Manufacturing Leaders

The Data Driven Decisions Transforming Operational Efficiency in Manufacturing

• Mark Bracknall • Season 12 • Episode 7

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This week on the Manufacturing Leaders Podcast we welcome Stephen Mitchell, the CEO of SQCDP, a company dedicated to enhancing operational efficiency in manufacturing environments through innovative software solutions. 

With over 30 years of experience in manufacturing, Stephen has a rich professional history that includes significant leadership roles in well-known corporations, such as Nestlé and Coca-Cola. 

Throughout his career, he has focused on operational excellence, maintenance management, and implementing lean manufacturing practices. Stephen's unique journey from the factory floor to leading a technology business exemplifies his commitment to driving positive change in the industry while empowering workers and improving manufacturing processes.

What you’ll gain from this episode:

In this episode, Stephen shares insights from his transformative journey in the manufacturing sector and how he founded SQCDP to address critical challenges in industrial data management. 

The conversation delves into the impact of effective leadership, the importance of accountability, and how data-driven decision-making can revolutionise operational protocols in factories. 

Stephen discusses his career trajectory, illustrating the frustrations he faced with traditional manufacturing practices and how these experiences fueled his passion to create a software solution that connects frontline workers to essential data.

Stephen emphasises the significance of data as a critical resource for enhancing performance and enabling informed decision-making in manufacturing. He articulates how SQCDP's software minimises reliance on outdated paper systems, enhances visibility in operations, and drives continuous improvement. 

The importance of authenticity and leadership in fostering a collaborative workplace culture is highlighted as Stephen shares how empowering teams leads to greater accountability and improved factory performance.

Dive into this enlightening episode to discover how Stephen is paving the way for a data-driven revolution in manufacturing. 

Connect with Stephen here:

Please like and subscribe - it genuinely helps grow the show and, in turn, helps push the industry forward.

Theo James is a Manufacturing & Engineering Recruiter based in the North East, helping Manufacturing and Engineering firms grow across the UK.

If you’d like more information about Theo James, feel free to get in touch with the team or Mark anytime.

You can call us on 0191 511 1298.

SPEAKER_02:

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Manufacturing Leaders Podcast with me, Mark Bracknell, my director of Theo Jane Recruitment. Today we welcomed on Stephen Mitchell, CEO of SQCDP. Stephen is someone I've had many conversations with throughout the years and always been extremely impressed with. So I couldn't wait to have him on the show to talk about his business, which essentially connects people, data, and factories all together and the data points within an engineering manufacturing businesses, that being safety, quality, cost, delivery, and people. We had a conversation today just about the not only importance of data, but actually how you empower leaders and how you help leaders make informed decisions and how you help leaders go through review processes with data, how you have dashboards to make sure that meetings are more efficient, how you um collaborate people together for an aligned and shared goal by using data. Of course, this opened up many conversations about how Lee manufacturing has come now, how this plays perfectly into manufacturing 4.0 and AI and all things, all things manufacturing, all things future. And it was a real um enlightening conversation where, as a manufacturing leader, you're going to learn quite a bit about the importance of data and probably question if you are making the right decisions and if you're looking at the best data for your business and for your staff. So please sit back and hopefully learn quite a bit from this episode. A really insightful one I learn not from. So please sit back and listen. As ever, do me the honor of just clicking that like and subscribe and rating the show and sharing the show whenever you can do. Uh it would do um the world of good. So thank you very much. I hope you enjoy the episode. A massive warm welcome today to Stephen Mitchell, who is the CEO of SQCDP. I've already discussed, I'll probably get that abbreviation wrong a few times on this episode. So I apologize advance, but welcome, Stephen. How we doing? You okay?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, nice to see you. Um, thanks very much for inviting me uh to talk to you today. I'm really looking forward to kind of sharing maybe a few uh moments from our growth and where we're going uh today. So hopefully we'll bring some value.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I can't wait, mate. This is long overdue this conversation, so I'm I'm really looking forward to it. Um, so we'll we'll dive into what the business does. But the um the first question is the same question I ask everyone that comes on, um, which is what does it mean to you to be a leader? What do you say?

SPEAKER_00:

I think to be a leader means means stepping into that role model role that if you like through my career I've I've gone through different iterations from being on the tools right at the beginning, um, to then maybe leading with something or looking at continuous improvement and having to take a leader or a lead voice and then taking management roles, which kind of that crazy step kind of into kind of uh into kind of white collar roles um where you had to learn how to be a leader. So I think it's a it's about role modeling, um, demonstrating the behaviours and values of of the business, um, and then following through and being consistent so um so that people can can really believe in in what you're doing or what you're trying to strive towards. And and and never has that been more important, I suppose, in in this role that I've I've taken, which is probably my uh my next apprenticeship that I'm that I'm learning through to steward the SQ CDP journey through. And I think it's going to take a lot as as much leadership as I've ever had before and role modeling and demonstrating what we're trying to achieve.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, 100%, because you're right, you you you learn the best, don't you, when you're coaching someone else to do that job because the pressure's on. You mentioned that word consistency, isn't it? Well, that that's that that is the key.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, absolutely. I think I think you know, we've we've been on this great adventure. Um, we're doing something new, we're breaking new ground, but the the the objectives have always been really clear and in mind. So how we how we get there is as important as getting there, and I think it's all about learning, it's it's being authentic, it's failing a few times, uh, you know, making mistakes and being humble and and accepting a lot of help along the way, but also asking for for help because um, you know, I think it if there's something I've learned about self is the I've I've realized early on it wouldn't we won't we won't get there as a business if if it's my crusade. Yes, I can I can set the vision and see what we want to achieve, and and our purpose is to help other people, you know, in in manufacturing and industry. Um but I can't do it on on my own. I would I would never have the skill or the capability. It's it's about being humble, asking in the right way, and then the bits where you can contribute, lead and be authentic.

