Excellent grassroots management---a solid cornerstone of manufacturing

From ancient times to the present, throughout the development history of many countries, no matter how prosperous other industries are, the manufacturing industry is the economic pillar and lifeblood of a country, and as the cornerstone of the manufacturing industry, grass-roots management has played a crucial role.

China's manufacturing industry has faced severe challenges in recent years. The demographic dividend period has passed, and labor costs are getting higher and higher. Coupled with the high cost of other miscellaneous expenses, the already low profits have been challenged again, and more and more It is difficult to survive. Recently, many factories have moved to other regions and countries with lower labor costs, such as Vietnam/Cambodia/India, etc. Samsung Shenzhen and Huizhou factories have been closed one after another, and well-known Japanese manufacturing companies such as Olympus and Omron have also chosen to close Factory, mainly because the profit is too thin or the business has no market demand (orders) and development prospects, but these are the only way for the transformation of the manufacturing industry to be active or passive. Although there are many difficulties, there are also many development opportunities. Challenges and opportunities coexist.

Taking a company as an example, the top level is the brain, the middle level is the organ, and the grassroots level is the limbs. If there is no good grassroots level, the brain commands cannot be effectively transmitted from the limbs to the limbs, and the company may not even be able to move steadily. How can we develop! If China's manufacturing industry wants to go more smoothly on the road of transformation and upgrading, it must do a good job of grassroots management. So what is grassroots management?

Definition of grassroots management

As the name implies, grassroots management is the effective management of grassroots employees working on the front line. The main reason is that grassroots managers must ensure that employees complete daily KPI performance in accordance with company rules and regulations. For example, employees in the production department will look at the output within the specified time. Quantity and work efficiency, quality inspectors look at the pass-through rate and rework rate, logistics employees look at the timeliness of delivery, maintenance technicians look at the length of time to solve problems, etc. Managers in their respective fields need to combine their employees into a battle The teams perform their respective duties, give full play to 1+1>2, and make corresponding contributions to the achievement of the company's goals.

Unlike the company's senior/middle-level management, grassroots management mainly focuses on the execution level, that is, how to do things correctly, implement the annual strategic goals set by the senior management, and implement them faithfully and thoroughly. Method research and optimization.

For example, a squad leader in the production department received the production plan for this quarter. In the next three months, he will complete the production of 650 products per day. He is in charge of two assembly lines, each with a current production capacity of 150 per shift. , that is to say, even if the night shift can not achieve this goal, then he will find a way to improve efficiency, for example, he can find IE related personnel to see if it can optimize the process flow and save operation time; or find the engineering department to make some auxiliary tooling fixtures /Introduce some automation equipment to improve efficiency; you can also ask the training department to strengthen the training of employee proficiency, and he can use some incentives and management methods to stimulate employees to do faster on the premise of ensuring quality, such as bonuses, Of course, he also needs to apply upwards. All methods and methods can be considered, and there is only one purpose - to achieve the output target of 650 per day.

Excellent grassroots management---a solid cornerstone of manufacturing

Composition of primary managers

Since grassroots management is so important, let's take a look at its composition and organizational form. In a manufacturing unit, who are the grassroots managers?

Team leaders of each operating department

This is also the most typical grass-roots management personnel. Different companies may have different names. Some companies are called line length/section length, etc., but the role is the same. Take our company as an example, the production department, the most grass-roots The manager is the team leader, usually manages one or two assembly lines, and then the monitor is the monitor. The management of a project area includes 4~6 assembly lines + other auxiliary production areas. He brings two to three team leaders. After counting, one monitor will probably manage 100-200 people. Other departments involved in operations, such as quality/logistics/maintenance engineering, etc., also have corresponding grass-roots team leaders and squad leaders to manage their corresponding production support personnel. These people are the largest part of grass-roots management.

