Notes · Operations, projects and managers
A week in the life of a plant general manager
Most descriptions of a general manager’s job list responsibilities. A week shows what the job is actually made of. Here is mine, at FFG Bags in Vietnam.
The weekly rhythm
Monday belongs to the steering meetings. One with the sales and project team to review status, progress and the decisions they need from me. One with the development team to review progress and plan the week.
Wednesday is a spot review with the project leaders: data collection and analysis, internal applications and other improvement projects. It is short and it keeps small projects from drifting.
Once a month, on a Thursday, the management team reviews all the KPIs and the dashboard. We share company news and customer news, and we look at what competitors and the market are doing.
The part that is not in the calendar
Floor time, every day. At least fifteen minutes in the morning and again at the end of the day. Once a week I also walk a line with its supervisor. Reports tell me what happened; the floor tells me why, and what nobody thought to write down.
Two things always take more than I plan for. People issues, such as a sudden resignation, and customer visits. I have stopped treating them as interruptions. They are part of the job, so I keep room in the week for them.
What only I do
Two things are mine alone.
- Approval above a set threshold. For investments and expenses over that line, I am the only approver, so the company’s largest commitments pass through one desk.
- Direction for the units I run. I start from the company objectives and the budget, give direction to each department manager, review their action plans and approve them. After that, they run their plan.
Everything else, I try to hand off. A week that is full of my own decisions on small matters means the managers are not yet running their areas.
What this shape gives me
Fixed meetings mean nobody has to chase me for a decision. The monthly review means a number that drifts is seen within weeks instead of at year end. The floor time keeps all of it honest.
Questions this note answers
- What does a plant general manager do in a week?
- Sets direction and approves what only they can approve, runs fixed review meetings with sales, projects and development, reviews the figures once a month, and spends time on the floor every day. People issues and customer visits take more time than planned.
- How much time should a general manager spend on the shop floor?
- At least a short walk at the start and at the end of every working day, plus a line walk with a supervisor once a week. The length matters less than the regularity.
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