韬略精益管理大师退休---Bob叔叔- 大数跨境

韬略集团

2024-09-11

As Managing Director of a global factory, Norman Cheng had heard whispers of the concept called ‘Lean Management’ in the early days of 2006. At that time, China was still in the midst of plentiful labor, stable currency exchange and stable inflation, and it was then that Cheng was introduced to Bob Fesler, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Over the course of two weeks, Fesler, who Cheng would eventually refer to as ‘Uncle Bob’ introduced the Strategic Sports team to Toyota's concept of continuous improvement.

作为一家全球安全帽工厂的执行董事，郑董(Norman Cheng)早在2006年初就听说了“精益管理”(Lean Management)的理念；当时的中国还处在劳动力充足、货币兑换稳定、通货膨胀稳定的时期，郑董也正是在这个时候认识了精益六西格玛黑带鲍勃·费斯勒。

在两周的时间里，Bob给韬略团队介绍了丰田持续改进的理念和方法，从此之后，郑董一直称呼Bob老师---“鲍勃叔叔”

After these workshops, Cheng reviewed what they had learned with Strategic’s leadership. Several members of the team shrugged, saying it was nice to have time away from the office but they were not convinced of the value of what Fesler was teaching.

Fast forward five years, the Chinese RMB dramatically appreciated against the US dollar, and when Cheng was looking to hire 300 new people, only 30 showed up to be interviewed. Material costs were fluctuating wildly. Cheng again gathered leadership to discuss how Strategic Sports should face this new future.

In the back of Cheng’s mind was an American, who five years earlier had predicted the market would require more competitive costing, lower MOQ’s and shorter lead times. After searching his memory and scanning LinkedIn, Cheng tracked down Bob Fesler, who had by then returned to the US and was no longer a Lean Coach. Cheng coaxed him back to China to mentor and coach Strategic Sports at this key moment.

Walking through the warehouse, Fesler pointed to some parts stored in a bin on a shelf. “What is this?” Fesler asked. The warehouse manager explained part. “And the quantity?” Fesler continued. The manager responded. ”And the date this was placed in the warehouse?” Fesler asked. Again the manager, now sweating, pointed to a card with this information. And then Bob pointed at another bin in front with a later date, asking, “So how will you ensure the part that came earlier will be used first?” An important lesson in FIFO, or First-In, First-Out warehouse management!

工作坊结束后，郑董问韬略领导团队这次学到什么？团队中的几名Leader耸耸肩说：“有时间离开办公室真的好，但他们不相信Bob所教的理念的价值。”

5年之后，人民币对美元急剧升值，当郑董想要招聘300名新员工时，只有30人来面试。材料成本大幅波动；郑董再次召集所有工厂leader讨论韬略应该如何面对这个新的未来？

在郑董的脑海里作为一个美国人的思维，他五年前就预测市场将需要更具竞争力的成本、更低的最小起订量和更短的交货时间。在搜索了自己的记忆并浏览了领克之后，郑董找到了鲍勃·费斯勒(Bob Fesler)，Bob当时已经回到美国，不再是精益教练。在这个关键时刻，郑董说服Bob回到中国和指导韬略的精益管理。

Bob走过仓库，指着架子上一个箱子里的一些零件：

“这是什么?”Bob问道---仓库经理解释了一部分。

“数量呢?”Bob继续问--经理回答。

“这是什么时候放进仓库的?”Bob继续问道。

经理又一次满头大汗地指着一张卡片，上面写着这些信息。然后鲍勃指着前面另一个日期较晚的箱子，问道:“那么你怎么保证先来的零件会被优先使用呢?”这是先进先出(FIFO)仓库管理的重要一课!

This past week, Fesler returned to China for the first time since COVID. “We were delighted to meet face-to-face again and like eager students, we showed him our latest streamlined production processes,” Cheng said. Fesler reviewed the recent work and offered encouragement and also pointed out areas of improvement. Some of the younger engineers looked devastated.“Hey,” Fesler said, “This process is called continuous improvement for a reason!”

After several productive days, Fesler pulled Cheng aside one night at dinner and announced that he will not be returning to China, as he wishes to truly retire.

“Bob’s insight and expertise has been invaluable these many years,” Cheng said. “He has helped us far beyond increasing our efficiency and improving our processes. Bob has helped our entire team grow and learn to think differently in everything we do, and that is a gift beyond measure,” Cheng said.

Thank you, Uncle Bob. The team at Strategic appreciates all you have taught us and we look forward to staying connected online.

上个星期，Bob自新冠疫情以来首次回到中国。郑董说:“我们很高兴再次面对面，就像急切的学生一样，我们向Bob展示了我们最新的精益生产流程。”Bob回顾了最近的工作，给予了鼓励，并指出了需要改进的地方。一些年轻的工程师看起来很沮丧。

“嘿，”Bob说，“这个过程被称为持续改进!”

经过几天卓有成效的共同工作，一天晚上，Bob在晚餐时把郑董拉到一边，宣布他不会回到中国，因为他希望真正退休。

“这些年来，Bob的洞察力和专业知识是无价的，”郑董回顾说。“他对我们的帮助远远超出了提高效率和改进流程。Bob帮助我们整个团队成长，学会了用不同的方式思考我们所做的每件事，这是一份无与伦比的礼物”。

谢谢你，Bob叔叔-韬略团队感谢您教给我们的一切，我们期待与您保持在线联系。