SPEAKER_02:

Because I I love that description, because I guess what you're talking about there is not having ego as well. You know, if you think about a lot of leaders, historically, they've they've led with ego and and they've not shown that humility. Do you is that you as a person, would you say you're no different in your work than your artwork?

SPEAKER_00:

I think so. I think um I find I find it I found it hard to not let the authenticity slip in. You know, I had I I suppose in all those years kind of coming through from the tools in the management roles, there are eyes on you, they're looking at your behaviours, and and you've got to choose how you turn up. Um and I've had the I've probably had those moments where I haven't been authentic, I've been playing a role, thinking this is this is what a manager is, this is what a leader is. Um, and felt wrong about it, I would say is probably more than realizing it or getting feedback. It's just this doesn't feel authentic. It doesn't feel it feels like I'm playing a role. And I think when when maybe I've matured enough is is that I've recognized that actually being authentic and and talking to people and listening to people and and and taking feedback on board allows the the guards to come off of that. You don't have to to be this manager figure or leader figure that knows everything. You can actually ask for help and recognize that other people know more than you, yeah, and that becomes a strength into the team to say, actually, it's not all about me. This isn't my crusade, it isn't a just excuse me a second, I I'll give my opinion more air time than yours. It's about really listening and and and figuring out that you you get better working together, and if you can work together by by by not laying on the the airs and graces, people people get it better, and I think I found that that's that's that worked best for me. Um, and it's probably all I've got as well. Mark, it's probably the the part that allows me to say, well, okay, that there's there's not something hidden or concealed, but we're trying to achieve the things for others, and and people can get on board a bit easier, people can help us uh a bit more authenticity.

SPEAKER_02:

I I massively agree, and it's such a an enlightened experience when you almost lean into that that that appreciation that you don't have to be the person who has all the answers and you can be you can show the humility, but you be authentic. I battled that for years, you know, thinking I must be this type of leader. Probably because the sort of leaders I had were just they they they didn't show that that side themselves. And I just presume that was the way you need to manage where if you're not being authentic to yourself, you're not leading the way you want to lead, and and and you know that that just didn't sit right for me. It's interesting because we we have a lot of successful people who were for me came from a from a bit that came from a business called Enterprise, rent a car. So I don't tend to take recruiters on. Um you know that's always been our USP as a business that we the bulk of people haven't come through that route. But uh, they are trained in a certain way to be a certain way because it works for that business. That doesn't work for my I I want people to be authentic, you know. I hate that robotic way of working, but I almost have to really take you know to draw that out of them and and and get them to be themselves and better authentic because if you train a certain way, you mentioned yourself there, if you come in to be an engineer and so and forth, that's it, isn't it? And that that's who you are for a period of time.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think I think you know, I can I can draw sort of just there was a moment in my career. I'm trying to think how long ago it was maybe 10 years ago when I was I was actually working for Coat of Colour, and they were doing some operational excellence training and leadership training that was part of lean, that was you know manufacturing, all right, it's it's time for the lean training, but they did it so differently. They started talking about um the difference between kind of directive leadership and and listening to the team and situational leadership in particular, and flexing your style and recognizing what leadership was. They introduced me to a lot of sort of reading and and um audiobooks to to suddenly take this guy who was in a manufacturing leadership role to thinking about how the team were perceiving me and perceiving what we were trying to do, how we were managing change that I'd never I'd never done anywhere else in my career when I'd worked in a lot of kind of great companies and would done lean and would done operational excellence and we'd done maintenance excellence, we'd done uh TPM, talk productive maintenance, lots of, but very I don't know, tactical, very tactical. Suddenly the the it was became very nuanced. And in at times the coaches and the trainers didn't give you all the answers, they left you to explore and find for yourself. And I just recognized at that moment in my career there was a different, I saw myself differently then, that actually there was so much that I'd thought I'd learned that I hadn't that it was just an untapped opportunity to go and research, you know, uh from Simon Sinek and kind of you know start with why and and then Tony Robbins and and lots of people out there that were were very human about leadership and and about how that might fit uh fit into a certain industry. So for me it was always manufactured. How can I be better at work? How can I perform my role better? And suddenly you maybe not as good as you thought you you were. Um, so that that really changed my view on how to become an authentic leader was to actually recognize that you didn't have you definitely didn't have all the answers. Stevie Mitch didn't have all the answers. Um, but then also that no nobody else did. And I can maybe see some of the facades that were up and where ego played out, you know, some some guys in my manufacturing uh career that I can I can now point towards and say they they were maybe game facing it every day because that's what they saw leadership as it was always they're the boss, they're right, they pick. And that was the style. And suddenly I recognize well, do I want to be there or can I be slightly different, or or can I be better by being different and finding the way that I can lead in kind of the organizations that I'm I'm working with in.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and you sit and then you you hire in and you surround yourself with people who are better at doing things than you are, and you get out of the way, don't you? As simple as that.

