Company Info
     Home Page
     Services Offered
     Productivity Program Tuneup
     Contact Us

OE Tools - How To
     Understanding LEAN
     Facilitating Kaizens
     5S
     SMED
     Situational Simulation
     Using Process Maps
     Tying OE to Bottom LIne

Workforce Engagement
     Engaging the Workforce
     Praise Effort, Reward Results
     Empower Direct Reports

Process Modeling
     Process Modeling
     Simulation and Optimization

OE Strategy
     Rubberband Effect
     Facilitating Process Mapping
     Metrics Drive Gaming
     NO OE Programs on PDR
     Process Driven
     Continuous Improvement

Where is my bonus for using a calculator?

When pocket calculators came out in the 60s and 70s, I am confident that not everybody adopted their use immediately. Some people probably jumped on board and started using calculators right away. Some people took at least a decade before starting to use pocket calculators. Some people probably didn't want to give up their slide ruler (if they were engineers) or their big desktop calculators (if they were accountants).

Most people, though, slowly adopted the use of calculators as they saw coworkers improve their productivity through the use of calculators. I don't believe that using a calculator was on people's yearly Personal Development Plan, or that people were paid a bonus for using a calculator.

When it comes to Operational Engineering tools (or subtools such as Six Sigma or LEAN), one of the common beliefs I keep hearing about, is that if you put the requirement to use OE tools on people's Personal Development Plans, you will increase the use of OE tools. I disagree.

I see the use of the OE tools as somewhat like the use of pocket calculators in the 70s. As more and more people learned to use calculators, and were able to increase their productivity through their use of calculators, other people looked on and followed their footstep; by starting to use pocket calculators themselves.

It should be the same with OE tools. As more people have success utilizing OE Tools to become more successful at their jobs, other people will want to emulate them so that they can succeed also.