November 22, 2019
The 1962 New York Mets baseball team set a record for futility that still stands today. They lost 120 of 162 games and usually lost by lopsided scores. When asked by the press what he wanted for the next season, more players or better players, Mets Manager Casey Stengel replied, “More better players.”
Simple wisdom from the legendary Stengel—simple and correct. More better is what every business should strive for. More better workers, more better systems, more better strategies, more better execution, more better customers, and more better bottom lines.
More Better People
American entrepreneur Ross Perot coined a phrase about personnel recruiting that still resonates today: Eagles don’t flock. You have to find them one at a time.
Your people are your most precious resource. From the person who answers the telephone to the driver who delivers the finished products to your customers and every step in between, the investment you make in your staff is the most critical investment you make.
More Better Vision
Baseball players tend to have visual acuity around 20/12, meaning that a baseball player can see from 20 feet away what the average person can see from only 12. Being able to see what is coming is key to moving your business in the right direction at the right time, because you know you are going to see a lot of curveballs along your path to success.
More Better Processes
The packaging industry is driven by processes and workflows that work to keep schedules up to date and customers happy. As lead times shrink, stronger and leaner processes must come to bear to keep quality, schedules, and deliveries in sync.
More Better Machinery
Modern machinery provides improvements in make-ready time per order and run speed throughput. Every minute that is reduced during make-ready creates a new time slot to actually make boxes and make money.
More Better Vendors
As your business grows technically, so does your dependence on your vendors and suppliers.
More Better Customers
Metrics to measure the value of a customer need to become part of your lexicon.
More Better Results
And what became of those lowly Mets of 1962? Seven years later, they won the World Series. The franchise is now worth $2.3 billion.
John Clark is director of analytics at Amtech Software. He can be reached at jclark@amtechsoftware.com.