SPEAKER_00:

I think I certainly see that that now is as you know, we're in we're in a software business.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um and I've got 30 years of manufacturing experience that I can bring to that. But there are so many of the of the software people, there are so many of the kind of start-up and and scale up and and growth um mentors, advisors in the team that know entirely different things to me. So I can't rely that I'm a subject matter expert on anything. And the great thing is that other people know that too. Yeah, and we share that that, well, I haven't got the answers, but we can go and explore for them. And then typically we see other people coming up with answers or solutions or options, and then we're picking through them, and that takes us towards answer, which feels um much more well-rounded, and it's quite satisfying that it's not it, it's not relying on me to create the answer. Certainly, I would say the team don't look to me to say, well, Mitch will answer, then absolutely know that I won't, and they'll they'll find ideas, um, they'll they'll use every resource they can until we're out, and then we'll come together and we'll find it together if if if we've got a problem. Um, and that's what has got driven us on so far, I would say.

SPEAKER_02:

It's a great mentality to have. Take me, uh, you mentioned yourself there. You you know, if I said to you five years ago, you'd be sat in a podcast saying you're the CEO of a software company, you're you're probably you're probably quite yeah, it's one of those. Take me back to where and why you decided to do what you do. And can you tell people that don't know what the business does, please?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, for sure. So um, I'm always easily drawn down a very long path. So I'll try and do this in a quick way. But you know, I sort of apprenticed with Nestle, then 30 years manufacturing career that I can talk of. It was sort of in that manufacturing career as kind of uh head of maintenance uh for a large blue chip, um, where you're running a team and you're trying to contribute on the factory floor in in a senior way, in a in a kind of tactical way though, as well, and being hands-on when needed. Um although those skills would be questionable. Now, people would would certainly say my ability to get hands-on certainly changed. But we were dealing with the day-to-day problems in in the factory. You know, you you've got product targets, you've got quality issues, you've got machinery issues, you know, which was the bread and butter of our day, and you're managing a team and you're managing performance and utilization and activities and all of those things. But there was a there was a kind of repeat problem that was the information systems we were working with were this kind of SQ CDP system, the the system on the factory floor for managing safety, quality, cost delivery, and people. So a very comprehensive system, but entirely derived from paperwork and paper forms across a three-shift or a two-shift system, depending on the area of the factory. So an abundance of paperwork every day that supervisors and team leaders were handling, then duplicating that information into spreadsheets, and then for part of that process, returning that information back onto whiteboards, and some of that was to print sheets out and drop them into a display. And for other parts, it was filling the coloured boxes in with red and green pens. And at any point in time, if if that system wasn't updated, we couldn't do our tiered reviews very well. So our kind of tier three was the sort of the Gamba level at the at the work face, you know, in the different functional departments, and then you had your daily review and then you had your management review. And if the if there were gaps in there, what tended to occur was that people didn't know why they'd not achieved a target or they had a particular problem. And it was very easy to tap bus maintenance boys on the shoulder and say, can you take a look? It may have been the machine, and it and it it led to uh a clipboard full of actions and notes to say, take these away, just have a look. We don't know why we're underperforming or why we didn't make a target. And the maintenance department would get stretched, and the team would be deployed from their work, which would schedule in the morning, to reactive work, and it then find out and uncover that there was a quality problem. Uh, so material had the problem, which which wasn't strictly a maintenance problem, and we'd maybe be part of the fix, or that a forklift truck had broken down, some material hadn't been delivered, and there's a team of eight standing waiting for material for six hours, and that wasn't a maintenance problem, but we tended to be uncovering those other issues, and we recognized well there's a problem there, the paper system isn't recognising that, and the frustration was that when I looked into the paper systems, it was the lack of processing, it was because there wasn't the resource to process and get it all done. You know, there were thousands of data points every uh week that that were going through team leaders and people, so it wasn't unreasonable to suggest that they couldn't get through it all, but every time there was a gap, it tapped on the showlight, and it was that cycle that said we better do something here. Um, in particular because I was feeling the pressure.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

As the department head, um, I was certainly feeling it, you know, to the point where there was a spreadsheet behind this bit, my daily tasks to say who was taking away all of the work. And I was taking around 80% of the work from the morning meeting, which felt like either there is a maintenance problem here or there's a Stevie Mitchell problem or something else. Yeah. And I very much didn't want it to be a Stevie Mitchell problem. Is it me? Is it my leadership? Is it machinery? Am I highlighting things? Are we working on the right things in the right way? And would look internally function-wise and find we're doing the right things. You find the paperwork, the operators have absolutely done their job, they've reported the right thing. It's just not making it to the review. And that was that was the breakthrough. It was the everybody's committing all that effort to get the information where the review takes place to then assign the actions to the quality manager or head of logistics or planning and scheduling or maintenance so that everybody can take their part and contribute towards performance, but it wasn't making it there, and it was just the inefficiency of transforming paper information into data to making decisions, uh, and that that then led me to suggest well, I don't go to the boss and just tell him there's a problem there and point it over someone else's direction. It was a I think I need to give him a bit more. I think the heat that certainly I felt the pressure, the pressure was rising. Um, you know, and I'd sit in one-to-one with my boss, and I and I definitely felt that the perception was that because we we didn't have any of the data points telling us otherwise, it's just every day, Stevie Mitch, you're busy, you're taking this maintenance work, this engineering work. And I was always kind of on the naughty step, let's say. So there was always a there needed to be an excuse, but I had to come with data. I always had to over-explain to explain and contribute back. Otherwise, it would have just looked like ah, it is it is just Stephen. He's he is making excuses. So I chose to to to bring another solution in and build the very first SQCDP app to do just one basic thing was to connect the frontline operators in the factory to the data review, and it meant that collecting data in a very simple streamlined way meant that everybody had live information, and then for our daily review, those tiered dashboards that I already knew what they needed to look like because they were there designing just inefficient paper systems. I had that end in mind, and I was able to apply myself for a a good few weeks at the at coffee shops um and build it, build the very first version of an app and make it work, and then demonstrate it worked, and then suddenly the the cascade of of trialing that where we were working meant that we could say it solved that problem and everybody had information, and then people were assigning the actions in a different way.

