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BY Joel Junker

Results of the August Conference Question Challenge

Thank you to everyone who took the question challenge, and thank you to Pete Van Epps and Rob Davis for helping me moderate while out on vacation.

As a group, the questions were impressive.  We sincerely believe this is a result of diligent preparation for the upcoming Conference.  The payoff will be results in the career search.  Because the questions were so good, we had a hard time selecting the top postings, a very hard time in fact.  We selected one overall top posting and instead of one runner up we selected 3.

Again we found it hard to select the top postings when we know it is so hard to come up with good questions and you are working hard to be ready for the Conference.   We selected the top posts using the following criteria: focused on the position, open ended, the candidate put himself or herself in the position while asking the question and gave some background before asking the question.  All of the questions would have expressed interest and started a good dialogue with the Recruiter(s).

A Cameron-Brooks Recruiting Team Leader will be in touch with each person who posted the top questions.

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Top Posting:

1) While learning about Project Management doctrine and receivng a PMP certification, I recently learned about how schedule analysis techniques such as leads and lags can affect downtime. What are some examples of activities other manufacturing supervisors in your organization had to manage in order to manage leads and lags?

2) A company with a phenomenal reputation for its products such as your own is obviously devotes high level of focus to quality. How are the competing needs of other management baselines i.e. schedule and cost, balanced with the achievement of high quality?

3) The job description your company provided mentioned the term “scrap” several times. What kind of efforts has your company undertaken to minimize “scrap” in the past and what are some examples of some efforts that I can potentially undertake to minimize “scrap” for you in the future

Posted by David

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The Runner Up Postings, in no particular order.

1) I seen in your job description you mention “achieve metrics of objectives” with regards to quality, productivity, lead time, and so forth. I assume, due to your company’s reputation within the industry, these objectives are fairly high. Could you elaborate on any of these objectives and if so, is there one you believe requires more attention or priority than others?

2) You talk about using lean and six sigma tool sets to identify and lead projects. I’m curious to know how these projects are usually approached within your company. Are black belts highly involved with all projects or are they more likely used to consult with and provide direction to green belt project leads? What percent of your company would you say has a basic understanding of lean principles?

3) In the military, I’ve always had available resources and senior leadership approval to ensure my employees not only receive the necessary training to meet duty expectations, but the available training to enhance their personal and professional growth. They also receive promotional incentives for obtaining certificates or advanced schooling that motivate them to seek this development, ultimately leading to a well diverse and motivating work force. Does your company provide these types of opportunities or incentives for your employees?

Posted by Josh

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After reading the responsibilities of this position, I am excited about the opportunity to lead a production team within you company, could you please explain some of the key differences between the first and second shifts as well as some of the products that are currently being produced by the team?

In reference to using lean and Six Sigma to improve key metrics, what are some of the recent process improvement initiatives that the second shift production team has undergone?

One of my responsibilities will be to provide training on business systems; could you please elaborate on what business systems the production team currently uses and how those systems impact the daily success of the team?

Posted by Lance

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1. What are the current trends in regards to production output? More specifically, what, if any, metrics are not currently being met by the production team? To caveat, and to understand the expectations for the team’s leadership, where do you see the team’s production in 6 months, one year, and 5 years, given the current market?

2. I would be very eager to offer training to my fellow employees on Lean Six Sigma. If I was to move into this position, what type of budget would my team and I have at our disposal to bring in outside experts in the areas of Lean and Six Sigma to continuously improve my team’s method of thinking and day to day operations?

3. The job description for this position weighs heavily on following safety, regulatory, and quality standards. That includes standards of the FDA and international laws. That jumps out at me as extremely serious and an area that I would want to pay very specific attention to. Safety and FDA standards not being met can stain a company for years. So that I could target my leadership on day one in this area, are there currently any trends that you see migrating the team towards a failure in this area? More so, has the team failed in any regulatory regards to date?

Posted by Scott

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Thank you to everyone who participated/posted!

Joel Junker and the Cameron-Brooks Team