11 minute read
Organization structure change shows promising fi rst results
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE CHANGE SHOWS PROMISING FIRST RESULTS
Advertisement
In the past year, NTS changed the structure of its divisions because of its incessant growth. Organized in business lines in which dedicated multidisciplinary teams work for specifi c customers according to clearly defi ned KPIs, the company continuously improves its services. Working with his team for NTS’ largest client in the semiconductor industry, Ruud Kuepers is seeing the fi rst promising results.
Daniëlla van Laarhoven
When the structure of NTS’ Mechatronics division changed, my position changed as well. After having ful lled the role of customer service executive, I was promoted to the role of business line manager. In the past, I used to connect people in the best way I could to o er the customer the best possible support. Now, I manage a team that works dedicatedly for one speci c client according to a clear structure.
SQDC boards
Within the Mechatronics division, there are now ve business lines. ree of them work for one speci c client. An analysis I’ve made over the last few months shows that we make an enormous number of large, critical modules and a great diversity in products and components. is diversity demands tight control.
Some of the components are customized. at means little structure and routine. Each day we produce various unique items. e main challenge is in the supply chain – 85 percent of the parts we need come from suppliers. All of the parts need to be delivered in time, according to speci cations and with the right quality.
My team consists of employees from di erent disciplines such as three buyers, a team lead, a quality assurance o cer, three technical support professionals, nineteen cleanroom mechan
ics and three persons for logistics. To work as efficiently as possible, we use a clear structure. We start our day with a meeting based on the SQDC boards (Safety, Quality, Delivery and Cost), a daily process management tool that helps us plan the day.
Sales isn’t a direct part of my team. I speak to them on a daily basis, however, discussing the course of events and our strategy. Periodically, we talk about the roadmap. Besides this, we see to it that everyone knows what’s going on. In this way, we can focus on the right issues and make sure that the clients are always spoken to correctly and unambiguously.
Mutual understanding
The new organizational structure is an absolute improvement. We see that people like working as a team on achieving mutual goals. Having a mutual goal and being successful together is extremely motivating, resulting in greater job satisfaction.
It enables people to directly make improvements. It also reduces the frustration of those who feel something isn’t arranged properly. On the one hand, they can address topics and on the other hand, they experience why others make different choices be
Reaching a performance of 98 percent is one of the personal goals of Ruud Kuepers, business line manager Mechatronics at NTS.
cause of their expertise. This creates a mutual understanding. Moreover, it results in very good new ideas.
A good example is what we’re working on at the moment: redesigning a cleanroom. The logistics expert wants to realize the most optimized workflow to work as efficiently as possible, the cleanroom employee considers his own work satisfaction and wants to sit closer to his colleague and the person responsible for the technology thinks about how we can work as cleanly as possible and achieve the highest quality.
It’s then my responsibility to challenge my team members to come up with the best solutions together and make the final decision. I wasn’t authorized to do so in my previous position but I am now and that’s nice.
KPI board
Customer satisfaction is our main priority. It forms the basis for our KPIs. Subjects we take into consideration include: delivering in time, dealing with our supplier network, risk management and supply chain strategy. This is the focus of our Mechatronics division.
We introduced the customer to our new way of working, we informed them of what was going to change and of how we were going to make the changes. In the business line, there’s now an enormous KPI board that gives insight into our goals and progress. Very transparent – our customer likes that as well. At a glance, we can see exactly how we’re doing.
We define KPIs for a period of three months. Each week, our team stands in front of the KPI board to see whether we’re on track. My personal goal is to reach a performance of 98 percent. All improvements are displayed specifically and when we lag on a specific topic, we work extra hard on it. We celebrate our successes together. Recently, we ate cake when our quality performance had improved considerably.
Changing the organizational structure was necessary because of the growth of NTS. It enables us to keep our focus on our customers. And it works – after three months already, the customer noticed the positive effects. Because of the new way of working and the fact that we’re physically in the same room, our reaction time is faster, we deliver better quality and we know what’s going on at a detailed level.
Edited by Nieke Roos
FORTUNES OF
HIGH TECH
A HISTORY OF INNOVATION AT ASM INTERNATIONAL 1958-2008 Jorijn van Duijn explores the dynamics behind the greatest high-tech innovation: the computer chip. This brand new book describes the history
Order now
of ASM International between 1958 and 2008.
techwatchbooks.nl/fortunes
Hans Odenthal is group lead at Sioux Technologies.
Leadership isn’t only for the happy few
Is leadership something only the happy few can attain? Perhaps if you take a very narrow-minded view. To me, “leadership is all about the question if you’re willing to take initiative,” as one of my favorite quotes says. It’s a simple piece of advice but not always easy to follow through on. Like one of the employees I coach once said: “I really want to be more proactive, but I don’t know where to start.”
So, is “to be proactive” a synonym for taking the lead? Yes and no. Yes, because here it all starts. If you take the lead, others may take a cue from you. And no, because there’s more.
If you take the initiative, always add a little bit of something of yourself. Do you appreciate someone sharing a Linkedin post without providing context that lets you know why you might find it interesting? Did the sender agree with the author? Or did he think that the article was complete nonsense? Believe me, you don’t want to be known for passing on mysterious messages.
So, if you’re proactive and you add meaningful information, does that make you a great leader? If that was the case, everybody would follow you blindly. We all know that this isn’t common practice. You will get questions, pushback or endless discussions. It all comes to finding the right balance between being persistent and keeping an open mind. As always, the truth lies in the middle, but the middle shifts, depending on context.
In the mix of required skills to take the lead, you always need to add some herbs and spices. These will make a difference in how your opinion is going to be digested. A teaspoon of courage, a pinch of storytelling and, of course, a splendid idea are essential ingredients. These ingredients are readily available, yet not so easy to get.
One of my colleagues was grumbling about his project. “Nobody communicates,” he said. “What would you change, if you were the boss?” I asked
him. The condition of being the boss removes the obstacles to finding solutions. “If I were the boss, I’d immediately organize lunch sessions to share the status of each team.” He looked at me, waiting for me to respond. I dropped a silence. He continued: “I could suggest this to the project manager.” And after an even longer silence: “Or maybe I should organize the first and share the status of our team.” It only took a nod from me to start the first lunch session.
My colleague is now organizing these lunch sessions on a bi-monthly basis and they’re much appreciated by the team. Instead of complaining, he took the initiative to start something new. Is this rocket science? No, definitely not. But it makes clear that everyone can take the lead. Even better, you end up with an organization with shared responsibility. People don’t need to be told what to do, they just do it. Other groups have already started to copy his idea.
A lot of people hesitate to take initiative because of the responsibility that comes with their idea or proposal. We like it when people follow our ideas, but a lot of us don’t like to be accountable for it. I have to warn you: it’s a package deal. You’ll get compliments and you’ll get complaints. Leadership means that you have to deal with both. A chef cannot simply say: “That’s not my dish, I only advised on the ingredients and on how to put them together.” You design the dish, you take the lead in the kitchen, with feedback from the guests and hopefully their praise. But all great stories start with taking initiative and taking that first step.
Leadership takes flight with you taking the initiative and taking ownership. It’s within everybody’s range to take the lead. It’s not a matter of where to start; it’s more a matter of daring to start.
