Plant Managers – Friday Plant Walk – Floor Presence

Plant Managers – Friday plant walk – Floor Presence

Are your folks surprised when they see you out in the plant?

Or does somebody come check on you when they don’t – “Hey. We haven’t seen you all day. You OK?”

The biggest step change I saw in a manufacturing plant happened when the leadership team members were on the floor, in the plant, multiple times daily. Not an organized walk – each person just made it a priority to get out there at some point.

No. Not babysitting. Not spying. Just – present and engaged.

Things TO do:

• Make time to be present in the plant areas as often as you can. I know I title my posts as “Friday Plant Walks”, but that’s not the only day you should be out there.
• Mix it up. Different days, times, areas.
• Talk to your folks. Not just about whatever task they’re doing, but have a conversation.
• If there’s an issue (breakdown or outage), get out there and observe. See how your folks function. Listen to make sure they’re prioritizing safety. Don’t add time pressure. You can encourage your folks to work safely, take as much time as they need to “fix it right”, “nothing is more important than your safety”, etc., then look at your watch as you walk away and undo everything you just said.
• Listen.
• Engage. If you see something, say something. Someone forgot their safety glasses? Remind them. Wet floor? Spill? Get it cleaned up.
• Circle back. I had a rep for circling back as an HSE Manager. I wasn’t consciously aware I was doing it until a supervisor pointed it out one day. I had intervened with one of his new temps on gloves or something, and left. The supervisor talked to him and said, “You know he’s coming back to make sure you’re still wearing those, right?”

Things NOT to do:

• DO NOT speedwalk to look at something, then speedwalk back to your office. Your folks shouldn’t only see you when there’s a problem.
• DO NOT look at your watch or phone.
• DO NOT make comments or ask questions that cause time pressure.
• DO NOT sneak around. I’ve been in plants where the folks on the floor felt like management or HSE was peeking around corners at them.
• DO NOT in any way act like you don’t want to be there, or like you have more important things to do.
• DO NOT give an impression you “don’t want to know.” Someone may joke that, “Hey. We can fix this faster if you look the other way or go to your office.” No. Just no.
• DO NOT do a drive by. If you see someone doing something unsafe, don’t ignore the person and just go tell the supervisor.

I implemented a supervisor walk-through process for one company that needed significant safety improvement. I got feedback from a couple supervisors that it was taking too much time every week. “Folks keep stopping me to point out safety issues – I can’t do my job!” Were they legit safety concerns? “Well. Yes.”

Nothing in your office, or in a meeting, or paperwork is more important than the folks out in the plant that keep the business running.