In my last column, I stated that the answer to meeting the challenges of the new millennium is in the development of world-class

skills, understanding and management processes. Only through this investment in people will we ever fully utilize the capabilities and potential of world-class software and technology. Only through the synergy and integration of people, process and technology can we profit from our Y2K system project.

The cornerstone in developing our people is education. This is not a software training program. A training program answers questions, i.e., "How does this screen work?" and "How do we enter orders into the system?" This vendor-supplied training is rote knowledge. Only one right answer — a certain keystroke (or keystrokes) produces one result. Unless, of course, your PC is possessed like mine — it truly does have a mind of its own.

An education program addresses the question, "How do we run our business?" What are the operational management processes that will produce accurate forecasts and inventory or reduce administrative and manufacturing cycle time? It addresses how to achieve the formalized and fool-proofed management processes that allow an integrated closed-loop enterprise resource planning (ERP) and/or supply chain management (SCM) business system to work properly.

Unlike training, there is not one answer for every business. Rather, there are certain strategies, processes and tactics high-performance businesses use that are the basis of a tailored solution to meet our exact business needs.

Our education program must be the catalyst of change. There is a strong, vested interest in the current way we do business. This love of nostalgia and the status quo is not led by the forklift driver but by senior and middle management who developed these processes. They, by the way, can outline every reason things must not change. They can rationalize any shortfall in results, even though these processes will not support an integrated business system's minimum requirements for accurate plans and schedules, data integrity and execution of one plan on the manufacturing floor, or even if they result in thousands of dollars and delays to modify systems.

To achieve world-class results from education, we must have a world-class education design. We must take the above-mentioned negatives — change creates discomfort — and ego, and convert these energies into positives. We must not tell our people what to do. We must have an educational design that allows them, on their own, to discover a better way of doing business and through management team discussion convince themselves of the merits of this approach. The ideas for improvement will be their own and result in an evolution of the current processes, not a revolution.

This is an applied education learning design. The emphasis is not on fact transfer only, as in training. A student being able to define a master schedule means nothing unless the concept is used to run the business. The key is applying the facts transferred through interaction and discussion, and the "students" making the changes that will improve the business performance.

In an applied education learning design, a student learns through a mix of live and multimedia education what world-class performance can do, what is most important and why these processes are optimal — in other words, the strategies, tactics and processes they have in place that create excellence and the logic of these specific approaches.

Through group discussion and team group exercises students are required to show how they can apply these concepts to their business. Open-ended questions require direct application to their environment; they are required to develop an action plan and then outline the performance improvements that will occur by these changes.

Using this education design, agreement may not come easily, but that is constructive. Differing perspectives, even opposing views, will help form group cohesiveness. Because everyone is involved and heard, there is belief and ownership in the changes required. ERP and SCM become the student's project, not that of the IT department. They have a personal stake in its success. By having the total company participate in this education process, we create a business solution, not just a technical solution.

World-class results are achieved by many people taking many small steps that culminate in large permanent improvements. These improvements will create an environment where motivated people will fully utilize the information created and capabilities of a world-class business system to make better management decisions to achieve world-class results.

Mike Jacobi is vice president of Buker, Inc. and can be reached at 847-855-8554 or [email protected]