale, a customer's

buying motivation shifts from a product emphasis to value your sales representative brings to the business relationship. Ask yourself the following questions: - What routine follow-up can customers count from you? - How often do you share technical, important industry updates to enhance your

customers business or interests? - How quickly do you resolve problems? The following rules should be followed RELIGIOUSLY: - Resolve problems quickly and completely. Problems are to be expected and can't be eliminated entirely. Your ability to solve customer problems is the single best way you can build customer loyalty and demonstrate your professional integrity. Strive for immediate problem resolution. Maintain continuous contact with your customer during the repair time. - Maintain a routine follow up schedule customers can count on. One of the biggest fears people have in making major investments is that no one will be available to resolve problems. Customers value and are willing to pay more, substantially more, for service and after-sale support. Routine follow-up visits and service calls will dramatically cut down on major problems. During an office visit, check the overall operation and condition of your product. Look for potential problems or weak spots. Ask questions about the products actual performance versus the customer's expectations. Make necessary corrections or repairs. - Communicate your actions to your customer. Be sure to explain how your efforts prevented a problem or expense in the future. Follow up visits are a good opportunity to replenish supplies used with your product or explore upgrade possibilities.

6. Tool company web site is inappropriate. Do not forget that your website is the front door to your company image and company identity. Give them a reason to open that door. Your web site is not for declaring; “Here I am” providing contact information and driving directions. Your web site should clearly indicate what you have to offer once they get here: The best tool designs in the industry? The best deal? The best quality (performance, machining cost, quality of machined surfaces etc)? The best delivery? The best technical support?

Face the facts. People are mean on the Web. They're only out for themselves. "We're celebrating our 50th anniversary!" "So?" "50 percent off because it's our 50th anniversary!" "Happy anniversary!" Never ever start a heading or a sentence with your company name. Always start with the need



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of your target reader. Before you write, repeat to yourself: "It's not about me. It's about my reader, my customer." It is an unfortunate fact that those who have least to say often write most on a web page. Quality web writing is rarely about volume and it is never about padding. If you expect someone to read more than 500 words on a single topic, it better be extraordinarily good and helpful. Get to the point. Then stop. Headings are the single most important piece of content you will write on the Web. If you're not good at writing headings, you better find someone who is. Keep them short (no more than eight words). Keep them clear and descriptive. Avoid being clever. Your headings should contain the most important keywords for your content. It is quite amazing that the number of people responsible for websites who have little or no understanding of the value of content. Content matters. It really does. Great content makes your tool company look great. It'll sell more tools and attracts more orders businesses. Isn’t that your objective? You'll have happier customers. Your brand will be enhanced. On the contrary, poor content is worse than no content. Amateur content makes you look like an amateur toolmaker working for a Pop’s garage. Nobody should be managing a website unless they have a deep understanding of content.

7. Component approach: thinking that a tool manufacturer just sells cutting

tools and do not sell the cutting process. So your company seems not to be responsible for the process efficiency. This is a wrong perception because your tool works not in the space but in the machining system thus tool performance depends not only on the tool quality but rather on the system properties over which you have no control. To understand the performance of the machining system and thus the root cause for many tool-related problems, one should always consider the following components of the machining system: tool, machine and its control unit, coolant parameters and coolant delivery unit, fixture and accessories, workpiece, operator, and maintenance. One can appreciate the system

property of the machining system if he/she realizes that the same cutting tool used on different machines shows a wide range of outcomes from breakage to excellent performance; the same tool used on the same machine exhibits different results for different work materials; the same tool used on the same machine for machining the same work material performs differently depending upon a particular brand of coolant used for the operation, the coolant flow rate, filtration and temperature; the performance of the same tool used on the same machine for the same work material using the same coolant parameters would depend largely on the extent of the operator’s experience and training. The latter is particularly true if the control system provides relevant process information to the operator. As seen, each system component can affect system and thus tool performance dramatically.

The key here is to assure system coherency, i.e. the condition when all system components work as a ‘team’ to achieve the ultimate system’s objective. Your engineering staff should possess a clear vision of such coherency for any particular application of your tool. If you like selling your cutting tool successfully, you must be able to:

• Suggest application specific data (machining regime, coolant brand, tooling including holders) for a specific machining system.

• Provide recommendation to your customer on what machines, coolant, fixture, tooling holder to but to achieve the best performance of your tools.

• Help your customer to debug their machining problems to find the root cause for the machining problems involved your tool.

BASIC SINS OF A TOOL(ING) · PDF filequestions: - Have I really ... especially key individuals...

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