LEADERSHIP

The Tribal Knowledge Dilemma

BY JULIE RICE SUGGS, PH.D., AND ALLI KEIGLEY

Whether you have worked in a particular industry for five years or 25 years, you have likely heard co-workers refer to the “tribal knowledge” within the company. But do you know what the phrase means, or have you been too afraid to ask, unsure if it involves some sort of ceremony you aren’t ready to commit to? All joking aside, how is tribal knowledge relevant to the packaging and manufacturing industries we are entrenched in today?

For our context, tribal knowledge refers to information not widely known by other employees within a company. This extremely valuable information is often undocumented in nature, residing only in the minds of select individuals. While many people associate tribal knowledge with myths and legends that are passed down from generation to generation—possibly around a campfire and ever-changing over the years—the concept sidesteps these nostalgic qualities in the packaging and manufacturing world. Tribal knowledge is knowledge that is likely essential to the production of a product or performance of a service, but it might also be counterintuitive to the process.

Think for a moment about your colleagues and the management within your company or organization—chances are good that there are different age demographics represented. Today, we are seeing a paradigm shift due to the baby boomer generation reaching retirement age, and when they retire, critical information—what we are calling tribal knowledge—may disappear with them. If something is not done to capture this knowledge, the company will be left with gaps in information.

On the flip side, tribal knowledge can negatively affect the training of new hires. There is certainly much useful tribal knowledge floating around in companies; however, the spread of incorrect information can be attributed to tribal knowledge as well. For example, an employee who works in a silo and is told to train a new hire will share faulty tribal knowledge, if that’s how they operate. And improper training for software or equipment on the plant floor poses a threat to the production process, the service being provided, and ultimately the safety of the employees.

Up to this point, we have talked about the way tribal knowledge works in a company and some of the issues it can cause, but let’s look at it from a different angle. How can you effectively and efficiently capture and share the valuable tribal knowledge within your organization?

The first step is basic. We are now well into the 21st century; computers are more commonplace than notebooks in most parts of the world. That means there should be no technological obstacles to digitizing all the tribal knowledge within your organization. Will it take time? Yes, but it is a worthwhile time investment. Once this information is digitized through a standard, streamlined process, it should be shared across the organization to engage employees, promote collaboration, and build further upon this tribal knowledge.

Now, you might be wondering just how to share this information. Email? A Zoom meeting? Everyone (for all The Office fans) in the conference room? Of course, any of these methods could work, but we have another option. The ways in which we access and contribute information are constantly evolving—mobile technology has evolved to allow the workforce to remain connected in real time. Yet many companies still rely on dry, even tedious documentation formats to share this crucial tribal knowledge, making it difficult for employees to digest and retain the information they need.

Instead of this old-school approach, we offer you a new methodology to try out—microlearning. Microlearning is simply a way of instructing in which difficult topics are broken up and arranged into bite-sized lessons to engage with on any device. Infographics, quick readings, videos, animations, discussions,

or interactive slides can be used as the vehicle to deliver information. This unique method empowers employees to learn and complete training at their own pace. We believe these short, focused sessions help avoid mental burnout and cater to adult learning styles.

If you are not sure how to accomplish this within your company, or if you are short on resources and time (aren’t we all!), we are here to help. For example, AICC’s Education Investor program gives member companies the opportunity to be thought leaders in the industry, and it allows AICC to continue as the innovative industry front-runner in providing premier educational programming, products, and services to its members. While this might feel like a square-peg-roundhole scenario for your company, especially those who do not want to give up their “secret sauce” or share company-specific tribal knowledge, please know that AICC and The Packaging School also offer custom course development to fit your specific needs.

Not looking to reinvent the wheel? We have you covered there, too. AICC’s partnership with The Packaging School allows for member companies and all respective employees to get the value-add of online training programs free. With more than 80 online courses in both English and Spanish, all related to the packaging industry and the manufacturing environment, you are sure to find something that suits your current needs. Grab your computer, and we will get you squared away.

