20 years of Hard Lessens Learned!...

In this edition I will continue to document the “Lessens Learned” to Balance Cost and Quality to Improve Schedule for companies with sales between $5-150 million dollars within the Structural Steel Fabrication Industry.

In this article I will touch on:

1. Is there a MBE and WMBE Stigma?.
2. Do we bring that stigma on ourselves?
3. How does the Industry perpetuate the stigma?.

You not going to be happy with what you hear but you need to hear it. You are already labeled an angry Black, the chatty, accented Latina or latino that should speak english or the demure smart Asian in your professional setting, yet you hold your nephews and nieces, sons and daughters back from achieving legacy status.

Most owners and design professionals?still feel MBE and WMBE's can't deliver on one or two of the three key critical drivers in the selection of structural steel: Cost (materials and labor), Speed (meet the stated schedule and deadlines), and Quality (confidence that the project’s specifications will be met).

On one hand, I have witnessed small fabricators with inventory problems and erectors with processes unable to verify or control weld consumables yet alone trace measuring equipment to be calibrated and they not knowing it should be calibrated and controlled. I have witnessed problems regarding the lack of minimal competence in various positions as these companies seam to prefer loyalty and trust over technical and management skills. I have seen quality management implementations fall off a cliff due to family feuds and pettiness due to clashes of Ego. Production problems linked to an ignorance of something as basic as duties and mutual responsibilities, the concept of a process, process variability and not to mention the "blame-game" of throwing innocent operator under the bus.?Rather than advise too and protect the organizations number one Resourse (the people) The Quality Management Company (QMC) and The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) perpetuate employee insecurities and management uncertainty during and after internal audits as proven in the last slide.

Systemic Issues:

An uncle and a cousin (owner and godfather 2007) says to their 16 year old nephew and god-son who just had twins from his 21 year old girlfriend; "since you want to drop out of school you can work for us as a laborer, but you will receive $6.00c and hour.

A father (owner 2019) tells his war veteran son; "you are just not good enough to be a welder for the company", on his own he achieved his weld certifications, he died on his own coming home from his first weld contract job early morning. Granted we only know what we know because that was instilled in us at a young age, most minority owners perpetuate brutality worst than their counterparts they think they are competing with. I can continue listing culturally inept behavior that will only continue to highlight the shame of how minority men Value their own sons (80% of these absent fathers are just that, absent). Most minority managed fabricators and erectors are not even on the same ball field as their competitors as seen here below, as professionals have a people inclusive plan to succeed. This plan may start by developing a 3 year in-house apprenticeship program geared to high school students.

In general I believe small family owned fabrication businesses (about 80% of the companies in the U.S) still cannot grasp and implement Quality Management as it's been presented in industry literature suchas MSC (modern steel construction magazine), the current common training methodologies and/or live up to the certifications they have achieved (not just from AISC). I personally don’t think anyone should be left out, but we can never discount the data as well as the experiences and stories of others in the shop, field and office. There is a gap, it’s real, and it’s even wider now for some than for others.

As a minority owned steel enterprise doing your best will not be good enough, as some industry leaders have given you mediocre advise over the last 20 years, The Quality Management Company do not know or care to understand the "stigma" surrounding Minority Owned businesses as being unreliable, ill equipped or poorly human resourced and unable to deliver on time or at the quality contractually agreed upon, but man do they want and need your fees. Some auditors have become "rubber stampers" and the certification committee are "paper whippers".

How can the Industry Help out?

As an example: The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) flexing it muscles with perhaps only 1-3% of national steel sales accompanied by it's "Buy America" Campaign as a 25% tariff with a 1% allowance or unto $2500.00 of component costs. So where will that tariff go? Shouldn’t it have been used to support minority owned companies with “robots” to compete with new construction methods such as orthotropic bridge deck production. As the bridges of significance on the east coast it seams are being fabricated in china and Italy.?Using the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge as a prime example it may have cost of $50 million, 25% is 12.5 million which could be delivered to minority owned companies as grants for capital equipment. one fabrication robot maybe only $100 000.00. AISC could help retool an entire region with the cost of one bridge project.

"Blacks would rather dance... show off the newly acquired red truck with brand new welding machines".

The way to separate from the rest is to provide trustworthy "Management by Prediction" is to defy statute quo and navigate your own path with "Profound Knowledge" and to-become the rose in the weed path.

In conclusion...

In my experience, small business fabricators and steel erectors are still way back in the quality culture. Therefore advanced statistical tools, strategic planning and other quality topics are, in many cases, will not appeal to them since these companies are still struggling with bare-bone basics of quality control yet alone quality assurance issues. Most of these businesses are family owned and managed, which makes formal management a complete and absolute challenge (I once read in a book that "everything that you know about management does not work in family businesses", and I have verified this time and many times again).

Even if you think you don't have any time to sit down and read an article then Subscribe to our Youtube Video Channel and Learn the little stuff that is going to save you Big Money. (contact us: 203-770-6766 for a custom built spreadsheet to help you identify the most value added Key Performance Indicators [KPI's] toward reducing waste and rework for only $299.95).

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