Bill Adler, president and owner of Stripmatic Products Inc.: Some time ago, I read The Goal, by Eliyahu Goldratt, which I still refer to today. It taught me how to apply the concepts surrounding the theory of constraints. We constantly focus on identifying production and process constraints to help optimize throughput, while including our front-line people to help develop creative solutions. A significant example of this dates back a few years when we looked at reducing changeover time on one of our laser-welding cells. We took each of the eight functional stations of the cell and, working systematically and starting at the station with the longest setup time, managed to reduce cell setup time from 10 hr. down to 20 min.

Another great book I reference often to friends and coworkers, and which was recommended to me by members of my PMA CEO networking group, is Arthur Herman’s Freedom’s Forge. It describes how General Motors’ executive Bill Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry Kaiser helped bring together leaders of several U.S. business to support the U.S. Army during World War II. I think our country could use this type of leadership right now, as the book illustrates how you can bring together diverse entities such as GM and Chrysler, Boeing and Lockheed, and GE and Frigidaire, to work toward a common cause for the better of the country.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you face as a company leader?

Holtel: I find that building a winning culture is a constant challenge. I once heard, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Building a winning culture requires an environment that enables individuals to be successful and satisfied in their daily work. People need to know their role in the big picture, where they fit and how they can support the process. 

Manufacturing is rife with daily problems and challenges that easily can get in the way of success. A winning culture allows our employees, and teams, to effectively overcome these challenges—that’s what sets us apart.  

Adler: For the past couple of years, it’s been related to personnel management—not only keeping our existing people motivated and engaged in their work, but all of the time and effort spent trying to add to our core employee base. During Covid, we had to get creative to incentivize several healthy workers to show up for work, even when they knew they would be paid if they stayed home. We created a bonus pool of PPP money to incentivize attendance, and several of our operators earned $4000 bonus checks for good attendance over a 2.5-mo. period, as we continued to ship 100-percent on-time deliveries.  

In addition, to help grow our labor pool with new employees, we recently have hired a few Congolese refugees, one of whom does not speak English. We had a bilingual spouse spend a half-day providing some initial training, and since have used Google translate to help integrate them into our team.

Technologies: Management

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