Goetsch speaks from experience

By Paul V. Arnold

Tim Goetsch knows first-hand the unpredictability that exists as an employee in the American shoe manufacturing industry.

Prior to taking a job in 1983 with Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corporation, Goetsch was a skilled craftsman at Young Shoe Company in Sheboygan, Wis. Young Shoe was acquired and became Sheboygan Footwear. A few years after the acquisition, the company went out of business. The plant, like 803 other shoe factories that closed in the U.S. between 1967 and 2002, is just a memory to folks who, like Goetsch, live in eastern Wisconsin.

“What happened to that plant is commonplace,” he says. “Everyone who works in this industry has worries. You get up in the morning and wonder, ‘OK, how many years do I really have left in this business?’”

While Goetsch admits to having some trepidation about the future, he isn’t dwelling on them or taking a passive role in whatever happens next.

At Allen-Edmonds’ plant in Port Washington, Wis., he is working hard to improve the company’s productivity, which impacts corporate profitability and viability. That impacts his job and those of his fellow employees.

As a group leader for the bottoming area (the work cell that handles sewing and stitching operations for the shoe’s sole), he oversees the productivity and performance of 17 co-workers.

He is also heavily involved in cultivating an environment of continuous improvement.

He solicits improvement ideas from co-workers in his area.

“If someone has an idea, all that person has to do is mention it. We sit down and see if it is something that can be implemented,” he says. “If the current method isn’t the best way and this person can improve on it, it’s worth going after. Operators have the best ideas.”

He has been involved in benchmarking activities.

“I and the other group leaders recently visited Steelcase in Grand Rapids, Mich.,” he says. “We picked up a bunch of best practices just by walking through and watching those people work.”

When Allen-Edmonds unveiled an initiative last year to remove waste and inefficiency in its plant processes, Goetsch laid out the benefits in black and white.

“I explained it clear: ‘If we don’t change and adopt this, I will be looking for a new job and so will you. If we don’t change, this will be the second place I’ve worked for to be closed down,’” he says. “I’m not about to let that happen.”

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