Bringing a Summer Mindset to Today’s Operations

Soon the kids will be out of school so families will pack themselves into SUVs and hit the road. Pickup games and camps will be the destination of youngsters as they look to a carefree time. Parents will once again feel that mix of joy and jealousy as kids take a break for the year and spend a little more time having fun.
So, how can we infuse our daily operations with this joy and eagerness for life’s next adventure?
The first step is to take a break if you need it. Summer is a great excuse for a day off and we’ve found, time and time again, that a mental break is needed as much as any other perk.
Once you’ve had the chance for a nice refresh, take a look at the kids in your neighborhood and use them as a guide for new perspectives and rites of passage for your organization.
Do You Need Driver’s Ed?
Hopefully you don’t need to head back to a driver’s education class to end road rage, but that learning mentality is a great tool especially for logistics professionals.
Driver’s Ed for logistics and manufacturing has a specific focus: the coming supply squeeze. The consultants at FTR said there were “unprecedented capacity constraints” in February and we’re looking at a future of higher rates and less availability.
Can you think of a better reason to spend a little time in the mindset of the driver you may need to hire? What can you do to make their loading and unloading easier and faster? Are you forcing companies to drive empty miles or can you find a partner to set up match-backs?
How are your days sales outstanding? Could you further narrow your DSO to help prove you’re a valuable customer?
It’s difficult to find drivers, so you may need to go where they are or consider bringing some of your operations in house. Summer is a time to diversify.
Head to Camp
What better life was there than those weeks at summer camp? Days were filled with a variety of activities and nights trading tales about everything under the sun.
Take your work to camp.
For many industries the summer includes a ramp up in conferences and events as we try to leave the holiday rush and Q1 earning statements behind. Take the time to attend, or send employees, to the wide variety of conferences for both your industry and your customers’.
Give yourself time outside of crunch season to learn new practices and attempt new operations on a small scale. Summer also frees up many students for internships so you have a chance to see what new ideas may be brewing in the wide-eyed dreamers.
Take a summer focus to everything you do and you may just remember something of vital importance. Remember: the summer includes many changes to electrical safety in warehouse and line operations. Check to make sure the vents for your generators are clear and that you have pairs setup for cooling down the hottest spots of your plant.
What else does summer’s heat bring for your operations?
Fun in the Sun
Carefree summers often came with big dreams about what the world could be and how we could shape it. Rekindle that vision this summer and bring it back to the office.
Ford unveiled a hybrid, sun-powered concept car earlier this year called the C-MAX Solar Energi – we’ll give them a pass on the name in hopes it’s catchier when it comes to market.
Ford used the summer sun we so often focus on for new operations and innovation. It’s time to ask ourselves if there are similar methods we can employ. Not everything can or needs to go solar, but there are other areas to improve. Let the weekend’s tree trimming inspire you to cut operational excess or pull back in moves that haven’t proven as successful as you hoped.
Taking a nice long drive one afternoon? Let that leisure inspire you to think about how you ship products and what might be better moved through rail or by shifting LTL to FTL.
It’s summer, so enjoy the sun and let relaxation be your inspiration.