2003: a blueprint for collaboration: thoughts on how last year brought out the worst--and the best--in us.

I FOR ONE am pretty darned glad 2003 is over! I cannot remember a time in my working career that was as challenging. This is a fine time to look at what we have done--as companies and collectively as an industry--to see what we can learn.

I tend to categorize the year's events into two areas: Stupid & Bad things, and Inspiring & Good things. Obviously, I want to find ways to do more of the latter while eliminating the former. There are many examples of each throughout our industry, if not within our own companies. I can't resist by first reflecting on the dark side--the Stupid and Bad things that I observed this year, which in part include:

Blaming others. This one's everywhere! Things not going the way you want? Then blame someone--foreigners (especially the Chinese), industry association(s), federal/state/local government(s), competitors, customers, suppliers, employees, spouses, children, etc. My God, where does it stop? Even within a company, Production blames Sales for accepting "lousy" orders while Sales in turn blames Production for late deliveries or poor quality. The finger always seems to be pointing at someone else. My advice: Take a long look in the mirror before pulling that hand out of your pocket. The world is changing: are you? Can you honestly say that you are doing everything possible to change--adapt--to what surely appears to be a new order in manufacturing? And do you have indisputable data that prove someone else deliberately erred solely to gum up your area? No? Then don't even think about pointing that finger at anyone but yourself. As difficult as it may he to accept, the world of manufacturing radically changed (or at least started to change) over the past couple years. It is up to us as designers, fabricators, suppliers and assemblers to change how we do business so we fit profitably into this New World. Blaming others has never been a solution to change.

Embracing the status quo. Ah, the good old days. Similar to the above, this encompasses when we say we are changing hut through our actions cling to past processes, attitudes and methods. This is even more prevalent at the individual company level as we all need to focus on emerging new technologies, processes and approaches if we are to remain viable. Embracing the new requires thinking outside of the old, or stepping out of the comfy, status-quo box.

Treating colleagues, customers and suppliers like sh-t. This is so basic and still, even in the depths of an industry depression, it occurs far too often. Examples include when suppliers tighten credit policies so punitively that their customers look to design in alternatives. Or when fabricators, in their zeal to cut costs, eliminate key inside sales support, leaving customers in limbo when checking on orders. The list goes on. What peeves me is that every time anyone acts this way, it enables even the lowest-cost foreign supplier to appear to have better service than the cut-to-the-bone domestic "service" company.

Yup, we all made some mistakes last year. Many also did some things right. On that note, what I want to try is to be more like those who provided the Inspiring & Good examples, which included:

Reinventing. Signs of this were everywhere. Attend any industry meeting and you could hear the buzz of the many who were making tough decisions--on product mix, technologies to invest in, employees to keep, retrain or replace. A new order of "leading" companies is evolving. In each case executives as well as managers, supervisors and rank-and-file employees are reinventing their skills, focus and, most importantly, their attitude. "How to" actions to be more competitive and "what if" ingenuity are being applied with positive results. Our industry is far from dead, and the leaders of the future are fully embracing the new order of manufacturing and technology.

Focusing. More to the point, focusing with a vengeance! Again, it surely appears that the companies that are doing better are the ones that are successfully making the effort to focus on niches, capability and customer needs. Product evolution and increasing volume will not fuel rapid and profitable growth as they once did. Success now means a focus on being "best of class." Becoming highly focused is daunting because it requires all employees at all levels to believe, to understand, to together remain focused on continually being the best they can be.

Working together. In many conversations this past year with suppliers, competitors and customers I saw firsthand how working together could profitably benefit all. It is interesting how many materials and technologies were either introduced or used more broadly. Such advancements required all segments of the supply chain to work together. Despite some trash-talk provoked by nationalistic sentiments, frustrating business conditions and overall uncertainty, we as an industry may finally be realizing that collaboration also strengthens individual businesses. Innovative new technologies and demanding customer expectations will require cool heads who, together, can develop better processes and provide world-class products. I believe the successes from the past year provide a blueprint for working together.

As I look back it certainly appears that while we still have the Stupid & Bad, more than enough Inspiring & Good things occurred to give optimism that this year will be a whole lot better.

PETER BIGELOW is president and CEO of IMI (imipeb.com). He can be reached at [e-mail].