3M

Joel Gardner is a Senior Manufacturing Technology Specialist at 3M with over 20 years’ experience in process orchestration, AI transformation, and driving innovations in business process design across diverse industries.

For the magazine Manufacturing Technology Insights, he shared invaluable insights on how manufacturing success at 3M relies on eliminating waste, inconsistency, and overburden (the 3Ms: Muda, Mura, Muri) to create efficient, sustainable, and high-quality production processes.

1. Can You Walk Us Briefly Through Your Leadership Role As Senior Manufacturing Technology Specialist? What Are Your Key Responsibilities And Areas Of Focus?

I’m responsible for designing and deploying machine vision systems for automated systems in manufacturing for a variety of 3M products including Scotch Blue™ Painter’s Tape, 3M respirators, Trizact™ abrasives, and many more. That means working with a broad team of technical experts while also maintaining my own expertise in imaging technology and vision software. Once the systems are installed, I ensure high performance through periodic troubleshooting and training. 3M has an international manufacturing footprint with over 100 sites and I set and deploy the global machine vision strategy to ensure high quality while also enabling high speed automation for assembly.

2. What Are The Most Overlooked Early Warning Signs That Often Lead To Prolonged Troubleshooting In Manufacturing Systems?

Prolonged troubleshooting occurs when there is poor understanding and poor communication of the root cause of the problems. Red herrings are very often debilitating to troubleshooting and it is important to recognize when the wrong path is being taken. I’ve been on too many machines where engineers argue about the root causes of problems and try to address things that don’t need any attention at all.

“Seeing technology in action on the shop floor ignites leadership enthusiasm, driving better engagement and commitment to solving manufacturing challenges.”

I greatly value process monitoring systems because they quickly align teams on the root causes of problems. When good diagnostic systems can pinpoint the problems immediately, this allows the team to be united in the same direction to solve the root cause.

3. Troubleshooting Often Depends On The Skillset Of Frontline Teams. What Practices Or Training Approaches Can Help Operators And Technicians Diagnose Issues More Effectively Under Pressure?

I train people to communicate problems effectively by using a template like “The vision system is incorrectly passing/ failing percent of parts for the inspection criteria at Station.” This is immensely more helpful than “The vision system isn’t working.” By training the front-line team to be able to fill in the blanks to that statement, many times, they’re able to solve the problem themselves by actually engaging the system rather than treating it like a black box. When they do reach out, I have a jump start in troubleshooting because I have the most critical information. This method also challenges me to make diagnostic information readily available. Together, we’re able to collaborate effectively when high pressure issues arise.

4. Many Plants Now Use Connected Equipment. What Best Practices Ensure That Sensor and Machine Data Is Not Only Collected But Converted Into Actionable Insights During Downtime?

In the medical profession, doctors and other health care providers are trained not to order a test unless they know what they’ll do with the results. For example, they don’t just order an MRI or X-ray to see what it looks like; they order it to help make decisions for the particular situation.

Similarly, in the manufacturing environment, engineers need to be clear about why something is being measured to drive specific decisions. Yield, uptime, and throughput are typical metrics and tools like Six Sigma (IPO charts, C&E matrix, fishbone diagrams, etc.) can help to tease out what data are needed from the connected system to drive those output metrics. If a clear link can’t be drawn between the connected data and the output metrics, they are just noise to the manufacturing team. Conversely, if a clear link can be drawn, it is important to train the team that when a certain value is out of control, the root cause is clearly defined and corrective action instructions can be followed. This makes the troubleshooting process much more straightforward for everyone.

5. If You Could Give One Piece Of Advice To Manufacturing Leaders Looking To Transform Their Troubleshooting Approach Over The Next Five Years, What Would It Be?

Standard work while also dealing with variability is critical to success in manufacturing. The costs of poor-quality increases exponentially as you deviate from the centerline for your key process variables. So, keep all the processes as close to the centerline as possible and have clear instructions on how to return to the centerline. And of course, preventative maintenance is critical for avoiding catastrophic deviations from the centerline as well. If the inputs are good and the process is followed to plan, the outputs should be high quality.