“As we look at innovation – I think everyone thinks it’s technology, but it’s people. It’s people at the end of the day. We’re augmenting our humans to do better jobs and have more satisfaction.”

– Peggy Gulick, Director, Smart Factory, Kohler

Today, innovation is increasingly synonymous with automation. That automation shouldn’t be regarded as a threat to human employment and capabilities, but rather a way of elevating and augmenting what small teams of highly trained people can do.

For an example of this philosophy in action, look no further than Kohler’s Smart Factory initiative, led by Director Peggy Gulick. She has responsibility for 60 global manufacturing sites and uses Industry 4.0 principles to emphasize the digitalization and actionable data – as well as strategic hiring and skills development – that are keeping Kohler at the forefront of ‘smart’ manufacturing.

In this interview, part of the Manufacturing Leadership Series created in partnership with the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME), Peggy tells Supply Chain Now Host Scott Luton and special guest host Billy Taylor about:

– How she and her team use continuous improvement and problem-solving approaches to close the gap between the current state and the desired state

– Why conflict can be a source of progress – as long as it is based on healthy tension rather than fear

– The positive increase in online networking that she has observed as a result of the year of pandemic-induced working from home

Intro/Outro (00:03):

Welcome to supply chain. Now the voice of global supply chain supply chain now focuses on the best in the business for our worldwide audience, the people, the technologies, the best practices, and today’s critical issues. The challenges and opportunities stay tuned to hear from those making global business happen right here on supply chain now.

Scott Luton (00:33):

Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Scott Luton and the one and only Billy Taylor here with your own today’s live stream on supply chain. Now, Billy, how are you doing? I’m doing great. Happy Friday. Thank you so much. Hey, it has been quite a week. I know for everybody, including you, it is so neat to have you back. You made such a big ripple effect across our community with your last appearance that we just had to get you back. And it’s such an honor to, to, uh, have your cohost me here today on the manufacturing leadership series in partnership with our friends at AME.

Billy Taylor (01:08):

But thank you for having me. I had a great time the first episode and also had just as much fun engaging offline. So there was several of the audience members that continue to reach out to me. And so Scott, it was phenomenal for me as well.

Scott Luton (01:21):

Awesome. Awesome to hear, Hey, I don’t know if you can let the cat out of the bag, but you shared a cool project. You were working on pre-show camp. Can we let people know what, what you’re about to be publishing?

Billy Taylor (01:34):

Yeah. Yes. I’ve really taken the hiatus to the publisher book. Uh it’s it’s a new generational type lane. How do we engage the new workforce, right? The workforce that works and lived at the same time. Right? It’s a different from when I was growing up, right. I work to live. And so how do you engage in the now right with social media. People want technology to let them know how they’re performing right now. How do they do continuous improvement projects that gives them instant feedback, also instant recognition. So this book will really be around modern day lean processes and techniques

Scott Luton (02:06):

Love it with your trademark sense of humor, Billy, which we

Billy Taylor (02:10):

Love it will have that as well. That’s right.

Scott Luton (02:14):

All right. Well, we’ll all be on the lookout for that. So today is all about manufacturing leadership. Again, with our friends AME the association for manufacturing excellence. We continue this series where we’re focusing across really across the manufacturing industry with a big, heavy dose of, uh, emphasis on what’s taking place here in the states. But really it’s a global conversation. As we all know these days, Billy Taylor who’s with us here, actually, when, when, uh, amongst other things, he also serves on the board of directors for AME and he’s got, uh, as we learned last time and incredible background in manufacturing leadership, which he brings to the table. So Billy, we’re going to make a few announcements and then we’re going to dive in with an incredible guests folks get ready. We’ve got the one and only Peggy Gulick from Kohler, a repeat guest. That’s joining us here today to get her and Billy in one conversation, man, we gotta get some popcorn and a diet Coke, Billy.

Scott Luton (03:08):

Right. All right, well, let’s do some work first. And then we’re going to say hello to a few folks, and then we’re going to dive into the conversation. So for starters, I want to invite, so we all know what’s taking place in India is our friends over there. In some cases, our family over there they’re fighting the second wave of the pandemic. So we’re really, there’s a lot of great organizations doing some really important work to get supplies over on the frontline. So we’re supporting vector global logistics and a nonprofit called VBA and their efforts to get critical supplies over there. So we’d encourage you to check out via pod.org, VIB h.org. Every dollar in that case goes to the good fight. And if you’re a supply chain leader or industry leader, and you’ve got some, perhaps some ways and where with all you can, you can marshal resources or jump into the fight.

Scott Luton (03:55):

Hey, shoot our friends at vector. A note@indiaatvectorgl.com and let’s get creative. Let’s get, figure out how we can help people in need. So we appreciate y’all support there. Now on a much, much lighter note. We’ve got our next webinar here at supply chain. Now coming up on June 8th. And as we all know, one of the silver linings about this pandemic environment is it’s been fueling real practical, successful innovation. So join us on the eighth as Tracy Rosser with Transplace shares some of his observations when it comes to supply chain innovation. That’s Billy, that’s been one of our favorite silver linings to this whole tough time, right? Yeah. Yes.

Billy Taylor (04:33):

The lessons learned as is the upside, right? How do we connect virtually? How do we actually continue to motivate and engage virtually? There was several lessons learned through the supply chain network of innovation through it.

Scott Luton (04:47):

Agreed. Yeah. And lessons learned they keep on coming, but the key is leaders that learn and apply based on what they’ve learned. So we’re going to learn a lot more about that on June 8th. And then finally, before we say hello to a few folks, we want to share the good news of this event here. So this is all about, see Chuck in action. So six river systems and our friends at project were to get together for a pretty cool event. May 9th, 19th, and 20th and clay. I believe we’ve got a little video that tees us up, right?

Zach (05:18):

Hello. This is Zach is no six river systems. We’re letting you know that our project vert next week, May 19th and 20th, we will be hosting open house for any of you that are interested. Please let us know an attending multiple one-hour sessions will be hosted to promote a safe distance while you’re here. Thank you.