SPEAKER_02:

Has that led to companies changing the how they make decisions? Do you think? Have you seen that impact?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, certainly no. I think as as we've matured, so spinning on kind of three years post-kind of starting the business and recognizing that there were more people than just me and the team in one factory, there were others. I'd had peers and other kind of professional network guys say we've got that problem. We now see the the impact of people having debates and being finding alignment, challenging the right thing because they've got the data in front of them. Yeah, and that dynamic is is a lot more productive than searching for the right information. Yeah, they're now validating that information and then taking action on it, and that's what the those dashboards and the structure of those dashboards allows for repeatable a sort of a repeatable day consistently. The next day we'll see the same things. Is it red? What was the cause? This was the cause, who's taking some action? So it's a very simple process. So people are absolutely making different decisions than they were, but that ultimately is leading to their performance change in in their factory environment.

SPEAKER_02:

So is it so it's it's also accountability at peaks, well, I guess, isn't it? That it's there, that no one can hide in that sense, which which is yeah, good for both parties.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, it's very it's very transparent, and I think in in factories that uh still have paper systems, the the map it's it's easy not to see the size of the problem unless you've got a maintenance manager squealing. Yeah um it's it's easily hidden that this is all we can see. We can't see what we can't see. And the the fact that we're collecting it in a different way means it's available, and the fact that we're collating it into really if efficient infographics and charts and and components and features that mean everybody sees the same issue, and we know we're gonna be talking about the quality problem, we know we're gonna talk about the downtime on the machinery, and then they talk about those things and they arrive at the right answer, just consistently means that teams are aligned and and it comes down to people being accountable for that's that that's maintenance, that's me, I'll take that away.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, 100%. And like you say, it gets back to that we said the start, that consistency, isn't it? If it's in the same data, the same sets of results that would take an impact. I can I can 100% say that makes a difference. Would you um does it does each factory need to be looking at different data sets, or do you think they're key things that certain manufacturers should be analysing on a dashboard to make a difference, would you say?

SPEAKER_00:

Um well, I think that you know the the SQCDP format certainly through my career has been there for for all of that 30 years. I remember back at Nestle as an apprenticeship. Yeah, we they were around the center, and it and and as my learning into that system has been is that it almost gives you those key metrics to measure and understand your health. You know, if you're red on safety, there are problems on safety have to be addressed. If there are red on people and labour, then you're undermanning it, that affects performance, that affects quality. So it's these key measures and metrics that matter the most. There are an abundance of other measures and and cost per man hour and and energy used CO2 per man hour per part that you can get to, but it strips everything back to those. And I think it allows you to see: are we being proactive on pre-star checks and validate them because it's very efficient to record it? It's not a set of paperwork, it's not then another spreadsheet. You can see day to day, people are performing pre-star checks, they're reporting near misses, they're reporting hazard spots, we're working proactively. We can also see the near misses kind of in a oh, that nearly happened. The truck nearly came through the wrong door. Um, you know, valves are in the wrong position, and people taking action on the back of them. So just on that example of safety, which is obviously so incredibly important, you can you can see everything you sort of need to see, that you need to ask the workforce to tell you, can you behave proactively and identify these things easily? Then we can manage them, and then when we have a something to react to, we can action it through that same process, and that goes across um quality, cost, and delivery in particular, uh, as well. But that that allows people to manage those metrics and improve that performance because those measures mean something where where everybody is doing their work.

SPEAKER_02:

Because it you you sometimes hear people say you can have too much data, because you know, too much data can mean you can't constantly have one thing, but that isn't really an argument against this, is it? Because you can probably have too much data if you have spreadsheets with left, right, and centre, and you and you're not you know what I mean. Yeah, that's probably more argument for that side, I'd say.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think it's I think it's very easy to get into that. I think there are spreadsheets on spreadsheets, and certainly one recent client who is with we're talking about their solution, he's in a world of noise because he's got some that is coming directly from a machine, which is great, it's wired in and it's coming direct. And he's got other paper systems and and loose systems that are it doesn't quite know what to measure, and the the it's not quite coaching or kind of uh consultancy, it's just simply about stripping back and saying what do you need to measure on S to ensure that your your factory is safe right now? Quality, now cost delivery, now people in terms of the lit right. Have you got a labour target? Have you got an actual do you know your your when you're delinquent to to those things? If you can highlight them, what what allows you to manage? So it's very much about stripping back, and I think part of their business being driven, you'll have to forgive me, but it's it's almost they're in the accountancy of it, the everything by sales order, yeah. Everything by kind of the the finance department that means that the finance department are having this influence on operations to record too much, which affects the day-to-day, even on that bottom rung. So so very much I see that it can it can easily become confusing, and and SQCDP for me just becomes that kind of laser-focused. What are these things? What do they tell us? Does this allow us to make the decisions in the factory to manage the factory well? There'll be a second layer behind that that management can use, that sort of senior management and executives can use. Yeah, but which are the ones that that matter on that on that bottom rung, certainly.

