It may seem like a paradox to say that Westeel, a company best recognized for making the galvanized metal grain bins that punctuate the prairiescape, does not function in a silo culture.

But within the last three years, Westeel has successfully knocked down any former barriers to communication and changed the way employees express ideas and influence operations. This culture shift has allowed the organization to reach a new degree of automation in its five plants and set unprecedented sales records - all while at its highest level of employment in its 104-year history.

Mark Humphrey, Vice-President and General Manager of Westeel, a division of Vicwest Operating Limited Partnership, credits the growth to a leadership philosophy giving the balance of power to its 587 employees, including 234 working at its St. Boniface plant.

"Our culture is like an inverted pyramid. I consider myself at the bottom of the pyramid and at the widest part is our people working on the shop floor," he says. "We empower those people to identify problems and come up with innovative ways to improve processes so that Westeel can deliver a quality product, in the shortest lead time and at a competitive price to our customers. At the end of the day, that's why we're here."

 
Q: What type of culture have you tried to build at Westeel?

A: Our culture is built on the core values of teamwork, integrity, mutual respect, creativity and courage, with courage meaning being willing to take a risk and put forth ideas. Empowering people on the shop floor to identify problems and come up with their own solutions has been a big plus for us in creating a culture of continuous improvement. They know that if they have an idea, they're going to be listened to. We have implemented some great suggestions - from a request for a cushioned rubber mat to stand on to a way to reduce a machine's set-up time from eight hours to 10 minutes. I may not know how to build a grain bin, but I do know a great idea when one is presented to me.

Last year, Westeel conducted a company-wide cultural satisfaction survey to identify some of the things we are doing right as well as areas we need to improve. The survey helped our management team decide what we need to focus on now, including where our growth will come from and how our employees can contribute to our future success.
 

Q: How are you able to motivate people to take a risk and come forward with ideas?

A: Something else we discovered as a result of the survey was that people want to share in the profits, so we introduced a Continuous Improvement Bonus Plan. While not all of our employees can affect sales, they all can affect cost, create capacity and the ability to generate volume. The plan is simple. Six per cent of EBITDA above a threshold goes into a pool of funds that will be shared based on each division's pro-rata contribution to EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization). So if the Westeel Division is able to generate 40 per cent of the EBITDA, we get 40 per cent of the pool. Because of this plan, our people can now link continuous improvement activities to money in their bank account. Suddenly, they appreciate that if the company is doing well, it means the pool is growing. That positively reinforces our employee suggestion system.
 

Q: Are customers able to share ideas for your continued improvement?

A: Absolutely. While we continue to be focused on our customers with initiatives such as decreasing lead time, we also believe it's important to involve them in the design of new products. We have formed a customer committee that collects valuable feedback and use those suggestions to improve our products. Recently, the customer committee provided input into the design of a new floor system for our grain storage bins. This floor system has 40 per cent fewer parts than the previous design which allows for faster installation. Previously, two of the major customers on the customer committee purchased floors from one of our competitors. Since being invited to be part of our design process, they have committed to buying only from us.
 

Q: Despite everything going well, do you still face any uphill challenges?

A: While the Winnipeg plant has come a long way, my biggest challenge is that we still have four other plants that are where Winnipeg was three years ago. We now have to roll out the things we've implemented here to the rest of the organization and show them how to measure performance, create a road map to improvement and be engaged in the process.

Even here where things have gone well, the challenge I find is the constant need to reinforce the message. For example, when I would walk around the factory, I used to constantly see brooms left on the shop floor. It drove me crazy. So I challenged the guys to come up with a measurable plan to improve housekeeping practices. It's taken three years to get people to hang brooms up but they're getting it now. We still struggle with the little things from time to time. It's having the discipline of doing what you say you're going to do and then keeping it up.
 

Q: What qualities do you look for in team leaders?

A: I'm interested in innovative people who are capable of showing initiative; I don't have to tell them what to do. They need to be continuously thinking of ways to improve the way we do business but also need to know how to execute. I want people in every Westeel department from sales to maintenance to be able to assess the "as is" situation and come up with a road map of how to get from where we are at to what their "vision" may be.
 

Q: Are there any mentors or models of leadership that you particularly admire?

A: Before coming to Westeel in 2005, I spent 13 years at Motor Coach Industries and I consider former MCI executives Mario Gonzalez (now vice-president, operations for Lilydale) and Bob Munro (now president of Arne's Welding) to be among my mentors. Mario and Bob also believe in the inverted pyramid philosophy and I learned a great deal from them; I hope to be able to give someone else the same kinds of opportunities that they gave me.

I am also passionate about lean management and the Toyota approach to problem solving and shop-floor control. I have studied with Lean Sensei International, the benchmark when it comes to delivering Toyota-style process improvements in manufacturing. Being in Japan to tour top companies helped me create a vision of what I want my factory to look like. In fact, I encourage all our supervisors to be Lean Sensei green belts or black belts as a way for them to understand and carry out lean principles. Basically, if you want to be a supervisor at Westeel, you need to be a green belt at a minimum. If someone here wants me to invest in their training for a black belt designation, I'm willing to do it. It only takes one profitable idea for it to pay for itself.

-- With reporting by Barbara Chabai
 

John McFerran, PhD, CMC, F. CHRP, is founder and president of People First HR Services Ltd. For more information, visit www.peoplefirsthr.com.