first successful integrated manufacturing facility. The Sau- gus Pot (Fig. 9) was the first commercial casting produced in North America.
Since then, existing plants have been improving, but it is only on an incremental basis. True breakthrough or game- changing improvement needs to come from greenfield facili- ties that have no pre-existing constraints.
For the past year, I have been involved with a project to cre- ate a new foundry facility. To capitalize on our industry’s history, we are calling it Saugus2. The vision is to create an integrated greenfield iron foundry and machining facility that is agile, has a game-changing philosophy and will set the standard for small-scale,’ Next Generation Manufactur- ing.’ We expect that this plant will pour iron in 2013 and it is based on ten game-changing philosophies.
1. An investing consortium of partners (customers, suppliers, governments)
2. Customer-focused lean enterprise 3. Optimized for a single production line 4. Flow—one touch exchange of dies 5. Collaborative Process Automation Systems 6. Labor about equal to shipping and labor from Asia 7. Safety designed into the culture 8. A highly-engaged and empowered workforce 9. Strong emphasis on sustainability 10. First of many plants in U.S. and around the world to support key customer needs
Our concept/design team of customer, supplier, and technolo- gy experts will be meeting every month during 2011 to evalu- ate the best of the best to be included in the Saugus2 facility.
What will be very exciting for our industry is when there are many projects from many companies, such as our Saugus2, that are building greenfield foundries. I am convinced that this will happen during the next 10 years.
Conclusion: from Boring to Exciting
The employee focus groups at Dotson said the reason to stay with the company is that “It isn’t boring.” It’s hard to get the best of the best to work in our industry if that is what we say about it. Our challenge as leaders is to make it exciting.
To do this, we have to bring our personal excitement to the company. We have to believe that there is a great future for our industry and specifically our foundry. We have to de-
Figure 9. The Saugus Pot is the first North American casting.
fine—in an inspiring way—the visions of our future. We have to own and live a culture that engages employees. We have to empower and align teams to our vision and then, we have to let go. Our job at this point is to take down barriers; recognize, encourage and celebrate successes; and occasion- ally work out the necessary generous severance package for those out of sync.
Having a bit of the teacher in me, I cannot stop without mak- ing sure that there are some worthwhile takeaways from this paper. Therefore, here are my top 10 recommendations:
1. Sponsor GEMBA trips. 2. Subscribe to the “Harvard Business Review.” 3. Start a $10,000 capital purchase program. 4. Conduct an engagement survey. 5. Get “1-click” at Amazon and read lots of books. 6. Watch the Daniel Pink, “Drive” video. 7. Set higher expectations for new hiring. 8. Attend at least three conferences every year. 9. Embrace the concept of generous severance. 10. Own your culture.
Finally, my first visit to the foundry was exciting. For me, every time I walk into any foundry it continues to be excit- ing. I am excited whenever I am around foundry people. I will continue to be excited as I proceed to a leadership role in the American Foundry Society and, I am truly honored to have had this opportunity to present the 2011 Charles Edgar Hoyt Memorial Lecture.
16
International Journal of Metalcasting/Fall 2011
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