SPEAKER_02:

Apologies for interrupting this episode with a very quick announcement about my business. Theo James are a specialist talent provider, specifically to the manufacturing and engineering sector. I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved since our inception in 2015. We specialise in roles from semi-skilled trades right the way up to our TJ Exec search arm of the business, both from the contract and permit side. We offer both bespoke one-off campaigns for heart-of-fill roles or a full partnership service where we've become an extension of your business. For any information, please get in touch with me or the team. I hope you enjoy the rest of the episode. Thank you. Are you seeing any any any trends? I guess have you got enough data now to go, you know, that this is this is what manufacturing or the bulk of people are are falling down on or aren't concentrating on and should be. Can you can you uh see the data to almost analyze that?

SPEAKER_00:

So I think sometimes the targets aren't clear. Okay. We we've seen a number of scenarios where targets are set too high, too stretching, so people have given up. And somewhere there isn't are no targets, so there's just simply uh uh that's what we've made today, and no accountability then for that. It's just I've I've worked for 12 hours and we've we've produced. Um, so knowing that it's it's it's about that management rigor coming to things and ensuring that well, our system, for example, ensures that you have a target in place, it's it's mandated, and the the the work with the team allows the client to understand what a good target is. Again, quality cost delivery. This this is where we'll start decision, this is how we measure ourselves right now. How are we doing with that? As we we perform a monthly review, we see wherever we've set that first set of targets allows the next review to talk about it and say, How do you think we we did? How do you feel you've done? And that's where we get the feedback around people saying, Well, we've talked about it every day, we're talking about targets now, and we've acted upon when when when we haven't achieved it, we've tried to do something. Not always have the have they been successful, but they're aware of there is a target, there is an actual what went wrong, what is delinquent, what can we put right? And some of those are basic things from putting lights on workstations, you know, repairing hydraulic hoses, changing the labour in in different areas, and that's where we can see the management decisions. Once data is available, the teams they they're the people that are making the change because they're finding the things to talk about that they need to talk about and they're addressing them because they're aware. Uh and that I think is one is one of the the most satisfying parts of kind of you know doing this job now is it was always about let's help the people that haven't got access to good data, that maybe data poor, you might say, because what I see consistently now is that when people have that data, they start to perform across weeks and months, it changes, and it might be a quality focus or it might be a downtime focus or a getting the lads out of the canteen on time after breaks, but they're the things that move their needle and they're the things that I see and hear and get feedback on, and it makes it very satisfying that it's not painful, it's just simply managing the things they need to manage and it's changing the outputs, which you know I've been made redundant twice in in a f in my factory life, and um they were about being competitive and being the factory that was kept open. Yeah, so it's always about performance. So seeing people change their performance means that they're on the right path. We've helped them along along their journey. Um And yeah, it's it makes us kind of pretty happy and say it's it's that transparency, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02:

You mentioned that you know you mentioned performance. I think there's still a lot of factors that haven't got a clue how well they're performing as a as a business because they might be part of a big global group and they've not really got any idea. And I guess the challenge of that is I'm if I'm gonna play devil's advocate, do you get some leaders who want to go? I don't want them to see all that data because they because when things start to dip, performance starts to dip. Is do you know what I mean? That just a bit of advocate. How would you counteract that?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I think I think you you're right there. There's there's what what happens is there's the data's available, yeah, no excuses. Yeah, and in particular, that places the the spotlight on the management teams, the the people making decisions, the people that are leading people through problem solving, yeah, through navigating decisions to well, we've never had to make those decisions before. So there has to be a willingness, that there certainly has to be an appetite. And we have found that you know normally when we've become engaged with a business, it's because they have that, they're frustrated. Normally, the paper systems feel dreadful, people are tired of printing them off. I can't read what somebody's written. So from a you know, you that's that's a real base level frustration. So that's what they want to remove. And then when they get into this world of saying, all right, now things are are coming towards us where we can make decisions, it's about managing how quickly they can deal with all of the things. There's normally lots of things wrong. There's normally we're we're further away from our targets than we actually thought we were, or that we were in group, and and kind of that's okay. There has to be that transparency that, well, that is where we are. How do we validate it? Yes, that is where we are. It is data, we've we've audited it, we've checked it. Now what are we doing? Well, we can see the things to do. It's it's about speeding up that rate of change to say how many actions can you perform per week, per department, per function. And that's something that we measure as well, but that only comes sort of later as as the data entry matures, and then that creates all of these to-dos. Well, crack on management, crack on leaders, you need to say, oh, we're we've been telling you about that machine for years, but now it's backed up with data, the number of breakdowns, the cost of those breakdowns, the intervention time, and so on. So the workforce very much gets to see that there's this middle band of supervisors and managers, but they're faced with all of the right decisions. And as long as the debate takes place, they will make the decisions that are right for them at the speed uh of their change uh in the in the culture where they are and what they can get, you know, if it's capitalizing and and replacing assets, it's a bit of a long line. But if you've got the return on investment calculations and can justify it and have a management plan or a mitigation plan, then this is what we're doing to hold this together. It's all of those right things. Say, well, we are doing all of our right jobs, we couldn't do any more, and we escalate up the chain, and then it makes it easy to escalate because it's it's done with data. And you know, in in the senior position, when it's arriving there, people are taking those decisions on because it's backed up, it's got everything they need to make their decision, it's not blocked. So it's it simply opens that that that data flows and allows people to make the right decisions in the business and winning capacity and and sales orders.