Grassroots specialists and engineers of various functional departments

The functional staff and engineers of the production support department also play an important role, because the team leaders of the various departments mentioned above are usually under their command. These people not only have higher ranks than the team leaders below, but also have knowledge and experience. richer. Based on the input information they received, after summarizing and analyzing them, they made corresponding plans, called up the human and material resources of the department to support the production department, dealt with and solved problems in a timely manner, and ensured the smooth operation of production. For example, a quality engineer can determine whether it is necessary to stop production based on the quality of the produced products. If the product is really defective, he will analyze and deal with other support departments, such as engineering and maintenance, and formulate improvement plans as soon as possible. Resume production runs.

The above two kinds of personnel constitute the main grass-roots management of a manufacturing company and the main force at the tactical execution level.

Excellent grassroots management---a solid cornerstone of manufacturing

How to do good grassroots management

It can be seen from the above analysis that grassroots management is the solid cornerstone of a manufacturing company. Good grassroots management can quickly, clearly and accurately convey high-level strategic instructions to the grassroots, and make the factory have strong cohesion and execution. It is the so-called "getting the grassroots managers to win the world". In fact, some Chinese manufacturing industries, especially some small private factories, have chaotic management at the grassroots level. good operation of the factory.

Since grassroots management is so important, let's take a look at how to do it well. Based on personal experience, we have summarized the following points:

First, strictly implement the instructions of the superior.

As mentioned above, since it is grass-roots management, first of all, it must thoroughly implement the orders and arrangements from the superior. If you have any doubts about the superior's order, you can raise it in time. If the superior insists, please follow the superior's order first, because generally speaking, he is in a higher position than you, gets more input information than you, and can see it. It is farther than you. Besides, if the effect is not good, he will be the first to be held accountable instead of you. There is no need to worry. Excellent execution will make your superiors trust you more, which is also the most important value of grassroots management.

Second, convey information accurately, clearly and in a timely manner.

After getting the instructions from the superior leaders, the instructions should be clearly and quickly conveyed to the relevant executors at the grassroots level as soon as possible to ensure the smooth flow of information channels. Many times, things are not done well and the goals are not achieved, just because the information conveyed is not accurate enough. I have seen a statistic, the information is 100% in the hands of the initiator, and only 80% in the second person, because after all, it is two Different people have different educational and cultural backgrounds, so what he understands may not be the original meaning; when he spreads it later, the next person may only have 60% of the information. It may have completely distorted the original meaning, and the effect of the work is very bad.

In the factory, information is usually communicated through emails, phone calls and WeChat groups. According to my own experience, even in face-to-face meetings, 100% of the information cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, there is a common method. Someone or instructed the initiating department to send people to the production site, and together with other department personnel, especially the executive production staff and team leaders, to explain on the site, and even demonstrate it in person. For example, if a complex technical change is to be implemented on a product, the process engineering department, the initiator of the change, must arrange an engineer to go to the production site and explain to the team leader and employees of the production department in detail what has changed and how to operate it, so as to maximize the Ensure accurate communication of information.

Excellent grassroots management---a solid cornerstone of manufacturing

Third, be result-oriented.

Many senior managers like to say "only look at the results and not the process." In fact, there is a certain truth. If the results and goals are not achieved, no matter how hard you work, it will be in vain. In the workplace, you only look at the credit and not the hard work. When performing the above tasks and instructions, grassroots managers must know how to grasp the core needs of superior leaders, carry out work around this core point, and know how to do it smartly and make good use of all available resources around them. For example, for the production capacity problem mentioned at the beginning, the team leader can ask the support department to optimize the process to save time, or rely on training to increase the proficiency of employees, so as to achieve the output target of 650 pieces per day.

Fourth, the distribution of benefits must be fair and just.

Many grass-roots managers have a little power in their hands. Although it is not large, it is very useful compared to employees. For example, the squad leader has the right to give monthly performance scores to his subordinate employees. Many unqualified or low-quality squad leaders like to use their rights to seek benefits for "their own people". And those employees with excellent job performance can't get the benefits he should get. This is a typical failure of grass-roots management.

A qualified grass-roots manager must be "fair, impartial and open", and must be objective in dealing with people, especially when it comes to performance appraisal. Only after doing it will someone obey him and obey his management.