Execs Meet to Build Leadership Skills.

With the quiet Phoenix-area desert serving as the setting for the 1999 AFS Foundry Executive Management Conference, nearly 130 executives stepped away from their daily operations on October 17-20 to network and revisit their roles as effective leaders. With a theme of "Leadership Based on Values," the conference covered a range of issues and was highlighted by the presentation of AFS management awards to two retired foundry executives: Pennsylvania Steel Foundry & Machine's Dan Goodyear and Waupaca Foundry's Don Brunner.

Team Management

Consultant Lawrence King guided attendees through roundtable-style exercises on "building an entrepreneurial team for strategic success." The session involved attendees sharing profiles of winning work teams and a series of activities in which executives evaluated their staffs and themselves.

Among the key principles of winning work teams, said King, is that members feel challenged. "We're a challenge-seeking species," he said. "Go back, challenge people and stamp out all comfort. We can't accomplish all we're capable of when we are comfortable."

The other common denominator is fun. When people recall their best team experience, they say "it was the hardest I ever worked, but the most fun I've ever had in a business situation." King encouraged attendees to create an atmosphere of "high-level adult play." The secret to attracting and retaining top members, he said, is a real sense of winning measured by a shared scorecard.

King also outlined the role of the CEO as strategist, ambassador, inventor, coach, investor and student. He said CEOs must coach and recognize (more so than most are doing today) team members, as well as correct mediocre performers. "Companies are held back more than anything by a toleration of mediocrity, even for the best of reasons."

Impact of Safe Operations

A special panel focused on safe workplace achievements. Society Insurance's Tom Abts demonstrated how controlling the workers' compensation incident rate impacts the bottom-line, both in terms of direct (medical and compensation) and indirect costs that include loss of production, lost time by coworkers and supervisors, retraining time, modified duty assignment costs, etc. These hidden costs (often 4 times higher than direct costs) are the iceberg beneath the surface, he said. "Reducing claims activity by implementing a safety and health program can significantly lower policy costs."

John Wilson described Citation/Southern Aluminum's record in safety and its continuous improvements made since 1996. In addition to morale improvements, these include 93% and 40% reductions in injury and workers' compensation rates, as well as the total elimination of lost time injuries.

Noting that continuous improvement in safety is a key component of the firm's 5-year-plan, he outlined the implementation components of management commitment, teamwork and recognition. He also described the benefits of strict housekeeping and training as well as simple changes such as arranging guarded aisles for pedestrians to reduce forklift accidents.

Tim Flanagan described Grede-Greenwood's (South Carolina) current safety record, which includes nearly 4 million man-hr without a lost-time accident and an OSHA incident rate that is 80% below the industry standard. "Zero is the only goal for any injury rate," he said. "Perfection is tough, but unless you strive for excellence, you can never have periods of perfection."

Over the first three years of the program, Grede-Greenwood has seen the following improvements: downtime--236%; scrap--295%; gross returns--480%, foundry loss--650%, delivery--30%; and OSHA incident rate--4400%.

Washington Outlook

Stephanie Salmon, AFS Washington, updated the group on OSHA's plan to dramatically lower the permissible exposure limit for silica, which if passed, could be one-half of the current level that OSHA has failed to enforce to date. She urged foundry executives to participate in the groups that have been established as well as participate in a feasibility study that will show the economic and technical impact that the proposed ruling would have on the metalcasting industry.

Also from the AFS Washington Office, Diana Waterman spoke of the 2000 election and how every issue in Congress will now be tied to re-election efforts. With the tight current majority and the number of seats opening up, she said "This is the first election in 52 years with so much at stake. The winning party will be poised to shape public policy and business attitudes for the next decade."