SPEAKER_02:

And and I think we you talk about leadership. I I think I always think the data allows people to lead easier and to manage better. You know, manufacturing is is absolute the epitome of a an industry, like many others, who people get promoted because they've got the job and they're not trained how to be a manager. You know, it's it's it's still a problem today. Um and don't be wrong, I think companies are a lot better. I see loads of companies now have internal management training. I'm saying last few years I've seen a real increase in that, which is fantastic. But it's the hardest job going a manager. And if you're not trained to be one, it is bloody hard work. And a lot of people, particularly in manufacturing where you might go from a shop full operator to a to a lead operator to suddenly you're a team leader and you're supposed to manage someone who you've who's been if you've might be working with it for 10 years and you've suddenly got to have a very different conversation. That is so hard to manage without facts and figures and data. I I've always found it hard to be harsh on people, it doesn't come naturally to me. I I'm I somehow sort of feels that emotion quite a bit. But if you can bring data in it, it's black and white, you can't, there's no there's no hiding behind that.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, take blame away. I think it's in where we've where we've either run trails or or working with customers, immediately you see that there's no space for blame because quite simply you you know what the problems are. You know, you might do the five Y's and you might do some deeper problem solving, but the data tells you what the issue is. It's not a we don't know what it is. Mark, you should have done better there, or you should be telling me the answer. It's actually on the table in front of you or on the screen in front of you, or it's on your phone. And the access to it means people can look at it and examine it and spend time and be rigorous with it and discuss it and talk to the guy that used to be your mate and say, Well, I've got this rule now. Hey, what do we do? How what can I do for you? Well, if we tried that and then we did that, and then we did that, you know, we'll do a four-box report, let's take some actions against that. Let's those answers are starting to jump out of the people that again might not have been listened to in the past because managers would have looked and appeared frustrated when actually, you know, or sorry, better than that, blame blaming or leaning in with maybe a more cynical lie. Suddenly it's it's it's very transparent, and everybody's working on the same page. So it becomes the what could we work on, what what can we do before we escalate. And again, it's it's it's a satisfying part of seeing people go through that change, is how they're working with each other. Um and and and again, how that that ultimately is how they're moving the needle on on their business, which funnily enough, we we get to see as well, because we're tracking databases and and checking progress and working alongside the clients. We can see that they're winning capacity, that they're improving productivity, they're increasing the OEA, and we can tend to see if we know what the actions are internally in the system, we can see why, we can see which ones have had the biggest effect. Um, so it's not accidental, and it's just but it's all their work. It's you know, we're just a tool. It's really satisfying to say, well, that's that's that's the bit that I'm observing as well, Mark. Really, is that I'm seeing the behaviors that I should have been able to rely upon in that original whiteboard paperwork-based SQCDP process, but log jammed with all of the reasons why we can't process from A to B, dealing with different priorities, and then it's not available. Now it's available. All of those things that people expected to happen are now happening more more easily. Um, so it just feels like we've unlocked it a little, but it's it's it's all people just just working and behaving at their best, um, without without our direction, they're coaching themselves to to performance.

SPEAKER_02:

Do you think this fits in naturally with with AI, this this piece with with data? Does it does it go hand in hand? And can you see that evolving with that, would you say?

SPEAKER_00:

It it does, it does, and it's it's we're using AI within within the product, and and we're doing some I'll call them very basic um things, and I say that because the the engineers make them very simple, and it's simply it's moving things beyond the chart. So, you know, these SQCDP boards in the past you'd see them on the factory floor, you know, some of the viewers might be looking at them kind of now or in the back of the offices, and they'll there'll be four or five or ten or fifteen charts and then an action plan on each one, and we're able to just figure out some gentle queries of data that is available and ask it questions and say what is what is the biggest priority on the factory floor in this particular department today, and we get a response. And the response is essentially it shines a light where you and I would have to interpret the charts and then look at the cause and then take us off there. Because of the way that AAI can be used, it's it's a great data engine, and we're feeding it data, and it is learning about team behaviors, it is learning about you know maintenance breakdowns, it's it I mean time between failure, quality sign-offs, it's learning where those things happen, and then it's starting to recommend. So it's going it's going beyond the chart and relying on the old works engineer to sort of be the point of contact. Say there's an engineering issue there, what should we do? Which chart do we look at? And you know, it used to be the old guy at Kane uh Nestle would get the pipe on, which I probably shouldn't say, but he and he would have a subject matter expert to say what we do. We're able to just shine a light on that, and and that component tells us there's a small piece of text in the handover report that says this is the biggest issue in the last 24 hours. Would you like me to create an action? And that's where we're we're not running ahead with it. Yeah, because we want our customers to learn from the basics, and they'll steer us with greater um greater use of AI so that they're learning their prompts and they're learning their queries, and we're just enabling those queries against all of that data so that they can efficiently get to the things they need to get to, which is essentially action. It's you you can almost close the laptop, blink of things, and have the voice of AI come come across and just say, Mark, you're the production manager of the day. These are the biggest issues from the last 24 hours, these are the issues from the last seven days, maintenance of working here, quality or performance. This is what you should pay attention to within the first hour of your day. Those things were shortcut into. I don't think we'd ever come away from the the charts and the detail to back up those decisions or those recommendations because that's why you want competent production managers and operators who are making decisions. But the confidence is coming from the fact that this prompt is arriving at the same conclusion. So it's shortening or it's making it easier to be confident about the decisions that leaders make in in manufacturing environments.

