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August 2015 • The PCB Magazine 23 Let's look at question three: How do we quickly identify where and how the waste is being produced? This question is answered naturally when using the systems improvement tools described above. In particular, we know that usually 20% of the sources of waste will contribute 80% to total waste. For example, when we make a sys- tem visible and identify the critical 20% of the variables driving 80% of the throughput of the system, it is usually quite evident where the critical 20% of the waste is coming from. Fix the critical 20% and we cut 80% of the waste. Then, work on the new critical 20% within the system(s) and so on. Finally, we'll examine question four: How do we improve supplier technical support? Again, the question is systems related. Whatever system you have in place now for supplier technical support, either formal or in- formal, is producing less than stellar supplier technical support. If you want better support, you have to change the system. Start by making your existing system visible using the disrup- tive discovery and systems distillation process- es. Once the system is on the wall and visible, identify the critical 20% and optimize those parts of the system. However, if the system is too dysfunctional, it may be better to start with a blank canvas and create the system anew. To do this, run the processes described above ask- ing the question, how should this work to sus- tainably produce optimum supplier technical support? You'll find that 20% of the variables will deliver 80% of the results you want. Identi- fy the critical 20% and build your system about those variables. Sustainable Results: What's Possible with the Strong Support of Systems-Thinking Leaders A $30 million company that lost $9 million in fiscal 2013 moved to a $1.1 million profit in 11 months with no layoffs. This is a bit of an anom- aly in that an entire team of leaders and manag- ers had already been trained in the use of the described model and tools when this company collapsed. Once the previous CEO and his hires were removed by the board in 2013 and replaced by a systems thinking CEO we had trained, the results speak for themselves—probably unprec- edented in the history of this industry. A 650-person company reduced turnover from 27% to 4.3% in 14 months. It is well known that excessive turnover of employees is one of the largest, mostly hidden costs and disrupters in any business. We found that the leading causes of employee defections (in most businesses) are poor systems that do not set the employee up for success, and poor, non-sys- tems-based leadership or management. With Forbes reporting 70% of the U.S. workforce disengaged, it appears our legacy leadership and management models are, in many cases, obsolete. With tens of millions of Millennials coming into the workforce who are clearly not responding to old leadership and management models, the war on failure is also a war on leg- acy non-systems-based leadership and manage- ment models. A small company (24 people) was ranked in the bottom 5% in customer satisfaction when compared to 270 competitors nationwide. In 12 months, the company enjoyed a move into the 96 th percentile in customer satisfaction when compared to its competitors. In the pro- cess, the company moved from years of losses THE WAR oN FAILURE continues FeAture