Tribal knowledge is common to most organizations, created through either intentional or unintentional means. For this reason, companies need to be diligent about capturing this information, correcting any misinformation, and making the vital information readily available to all employees. We are just one email away to help you get started. Email julie@ packagingschool.com or tpyle@aiccbox.org for more information on how to make that happen in your company today. 

Julie Rice Suggs, Ph.D., is academic director at The Packaging School. She can be reached at 330-774-8542 or julie@ packagingschool.com.

Alli Keigley is production coordinator at The Packaging School. She can be reached at alli@ packagingschool.com.

More Boxes, Fewer People

BY SCOTT ELLIS, ED.D.

The funny thing about change fatigue is that it is getting pretty diffi cult to surprise manufacturers. World events have lined up crisis after crisis, and we continue to fi gure out how to keep making boxes. At this point, if the temp agency started sending zombies, we would give them a try.

CEOs are concerned that the experienced people who keep production running will grow weary of extended shifts and weekend work. Even with increased wages and ample overtime pay, the workforce has never been more mobile. Many have experimented with new schedules (e.g., four 10- or 12-hour shifts per week). Th ey have consolidated three shifts into two, with a day shift and a graveyard shift. Th is allows them to rotate maintenance personnel to do PMs during the traditional second shift so most employees can spend evenings with family.

It is encouraging to see the creativity and fl exibility that has come out of the struggle, but even with robots and zombies, we are not yet able to make boxes without people being involved. It is time to break one more mindset and begin running through breaks and lunches at key machine centers.

We need to make more boxes with fewer people. Look at it as a math problem. For comparison’s sake, let’s agree that we have a lineup that includes multiple jobs of 7,000 pieces, and our average machine speed is 5,000 kicks per hour. Please hold the “yeah, buts” and go with me on this. We average 20-minute setups. In a standard eight-hour shift, an employee takes two 15-minute breaks and a 30-minute lunch. Now, in most plants, these periods stretch by a couple of minutes each, but we will leave that out of the equation for now. It is also typical that we stop for the shift handoff , ostensibly because software has not been able to assign product to the shift that made it. So, in a 480-minute shift, we will squander one hour to breaks and lunches, 80 minutes to setups, and 15 minutes to cool-down at the end of the shift. Considering that we have no mechanical downtime and never wait for materials, we have 325 minutes to make boxes. Given the constraints imposed above, we will set up four jobs and produce 27,084 boxes.

Th e backlog of jobs tempts us to add another shift, and that may be necessary. In labor cost alone, adding another shift will incur supervision, indirect labor, and an additional crew. Before taking that step, consider adding an additional operator to the fi rst-shift crew. Th e job of this person is to cover for all other crew members as they stagger their breaks and lunches. Everyone gets their breaks, and the machine stops only to change over jobs. We are not running faster yet, we are not doing quicker changeovers, and we just don’t stop making boxes until the job is complete. By this method, we will be down a total of 100 minutes, because we complete an additional setup and hand off the machine without a pause. We will produce for 380 minutes and complete 31,667 boxes—more boxes with fewer people involved, with less overtime incurred, less employee burnout and turnover, and more accountability for timeliness in returning from breaks.

Productivity is addictive and contagious, so there is a cost. Support labor will have to adapt to keep continuous-run machines stocked. In some states, the crew will need to agree to waive the “uninterrupted lunch” and sign a form similar to those required on a corrugator. In one instance where this was implemented, we needed to add a break room near the machine. Once the schedule is stable, we will work to reduce our setup time, and we will spend whatever it takes to supply the crew with materials and tooling that will win back productive and profi table minutes. We will examine our design and routing practices to allow the crew to run at even greater speeds. As uptime, speed, and quality increase, we will wonder why it took us so long to break that old mindset.

Th en we can fi re all the zombies. 

Scott Ellis, Ed.D.,

delivers training, coaching, and resources that develop the ability to eliminate obstacles and sustain more eff ective and profi table results. He recently published Dammit: Learning Judgment Th rough Experience. His books and process improvement resources are available at workingwell.bz. AICC members enjoy a 20% discount with code AICC21.