Leadership...In Manufacturing Sector

Leadership is one of the words those have got highest numbers of "hits" on http://www.google.com/ still, the number of hits is not decreasing in any sense. Millions of authors have written billions of the books on this topic. Trillions of attributes in different forms have been written on this topic. Surely, it is one of the most coveted topics in the Business arena, because there is charisma attached with this word, there is so much enthusiasm, so much energy, so much passion is driven by this word that world has started seeing this word "leadership" with awe. Truly speaking, Leaders are like Trees which are same at their stem or trunk but are different at their branches. From far they might look same but as you will look closer onto the trees you will find completely different woven fabric of branches, leaves and seminal fluid (mucous) that is running inside the branches. And in true sense this difference gives the tree its"Identity". Let me give you a simple example. Wiston Churchil and Mahatma Gandhi are the two greatest leaders that political arena has ever seen. Still they were different in their approaches. Similarly you can not compare Mahatma Gandhi to Laxmi MIttal, or Laxmi mittal to Steve waugh. Or Jack Welch to Laxmi mittal. You can not compare to Mother Taresa to Valdmir Putin or OBAMA to Mother Taresa. The Picture is clear, Leaders immerse out of situations, not that a single leader definition fits all the credentials of the One-fit-all size. Here I will talk about the leadership in the Manufacturing Sector. First to know about the sector itself, I must confess one thing. Manufacturing is different than the other businesses. So first we must know the attribute of the industry before jotting down any thing about the attributes of the leaders of this industry.
Attributes of manufacturing Sector...
1. Man-Man-Man: This is completely man driven industry. It is significantly contributing to the employment of any nation. When agrarian industry could not feed so many mouths, manufacturing industry came into the scene. So one more thing is obvious that most of the employees into this industry are of agrarian background or have been eployed by this industry. It simply means that these people are not exposed to basic facilities that are considered essential to the urban people. These people are no so well educated. In nutshell they lack intellectual power as compare to the others. This is quite evident in the kind of demand they put forward through their UNION body. Such as need for clean food, Clean toilets. Distribution of the sweets at various occasions, long leaves at Festivals and overtime for any extra work they do at work place. In true sense they aspire to be rich but due to the Market forces they are not able to do so. Wage scheme provided by the government further ensures this so most of the activities in any manufacturing sector are driven my manpower. Visions can be shattered if the manpower is aligned to the ulterior goals of the enterprise. The Synergy of manpower and management is sin-qua-non for the success of the organization.
2. Technology: Technology makes this sector the employment temple for billions of engineers, diploma holders, designers, and innovators. Technology in this sector is responsible for the overall increase of the efficiency of manpower. Role of the engineer also is to increase the efficiency of the whole system as a whole. It must act in accordance to the goals of the organization. Technology at times was introduced to deter the manpower, making them realize that Technology can replace them. It was true up to one sense but very soon it was realized that it is not possible to use technology effectively without the co-operation of manpower. And then onwards terms like "people-centric-technology" were become buzz word in this industry. Fro CAD-CAM to PRO-E, from CATIA to NISA. From Painting technology- Electrostatic guns to Pneumatic guns, from large conveyors to robotic welding, from semiconductor industry to steel manufacturing industry, Technology is integral part of this industry.
3. Consumer or Product: Finally the user of the products of this industry is user. It uses the products to satisfy it needs, to make his/her status symbol, to flaunt and at times for luxury. So the benchmark of the quality has also increased in that order. And over all Quality has become like galaxies that are expanding day by day. Initially it was meting the customer expectation. But now it has changed to exceeding the customer expectation. So quality has become more of the intangible attribute than a tangible attribute. So making products with intangible attributes has become really a Hercules task for the manufacturing industry. So consumer wants products on time and of best quality. So with these three attributes the nature of leader emerges for this industry.
Leadership Attribute for Manufacturing 1: Harness the Brain power...Here brain power is not of highest creativity or special fecundity(Reasons can be many) but surely there is untapped creativity everywhere. So It is utmost important for a leader in manufacturing to harness the employees of the organization bit by bit so that things can be improved. One very good example of this is KAIZEN. Companies like Toyota have done miracles with this tool. It has decreased costs, Increased productivity, reduced downtimes, increased manpower involvement and above all increased customer satisfaction. These incremental innovations can really backbone of the organization. But again, it is as art to harness the creativity or make the individuals work to the 120% of their creativity. It takes a different kind of personality to get the things done, and more than that trough involvement of the people. You have to read the nerve of the individuals , a frequency of motivation you have to choose for every individual. Harnessing the brain power of the individuals will fructify in the longer run in the welfare of the both employees and organization.
Leadership Attribute for Manufacturing 2: Lead from Front...
You can not be Boss in the industry, (and if you can then you can not earn the respect that will make you suffer in later of your career) you have to make the people realize that you are superior to them in every walk of life. In this industry it is utmost important that you lead from the front. .Know your work. This is very important gradient for this industry. If you do not know that you might pay the price for the same. GENCHI-GENBUTSU, GEMBA Management, See yourself. These all terms are invented in this industry only where you must see the problems by yourself and that would be best way to lead. You can not rely upon the power point presentations and the glib talks of MBA Executives. Definitely you can not. At times you have to show the true mettle of yourself by taking real life successful decisions. You need to lead the people by involving them in decision making and it takes courage to face the real doer. You can not always boast about your past achievements. Like any tennis player, you have to fight for your status on daily basis. You have to be mentally tough, Strong character, empathetic towards people around and above all Great communicator who has conviction in his thoughts.

Leadership Attribute for Manufacturing 3: Be innovative ...
This word may sounds simple but this is not, it takes a lot to be innovative in this industry. And when everything that you make has already been done on the CATIA or PRO E, what else is left to be innovative. But Major part is operations on daily basis. It gives you ample amount of opportunity to be innovative. Systems employed to get the things done throws several opportunities to be innovative at the shop floor. IT is very important for the overall strategic goal of the company such as Cost cutting, Productivity improvement, Safe working conditions, and Customer satisfaction.

This is first part of article.....There are several aspects of Leadership fo this industry that should be taken care of. These will be included in coming articles.