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Churchill: The Agile PM (Part 18)
Most people are very familiar with Winston Churchill but may not be familiar with his “agile” approach to project management and his skills as a PM in the summer of 1940. With an invasion imminent, Part 17 looked at how Lord Beaverbrook made an immediate impact at the Ministry of Aircraft production (MAP) by securing raw materials, labor and building public good will. This article looks at how Beaverbrook focused on the problems of fighter production and took an unorthodox approach that brought in ideas and best practices from other industries.
Beaverbrook knew that the target fighter production rate of 200 fighters per month (Part 9) was simply not acceptable. Therefore, he oversaw the following initiatives to improve the efficiency of the supply chain:
The supply chain was revamped to improve agility and speed up delivery output. Production of fighters was limited from five to two proven types--the Hurricane and Spitfire--which were already in quantity production. Fewer aircraft types left in production eliminated some business processes. An agreement dictated that--at least until the end of September 1940--all efforts were to be concentrated on the production of just Hurricanes and Spitfires, with fighters having higher priority over bombers. If it was profitable, then labor from other aircraft factories was to be transferred as well. …
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw |