Does lifting a barn sound like an impossible task? Well Herman Ostry, a farmer in Bruno, Nebraska did it. And so can you.

Shortly after buying a piece of property, a nearby creek flooded, covering Mr. Ostry’s new barn with 29 inches of water. Herman half-jokingly said to his family, “I bet if we had enough people, we could pick up that barn and carry it to higher ground.” To his surprise, his son Mike started thinking about his father’s wish. Mike counted the number of boards, timbers, and nails, estimating the barn’s weight at 19,000 pounds. Mike figured that 344 people would have to lift only 55 pounds each to carry the barn to higher ground.

On June 30, 1988, Herman’s son ingeniously designed a grid of steel tubing to serve as the barn “handles”. Herman counted “one, two, three, lift!” The barn rose up off the ground like it weighed nothing at all. A crowd cheered as they watched 344 townspeople carry the 9 ton barn 50 yards up a hill in just 3 minutes!!!

Mike Ostry solved what seemed to be an impossible task by:

1. looking at the problem with a new perspective;
2. defining resource requirements;
3. defining a simple common goal;
4. spreading the workload evenly; and,
5. focusing everyone in one direction.

Does the job of cutting your costs 10% to 15% this year while simultaneously improving quality and service appear to be an insurmountable job? You can do it if you’ll simply use the Mike Ostry approach to problem solving:

1. use ABM reports to provide an new perspective of costs;
2. train all your employees“How to Use ABM for Continuous Improvement”;
3. define a cost improvement target and timeframe;
4. require every department to improveperformance; and,
5. require each activity and process improvement idea be presented to the plant manager or presidentby each department’s employees.

Divide the job of cost improvement among all your employees and conquer what today may seem impossible. ICMS can help you move your cost reduction “barn”. Do you need to cut costs by 10% or more this year? ICMS can train your employees “How To” create and use ABM reports to define measurable continuous improvement action plans that will meet or beat your 1997 cost improvement goals.

Don’t wait any longer. Spread the role and responsibility of continuous improvement throughout your entire organization with the ICMS “Using ABM for Continuous Improvement” workbook and onsite workshop. Don’t underestimate the exponential power of ABM when it is placed in the hands of your focused, trained employees.

Call us today at ph 817-475-2945 to order our very popular “Using ABM for Continuous Improvement”workbook, request a FREE copy of our ABM Cost Improvement workshop agenda, or to discuss your specific needs.