Informational Interview — Experienced Lean Materials Management Professional
Dean has an extensive background in the Toyota Production System and has 20+ years of experience with Hearth & Home Technologies. He has transformed the material flow at two of our manufacturing facilities and currently leads the Materials Management team at Lake City. He has participated on well over 100 rapid continuous events at our facilities and provides our organization with a very unique skill set that helps ensure our company maintains a competitive advantage in terms of how we manage our materials. I believed it would be beneficial for me to learn what advice he has for aspiring materials management professionals, including myself.
The Contact
Name: Dean Schmidt
Title: Materials Manager II
Company: Hearth & Home Technologies
Industry: Manufacturing
Questions about the Contact
Career, Company, Industry, Skills, Success
What is your professional background?
Toyota Production System/Lean and Material Flow.
What skills or education have been most important for helping you succeed in your career?
Shadowing Toyota Consultants and a Work Culture that allows you to grow and experiment.
How would you summarize your career objective?
To drive a lean culture and world class material flow system.
What do you see as the next step for your career?
VP of Value Chain or Lean, Consultant other companies on Lean or Flow.
Looking at your entire career, which position did you enjoy the most?
I enjoy the flexibility of my current position. I am given freedom to run the department and drive results using my lean and materials background.
Looking at your entire career, which position did you enjoy the least?
I didn’t enjoy 1 part of 1 position. I don’t enjoy leaning out areas that are not under my direct responsibility because it typically takes a lot of extra effort and it tends to backslide because the area owners don’t/didn’t understand the impact and effort.
Questions about Communicating for Leadership
Best Practices, Problem-Solving, Motivating Others, Change/Innovation
How would you describe yourself as a leader?
Coach, but also let members struggle to learn and problem solve.
Could you tell me story about challenge you faced as leader? How did you solve it? How did it change you?
The Toyota Production System is designed to constantly challenge the status quo. If you are consistently hitting your metrics you haven’t put enough pressure on your systems. You need to remove ½ the people or ½ the inventory and you will struggle to hit your metrics but through coaching your members to use problem solving tools will eventually start hitting your metrics again. At that point you have made your systems and members stronger.
Could you tell me a story about a time you needed to deal with a difficult person or have a difficult conversation?
In general, It’s not the difficult person it’s the difficult situation or process that needs to be understood. Need to visually document the situation or process and get consensus on were the process needs improvement.
Could you tell me story about a time you need to communicate to get a group of people to change?
I have done this allot in my career. You need the group to understand the current and future expectations of internal and external customers. You need the group to understand the current processes that are driving the performance to the internal and external customers’ needs and wants. Need the group to understand the needed process changes to satisfy the internal and external customer s needs and wants of the future. If you don’t achieve your internal and external customers’ needs and wants somebody else will and you and the group will be out of luck.
Questions seeking Advice for you
Background, Skills, Resume, Job Search and Interviewing
Based on your knowledge of my current position, what do you see as one of the biggest opportunities to go after?
Developing your team and working the big levers to drive improvements and results. Need to develop people, process and structure on your key value streams.
If you could offer me one piece of advice for my career, what would it be? Why?
Keep filling your tool box with problem solving tools and refining using the right tool for the right problem.
What other roles do you think best fit my skill set and experience? Why?
The world is your oyster. You can improve any position by using the correct tools to best satisfy your customers.
Conclusions and Final Thoughts
Dean has been coaching me for the past 6 months in my current role as Purchasing Manager, so I have been learning a lot from him and have found that we share similar perspectives on how to manage our materials and members. Its never a question on what to do, its a matter of how to do it. As a take-away, I will continue to remain visualizing and communicating my objective. I will also remain mindful of opportunities to expand my problem skill set and continue to challenge myself to apply those skills.
