Why Every Supply Chain Needs an Army of Problem Solvers
In this episode of the Auto Supply Chain Prophets podcast, Beth Crowley, Chief Resilience Officer and president of the Crowley Group, joins hosts Terry Onica and Jan Griffiths to dive into the topic of resiliency and its significance in today's auto supply chain.
Beth starts by defining resilience, explaining that it's more than just an industry term; it's the ability of organizations and supply chains to adapt and bounce back from challenges.
The pandemic has heightened the urgency for companies to adopt resilient practices, and the data suggests that major disruptions are becoming more frequent. That's why Beth suggests that resilience should be woven into the culture, with everyone—from the front lines to the C-suite—playing a part in strengthening the supply chain.
Reflecting on the common tendency for companies to prioritize immediate crisis management over proactive planning, they discuss how automotive culture often glorifies the "firefighters" who save the day rather than encouraging a resilient mindset from the start. Beth suggests that organizations shift this perspective by training an "army of problem solvers" and integrating resilience into daily operations.
She shares practical advice for training teams, suggesting that even small organizations can identify recurring issues and use them as learning opportunities to build a stronger problem-solving culture.
Beth urges leaders to invest in their people, build resilient processes, and rethink their view of contingency planning—not as a task but as an integral part of their organizational mindset. Tune in to discover how to turn resilience into a foundational practice that drives success for your supply chain!
Themes discussed in this episode:
- Understanding resilience in today’s automotive supply chain
- The importance of organizations adapting to unexpected events and preparing for future disruptions
- The role of leadership in building resilient organizations
- Creating a culture where all employees are equipped and empowered to solve problems
- Moving away from a “firefighting” mentality to a proactive approach focused on continuous improvement and long-term resilience
- Rethinking contingency planning as an ongoing cultural practice rather than a one-time task
- Why investing in people and problem-solving training are essential components of a resilient organization
Featured on this episode:
Name: Beth Crowley
Title: President, The Crowley Group
About: Beth Crowley’s passion for Operations and Continuous Improvement runs deep in her family, tracing back to her grandfather’s pioneering work at Ford during World War II. After earning a BA and MBA in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University, Beth’s career began with roles focused on Lean and Continuous Improvement. She has since held positions at companies like AlliedSignal, UNISYS, and Maytag, where she advanced her expertise in transforming organizations. A Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, Beth is now a sought-after consultant, part-time faculty member at Oakland University, podcast guest, and regular contributor to the Lean community.
Connect: LinkedIn
Mentioned in this episode:
- QAD Transform Europe
- Path to Resiliency: Build an Army of Problem-Solvers
- Art and Craft of AI for Business Resilience
- 100 Resilient Cities
- Past episode with Beth Crowley: Lean Manufacturing: Thriving or Dying in Today's Automotive Supply Chain
Episode Highlights:
[02:05] Bend, Don't Break: Beth defines resiliency as the ability to bend without breaking, whether in people or supply chains. She says a resilient organization is powered by an army of problem solvers—individuals equipped to adapt, tackle challenges, continuously improve processes, and face whatever comes their way.
[05:10] An Endless Journey of Improvement: Executives understand the importance of resilience but often struggle to achieve it. Beth points to the value of empowering teams to handle disruptions, drawing from a recent AI and business resilience class to emphasize that resilience isn't a final goal—it's a continuous journey of improvement.
[07:56] The Secret to Resilient Organizations: Building a resilient organization isn't just about having a backup plan; it's about fostering a culture where everyone feels empowered to tackle challenges head-on. As Beth points out, with unexpected events on the rise, cultivating a team of proactive problem solvers ensures everyone is ready to support each other when crises strike.
[15:13] The Chief Resiliency Officer: Beth explains the evolving role of a Chief Resiliency Officer and how building a resilient organization is more than just strategy—it's about creating a culture of problem-solvers across every department. From high-level leadership to day-to-day operations, resilience starts with empowering teams to tackle issues head-on.
[18:05] Training Your Army of Problem Solvers: Beth dives into the practical approach of turning everyday challenges into training opportunities. By jumping in, mapping out the issue, and leading by example, employees learn to tackle future challenges on their own.
[19:48] Start Small, Bounce Back Big: Beth calls on leaders to start small and use what's available to build resilience. Empowering teams to tackle issues head-on creates a culture where challenges are met with a proactive approach and the ability to bounce back stronger each time.
