What It Takes to Win

On November 2, 2016, the world as we had known it changed. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

This Game-7 victory ended nearly a century of abject failure and incompetence. It is important to understand that the seeds of this fateful day were sown nearly 30 years before, on August 8, 1988, the Cubbies played their first night game. The lights were turned on at Wrigley Field, and the Cubs were no longer limited to playing day games under the hot summer sun, and hence, no longer being their own worst enemy.

Playing all day games in Chicago in the summer took a physical toll on the players, leaving them progressively “cooked” and worn down by the summer sun, and invariably causing the players and team to wilt in the dog days of August. There were other factors, of course—a weak farm system, bad management, unfortunate personnel decisions, accentuating hitting, and undervaluing pitching, a result of playing half their games at tiny Wrigley Field. And one can add to that the untold self-inflicted damage caused by young multimillionaires perhaps staying out past the nightly curfew to enjoy some of the finer things a city such as Chicago has to offer.

The important point here is that management came to the realization they were playing the game in a way that had passed them by, and they understood they were doomed to lose forever. In industrial terms, their facilities, infrastructure, manpower, and operating philosophies were not up to the task of competing in a fast-moving, increasingly aggressive market.

Sound familiar?

The questions now become, Are you ready to compete in such a dynamic environment? And are you prepared to do it faster, leaner, and in a more cost-effective way? Are your operations manned and machined to compete on a rapidly changing playing field? And finally, are you prepared to analyze your business in new, deeper, nontraditional, and more expansive ways?

In baseball, there is something referred to as the five tools. These skills define the value of a player. The five tools of baseball are running, hitting for average, throwing, fielding, and hitting for power. Few players possess four of these skills; only the elite excel at all five.

Let’s translate these skills into so-called plantspeak:

Run: Scheduling and operating the plant to ensure that all orders are correct and delivered on time. Synchronizing various operations to work smoothly together.

Hit: Orders move through the plant with waste controlled and quality achieved. Every order delivered on time and on budget. Scheduling machinery and resources to ensure that every order is delivered correctly and on time.

Throw: Item pricing is aggressive while assuring sustainable and reasonable margins. Better ballplayers get paid better. Make sure your pricing represents the value you provide.

Field: Order flow is seamless, from customer service to posting of cash. There are roughly 12 to 15 steps between a request for quote and customer payment. Make sure you understand and master each of these steps.

Hit for Power: Margin is gained through continued improvement and real added value. Impart to your customers that your provided value is worth more than shaving off a few cents. Small margin increases take the ball from the warning track to the seats.

Most companies possess three of these characteristics, a smaller number can claim four skills, but only the most elite possess all five. As talented as the staff may be, it could be all for naught if the managers don’t have a fundamental understanding of what it takes to win, and how to take advantage of new analytic tools to get the most out of every resource, every single order, every single day.

Take a hard look at your business. Understand your people, processes, and products, and don’t settle for being just a major leaguer or an All-Star—take dead aim on the Hall of Fame.

John Clark is director of analytics at Amtech Software. He can be reached at jclark@amtechsoftware.com.