And now, the rest of the story...

Hello and welcome back to Connected Concrete.

Today I am going to invoke Paul Harvey, famous radio broadcaster who had a segment called The Rest of the Story from 1951 until 2008. He would open with a lede that was a bit of a tease, go to break and come back saying "And now, the rest of the story."

Earlier this week in a LinkedIn post I wrote about Alan Mulally, former CEO of Ford, who led the company back from the brink with a direct leadership style that faced problems head-on and provided his underlings with the support to do the same. That was just the beginning.

So, the rest of the story?

In the early 2000s, Ford was in deep trouble, facing severe financial struggles and a drop in market share due to inefficient operations and rising competition. The company was losing billions of dollars a year, and there were even talks about its potential bankruptcy.

When Alan Mulally became Ford’s CEO in 2006, he introduced a plan to streamline operations, reduce waste, and dramatically improve productivity. His strategy, called “One Ford,” focused on unifying the global brand, eliminating redundancies, and emphasizing teamwork. Mulally prioritized building cars that consumers wanted while drastically improving internal processes and breaking down silos.

One of the main productivity moves involved revamping Ford’s manufacturing and design processes. By adopting lean manufacturing techniques, Ford reduced time-to-market and decreased the cost of vehicle production. The company consolidated its platforms and introduced shared parts across models, making assembly faster and more cost-effective. They also invested heavily in digital technologies to support data-driven decision-making, improving responsiveness and efficiency on the production floor.

Mulally's approach proved transformative. Within a few years, Ford’s productivity and profit margins soared, allowing it to be the only major U.S. automaker that did not require a government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis. By streamlining processes and focusing on building value through efficiency and quality, Ford went from near-bankruptcy to a leader in American automotive manufacturing.

And the moral of the story is... what?

The moral of the story is not what you might think I'm thinking.

The moral is NOT that it makes a whole lot of sense to acknowledge problems and address them with direct action. (Though it does.)

The moral of the story IS that it is much better to be proactive with productivity initiatives as a way of doing business rather than in response to problems.

Put another way, why not produce soaring margins during the good times? What are we waiting for?

Any suggestions?

We don't need any from me. Just follow Mulally's recipe.

If I were to synthesize it, I would boil his implied suggestions down to these:

1. Find areas of waste in your production process (for concrete, start with the obvious: scrap);
2. Redefine your production process to eliminate waste and create greater value in your offering; and
3. Enable just-in-time deliveries for your customers without adding more to your inventory.

If you are thinking that this is just another way of saying "Adopt lean manufacturing practices", you would not be wrong.

We've written a white paper about this for the precast industry: 17 Ways Lean Manufacturing Increases Profits and Wins Bids. (You can download it and I won't even ask you for contact information!)

However, full adoption of lean practices is not necessary to make improvements.

Just pick a place and start.

Next up, technology

In my next post, I will share another story about a famous company who made a similar transformation using technology.

Meanwhile, thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Now you know... the rest of the story.

This is Jeff Pollock.

Good day!