Scott Luton (05:39):

Hey, it’s just that easy, straight to the point, Billy. I like that. That’s right. Part of an event, not too long ago, where they did a virtual site tour of, of that highly automated center. And it really, we got a ton of feedback around it. So we’re, we’re allowed to be part of that again, uh, showcasing some of the latest and greatest robotics. That’s helping the retail industry keep up with the huge demands there. So, and Amanda Clay, I believe for that event, we’ve got the link in the show notes. So let’s make sure we make it easier for folks to join it. Okay. So Billy, now that we’ve got our work done, we can get to the good stuff. Let’s say hello to a few folks. You ready? Yes, I am. All right. So for starters, allays tuned in great to have you back from Sudan, LA, we missed your earlier this week and hope this finds you and your family, right?

Scott Luton (06:29):

Wow. Mahesh is tuned in via LinkedIn. Great to have you here at Mahesh. Shannon is back. She says, hello. I’ve been missing out so glad to be here again. Hey, Shannon, welcome back. And hopefully you brought your voice with you cause Billy and Peggy are going to be challenging you to tell us what’s going on. You’re in Peter bow lay all night and all day is back. It says, good, good afternoon. It is best Robin Williams, voice way. Carpay DM. Peter sees the day. Indeed. Michael [inaudible] says also comes from LinkedIn. Great to have you here with us, Michael. Thanks so much for joining. Leonardo is with us here today. Happy Friday. Hey, we made it through another week. Leonardo. Great to have you here via LinkedIn. SRE nevus is back. Hello, everyone from India, Haitia nevus, hopeless, hope you and your family are doing well.

Scott Luton (07:19):

And uh, I appreciate all of, all of your engagement through these live streams, uh, throughout this week. Let’s see, this might be in Amanda and clay, correct me. This might be Jeff Puma. One of our friends from AME. So Jeff, this is you, uh, welcome in today and let’s see who else we’ve got here. Oh, dare day are great to have you via LinkedIn. Thanks so much for joining us. Tell us, tell us where you’re dialed in from ODHIR. We’d love to know, man. It’s just an honor. Uh, it says, thanks Scott, for telecast in this and supporting India in pandemic situations. Hey, you know, I think one of the other silver linings, Billy, as we have globally fought through this pandemic is how it does bring, bring us together, bring our leaders together, bring our governments together. And regardless where it’s flaring up at any moment in time throughout this, this tough time, you know, it’s bringing the world together. And I think that that’s a great thing in it.

Billy Taylor (08:12):

I agree. And like one of my favorite sayings is if you make people visible, they’ll make you valuable, right? That’s at that point, a value proposition on how you treat people the value of respect. So you know what my hash thank you for reaching out to us. It’s really appreciated. So boomerang back at you,

Scott Luton (08:28):

Well said there, Billy Sylvia, hello Sylvia. She says traffic is now a nightmare on Johns island. Thanks to the PGA. I gladly worked from home today. Well, Sylvia, I guess that is the PGA championship in John’s island, or it might be a different amendment regardless. Hopefully you’re able to stay out of the traffic and hopefully have keeps some gasoline in your, your, your gas tank. Right? Let’s see here. Sandra is with us from Lima, Peru. Great to have you here, Sandra via LinkedIn. Thanks so much. And look forward to your contributions. Sylvia says strawberries are in strawberry jam is in production ability. She’s got a jam production line there.

Billy Taylor (09:07):

Yes. In this a little bit. Uh,

Scott Luton (09:12):

You know, it’s so funny. We all, we all chat Sylvia around that and she actually sent Greg some of her, I think it was blueberry jam. So she asked in and it shall be delivered it DOE Ru. And if I said that wrong, I apologize, but thanks so much for joining here via LinkedIn. And we’re looking forward to your contributions from Nigeria. W okay. So thanks to everybody. We’ll try to get as much POV in from all the folks who are tuned in from what we call very lovingly, the cheap seats ability we’ve got to get to work today. You ready? I’m ready. All right. Well, let’s introduce our guests. So Peggy Gullett has spent years driving change leading teams and truly innovating, uh, in the consumer markets and the manufacturing industry prior to her current role, she served in key roles for AGCO corporation, including director of digital transformation.

Scott Luton (10:03):

I couldn’t imagine having that title. No thanks. Uh, director of strategy and transformation, also both for AGCO corporation, she’s accumulated, as you might expect. Uh, if you’ve heard her earlier interviews with us tons and tons of accolades, including being recognized as one of the top 20 women in manufacturing, but for Peggy. And this is one of my favorite things about her she’s proudest of the teams and the people she’s worked with and won with. So please welcome. Please join me in welcoming Peggy Gullett director for smart factory at Kohler. Peggy. Good afternoon. How are you doing? I’m

Peggy Gulick (10:39):

Doing great. Hi Billy. Hi Scott. I’m so happy to be here.

Scott Luton (10:44):

So happy to have you. I’ll tell you, as I mentioned, when you were still in the green room to have you and Billy here, part of the same conversation, it’s going to be energizing. And I think it’s going to offer lots of really practical perspective. So great to have you both here. I want to close the loop here. Sylvia says PJ Kiawah island is where a big tournament Charleston area is taking place. So Hey, keep your head down. Sylvia. I’ll tell you. And Michael is in Kenya. I would asked Michael where he was tuned in from so hello, Michael. And [inaudible] maybe if I got that wrong, I apologize. Hello from Nepal. Welcome in. Okay. So Billy and Peggy, we’re going to start on a lighter note here, right? We like the there’s so many national and international days of the year. And today is a couple of interesting ones on the fun side. It is national buttermilk biscuit day had I had no idea. It sounds like a great day. Let everyday be this. So where is your, so Peggy, let’s start with you. Where’s your favorite place to get either biscuits or bread or even breakfast? Well, we’ll take whatever answer you got.

Peggy Gulick (11:48):

Um, so obviously bread, you know, Europe, San Francisco, sourdough, but biscuits at home. And I think I need some of that jam that your, your guests are making today to, uh, apply to that biscuit.

