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By EK Hornbeck
“Most people skate to where the puck is...I skate to where the puck is going to be.”
Wayne Gretzky
You can be sure that when Wayne Gretzky said these words, he probably did not realize that he had coined a memorable saying. It has since appeared in many business management texts; and you have no doubt heard it brought up around a boardroom table at least once.
As authors Jason Jennings and Laurence Haughton have observed, Gretzky did not say that, to score, he needed to predict where the puck was going to be in 20 years. Whether you are on the ice rink, or in the manufacturing world, “a small head start — the same slim advantage” that the Great One used so many times — is vital if you are going to achieve your objective.
Two years ago, CME President & CEO Jayson Myers appeared before a House of Commons committee to discuss where the manufacturing puck is going, so to speak. Like the Great One, Myers was not there to talk about where manufacturers need to be 50 years from now. Rather, he highlighted those aspects of their operations that Canadian manufacturers can consider re-engineering to give themselves the head start they need to succeed.
The discussion of what exactly this “re-engineering” effort should cover continues. Mel Svendsen, president of Calgary-based Standen’s, favours taking a broad perspective. A broad approach is best, he says, given the competitive pressures that are weighing on our manufacturers. Standen’s opened its doors in 1924 and manufactures items serving the needs of the automotive, heavy truck, and agricultural implement industry.
Strengthening the skills base of Canadian workers so that Canadian manufacturers can “go head-to-head against China or India on per hour basis is a real challenge,” Svendsen says. “There’s no doubt that we are concerned that the manufacturing jobs we want to be filled in Canada can’t be filled, due to [gaps in] skills.”
Using technology to “stretch the knowledge of skilled workers so their skills can be used to greater advantage,” is a promising option, Svendsen says, with real potential to help preserve Canadian manufacturing. “I’m referring here, for example, to having CNC operators build tools according to modular designs that we can quickly modify, based on the work at hand — rather than having skilled toolmakers build tools from scratch. Or having our highly flexible engineers and technologists build and program machines, and assigning someone with a more basic skill level to operate them.”
Svendsen is pleased with an Albertan initiative that represents a re-engineered approach to training. Called the Careers Next Generation Program, it aims to help high school students test drive a career in the manufacturing sector on a part-time basis. “This program has worked very well for us. Our trades people are very supportive. We have young people participating who, after graduating high school, become journeypersons by the age of 21, which is amazing.”
The program is not only helping keep trades alive, but it also represents a long-term investment in Canadian manufacturing. “If we don’t continue to attach importance to manufacturing goods in Canada, then our ability to add value will be threatened,” Svendsen warns.
“We have production facilities in two provinces, and a facility in US — and now two in China, because we have to respond to moves by our customers,” Svendsen says. “We are learning the nuances of manufacturing in different regions. But if we at Standen’s, as a Canadian company, are going to be leaders, we need to have a complete set of technological capabilities here in Canada. We need to maintain our leading-edge skills here at home — and keep that critical knowledge base here.”
Another way for the Canadian manufacturing sector to re-engineer itself, says Shawn Levangie, is to realize the power of a collaborative approach to business. Levangie is president of Trail Blazer Products, a Dartmouth, NS-based manufacturer of outdoor products sold in Canada, the US and more than 20 other countries.
“Canadian manufacturers need to focus on their strengths – our strengths will carry everything else along, and keep manufacturing alive in Canada. The way I see it, the more people we can employ in manufacturing at home, the more people there will be down the street who can buy our products,” Levangie says.
Levangie continues: “One of our strengths, I believe, is that we are open to working with others. That is, we as Canadians have a collaborative approach to doing business that provides us with an edge. I am thinking here of how the Home Hardware chain works with Canadian companies such as Trail Blazer, for example. This is an approach I’ve followed since getting into this business — it has come to me naturally. When people say partnership is becoming more important in business, that this is somehow new — well, this is how we have always done things at Trail Blazer.”
In Trail Blazer’s case, that means “we see our suppliers of fiberglass and other materials as our partners. And we see the retailers we work with as partners as well.
“There are other companies out there selling a similar assortment of products,” Levangie says. “But in keeping with our approach, when sales of our products drop at a store, whatever the country, we want to find ways to work with that retailer to improve sales of those products. We have a very open dialogue with our retailers. The retailers are at the ground level, selling to consumers. They provide us with very valuable information. Collaborating with retailers this way helps set us apart from our competitors.”
Through its work with CME, Trail Blazer has acquired familiarity with management concepts that stress the need to be flexible, like LEAN manufacturing or continuous improvement, Levangie says. Being open with one’s partners, be they retailers or suppliers, is one more example of this flexibility in action, he says. “We prided ourselves on our flexibility even before these [CME] programs. We have been constantly redesigning our marketing and our manufacturing processes to stay a step ahead.”
When we think of how Canadian manufacturers might build up that “small head start” they seek through re-engineering, it does not mean that they need to see decades into the future. Wayne Gretzky accomplished great things with just a small head start on his opponents. With ideas like the ones outlined by Svendsen and Levangie, our manufacturers can do the same.
