I have taken a lot of classes in my day. In fact, by the time I graduate, I will boast 163 credit hours. Among those are classes I took for fun (that would be you, Ballroom Dancing), classes I took because I had to (and resented), and classes I took thinking I learned the material to pass a test and would never use it again in “real life”. One such class was Management Science 485, a class that focused on process management and improvement. I found that it was really interesting and challenging, but I could not help but think that there was no way I would ever use all those tools in the professional world, even if I should take a job in supply chain.

 

Prior to my senior year, I managed to cinch the internship of my dreams. Around March of junior year, I found out I would be working for Michelin on one of their supply chain teams in Greenville, South Carolina. I was incredibly nervous and had no idea what to expect going into my first day. Though I had prior internship experience, this would be much more large scale. In fact, my manager had sent me an email the week prior with an Excel spreadsheet detailing what my project would entail – it was overwhelmed with acronyms and verbiage I did not yet understand. The team I was on worked in headquarters on the industrial facing side of the heavy truck tire supply chain. My goal was to study the current state of the planning process in light tire and implement a similar process in heavy tire. I remember thinking during my first meeting, thank goodness I took all those supply chain classes last semester! 

 

It would specifically be my time in Dr. Jensen’s Management Science 485 that would prove to be invaluable as I dove into the complex processes attached to my project. Dr. Jensen’s class focuses on the traditional lean management approach to process improvement. Essentially, lean management focuses on the best, most efficient way to do something within a business and throughout the semester we learned a variety of tools that are essential to lean management. Though not a terribly rigorous project, I was able to see a primary principle of Management Science 485 come to life during my internship – process management. It was critical that I understood the current process before making improvements to it. I spent about two weeks of my internship just on process modeling and value stream mapping. I did this primary by hand via sticky notes just the way we discussed in class. I can honestly say I never thought I would roll up to a meeting at a real job with a stack of sticky notes and a Sharpie and say, time after time to people twice and three times my age, “and then what happens”, but that is exactly what I did until I had every single step carefully articulated onto a sticky note. 

 

This was a tough job. I jumped between meetings at a production facility in Greenville, SC who had an existing process, to meetings with a target facility in Spartanburg, SC, to conference calls with a target facility in Bridgewater, Canada, to meetings with our team at headquarters. No one seemed to know what exactly the goal was, how we should get there, or even who should be involved. I spent a lot of time at the facility in Greenville where they were already using a similar process until I was confident I understood what they were doing, in what order, and why. From there, I met with our team at headquarters and suggested a very rough cut of what the process should look like at our target facilities in Spartanburg and Bridgewater and took suggestions on anything else they wanted to see as an outcome of the process. Now that I had a thorough understanding of the “current state” of the process as well as goals and deliverables, I began to look into process improvements that could be implemented. 

 

I remember spending hours upon hours in what we famously referred to as “intern meetings” where fellow interns and I would grab meeting rooms to discuss our projects and bounce ideas off each other. During many of these meetings during my process improvement phase, I recall sitting on the floor, staring at my process maps just waiting for the moment something would click and I would be able to carry on with my project. In class, process modeling was an essential part of the lean process. We spent ages learning about why it was critical to fully understand a process before implementing improvements and we also spent a great deal of time emphasizing the importance of other process mapping tools such as swimlane diagrams.

 

Swimlanes became the key to unlocking success in my project. I realize I was focused on the process as a whole, but was not focused enough on the process stakeholders. One day, I decided to bring my old textbook to work. I skimmed the pages until I found exactly what I needed. By utilizing another tool from Management Science 485, I was able to finally make the improvements the process was thirsting for. A swimlane diagram essentially takes a process and moves it into different lanes based on who the process owner is or where that part of the process physically takes place. In the case of my process, it was unclear who the owner was and that was creating tension among team members. By clearly laying out who was responsible for each part of the process, it began to actually flow and things started to get done. I finally began to see my project coming together. 

 

Several weeks later I finally had a digital copy of my process maps and swimlane diagrams and the culmination of my project was to take place. Interns all across Michelin were nervous for the day they would have their final presentations. This looked a little bit different for me. I did not have a fancy PowerPoint that showcased to upper level leadership what I had achieved during my time, but rather I had a meeting with the headquarters team and we called in both our target facilities in Bridgewater and Spartanburg. During this meeting I essentially implemented the new process and explained how it would work to each of the process stakeholders as well as introduced the tools I had created to aid the process. I believe that my project there was very successful and though I know Michelin would not have let me fail, I know that my time in Management Science 485 and a lesson about sticky notes made all the difference in my ability to carry out such a challenging project.