THE GREAT LITTLE BOX COMPANY
is a leading designer and manufacturer of corrugated boxes, displays and protective foam packaging. The company also distributes a complete range of shipping supplies offering its customers the convenience of one-stop shopping for all their packaging needs. With four locations (Richmond, Victoria, Kelowna and Everett, WA) and over 170 full-time employees, The Great Little Box Company is the largest independently owned and operated sheet plant in Western Canada.
To reach their web site click on www.greatlittlebox.com
Successful companies become successful for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is often the management practices of the President and his/her management team. That happens to be the case at the GLBC where President, Robert Meggy has been at the helm since 1982. In the company web site there are descriptions of the topnotch service and quality products along with the awards received by the company.
The reason for including information about this company on the Workplace Council web site is to examine the values, attitudes, and daily practices which have made those quality results possible at the Great Little Box Company.
Because of Bob's accounting background it may sound logical to describe his approach to managing as full of "measurements", but the places and times he uses measurements extend far beyond financial figures. A few examples follow. He is joined in the implementation of this approach and management of the company by his wife, vice-president and co-owner, Margaret Meggy.
The Employment Process is full of measurements. The type of job being filled will determine the measurements used, but Bob will not hire anyone with fewer than seven contacts. "We're looking for people who fit the culture of the organization as well as possessing specific skills. It's important to understand the underlying basics of the applicant's personality, their preferences for job characteristics, and what they spend their time doing when they're not at work. We need to be assured of their intent and ability to deliver their best effort on a consistent basis to the job they are employed to perform."
Sharing Profits with Employees. Bob feels it is important to share the monthly financial results with the employees... both the information and the money. He does this by holding one meeting a month, arranged at two convenient times for the office and plant employees. At those meetings they show the monthly figures on an overhead screen and explain the reasons for the results. When there is a profit, the share for each employee is included in their next paycheck.
Management sharing of decision-making (delegation) as a measurement of trust. When a company creates an employment process similar to the one described above, their positions will be filled with qualified people ready to share decision-making and implement delegated respsonsibilities and authority. A frequently posed question in the workplace is how to improve employee trust. This is a good way to develop trust.
Measuring the direction and depth of a problem. This approach includes asking the question "why" five times. Each time you ask the question you go deeper into the situation and avoid concluding that an obvious or "surface" reason was the cause. Usually the root cause turns out to be training, systems, or human error.
Measuring the strength of peer support and pressure. The company has recently reduced its WCB claims by 90%. This was the result of encouraging employees to be more careful of their own movements around the plant, and at the same time encouraging them to provide supportive warnings to their peers when ways of working could lead to accidents. The motive was not only the avoidance of personal pain and inconvenience, but also the option of participating in a free lunch with colleagues paid for by the company. With each claim free month this practice is repeated.
Customers and suppliers provide measurements too. Even though people, materials and machines are all focused on providing excellent service, it's important to use surveys and keep updated on wether those intentions are being realized. These measurements should be reciprocal. Not only does the company need the opinions of customers and suppliers, but those customers and suppliers need responses from the company about the adequacy and quality of the information and materials they provide.
Measuring return on samples of a product. When a salesperson requests samples, it's important to estimate the costs of design time, materials, and printing which go into the creation of those samples. Then the sales, which result from using the samples, should more than compensate for the original costs. When that doesn't happen, producing samples becomes an unplanned for cost not balanced by revenue.
Measuring machines and production processes. It is possible for a machine to slow down by 20 percent and not be noticed if you don't measure it. Measuring print sheet errors showed Bob that staff needed more training, but "one error alone in a print sheet can mean a few thousand dollars lost a month". Therefore, the savings are many times more than the measuring costs.