Scott Luton (11:59):

I like how you think Sylvia I’ll tell you you’re a popular person around

Peggy Gulick (12:02):

These times. So Billy, my address,

Scott Luton (12:08):

Billy, same question, this gets or bread or even breakfast. What’s a, Canus

Billy Taylor (12:13):

Kind of a trick question, right? My wife’s kitchen with the safe answer.

Scott Luton (12:20):

Well, what does she, is she a, a tried and true biscuit maker?

Billy Taylor (12:24):

Absolutely. She’s a great cook. Great cook. You know, when I’m not at home, it’s I op, but when I’m at home, it’s my wife’s kitchen.

Scott Luton (12:32):

I love that. And I’m with you, except when I’m not at home waffle house waffle house is a staple in our house for sure. Really quick here, Guillermo joined in from Argentina. Welcome, welcome, welcome via LinkedIn. So thanks for joining us. Okay. So only a little more serious note. We all need a lot more civility across the globe, given all that we’re fighting through and, and goodness gracious. You know, we know politics, we gotta have more civil conversations. So that’s what really, it’s neat that MEI is known as international civility awareness month. I love that, but here’s a question, serious question for you. Peggy is civility on the decline and Peggy, I’ll start with you. Sorry.

Peggy Gulick (13:16):

So mobility on the decline with visibility to it. I would hope not, right. I mean, I agree with you. We had a pre-show discussion and I believe it should be acknowledged every day. Not just, not just in may. Right? So I, you know, I’d have to put in the answer from the state of mind. Diamond is I certainly hope not there’s enough visibility on it now that I would hope that it is not on the decline.

Scott Luton (13:42):

Okay. Think very optimistic and Billy, same question you, and then I also want to get both of y’all to speak, to kind of how y’all practice it. So Billy, where do we stay in the civility measure?

Billy Taylor (13:52):

I think I’m gonna to a go parallel with Peggy as well. When you look at the exposure that’s being placed on civility, it’s at the top of the list now of discussion. And at least I would my friends and my colleagues that I engage with on operations. Now it’s not only at the forefront, but how we’re going about it, right. Addressing it. And that’s a respect for people, respect for differences, respect for your day-to-day life of how people live. And so it’s given me exposure and it’s getting the action today. I believe of my colleagues that I work with on a day-to-day basis, love that

Scott Luton (14:30):

They’re back to Peggy. So Peggy, what any, you know, Billy spoke about respecting each other, respecting the differences, which is so important, any other best practices when it comes to civility coming here,

Peggy Gulick (14:41):

So supporting each other and supporting differences, right? I mean, that’s another thing that day-to-day diversity and inclusion. I think we’re, and I think we’re past speaking to it now we’re all living and trying to surround ourselves with that, that difference, right? That diversity that comes in beyond the inclusion, the inclusion piece. But, you know, I think we did it at our homes daily. And I think now that from a corporate perspective and enterprise perspective, a global and cultural perspective, and I would hope embedded in our values and our beliefs and our systems. I

Scott Luton (15:14):

Love that. Okay. So before I give the Baton back to bill, as we dive deeper in Peggy’s background and her journey, I want to share two things. First thing I want to share is do y’all remember Ted Koppel from Nightline, right? So he’s got this great quote that stumble across earlier this week. And he says, quote, aspire to decency, practice civility toward one, another admire and emulate ethical behavior. Wherever you find it apply a rigid standard of morality to your lives. And if periodically you fail, as you surely will adjust your lives, not the standards. And I love that from Ted Koppel. All right, I’m going to say hello to a few folks in the Billy. I’m going to pass the Baton. Scott for Euro loves how you played the biscuit question, Billy. So we’re all still in that approach from you. Sylvia says Kelly’s biscuits and Charleston is a place not to be missed. So I think I’ve heard of that somewhere. A Sylvia somewhere along the way, uh, Elisha from Alberta, Canada has joined us as well via LinkedIn. Great to have you here and looking forward to your POV and Charles heater is back with us, Charles. I think you were with us, uh, yesterday, or maybe even a couple of times this week. I look forward to your contributions in today’s live stream. Okay. So Billy, where are we going next with Peggy?

Billy Taylor (16:29):

Oh, Peggy. Well, one congratulations. And you know, I’ve had a relationship over the past. I consider you a leader of the people you lead by modeling the way. And I say that with true sincerity and respect. Could you give us a little bit about your new role at Kohler? Right. I was excited for you and I think it’d be great for the audience to hear you

Peggy Gulick (16:50):

Bet belly and it’s, you know, having mentors like you and the world sure. Helps. So, and I’m excited that I get to speak with you on a regular basis through the AME, which is, is right. But, uh, yeah, I just joined color so exciting for me join color and mid-March as directory of their smart factory. And it’s really a new role for both color and me of course, and, uh, focused on executing their global vision on, uh, digitalizing plants. So, you know, the seamless visibility, uh, connectivity and autonomy that we’re all seeking, probably interesting just due to the times that we’re in, it’s a remote position. So I consider the 60 global plants as my office. And I think a piece that comes back into discussions I’ve had with Scott in the past, one of the things that really drew me to it was the culture and the ability to work directly with the employees really augmenting the employees and advancing their, and allowing for a safer environment and higher quality products and processes and efficiency in their daily work. So really everything I love to do all wrapped up into, into the color title that I, that I’m sitting in now,

Scott Luton (18:05):

Really. So, so Billy, I got to follow up and give you a follow up question to that because I bet a lot of what she just shared resonates with you and kind of your journey. What, what was your favorite part of that

Billy Taylor (18:16):

Culture change? Right? And it goes right back to civility, right? It goes back to the human need and it’s not just, and I look at the technical right to change and the cultural right to change. There’s two rights and companies that I choose to choose not to engage with are the ones that don’t respect the cultural piece of it. And w w as Peggy was speaking, the tech, the technical right, people can buy equipment. They can invest, give you capital, give you a paycheck, right? And then they can tell you, here’s what we’re going to measure. That’s the KPI key performance indicator and companies get so caught up in the key KPI that they missed the cultural piece around the KPA, the key performance actions. We have to do these things to get that thing. And so the cultural piece is earning the cultural, right? I give you a clean, safe place to work, respect the individual. And so that’s why I relate to it. When I go into industry, I really don’t focus on the technical, right. I focused on the cultural,

Scott Luton (19:13):

Right. I love that. And I love KPA key performance actions. I’m a blatantly steal that from you, Billy Peggy, any follow-up comments from you on what Billy just shared before and move forward.

Peggy Gulick (19:23):

Yeah, no, I, I cannot agree more. This is, you know, as we look at innovation and I think everyone thinks it’s technology, it’s people, it’s people at the end of the day where you are augmenting our humans to do better jobs and have more satisfaction, right. As we, as we all sort of fight to employ, right? I mean, we’re all struggling to keep employees. And I think it’s, it’s one of the places that we all need to hang our hat.

Scott Luton (19:48):

Excellent point. I think, uh, this week I read, uh, one of the latest reports around jobs in manufacturing, at least here in the states, I think almost 500,000 openings now projected to grow to over 2 million by 2030. And this based on a number of different factors, both entry-level and skilled. So we’ve got, we do have our work cut out for us. All right. So let’s, you mentioned innovation, great segue, Peggy it’s like you knew what was coming. So the cool thing, you know, to have repeat guests here is it’s really neat to be able to draw on previous conversations and, and you know, what I I’m aware of your career earlier. And as we were talking in the pre-show and Peggy, you’ve always spoken, you know, there there’s an innovation can be this cliche. It can be kind of like lean, it can negate, it can be like a number of different things, but I’ve always appreciated your real action results, genuine approach to talk innovation and doing, you know, driving innovation. So let’s start with that. Let’s let’s, um, first let’s talk wins. I know that you’re kind of new in your role, but I think you’re you and your team have already had a couple of wins when it comes to innovation. Tell us more.

Peggy Gulick (20:53):

Yep, absolutely. So six weeks in, and, uh, obviously it’s, it’s difficult to come back in with grand stories that you put together over 10 years, but, you know, there’s been numerous projects that I came into and successes already since I joined the company. So I call them primi focused on the automation, especially in some of the material flow areas, but the initial focus of my team. And, um, it’s a small, but mighty team is really in the smart factory capabilities. Are that foundation, right? So we’ve been focused in, in and ons and the machine event tracking work order and quality tracking O E real-time work cell statuses and digital work instructions. And there’ve been some great successes throughout the company that now I, I get to come in and help them scale to the broader organization. I think that really, you know, some of the things we focused on that are wins, that people don’t see again, the technology versus people are aligning the it solutions and really that detailed planning and real time towards the autonomy and collaboration that happens in, in all of those production areas. So, so again, I’m excited to join and scale. I’ll go back Scott to your point on, on glass and, and, uh, wearables and, um, really augmenting our humans. There are projects going on and I’ve been fortunate to, um, sit in on those projects at Kohler, uh, really looking at the remote assistance, electronic work instructions, and, um, that key topic, we just talked about employee training. So some great stuff happening there at Kohler, too.

Scott Luton (22:27):

Excellent. And, and th I think augmentation will certainly be one of the themes of 2021. And in the next few years that follow, uh, Billy, I’m going to share a couple of comments. And then I want to, I want to kind of get your take on some of what you heard. Peggy, just share. Uh, Enrique Alvarez is back with us. And Hey, like I said, Billy, you, you formed a fan club in your last appearance. And Rick says, great seeing and hearing Billy Taylor again, Sylvia says KPA all the way. I love that Shannon picks up on something Peggy shared earlier that people create technology and utilize it to make great accomplishments. Absolutely. And then let’s see Charles said, Hey, we’re all connected. Do good every day. I think that goes back to what we’re talking about, the global effort against COVID-19. So Charles Wolf said there, and I’m going to say, clay, I see your announcement. We’re going to save that to the end. And we’re going to talk about our great associates that some of them that graduated from UGA. So Billy picking up on what Peggy just shared some of the key things there.

Billy Taylor (23:26):

Well, and Peggy emphasize moving toward, right. As I talked about next generational operations, how do we do business in today’s environment? Right? We’ve talked about globalization, that globalization, right with COVID the market is right here in America, manufacturers back strong. And what she’s talking about is when she, when she says work, work sales status, people want to know how they’re performing. People want to know the standards. And most organizations fail because of four things. There is no standard. They don’t know the standard standard. Uh, we’re allowing people not to adhere to a standard. And so when you have that visual work sale status, people become engaged in power and they own what they’re doing. And that’s the transition with smart technology getting people’s input on those digital work instructions, because those people do the work, they know it. And that’s how you change, how you continue to involve. Yeah, definitely would pay you, is talking about it’s really associate focused versus technology focused. It could be, I didn’t say he had some drive, but it’s the people focus. That’s actually driving excellence.

Scott Luton (24:46):

I love that. And, and, and going back to your, uh, folks want instant feedback on their performance. I used to have a, really, a mentor of mine that loved to walk through plants and, you know, meet with the people kind of going to the gemba and ask them, Hey, is it a good day or a bad day? And he knew he could learn a lot about the culture if they didn’t know how to answer that question and didn’t know what a good day was, or even what a bad day was. And that’s always stuck with me as I is that we, you know, we’ve toured hundreds of plants since speaking of technology and piggy and circle back to you, and we’re gonna talk best practices for leaders that want to get better innovating a big show. Bob Boba is with us here today. He says, installing wearables, augmenting workers.

Scott Luton (25:26):

There it is again with voice automation has his company so busy finding the best input from the frontline people who really know the processes go into it again. But I love that Bob, he follows up showing the frontliners the capability of the latest tech provides a leap in process automation. Excellent point and Warren Dickson’s with us here today. Good afternoon. Great to have you tell us where you’re, you’re tuned in from, and Warren, we’ll try to, if we can weave in some advice and tips on new employee training, as we worked through this hour, we certainly will. Okay. But, but speaking of tips and best practices, Peggy clearly you’ve got a track record of, of driving real innovation that, that really with teams and with the people, and that really hits the bottom line, but also opens up new avenues of the art of the possible. So if, if you were, if you had the, the listening ear, the undivided attention of manufacturing leaders, that really just have not figured out their, their process at really fueling innovation, what were a couple things you’d share with them?