Top Quotes:
[03:03] Beth: “Resiliency, when it goes from being people to being whether organizations or it's a supply chain or something like that, it means that it's so good that you can throw anything at that process, and it's going to bounce back. It's going to adapt to whatever that is. It's got the flexibility and the toughness to handle whatever comes at them. And in these uncertain times, we all need that with organizations, with our supply chain, with the economy, with people.”
[04:40] Beth: “If you're resilient, that means you're always looking at these processes, and you're always striving to get better because you're trying to manage all of the defects out of whatever that process is. So, it's the same thing with your supply chain. You're trying to manage the risks. You're trying to identify what they are, but you need the people who are trained on problem-solving so that when one of these issues comes up in front of them, they have the tools to deal with it.”
[09:36] Beth: “The only things at the time they had a contingency for were IT and big systems. It wasn't the supply chain. And if this supplier goes down, where are we going to get that from? And even though we have second sources and all that, there was no real good laid-out plan because nobody thought something like the pandemic would happen that would cause the global supply chain to be in crisis, right? Now, the data is saying every 3 and a half years, something major is going to happen. So, it's imperative that we build a process that's adaptable and flexible to handle it to say, uh-oh, this just happened. But I know what we're going to do. We're going to have a team. We're going to go through this, whatever the process is. And we know that we're going to come out on the other side in a better place”
[17:20] Beth: “There are two kinds of resiliency like I was saying, there's one that's high-level strategy, organization, supply chain, financials. And then, there is the how do we get there? And no matter where you are in the organization, I still believe that it's about that culture of problem solvers. So, would you need somebody in every department? Probably. It's just like the total quality that we did in the nineties and doing Lean and continuous improvement in AlliedSignal and everywhere else that we did this. You have to have the mindset of the people and leadership going in the same direction. And it's hard. It's hard to do because everyone is used to doing things the way that they've done them.”
[20:00] Beth: “Use the resources that you have. And again, it might just be in a different way. Whatever that problem that gets you, like I said, daily, weekly, monthly, the ones that repeat; start attacking those. It doesn't take much. It might take a whiteboard and a person or two, and a lot of times, it's a couple of hours. These are the things I do for companies when I go in as a consultant trying to help them. What's your biggest problem? Okay. Point me in the direction. I'll go do some digging, and I'll be back, and then we'll talk about it some more. And that's all it takes.”
Transcript
[Transcript]
[: [: [: [: [: [: [: [: [: [:So, what's interesting to me is we're talking about a resilient, as an example, resilient supply chain. Last week, I was at a conference at Michigan State, the Supply Chain Conference, and Liz Door was there who's the VP of Supply Chain for Ford. And she was talking about building a resilient supply chain, and she had things like value chain transparency and mitigating risks, and worry about your suppliers and what are your suppliers going to do. But what about the people? What about the problem-solving? What about the organization? That's where I'm interested in resiliency. I believe if you build an army of problem solvers, they will build processes that are resilient with built-in discipline and ownership. If you have a seat at the table to create something new and you feel ownership within that, it's going back to TPS and lean and the things we've talked about before. But if you're resilient, that means you're always looking at these processes, and you're always striving to get better because you're trying to manage all of the defects out of whatever that process is. So, it's the same thing with your supply chain. You're trying to manage out the risks. You're trying to identify what they are, but you need the people who are trained in problem-solving so that when one of these issues comes up in front of them, they have the tools to deal with it.
[: [:So, the very last line of the class, and I went back and grabbed the transcript so I could, you know, so I would have the quote exactly right for you ladies today. And the last line of his class was, 'After all, resilience is about continuous improvement, not a final destination. So, keep on pushing forward.' And I just thought, this is exactly, my whole life, this is what I'm trying to do. To say, Okay, if we have executives that have the strategy, but they've got to invest in the people, they've got to invest in problem-solving processes so that when something happens, not only do they know what to do, all the employees, but now the leadership, if there's a decision-making framework within these problem-solving processes, now leadership understands exactly the process that this team or this person went through to solve this problem. So, now they know, yes, we checked this. We did this because it's part of that process that they always follow.
[: [: [: [: [: [: [: [:[00:13:46] Jan Griffiths: I like that approach. Here's where I think my thinking was flawed. I think that I've looked at contingency planning as a task, and that's the flawed thinking. It's not a task. It has to be, just like you said, it's got to be an army of problem solvers. It's got to be the way that you think, the way that you do things; it's got to be ingrained in your culture. And that is very difficult, but it does go right hand in hand with the principles of Lean, as you've said many times, and the authentic leadership culture. It all works together, doesn't it?
[: [: [: [: [: [: [: [: [: [: [: [: [: