The following article was published on the 5th of May 2016 on LinkedIn Pulse
Posted by: Steve Rolston, Medical Device MES Expert, Critical Manufacturing
Fear drives the business world today.
What passes as caution and prudence turns into paralysis more often than not. I work for Critical Manufacturing, a major vendor of manufacturing execution software, that can enable factories to track and control their operations in ways that are unprecedented from ever before.
It would seem that anyone that does manufacturing should be pounding down the door to get this software installed at their site as soon as possible, and indeed they should. The reality is that the biggest competitor in any sales cycle is *nothing*. Most companies operate more lean, more cautious and truly, more reluctant to act than ever before. Before any commitment will be made, studies are done, committees are formed and results are demanded, in advance of taking even the smallest actions. This has been driven by a long history of failed projects that have left a culture of pessimism on the part of the factory that is very difficult to overcome.
And that is a real shame, because the real peril, the real risk is that nothing gets done at all. The one resource that cannot be replaced and the one that is the most precious is Time. Waiting to do one more study, delaying the project by another year, and waiting until some committee can meet in 3 months are all ways that make the factory slowly lose their opportunity to act until eventually their competition makes the decision irrelevant.
The very reason managers are given the opportunity and the responsibility for budgets and for operations is not so they can put off critical decisions. It is so they can make the right decisions. These decisions are what will make the difference between companies that fail and companies that thrive. We look too much at failure and not nearly enough as success. Failure is not just making wrong decisions, it is more often making no decision at all.
Do not be one of those that are left on the dock while others are sailing away. It is time now to make a decision and to make it work for you and your organization.
It is time to ACT.
Posted by: Steve Rolston, Medical Device MES Expert, Critical Manufacturing
Fear drives the business world today.
What passes as caution and prudence turns into paralysis more often than not. I work for Critical Manufacturing, a major vendor of manufacturing execution software, that can enable factories to track and control their operations in ways that are unprecedented from ever before.
It would seem that anyone that does manufacturing should be pounding down the door to get this software installed at their site as soon as possible, and indeed they should. The reality is that the biggest competitor in any sales cycle is *nothing*. Most companies operate more lean, more cautious and truly, more reluctant to act than ever before. Before any commitment will be made, studies are done, committees are formed and results are demanded, in advance of taking even the smallest actions. This has been driven by a long history of failed projects that have left a culture of pessimism on the part of the factory that is very difficult to overcome.
And that is a real shame, because the real peril, the real risk is that nothing gets done at all. The one resource that cannot be replaced and the one that is the most precious is Time. Waiting to do one more study, delaying the project by another year, and waiting until some committee can meet in 3 months are all ways that make the factory slowly lose their opportunity to act until eventually their competition makes the decision irrelevant.
The very reason managers are given the opportunity and the responsibility for budgets and for operations is not so they can put off critical decisions. It is so they can make the right decisions. These decisions are what will make the difference between companies that fail and companies that thrive. We look too much at failure and not nearly enough as success. Failure is not just making wrong decisions, it is more often making no decision at all.
Do not be one of those that are left on the dock while others are sailing away. It is time now to make a decision and to make it work for you and your organization.
It is time to ACT.