Peggy Gulick (26:27):

That’s such a great question, Scott. So I think, you know, I’m the same to say. I actually feel it’s quite simple, right? So using the continuous improvement toolbox that we already own, right? So some things don’t change describing or defining the change that we want to see, or the problems that we have, and then getting that clear view of the challenges or the gaps between where we are and where we want to be. Right. So I think we all practice and understand problem solving and continuous improvement. And for the way we’ve looked at it and the teams I’ve had, this is just an extension of some of those tools that we already have in place. Of course, there’s, there’s a little change that comes with it, right? You have to think bigger and we have to train our, maybe our leadership as well as our culture, not to get weighed down by the bureaucracy, being able to make change or the firefighting.

Peggy Gulick (27:21):

Right? If our employees are all busy firefighting, we have very little time to empower them, to improve the area that they work in. And then the other one is not knowing where to start. And this is always that place. That is a simple answer. Start where you are start now, start where you are, right. You don’t, you don’t have to clean your house before the cleaning lady comes, right. It’s it’s, we all have a foundation we can start with right now. And then I think I put together a list in the past that I’ve used in audiences, but you know, the dues. So those were the, don’ts the do’s really come back to make innovation, the new normal, and make that through learning and agile organizations, engaging the employees in the innovation, right? Not just 12 people in an office talking about how we’re going to become more innovative and technically advanced, engaging the executives that embrace the change, right. There’s people that can really pull us forward and then rewarding innovation. I think we also need to reward failure. Right? Failure is something that we haven’t had accepted in our environments for a long time, democratizing our insight gathering. And then finally, again, the simplification of the approval processes that we put in place over the years that have supported perhaps the it side, but not necessarily the OT side. So that’s my, my, my simple recipe with my current toolbox and the do’s and the don’ts that come with

Scott Luton (28:43):

It, man. I’ll tell you what that is. Uh, I’m gonna have to go back and so I can catch up with all the, uh, your checklists there. Cause that’s advice, practical advice from someone that’s been there and done it one clarification before I get Billy’s taken. What on all the goodness you just shared, you said it and OT is that operational technology.

Peggy Gulick (29:02):

Yup. Yep. So you have your two teams.

Scott Luton (29:04):

Okay. Hey, we love our acronyms. And a lot of times I’ll get them all wrong. So, but Billy, and of all that, that Peggy just shared. What was some of your favorite

Billy Taylor (29:14):

When, when she said the recognizing piece and, and she talked about the negative results, and if you create that environment of fear, failure, people are not going to want to talk about the dead fish or the skunk. They’re not going to put it on the table. And what I, what she was talking about is how to celebrate the red, how to embrace the red. So you can harvest the green, right? Because at that point you should celebrate the fact that you know, what the issues are and what I’ve over time. How do you do that? Right? You create those, those platforms. So people can be heard without fearing retribution or people coming back are saying something to them or repercussions. I’m sorry. But what I’ve learned is if you celebrate the process also and embrace individually, when you start just embracing, celebrating a person, they’re going to start creating fires so they can be recognized. But if you, if you celebrate them for doing their job, following the process and standard, they become evangelists to get more people to follow the process,

Scott Luton (30:15):

Right? That is, I’ve never thought about that nuance approach because, you know, sometimes we can all get wrapped up as leaders and overall raw and positivity of recognition. But Billy, I love how you’re talking about. We’ve got to recognize the right things for that force multiplier effect of, of good growth. The other thing I love that Peggy shared is how inclusive innovation strategy, new ideas, all of that should not be reserved for the upper, the upper echelons of company leadership, right? Let’s, let’s, let’s take a big pin approach, big tent approach rather, and really do it with the people and not to the people piggy that’s. That’s one of your key points I heard you make earlier.

Peggy Gulick (30:54):

Absolutely. You said it well,

Scott Luton (30:56):

I never hear that Peggy. So I’m going to, I’m going to, I’ve got proof now for Amanda behind the scenes. I want to share a couple of comments and then let’s see here. And then Billy, we’re going to go in a little bit of a more wider, open, broader direction here. Let’s see here, Myra Rinker is with us. So Myra, welcome. And thanks for that being tuned in, be LinkedIn. Want to hear from you, let us know what you’re, you’re hearing your key takeaways from this conversation sound like Baba says losers quit. When they fail winners fail until they win. I love that Bob. Good stuff and recap. I totally agree with Peggy. And one of the biggest threats for innovation, in my opinion, he says is the fear of making mistakes. Organizations from companies to schools have demonized mistakes and failures without mistakes. There is no growth nor innovation. Excellent point there, Enrique you, both of you are shaking your heads. Peggy. Do you want to comment on

Peggy Gulick (31:50):

No, I absolutely agree. I think, you know, some of the biggest failures I’ve seen in proof of concepts that we’ve done have led to some of the largest successes, right? So, but when you’re afraid to fail, you never even try and disruptions, disruption, you sometimes you’re going to win. Sometimes you’re not

Scott Luton (32:08):

Love that. And Billy, you tell you, you made a big imprint on Enrique. So you all had a chance to meet in person. Any, any follow-up comments you want on what Enrique just shared there, no

Billy Taylor (32:19):

Pinpoint accurate. Why don’t you talk about the fear of failure, right? Or the perception of failure. Let’s just change that of how people view, how others look at them when they, they think they fail. Right? If failure was the stopping point, we wouldn’t be on a zoom call. Right? You take any electricity, how many tries it take to get this right? You’re right. And that’s what I mean by if people are afraid to take chances, to take risks, to step out, to be innovative, then your growth is to off, you

Scott Luton (32:54):

Know, and those people not in a little playful comment, they’re probably still using typewriters and probably still driving a model. T’s yes, yes, yes. That’s a good one. But of course all in. Good fun. All in. Good fun. Let’s see. I want to share this from Luis really important topics here. He says traceability and transparency is essential for supply chains and reliable manufacturing that provides sustainability and fair growth to assault. Yeah, I think we’re going to, um, if traceability is not in anyone’s lexicon, it certainly will be through the pandemic in, in the, in the mountains to come. So excellent point there Lewis, Hey Simon, great to have you back. He says, look forward to making mistakes. Look forward. He says to making mistakes, you’ve got to crawl before you can be tall. And I think I messed up his rhyming pentameter. Uh, I am big pentameter. I think it’s the, the phrase I messed that up. And then T-square one final comment here who holds down the Fort for us on YouTube. He says fear can drive, but it can also blind blind folks. So that’s a great point. You don’t want to, you know, Billy and Peggy, you don’t want to lead with fear. Right?

