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Last issue’s cover story, “Thinking outside the box,” chronicled change at 116-year-old Batesville Casket Company.  If you didn’t see it, view it now.  For the rest of you, I must ask: Did you read it, or did you use it?  Let me issue a challenge to you.

Best practices and road maps can come from the most unlikely places, such as a casket manufacturer.  Looking solely inside your own industry segment (automotive, steel, petrochemicals, etc.), or strictly at industry, limits your ability to find solutions to your pressing personal, departmental, plant or corporate issues.

Batesville isn’t a role model for casket manufacturers.  It’s a role model for anyone seeking to streamline their production processes, reduce defects, understand and meet customer needs, and get the most out of employees.  Isn’t that all of us?  But many departments, plants and companies prefer to wear blinders.  “We make widgets.  What can a non-widget company teach us about making better widgets?”

Hey, don’t cut back on idea-sharing opportunities with those in your segment.  That wouldn’t be prudent.  But, here’s the sermon: Don’t discount the rest.  Open your mind and your eyes.  Ask questions.  Think outside the box.

Three of my favorite corporations are Borg-Warner Automotive, General Electric and The Walt Disney Company.  They get it.

Borg-Warner invites all employees to be on the lookout for BOBs, best of the best practices.  Employees find BOBs on benchmarking trips to auto (and non-auto) plants.  They also find BOBs at the airport, the bank, restaurants, the mall, anywhere.  There’s no BOB too big or too small.

General Electric’s philosophy is summed by its leader, Jack Welch: “Someone, somewhere, has a better idea.  You get to be a hero not just by inventing but also by recognizing a good idea and having your team implement it.”  To that end, GE exchanges ideas and best practices with a multitude of companies.

Then there’s Disney.  It considers itself a learning organization as much as it does an entertainment company.  But like GE, Disney gives as well as receives information.  The company’s knowledge outlet is its Disney Institute, which is highlighted in the story "It's a small world after all."

If you think Disney is an unlikely source of best practices for you, check out what happens at an Institute class, where manufacturing managers team and exchange ideas with managers from hospitals, government agencies, casinos, health clubs, hotels, insurance companies, etc.

You realize it’s a small world after all.

This article appeared in the December 2000/January 2001 issue of MRO Today magazine.  Copyright, 2000.

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