SPEAKER_02:

I think and like you say, it's that word recommendations, isn't it? If it's making clever, consistent recommendations that over time you can trust, it empowers people to make better decisions and ultimately to hit and meet targets quicker than you would do without it. And and and and this is for me where I can definitely be used to better. I I think it's it's fascinating. It definitely goes hand in hand. It's so well timed. I also think it's so well timed with how the gener how generations are changing. People now are you know just growing up, aren't they, with data, iPads, and tech.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, for sure, for sure. And I think it's the um, you know, I think we've had this sort of the industry, industry 4.0 is is kind of around us. It was pretty much about the internet's available, let's connect devices to it, let's connect hardware, let's connect the machines. And it and it it's brilliant, but it has some friction to it, it has a cost friction, you know. And again, I could name a number of the factories where I've worked where you've got at one end you've got the the brand new equipment that is all connected and it's ready, and then you've got something that is 30 or 40 years old and made by Jones and the son from Sheffield, and that you know, and they're no longer there. So to try and wire something from that piece of apparatus is an engineering piece of work, yeah, which means you need some great engineers, and there are some great engineers that can throw themselves to that and efficiently get you there, but there is a cost and there is a time friction, there is an intervention required. Where we're suddenly arriving is by connecting the team with the their existing terminals, their existing um browsers and software, and and applying the app to them and allowing them to securely log on, communicate with each other, connected work of technology. This industry five is starting to come through that we're enabling people to use data in a much more efficient way. It's certainly cost efficient because it requires no outlay. You know, you you do your pilot, you do your you do your trial, you prove it works, you configure it to your needs. It's out of the box, it's a product, it's not it's not so bespoke an engineering solution for uh a forge or a CNC machine. It is replacing your paperwork and your poor systems that you have now with something that gets you the data of Smart Factory and allows you to make those decisions without all of the cost and fuss and friction and project management. And us turning up in that space means that we've we've got to put ourselves in there a bit more, that actually we're enabling people, and then the AI tools are enabling people. We're not replacing jobs, we're just empowering Mark to know what the training plan should be for the people in Department A and know what the training plan should be for Steve Mitchell and where my needs are, where I'm strong, where I'm weak, who I work bet best with, which asset I work best on, which product I work work best on, and how that training comes through. Because it's all it's all around us without having to wire everything back. And um and yeah, so it's it's it's very much a case that we can be kind of successful by helping others in their work just by not really changing too much and and productizing the solution that we have and adding features that just our our our customers ultimately tell us work better for them.

SPEAKER_02:

Look, you must be unbelievably proud of what you've built already because you know, doing what you've done, Stephen, it it takes a lot of guts because you know you've left a very stable job, you know, where your career would have planned out for you, without doubt. But you followed your passion, and I think you know, not a lot of people, a lot of people want to but don't, you know, and but dream to but don't actually do that. Have you taken time yet to really take some time out and reflect on what you've done already?

SPEAKER_00:

I suppose I I get I get moments when there's a there's a milestone. So so just in the last 24 hours, one one of our customers hit a quarter of a million data points, and there was some calculations around you know around 15 seconds per data point being averaged. So this is over a thousand man hours that they've saved, and that they're now using those man hours on improvement activities and engagement activities. Hey Mark, how are you doing this morning? I heard you were doing this great thing, uh, and having time with each other. And and I think it's the recognition that the effect the app that we've we've we've produced. Certainly, uh our I was there at the start, and you know, my my kind of version of the software has been unpacked, repackaged, unpacked again, repackaged. So it's it's significantly better. I remember I've had you know product managers and and kind of engineers and freelancers help us to to get that there. So it it's it's not mine, and I think that if anything, that makes me more proud is that it's not it, it it wasn't me, it was it was these guys. They've absolutely nailed what the impact of that 1,000 hours is for that customer. They've they've changed OEA in in one factory by 20% consistently because it's given clarity to the workforce that are there. Um it's it's it's those moments that I get that that allow me to kind of maybe be proud and say, all right, okay, this is this is what we're doing it for. Now let's help some more people, let's, let's, let's continue to talk about what we're doing, let's continue to find people that have the same problems that we're solving, and let's let's help them, let's make it accessible so that they can they can solve it. So so I'm very pleased, but I'm more pleased for the the business and pleased for the the customers who who are changing themselves based based on you know what we're learning about what we can change.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And I knew not about this stuff three years ago, and now now as a team, we're we're helping people to to make the manufacturing world better.

