A few weeks ago, Jerry Tiarsmith, VP of Operations at Manufacturing Practices, Inc. and I sat down for a Q&A session.
Q. Mike,
Manufacturing Practices, Inc. (MPI) recently had its 10th
anniversary. What were the reasons for initially forming the company?
I saw a number of fundamental
flaws in the manner that ERP Software companies sold their products. Their strength
is that they explain what ERP Systems will do FOR companies. The major flaw is
that ERP Software companies do not explain what ERP Systems will do TO companies.
Manufacturing Practices, Inc. (MPI) explains to companies what ERP software
will do both FOR and TO a company, how to use the ERP tool to manage the
organization, and helps clients integrate their ERP System INTO the business. A
recent client found success with our efforts and in gratitude, wrote the Preface
to our book, The Turnaround.
Q. We often learn
from our mistakes – what do you consider to be your biggest mistake and what
did you learn from it?
I have made several mistakes,
some from ignorance, some from omissions, and some for being unable to “reach”
clients. It is hard NOT to make mistakes from ignorance but those are
rectifiable. It is forgivable to make mistakes from omissions and those too are
rectifiable. Nevertheless, I take being unable to reach people as a weakness in
me. To counter that short-coming, I stay current with the consulting industry,
with the Supply Chain and Operations Management Body of Knowledge, and have
weekly conferences with clients to assess progress, address issues, and to
ensure we are all in agreement with the course we are taking.
Q. On the other hand,
what do you consider to be your greatest success and why?
This might sound strange, but the
greatest pride comes, not from the successes that the owners or the C-Level
teams achieve, but from the people that do the grunt work for these clients,
their employees. Walking through a plant, seeing the benefits of everyone’s
hard work, and hearing those machine operators, inventory people, production
people, planners, buyers, and supervisors, say, “Mike we really did something
wonderful, didn’t we?”, fills me with pride. A great satisfaction is that they
helped their organization improve, and they now know how to create a project
and continue to improve the company’s profits and reduce the stresses
associated with performing their day-to-day activities.
Q. How long have you
been involved with APICS, in what capacity and why should that be important to
your clients?
I have been ‘involved’ with
APICS since 1981. I have been a member of APICS since 1984. In those 30+ years,
I served as a chapter member, a member of the chapter’s management team, as
President of the Chapter (Atlanta), and as an instructor for the
Body-of-Knowledge (BOK). I also served as a member of the team that helped
create the ‘awareness’ of a missing piece of the BOK, the Basics of Supply
Chain Management. I now serve as a writer of the test questions used on the
certification exams (my second committee). I feel honored to have been able to
serve this group of professionals. More importantly, I am thankful for being
able to sit at the feet of the founders and BOK developers like George Plossl,
Hank Jordan, Don Frank, James Cox, and Eliyahu M. Goldratt and the Oli Wight
organization. It is said that you only get out of an organization what you put
into it. That is not a correct statement. The opportunities I received from my
association with these giants and the APICS organization pale in comparison to
what I have learned and can share with my clients.
Q. How have your
relationships with such industry giants as Oliver Wight organization, George
Plossl, and Eliyahu (Eli) M. Goldratt, among others helped shape your
approaches to consulting?
Though I never met Oli Wight, who died in 1983, I have had
dealings with his organization. In my opinion, they are probably the best
education company with whom, I have ever had the pleasure of doing business.
They are superb at creating an understanding of what business management
systems are all about. I model my classes along their successful approach path.
My relationship with George Plossl was very different.
George was a consultant’s consultant. George was a contributor to the APICS BOK
and to the development of the APICS Society as well. I was fortunate to have
George as a mentor for a number of years. During tenure and as President of the
Atlanta APICS Chapter, we did a roast of George, recorder the experience for
them, and George and his wife Marion both told me it was the “highlight” of
George’s career. A comedian and double-talker presented himself as a protégé of
George from early in his career. Attendees at the event were actually rolling
on the floor with laughter. George helped me to understand that the APICS BOK
is what is created in ERP Software. George also helped me with my first
“successful” implementation, in 1989. His business partner, Don Frank started
that mentoring process and introduced me to George. Don and I were developing a textbook and an
ERP Seminar when he died, in 2004. I am still unable to finish the book and the
seminar. Regardless, Don was one of those mentors that saw more promise in me
than I did.
Dr. Goldratt (Eli) was a challenger. It seemed that he took
delight in making me feel uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time. In
one sentence, he could both challenge and complement me and he did several
times. A sentence he said, drove me to write the ERP book, The Turnaround. He
said to me, to paraphrase, ‘you have a lot of knowledge in you. Just when are
you going to get off your lazy butt and show someone what you got?’ Unfortunately,
I missed completing the book before he died. Now, procrastination is a pet
peeve, something that, at times, puts a sharp edge to my dealings with
customers who also procrastinate.
Hank Jordan taught the art of Inventory Management and
tempted me to become a consultant before I thought I was ready. Neville May,
worked with me to understand MAPICS, an IBM mrp system. There were also mentors
who taught operations and supply chain management when I worked in their
facilities, early in my career.
I am fortunate to also have had family-member mentors. My
father and his father (both Ford Motor Company employees) were my earliest
mentors. Both taught the art of question asking, a very necessary
characteristic for a consultant.
These mentors formed me into what is necessary helps others
succeed. They paved the road to help me understand what I know. I believe this is my
strength as a consultant. By the way, I hate the word consultant. It implies
something that is not true. People think that consultants are ‘experts’ that
have the right answers. These giants taught me that that is a fallacy. These hero/mentors
taught that consultants have the right questions. That is why my title is “Business
Capabilities Architect.”