Business

Over the years, it seems that past traditional roles of the maintenance department and the information technology department of a manufacturing company are (or have been) changing. The lines are getting blurred. Those guys in the 'shop' with the wrenches need to be just as versed in techno-jargon as 'those geeks' in the computer room. The I.T. guys also need to understand plant operations and maintenance concepts and the language that goes along with it, too. Why?...plant automation. Continue reading "Bridging the Gap Between Maintenance and I.T."

Software piracy and compliance issues are very important and can be costly. We need to stay vigilant and make sure our company legally owns the software products we have in house. If you don't have an auditing procedure in place, you should think about one now. When you get the letter from the software police...it's to late and it won't matter if your company is actually guilty or innocent of copyright infringement. Your company will be adding an additional account to your company's A/P and writing a check out to some legal entity, if you are not prepared. Continue reading "How's Those Software Audits Going?"

As technology changes, we need to constantly re-evaluate our policies governing technology in our company. I recently had to review ours and thought that this may be a good subject to throw around for evaluation and collaborative ideas. One thing that I thought was interesting...over the last decade I had seen the policy morph from 'Computer Usage Policy' to 'Electronic Communications Policy'. Thinking back on all the changes in technology over the years, this makes perfect sense...nearly all forms of communications today has a digital facet to it. Continue reading "Forming a Good ECP (Electronic Communications Policy)"

I can't count how may times I walked into Best Buy and seen that orange and black sign, and said to my self..."I will never hire one of these people", or thought that if any of these employees really wanted to be an I.T. professional, that rose higher than their cubical, how crippled they might be with the label of "geek".

Taking the stereotypical definition of "geek" and applying it to the "Geek Squad" or any other self proclaimed "geek"...a CEO would have to ask himself "Do I want this person responsible for melding my I.T. infrastructure with my business and interacting with my customers...or do I want a professional that knows technology?"

I would pick the later, myself... Continue reading "If you don't want to be an I.T. professional...be a geek."

The MBO philosophy (by Peter Drucker) has been used in many other organizations and businesses other than I.T. organizations, and probably before I.T. did. I believe it is the most beneficial model of managing an I.T. department. MBO doesn't micro-manage ... it empowers and develops staff. Here's the formal definition...

MBO - Management by objectives (MBO) is a systematic and organized approach that allows management to focus on achievable goals and to attain the best possible results from available resources. It aims to increase organizational performance by aligning goals and subordinate objectives throughout the organization. Ideally, employees get strong input to identify their objectives, time lines for completion, etc. MBO includes ongoing tracking and feedback in the process to reach objectives.

Continue reading "I.T. and MBO (Management By Objective)"

I.T. is a unique department within a manufacturing company. This department can assist in answering some of the most basic business questions from the top of an organization to the shop floor. In a company with adequate I.T. resources, I.T. should be able to assist in answering questions like...

What's my capacity?

Are we profitable?

What are my customer needs?

What's the cost?

What are my critical issues?

What are my yields?

What's my production schedule?

How's my shift producing?

Where's my material?

The potential for relevant, accurate and timely answers to many business questions is often overlooked. The fact that I.T. has a global view of the entire company to answer these questions, should make I.T. an essential part of the business unit, as opposed to the necessary 'support only' department of days past.

Continue reading "Information Technology is in the Manufacturing Business"