SPEAKER_02:

Amazing, mate. I think what you've done is is superb. And and you know, I think even in this episode, you've demonstrated you know how I think it fits perfectly for me to where manufacturing is at right now, because manufacturing in the UK has its challenges, you know, it really, really does. Um, you know, we it's it's still way behind other nationalities now who are pumping money into it and all sorts of stuff. And to some extent we can't compete with certain elements of it. How can we compete? It's being more efficient, and I think to be more efficient, we need to arm ourselves with as as many tools as we possibly can do, which are right for that business. Um people talk about four-boy, oh, they talk about AI and that type of stuff. Well, I think data needs to needs to be number one for me, you know. And I'm not saying that just because you're on the show today. I I think in any industry, we need to understand what the problem is before we try and fix it. And I think to be able to do that, you need data to tell you what the problem is before you can fix it. And I think this this this fits perfectly for that. It really does. And and I think um you communicate that in in such a good fashion because what you're doing is all about purpose because you care about it, because you're not from a you're not a software person, it's seeing a niche where you can make money. You know what I mean? And and and I mean that in it in a good way. You're someone you've you are someone who has lived through the problems and found the solution to it, and you're empowered by helping other people come to that realization, which I think in itself is brilliant.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, I think it it's part of we're back to Kano authenticity, and I think it you know that when when I went through the turmoil of should I do it, should I not? Should I do it? Should I not? Should I tell me why should I not? That came later. That's a different podcast episode. Um, I would certainly recommend if you're gonna embark on it on a startup, tell your wife up front. Uh but it was it was about those trials in in the earliest, the quickest, dirtiest version of the product had had the absolute impact that I thought was supposed to have. And and I dialed that up that that is that is what this entire SQCDP process was was built for. But due to maybe our interpretation of lean in in the the last 10, 15, 20 years of taking workforce out, taking rigor out is meant that we've stripped back so thin that people weren't able to sustain those systems and put that data down and then perform with that data, and that leads to underperformance and frustration and blame. And the world that I was in had enough of all of those ingredients to say it doesn't have to be like that. And actually, this has nailed it, and actually, this this is this is doing it. We're talking the operators. The people, when we did our first trial and then had to pull it back, they were like, No, no, can we keep it going? And I was like, Oh, we can't, we've got to go through IT protocols, we've got we've done our trials, and they're like, But it's great, it works. And all of those messages said, This does what it says on the tin, which is a very simple thing. It's only later as we've launched it, got all our security in place, and have seen people mature that you recognize, well, culturally, teams grow together, leaders lead without blame, without without the kind of stick, you know, without the kind of the the carrot, you'll not get your bonus if you if you don't perform. Just transparency on the issues that people are having day to day, and then the visibility of reviews in in order that people can be empowered to say, well, I can fix that. If you give me a bucket and a sponge, I will clean that roller every day. That will stop that. They're the kind of things that I've seen through all the factories that I've worked in, is that the guys closest to the process know the solutions that just need to be enabled to do what they can do and then escalate when they need to. Yeah. And the ability to extract all of that and watch people doing what they do now, that's enough of a reason to move and build start building a business. It's definitely enough of a reason to keep going and be resilient during the hard times and ensure that we get it to more people that need a product like ours, um, which which is you know is is great. It's it's about now telling people that we're here. It's about saying we we've turned up in the market with a product that solves this particular problem. Wanna try. Um and and where it fits, it works and and does its job. And where it doesn't, there's there's a little bit of nuance and and making it fit, or it doesn't, you know. Um, and that's fine because we we'll stay in our lane and we'll help the people that we can help. And and and yeah, we'll be you know, it'll be very satisfying when there are tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people using it that are that are having a better work day on the on the basis of using sqccdp.

SPEAKER_02:

Fair point, mate. And and what's the uh just finally, what's the best way to find you to contact you LinkedIn the best way, or any of the methods?

SPEAKER_00:

I would say LinkedIn, people LinkedIn direct messages, it it gets you, it gets you to us. You know, we've got the sqccdp.co.uk website, um, and we've got a contact form on there. And that that is that is where we're making these links. I'm I'm sure we'll do more outreach. I'm sure we'll make ourselves more available. But if people start there, that'll get us talking, that'll get us into a situation where you can test the product, and that's that's the the best part is when people test it and take it away. And they've done the configuration, they've done the work. It's not really us anymore, people take themselves into it, and it it works and they want to move forward because it's gonna do the very job that they need fixed, it addresses the pain points that they have. So if we any starting point of getting in touch uh means that means that we'll start that journey for people.

SPEAKER_02:

Um, thank you, Steven. It's uh it's been thoroughly enjoyable and uh yeah, great, mate. So thank you very much for that.

SPEAKER_00:

Thank you, Mark. Appreciate you having me today. And um, yeah, you know, uh hopefully people get in touch, people kind of get in touch with you, and um that's another way of sort of reaching out and we'll help people where we can.

SPEAKER_02:

Thanks, mate. Thank you so much for listening or watching this episode of the Manufacturing Leaders podcast. Please just like or subscribe. It really helps grow the show and obviously improve the industry. If you want any more information about Theo James, as I mentioned midway through the episode, please get in touch with me or the team. I would love to talk about how we can help you directly or your business. We are more than just a recruiter, and I know people say that, but it's something I'm incredibly passionate about. We are in business for much more than just a bums-on-seats approach. We want to help people grow, we want to help improve their lives, and ultimately I want to work with businesses and people who share the same values as we do, and that's something I'm incredibly passionate about. So please, if that is you and you are passionate about that dream role or passionate about your people, please get in touch with me or the team. I would absolutely love to talk a bit more detail. Thank you very much. Speak soon.