Sarah Mauragis on women in Continuous Improvement in manufacturing

Sarah Mauragis runs Continuous Improvement at Flow Rite Controls, which manufacturers, and markets fluid control devices for lead acid batteries, recreational fishing boats, laboratories, and medical uses.

During high school, Sarah Mauraugis read an article in Seventeen Magazine about women in STEM, which set her on a course towards engineering. Today, she heads Continuous Improvement at Flow-Rite Controls, a manufacturer of fluid control devices based in Byron Michigan. 

Ben Merton talks to her about the advantages of being a woman in a male-dominated world, how she builds and manages Flow-Rite's Kaizen funnel and some fascinating insights into methods she uses to build a culture of continuous improvement. He also talks to her about:

• Why being a woman can give you an advantage over men to come up with creative ways to solve problems that men often overlook.
• How Flow-Rite's has boosted innovation by adopting a rule that every employee must submit at least one continuous improvement idea each year.
• How Sarah builds and maintains Flow-Rite's Kaizen funnel using Excel sheets and whiteboards to address the 8 wastes, reducing wastage of scrap, energy and other resources
• A deeper insight into the result of a Kaizen into how the company was using its inventory management system, and the problems that result from band-aid software customizations that often add unnecessary steps to repetitive computer-related work.
• Why the current and future shortage of labour in manufacturing will hopefully drive efficiencies in communication and team management.
• Automation needs a human touch: it's not good enough just to invest in the latest and greatest machine. You need to understand how your employees will interact with new equipment to avoid waste.
• How measuring the success of a Continuous Improvement project does not just come down to savings and improved material flow. It's when new ways of doing things come from within and happen without coercion.
• Continous improvment is about shepherding from the rear. There's no such thing as a Continuous Improvement manager; you're really just a facilitator and cheerleader.
• Women should strive to overcome stereotypes and break the mould because manufacturing desperately needs the diversity to solve real problems.