Billy Taylor (34:02):

Right. You know, one of the things my mom used to tell my me and my siblings and she had a meaningful fear and it was an acronym. She says, you can forget everything and run or face everything and rise.

Scott Luton (34:15):

I like that. That’s fine. Peggy, any comments around, uh, leadership based on fear?

Peggy Gulick (34:22):

Yeah, no. I mean, that’s not the way to lead. I think I’m probably the terms I’d bring into it though. Are conflict intention. And so I’ve always learned through the process that conflict sometimes has a negative connotation, tensions, a good thing, right. It makes us want to change. It pulls us forward. And so I’ve always kind of hung my hat on tension versus versus fear.

Scott Luton (34:42):

That’s an excellent point. You know, our, as I learned this week with our Tahoe, you know, you’ve got to have tension on all those belts that drive that VA or it doesn’t go anywhere. So it is a really great thing for organizations to embrace. Right. And if you’re gonna do big things, you’re going to have some challenging days and tension field days. And one mentor once told me a conflict today is what keeps the doctor away. I don’t know. Sometimes that can be good, sometimes tough, but Billy let’s open up the conversation a little bit more. And where are we going next? Well,

Billy Taylor (35:12):

When I look at today’s global business environment, so Peggy, could you, uh, basically expound on, uh, some of the current trends, topic, topics, or challenges that you’re seeing or tracking industry today in

Peggy Gulick (35:25):

A civilian? I think I’m actually, it’s funny because some of your audience Scott has put some really good contribution and that really feeds into a couple of that. I stay privy to, and really probably the two that I think are critical and they’re probably going to surprise you because it’s not AI and all the technology, but training. I think that, you know, the industry 4.0, has increased our need for training and employees, both our current employee body and then our future in place coming in need training in order to really extract the maximum value from the investment that we’re putting into technology. Right. And I think, um, the, the training piece of it and the planning for how we are going to advance all of these people and upskill them is something that is a pain point. And, uh, I think the other one that I really focused on as I was pondering, the question was supply chain, right?

Peggy Gulick (36:18):

So I think right now we’re all in the midst of supply chain crunches. You know, I have a problem with my car right now and I can’t get the parts for six weeks just because the supply chain has, you know, taken an abrupt slowdown for multiple reasons. But I think, you know, I’m watching businesses as they now refocused. And I think actually, Billy earlier you use the term glocalization, which I’ve used, I’ve heard before, right. Where we’re trying to determine how to expand with the local and the global supply chain so that we have a, I’ll call it plan B as we go into any kind of tumultuous times that we’re in right now. So, and I know in that process, technology will play a key role right? In the, in the supply chain, going forward, both from a resiliency and an efficiency factor. I mean, you know, you hear artificial intelligence and machine learning all the way to blockchain chain driven ecosystems. But I think that training piece and that supply chain piece, our showstoppers, if we don’t really embrace and have a ways to address them, especially in times of pandemic,

Scott Luton (37:22):

Excellent point. I love that. And, and you know, we’re big supply chain nerds here at supply chain now. And you know, not only is supply chain become a massive competitive advantage. In fact, we’re even seeing it in filter over into marketing campaigns, right? Informing the consumer, Hey, we don’t have supply chain issues like ABC company over here, that’s remarkable. But number two, if you’ve got to optimize vibrant, robust supply chain and, and approach to supply chain management, it opens up the door for so many other options when it comes to other components of global business. So love what you said there, Peggy, Billy, your takeaway, and then we’re going to move forward with Eureka moments. Right?

Billy Taylor (37:59):

Right. And one of the things that I see and I’ll lead into it, the lessons learned from the pandemic, you can’t just let those evaporate. Once things go back to supposedly normal, there were some key lessons learned on how to do business globally. From a local perspective, leaders have to change the way they think about moving forward, how they’re training people, how are they engaging people? I think one of the questions Scott that came out on around training a new employee, the new workforce. And I recently went through this, I think yesterday I was a little dojo and it wasn’t a Chinese word. It was learn one, do one, teach one. And so the new generation are retaining that information because they want that instant feedback interested, engaging. And so that will be my perspective too, because right. Biggie you’re right. All those things are going to most of the forefront, but leaders have to embrace the lessons learned through the pandemic.

Scott Luton (38:58):

Excellent point. So bef before we talk about Eureka moments, Billy, I want to share, we’ve got, we’ve got a slew of comments based on what both of you are sharing. And I got to recognize some of these going back to even the fear and Rick Kay says, quote, fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. In quote, he says from a very wise philosopher, I want to say that was a star wars quote, but I couldn’t, I could be wrong. There it’s either star wars or from the Bible. So Bob Bova says pressure and time creates diamonds. Excellent point. I think this is Jeff Puma. Jeff says fear has its place. It helps us grow individually, but it doesn’t have any place in leadership. Great point there, Charles heater says leaders should use failures as an opportunity to educate teams and lessons learned and solidify a successful path forward.

