Redefining excellence

[ramper_in_las]

BEWARE!

We had those people here in MX. They are here to effeciently take your overtime away.

Your statement makes me wonder what their agenda is. Since the team has been here they took all our relief postitions away. Overtime is handed out like water pouring out of a faucet and they still don't cover all the shifts. If they are trying to save money they are failing in Vegas for sure.

 

[wnbubbleboy]

Your statement makes me wonder what their agenda is. Since the team has been here they took all our relief postitions away. Overtime is handed out like water pouring out of a faucet and they still don't cover all the shifts. If they are trying to save money they are failing in Vegas for sure.

I can tell you it's similar here in BWI and we are a totally different department.

What worries me though is a possible disconnect. The boss take a 28% pay raise while the rank and file get's the see this outside qroup tell the company what they want to hear. IMHO which is work them harder. Be wary of these guys.

I am waiting for the second shoe to drop.

 

[KCFlyer]

Hmmmm...this sounds like SWA might have started hiring MBA's to run a textbook example of a business. I thought they were smarter than that....look at what the MBA experts did to the other airlines.

 

[ngneer]

Or worse, they might have hired consultants.

 

[ramper_in_las]

Or worse, they might have hired consultants.

yes it is worse...

 

[KCFlyer]

yes it is worse...

YOu know, a consultant is someone who has never done the work, but has the gift of knowing how to do it better. What I think they need to have these consultants do is come in, and do that job for one week...THEN make their recommendations. It's easy to make something more efficient when you are only working with theories and have never actually performed the functions you are going to make more efficient.

 

[Some Clown]

Yeah those guys made their way down to our fair city too. We got the report back a few weeks ago and since then the work load has gone up.

The thing these clowns don't realize is that nothing can be planned with any accuracy in MX besides the inspections and component failures. There are many times you will see peaks and valleys in our work load; depending on how many in-bound write-ups / MEL's you have.

The problem I saw right from the get go is, that no one on this team had ANY experience in maintenance of ANYTHING of mechanical in nature much less complicated airliners. So they couldn't really grasp what it is we deal with on a week to week basis. They came in over two nights and "observed" and left to make their report.

And as luck would have it, we had VERY easy nights both days/nights of their visit. When I worked with them, I really stressed the fact in what I said above, peaks and valleys and some nights there just aren't enough hours to fix everything.

When the work load was tweeked upwards our manager said it had NOTHING to do with the report these guys turned in on us... Right.... And I still believe in Santa too!

 

[ramper_in_las]

YOu know, a consultant is someone who has never done the work, but has the gift of knowing how to do it better. What I think they need to have these consultants do is come in, and do that job for one week...THEN make their recommendations. It's easy to make something more efficient when you are only working with theories and have never actually performed the functions you are going to make more efficient.

I agree with you totally with one element added to it. Have them work the ramp in the middle of July in Vegas and the Tarmac is in excess of 130 Degrees...

The problem I saw right from the get go is, that no one on this team had ANY experience in maintenance of ANYTHING of mechanical in nature much less complicated airliners. So they couldn't really grasp what it is we deal with on a week to week basis. They came in over two nights and "observed" and left to make their report.

And as luck would have it, we had VERY easy nights both days/nights of their visit. When I worked with them, I really stressed the fact in what I said above, peaks and valleys and some nights there just aren't enough hours to fix everything.

Yes it seems they have the same habits her in LAS also. They Take the weekends off and as many of you know Vegas is busy on the weekends with 29000 outbound passengers leaving on sunday. Now I know I am only a ramp rat. I do have some common sense, wouldn't be better to make your assesment on Sundays our busiest day rather than on Tuesdays which is our slowest day.

 

[KCFlyer]

I agree with you totally with one element added to it. Have them work the ramp in the middle of July in Vegas and the Tarmac is in excess of 130 Degrees...

That sounds fair to me. After all, all the expertise they have was gained in an air conditioned classroom.

 

[ngneer]

I do have some common sense, wouldn't be better to make your assesment on Sundays our busiest day rather than on Tuesdays which is our slowest day.

Exactly so. It seems to me these consultants need to observe at a station for at least one full week to truly see the ebb and flow of activity. During that time, they should be asking questions about why you're doing this, why don't you do that, etc. 99% of the time this will be a waste of your time and an annoyance because, from experience, you know the most efficient way to do your job. But maybe 1% of the time they'll ask a question or make a suggestion that's new, fresh and could lead to a real improvement. Unfortunately, it sounds like their observing is far too cursory to result in anything except pain for you and paychecks for them.

 

[whatkindoffreshhell]

The "consultants" are not the problem here.

The people who hired these consultants are the problem.

One of the previous posters hit the nail on the head -- a consultant without any dirt under their fingernails is just an annoyance.

Q. How come the MBA consultants never evaluate pilots or accountants?

 

[formeraa]

The funny thing with consultants is that their solutions are, at best, inappropriate and, at worst, disruptive. Many times, those of us in "lower" management position make common sense suggestions on how to run the business better. However, nobody at the top listens to us and they bring in expensive consultants with inane "solutions". I have seen this in many different industries now.

