72 SMT007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2022
importantly, we used feeder racks and mini-
mized lost time due to 'shopping' for compo-
nents. By communicating the importance of
uptime with the team, they made improve-
ments on their own as well."
John couldn't wait to speak, adding, "But
what the team did for lunch was amazing."
"My granddaughter's okay boyfriend chimes
in. Tell us more." Grandpa Benson said.
Aer a few more chuckles from all, John said,
"e team worked out a way to avoid shutting
the lines down over lunch. It brought uptime
to 45%."
"Maggie, I know you were really the driv-
ing force behind all of this, so you should say
something," Grandma Benson said.
"Well, it was a team effort, and Professor
Patty Coleman was our coach, but we have
neglected to say how important the people at
both Benson and Ivy Benson were. Aer we
shared the goals, they all chipped in. To recog-
nize their efforts, we were able to increase sal-
aries significantly. e productivity improve-
ments and team efforts also increased morale,"
Maggie elaborated.
"I understand that some of the people were
anxious when you took over," Grandma Ben-
son replied.
"e folks were nervous, but we put them at
ease by announcing there would be no layoffs,
and that we would actually be hiring," Mag-
gie said. "We also explained that we would be
establishing training and education programs."
"Don't forget everyone also got a raise," John
added.
"John is right," Maggie said. "We gave every-
one a 10% raise the first day and several other
raises as productivity increased."
"All of those raises were kind of gutsy," said
Grandpa Benson.
"Yes, a little," Maggie responded. "But I
remember that when I was a little girl you told
me, 'Maggie, if you take care of the people,
they will take care of you.' You were right, as
our profits have exploded."
More pleasant conversation continued.
Meanwhile in the Ivy Benson Electronics
breakroom…
Twenty-year-old Andy Connors and 19-year-
old Sue March have become a little more than
friends. Let's look in on
them in the breakroom
at Ivy Benson Electron-
ics (Figure 1).
"How'd you do on the
SMT test Chuck Tower
gave us?" Sue asked.
"I used the wisdom
of one of my friends
who works up at Ben-
son Electronics, 'Better
to not take the test and
be thought a fool, than
to take it and remove all
doubt,'" Andy answered
with a chuckle.
"Chuck told me I
didn't do too bad,"
Sue said. "I was more
than 10 points above
the average, but I was
Figure 1: Illustration of Andy and Sue in the breakroom at Ivy Benson,
discussing the SMT test.
