Chamber of Commerce

Taylor-madeManagement A new manager has turned around the Goodyear plant by empowering employees. By Michael Jaenicke M ove over "Undercover Boss," Billy Taylor has broken the old-management mold. Taylor, the plant manager for Goodyear's Fayetteville operation, has been employing the same strategies high-level executives from the CBS reality show learned only by going undercover in their own companies. Taylor has turned around the Fayetteville plant by implementing somewhat unconventional methods: Throwing out the hierarchy leadership approach to management. Since he came to Fayetteville the plant has seen a 23 percent increase in product improve- ment. In the six months since Taylor's arrival, the plant went from manufacturing 31,000 tires per day to 38,000 tires. Taylor said he talks with three groups of 50 employees each day and over the course of a month has received input from every employee at the plant. He says it's about engagement rather than entitlement. "Everybody has a role and we have 3,000 plant managers, not one," he said. "I put them in control. Ask them what we need to do. Tell them, 'You are running the business, now what do we need to do?'" Taylor, who is 44 years old, worked with Goodyear for 11 years before becoming the com- pany's "turnaround man." Since getting the unofficial title, he has moved to a new location every 2.2 years. His last stop was in Lawton, Texas, where he changed the total climate of the plant. For his efforts, Taylor's plant was awarded a Shingol Award, the manufacturing community's equiva- lent to a Noble Peace Prize. "It all comes down to people, tools and a system, not about me with a magic wand," Taylor said. "I'm not in the tire business, I'm in the people business." The Fayetteville plant now produces 6,000 more tires a day and spends $40,000 less to get them to distributors. Taylor said in February, the plant netted $2.2 million through its continu- ous improvement project. He expected it to reach $2.3 when figures for March were released. "Every day I take questions from employees without any prep time," Taylor said. "We have a red and green board in our plant that can tell anyone, within 10 seconds or less, what is wrong. Fayetteville has always been a good plant. What we needed was to improve our alignment. The alignment to our market, alignment to our customer demand and alignment on our shop floor." Taylor said eliminating material waste was key to Goodyear's new path. "We got rid of the hidden factory, which is a silent killer," he said. "It's not about laying off people or cutting jobs, it's about overproducing. Now we scrap out things we don't need." The plant's ongoing improvement program allows employees to win a free set of tires Billy Taylor meets with employees every day to hear their ideas and suggestions for how to continually improve the company. and other rewards. But Taylor, who has two children with his wife Rachel, insists his methods have nothing to do with his bachelor of science degree from Prairie View or his MBA from Baker University, and everything to do with letting workers have a say in Goodyear's manufacturing operations. "I don't want to be known as a great plant manager, I want to be known as a servant to the people, one of the workers at Goodyear," he said. "I don't have a secretary or an administrative assistant. I have a business partner." H www.FayettevilleNCChamber.org | 49

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