Scott Luton (39:54):

Great point Geneva’s is bragging on your technical side discussions, bill. It sounds like you’ve got a bunch of great ones. Sylvia says she’s teaching her almost 16 year old grandson, how to drive. Now that’s fear. Fear of teaching him Omaha’s heavy foot. So Sylvia must get around fast. Let’s see Baba says change management dovetails with training expectations for any new integration tech involving people needs to be managed and interactive. And then finally Peter says, Billy looks like he’s coming out of his skin in agreement. Love that enthusiasm. And that’s one of my favorite parts about both Peggy and Billy. It’s real, genuine love and enthusiasm for what, for what they do. All right. So Billy Tom is fleeting. I can’t believe it’s already almost a quarter till one, or are we going

Billy Taylor (40:41):

Next one more for Peggy let’s talk leadership, right? What has been a powerful Eureka moment for you that you had during the pandemic? So belly

Peggy Gulick (40:54):

Han other great question. And I always feel that I disappoint in my response because you know, really I’m a change leader, right? I love change. And yet one of the aha moments I’ve had and maybe a greater reminder than your Mika is just basically, we always need to be ready to adjust, right? Whether you look at that as having a plan B or don’t get too comfortable, or perhaps, you know, the pandemic has introduced even more to that. But you know, I look at the world down, I look at what COVID has done to our working environments, right? It’s increased our remote working even for companies in past that were adamant, they would never reflects or work from home. And, you know, it’s surged our neck, our network presence. Right. And at this point, I always like to say, thank you to all of those people out there that kept all of my teams and my zoom functioning seamlessly so that we could continue to do business really think expanded, uh, data collection, right.

Peggy Gulick (41:54):

Where a little bit more probably metric based now. Cause it’s, it’s, it’s the easiest way to determine if we’re successful at what we’re doing. You know, we’ve transitioned, uh, the organizations that I’ve been a part of have transitioned really from designing for efficiency, to being designed for resilience, right? We’re all this new in this new concept mode and technology has been redeployed. So, you know, I know with my, with my past employer, Hey, co is a great leading thought provider. They’ve taken solutions that, that they had that were used for machines and brought them to people, you know, contact tracing and localization or beacons or thermal to be able to do temperatures on machines. Now we’re doing it on humans, right. As they walk into our workplace. So I think that ready to adjust and the agility to be able to do it quickly and let’s bring fail back in here. Sometimes it’ll work, sometimes it won’t, but then to readjust again, to make sure that we’re embracing, what’s been handed to us and making the best of it. And I, and I think that’s the greatest, greatest thing I’ve pulled out of the last year.

Scott Luton (42:58):

Wonderful. Gosh, Billy, uh, so much there, I ask you the same question, Billy, uh, you know, all the conversations you have, all the companies you work with, the P the sidebar conversations that we littered to earlier, and what’s been one of your favorite moments from the pandemic.

Billy Taylor (43:13):

Well, uh, yeah, piggybacking on with Peggy said, now have the technology to give people that information, to keep people informed or included, but from a personal side, from a people side, ownership and trust, right. People are not working remote. And so there’s a different level of how to influence, right? I can influence, I can be charismatic if you’re in front of me, but when I’m in front of this screen, it takes a different level of charisma that it’s not going to happen here. But ownership and trust is what was my Eureka moment. And in the absence of ownership, people blame when people don’t know what they own when they don’t know what the strategy is when they don’t know how they contribute, or what do you want them to do? They blame. And so the new normal, uh, I think extreme ownership is critical now because the world is never going to go back to the way it was. Right. Right. And so what I’ve learned is, okay, I’m working from home today. We’re doing more business on zoom. Uh, even when you look at conferences, they’re more on zoom, I’ve got to trust the person on the other end to do what they’re going to do. And, and they, they have to own it is they are supposed to do so. That’s what made a big eye-opener for me, I’m not as influential as I thought I was

Scott Luton (44:39):

Eureka. That’s right. I really appreciate what y’all shared here today through these first, almost 50 minutes, so much practical. I love it. When we have a good practical, been there, done that at the right attitude, altitude conversation, and both of you all approached today’s live stream, just like that. Let’s switch gears. Let’s talk about, you know, Billy, you’re talking about virtual and we, of course we can’t, uh, wrap up a conversation without talking about a wonderful learning, networking, and professional development opportunity, which is AME everywhere 2021. So for folks that may have rubbed elbows with Amy over the years, typically they plant the conference at a, at a big city and it’s, you know, like last year, AME Toronto, 20, 21 while like how they, they did a little play on that AME everywhere, 20, 21, the big annual conference. So question for you both, and Peggy, I’ll start with you. What’s one thing that you’re looking forward to, to this year’s annual conference.

Peggy Gulick (45:36):

There’s so many things, but probably the top of the list is the networking, right? I think, uh, I go in every time and I find that I am valued and put that I can bring, and I always go away with more value than I I came in with. Right? So it’s such a great sharing environment, networked environment that, that expands every time you go in, right. I have a broader network. Every time I come out of there, that’s consistent. It stays, right. Those are forever relationships that are driving value back and forth to each other. So that’s my number one. There’s so many great things about it, though.

Scott Luton (46:11):

Excellent. I can really appreciate that. Billy. How about you, uh,

Billy Taylor (46:15):

The practical lessons that you can take away beyond the relationships, and it’s no matter what level you are on the journey to excellence from beginning stage to build, they believe their master lien experts will also say the airport lean experts can benefit. Right? You went through the airport, you saw a book on lane, you read it, you landed the you’re an expert, right? So those airport lean experts can gain a lot by going as well for myself. That’s how I learned. Uh, the foundation was AME conferences, meeting those people, knowing where to go and get the tools I needed to fix the issue. I was happy instead of a one size fits all. You have a portfolio at AME of tools, processes, and systems that can help your company. Yeah. Excellent portfolio. Yeah.

Scott Luton (47:07):

A couple other points to, to share with everybody. So it’s a hundred percent virtual that the conference we’re talking about. So anyone from anywhere can attend, whether you’re a member or not. It includes a own demand access for the CR for what’s shared for six months. So a lot of training materials there, I think training is going to be kind of the order of the day for many organizations, tours and presentations from a variety leading companies, GE appliances, which is now part of the hair organization, Pella windows, Essex manufacturing, power partners, which is kind of a, kind of a legacy legendary group, uh, based down here in our neck of the woods, Peggy big keynotes, Bob Chapman and Jim Morgan, which I think was a co-author of the Toyota product development system, I believe. And of course, while all of that programming is pretty much locked in.

