The TSA... Is anyone in charge there at all??

So, I travel a lot, as many of you do...

The TSA folks aren't my favorite people, obviously, but I do understand they are merely the object of my ire and not the cause if it; and they have a job to do, that I sincerely hope they do well.

But seriously... look at this picture. It's a sign posted at the Elite check-in line at Houston's Intercontinental airport. If you are having trouble reading it, here's what it says:

"Thank you for your patience as we carry out security procedures designed for your safety and required by law.

Our Transportation Security Officers also have rights. To protect their safety, threats, verbal abuse, or violence of any kind will not be tolerated.

Please give our officers the respect they deserve.

Your safety is our priority."

Really??

Are you kidding me?? Nowhere (I looked) was there a sign about respecting travelers, or that travelers had any rights at all. Do we? Why would you put something like this on display in such a prominent location, with no context at all?

I mentioned the sign to the agent at the I.D. desk, she said "well, some people aren't very nice."

Really?? Not nice? The horrors of it all...

I travel frequently (much to my dismay). I see a real "jerk" traveler emerge maybe once every third trip or so. That's it. Hardly common, clearly an exception to the norm.

This has application in your organization. If you have problem employees, pain-in-the-ass people that annoy everyone, do only the minimum to get by, and/or are simply disruptive... Deal with them. Swiftly, mercilessly, and definitively.

Don't create some over-arching "policy," thereby penalizing all for the transgressions of a simple few.

I still can't believe that sign.

But that's just me...

KB

Kevin Berchelmann
www.triangleperformance.com

Manufacturing Matters... Really!

Manufacturing -- and I include process industries like chemical, refining, and some distribution -- is the backbone of this country. If I'm exaggerating with that statement, it's only by a small margin.

We can see clearly how Manufacturing really does matter – it’s a real source of strategic advantage for the United States.

In my mind, there are three reasons for this:

1. We build it here. I hate to sound trite, but it does matter when things are “made in the U.S.A." Now, let’s not get carried away – that can’t be the foundation of manufacturing value in the U.S. (“buy American” is a crock statement, in my opinion; trite and defensive, it's designed to shame rather than promote), but it certainly does have an impact, particularly today.

2. We do it better. Deming may have exported cutting-edge thinking, but U.S. manufacturers embraced those theories and brought them home to those products far more difficult than autos and technology. We have the engineering talent for manufacturing, and most significant manufacturers view knowledge management as a key differentiator.

3. Totality of impact. Manufacturing is a backbone industry, and I don’t mean just because it represents “American workers.” It literally serves as a backbone to significant economies in transportation, warehousing, and industrial services industries. Really, if AIG is “too big to fail,” then manufacturing is sacrosanct. Not just local economies… entire INDUSTRIES rely on our manufacturing prowess and success. Strategic then, not just for an industry, but for a country.

To be certain, we’ve had to get much, much better at it in recent years.

Unlike some who cry “the sky is falling,” I view the productivity advances occurring as a result of off-shore competition to be a good thing; in this global economy, a Kansas manufacturer must know they aren’t simply competing against other Kansas-based manufacturers. Those in Honduras and China matter as well...

But that's just me...

KB

Kevin Berchelmann
www.triangleperformance.com