Basically, upper management is lining the pockets of their friends at the consulting firms (who can be very helpful if said upper management should find themselves without a job).

 

[hobbes]

I would like to start a discussion about the Redefining Excellence Team that is going to all stations and currently in LAS. I am having a hard time understanding their role. The claim they claim they are going to make your station more effecient. In my opinion everything they have done in LAS has been detrimental to our customers. What are all your thoughts???

Ramper, as I understand it, they have several roundtables and sessions where people can voice their concerns over what is and isn't working. Or you can actually go talk to the Redefining Excellence Team yourself about what you're seeing as a challenge. My question is, instead of making this a matter for a public message board, why don't you get involved or talk to the people who can really do something about your concerns?

Moaning on this board won't fix anything. And from all your previous posts that I've read, I know you're a smart enough guy to figure that out for yourself. It sounds like you have legitimate questions and concerns, so get involved! Be a professional, seek to understand, and raise your issues in a civil manner. It's your Station, too, so be part of the solution.

Also, it might do well to check your facts: the majority of the Redefining Excellence Team in LAS are not consultants. They are Southwest Employees who have worked in the field just like yourself. In fact, since I think I remember (based on your previous posts) when you joined Southwest, you should know that most of those people on the Redefining Excellence Team have served Southwest many more years than yourself. Some are even people from your own Station. The consultants are only there to train them on the basics of process and performance improvement.

And as far as insulting Southwest leadership for hiring these consultants and trying to improve efficiency, let's all be completely realistic here:

Other airlines are cutting their costs through bankruptsy, layoffs, and pay cuts. Southwest's position as the low cost leader is in real danger, since other airlines are now getting their CASM down. That's not corporate rhetoric. It's fact. Go look at the numbers. And if Southwest can't be the low price leader, then we've lost our competitive advantage. People will go fly other airlines for their better amenities (jetBlue, AirTran, etc.).

It would be completely irresponsible if Gary Kelly did nothing in the face of this increasing competition. The last thing Southwest wants to ask of any employee is to take a pay cut, or worse, a furlough. So we have to continue to find ways to get more efficient. That doesn't mean working employees until they bleed, but it does mean looking at our processes and seeing how we can be more efficient.

If we do nothing, we may well be looking at pay cuts or furloughs in a few years. And if you read the other boards, you'll see airline employees blaming their leadership for not being visionary and proactive in saving their airline.

Well, Gary Kelly IS being visionary and proactive. He's trying to get us more efficient, in order to keep our jobs and paychecks! So what's it going to be? Change hurts, but a pay cut hurts a lot worse. And your department isn't the only one going through change - almost all departments at SWA are going through a similar effort, trying to figure out where to be more efficient, including mine.

I apologize for the long post, but I don't think most SWA employees truly realize what's at risk here. Ramper, I encourage you to seek to get involved in a constructive manner, rather than making it an issue on this board. Best of luck to you, and thanks for all that you do. From all that I've read of your posts, you sound like an outstanding person and employee.

 

[mga707]

OK, so, at least according to the above, these guys are for real and are not like "The Bobs" from "Office Space"....
...all well and good. But what really gets me is that (according to ramper at las), they checked out the Vegas operation but took weekends off? Huh?? Had they not HEARD of Las Vegas?
If true, that is so idiotic as to be almost unbelievable!

 

[hobbes]

OK, so, at least according to the above, these guys are for real and are not like "The Bobs" from "Office Space"....
...all well and good. But what really gets me is that (according to ramper at las), they checked out the Vegas operation but took weekends off? Huh?? Had they not HEARD of Las Vegas?
If true, that is so idiotic as to be almost unbelievable!

It's not true. Trust me, there's more to it than I think anyone here realizes. They actually ran several of their tests during some of the busiest convention times in LAS. While I'm not involved with the Redefining Excellence team myself, I make it a point to keep informed of all that they're doing. It's actually quite interesting.

We sit and rip on consultants (and I admit that I've traditionally not a fan of them myself), but well-trained consultants do provide an advantage we employees don't have: they help us see the forest for the trees. They get us looking at processes from a different perspective, rather than saying, "Well, it works okay, and this is the way we've always done it!"

That "it's not broke, so don't fix it" mentality will be the death of Southwest. Because if we wait until 2010 to realize that we could have done things better and more efficiently, we've already written our death sentence. It will be too late - the fuel hedges will have run out, and those other airlines will be hot on our tail.

And remember: those decisions that are being made are NOT being made by the consultants. They're being made by your own Southwest co-workers who know the operation inside and out.

Ramper, I can't say this enough - seek to understand what's going on, rather than just listening to the gossip. Get involved, ask questions, make suggestions. And try to look at this from a more global perspective and understand what's at risk. Do you want to have a job here? Do you want to continue to get pay increases, have great health insurance, and all the other great things we enjoy that employees from other airlines have had taken away? Then we HAVE to get better.

Aviation history is littered with what were once great airlines. Braniff, TWA, United - everyone thought they were invincible. Now we know better. In a matter of a few years, they failed miserably. The question is, are we going to avoid becoming one of them?

Complacency could be the end of us. Personally, I'm not in the mood to go the way of the dinosaurs.