Scott Luton (47:56):

They’re also still taking submittals for tours, virtual tours, presentations, and you name it, the, uh, uh, amy.org. We’ve got the conference direct link in the show notes. You’ll check that out. And if you register by, I think June 30th, you get the early bird rate. So, Hey, we’re big fans of AME. I love the work they do as a nonprofit organization to further industry, but no matter where you are, you can tap in and, and take advantage of the networking as Peggy points out the portfolio of resources and the library of, of proven best practices as Billy’s talking about, and really share, learn, and grow, which is in a motto. So y’all check out, uh, we love the good work Amy’s doing. So let me share a couple of comments and then we’re going to make sure folks know how to connect with you. Peggy and Billy, of course, Shannon has confirmed it.

Scott Luton (48:44):

Yes. That quote from Mr. Enrique earlier was from master Yoda. Okay. I thought I could place that somewhere. Peter bullae we’re talking about going fast earlier. He says Sylvia’s comment Ron’s and when his own, he was in the passenger seat of an MGB at 92 years old with Peter driving her through the country in Quebec. And she was yelling faster, faster to Peter faster. I think that’s the translation. He says, he’ll never forget that special moment in time. I agree with you. I, uh, had the good fortune of sitting in the back seat as, uh, my brother and I picked up my, my grandmother, which is around the same generation. And my grandma was in the front seat and clay had the good fortune of driving and she was giving him the business of how he was driving it out. I loved it. It was a beautiful thing. Guillermo says, leaders must create spaces to manage mistakes, to accelerate the learning curve of the entire team. Excellent point there. Yes, sir. Daniel, as a student taking classes now only this is really interesting. Well, on that note, let’s Peggy and Billy quick pop quiz or bonus question. If students are currently trying to wrap their head around what lean is and practical applications beyond AME, is there a book or a resource, or w w what would you advise there? And Billy let’s maybe start with you.

Billy Taylor (50:05):

Uh, as, as a student, I start with one the typical Toyota way, just so you can get a framework of what it is right now, be mindful. You’re not working at Toyota. So there’s different circumstances for which Toyota rose to prominence that doesn’t exist in your workforce. And so that’s a good starting point to get your mind around the buzzwords, the acronyms, and all those things that when you’re sitting around someone, no matter what level you’re at, you can understand the lingo

Scott Luton (50:39):

There, Billy Peggy, anything you’d offer. No, I

Peggy Gulick (50:42):

Absolutely agree with belly. And then I would say read it, but then find a mentor, someone who can coach and ask you the right questions so that you can live it and transfer it to others. So, yeah, absolutely

Scott Luton (50:56):

Great point. Both of those, uh, great reads and great best practice. Find that mentor. Hey, Nick, great to see you here today. Nick rumor, uh, hope this finds you well, let’s see here. Mervin is with us from Dublin Mervin hope. This finds you well, I’ve enjoyed our social exchanges. And then finally, Charles heater says, supply chain now provides a refreshing platform. It’s like a, it’s like a Coca-Cola beverage for anyone looking to engage in full product life cycle, education and perspectives. Hey, Charles, appreciate that. Really appreciate that. Okay. Well, let’s make sure folks know how to connect with w w we’ve got two fan clubs. Now, one for Billy and one for Peggy. Peggy, let’s start with you. How can folks connect with Peggy Gulick?

Peggy Gulick (51:35):

Yeah, I think the easiest way Scott is on LinkedIn and I’m literally just listed out there as faggy Goolik. So,

Scott Luton (51:44):

And I’ll make sure to follow or connect with Peggy. Great. A lot of great content and thought leadership and Billy, same question for you. How can folks connect?

Billy Taylor (51:53):

Uh, again, LinkedIn, LinkedIn is my source of chores. So I sit down in the evening. That’s how I decompress some days, and I love interacting with the last session we had. Uh, I had several interactions with people that are on the live stream. So LinkedIn,

Scott Luton (52:10):

That is wonderful. That’s, that’s worth the price of admission. I really appreciate you sharing, you know, it’s good to, it’s good to, um, bless it all the connectors, right? We’re all searching for something. And, and it’s good to, to hear some of the sidebar conversations that come out of these live streams. Uh, folks want to share one more time before we, uh, thank Peggy and Billy for their time, check out this other great professional development opportunity. May 19th and 20th, see Chuck work and a virtual tour of project virtually all check that out. The link to learn more is in the show notes. Okay. Well big, thanks today. What a great conversation. Big, thanks to Peggy Gullett with, uh, Kohler peg it’s it’s, it’s great to reconnect with you once again and kind of share your perspective with, with everyone here. Time

Peggy Gulick (52:55):

Goes so quickly with you, Scott. I love this time, so thank you.

Scott Luton (52:59):

Oh, I appreciate it as well. And, and we’ll have you back appreciate your service as well. You and Billy, both as you know, being board members is time consuming and time is really valuable. So I appreciate taking time out of your leadership endeavors to, to give back. So thanks so much, Billy man, what a pleasure to have you serve as a guest? Co-host here with me. I’ve learned a ton. In fact, I might be writing a book, just what I’ve learned from both of y’all in short order microwave in that manuscript, but congratulations on the news you shared on the front end. It doesn’t surprise me at all. Uh, and I look forward to, what’s a great read, but really appreciate sitting beside you here today.

Billy Taylor (53:35):

Thank you. Thank you for having me and a great audience. I love the audience participation and Peggy all the best. Great having you on here with Scott and I. It was great engaging with you.

Scott Luton (53:47):

So on that note, big, thanks. Of course, Billy Taylor, Peggy Gullett thanks to Amanda and clay and Natalie all behind the scenes that really helped make production happen. Huge, thanks to all the great comments and some of the questions we got via that the cheap seats really appreciate that. Hey, most importantly, I’ll check out Amy everywhere. I’ll get an EV AME everywhere 20, 21. So unique name. I got to get that right. We’ve got direct link in the show notes, but most importantly, do good. Give forward, be the change that’s needed. Be just like Peggy Gullett and Billy Taylor. And on that note, we’ll see you next time right here on supply chain now. Thanks for buddy.

Intro/Outro (54:25):

Thanks for being a part of our supply chain. Now community check out all of our programming@supplychainnow.com and make sure you subscribe to supply chain now anywhere you listen to podcasts and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram. See you next time on supply chain now.