PODCAST: Keeping Culture Change Constant and Consistent

In this episode of the MoldMaking Technology/Manufacturing Alliance podcast, Christina and Tony meet up with Westminster Tool’s Hillary Coombs and MJ Belmont. You might recall Westminster Tool from MMT’s feature on their innovative training and workforce development practices, and they’re here to talk about it some more, as well as discuss how they’ve updated their strategies since the feature. Change isn’t easy, but Westminster Tool has kept at it and seen success from the measures they’ve taken, and in this episode, they share just what makes them strive for keeping up continuous change.

Here are some highlights from their conversation:

Hillary is getting married — Congrats!
If you love bad dad jokes, you’ll love the ones Hillary and MJ share.
“If you run a business properly, you're never done fixing something. You're never done improving.”
Everything around you is constantly changing, so your business must be changing, too. There’s no button to instantly change things for the better; you must work hard at continuously making improvements.
“You learn how to improve every day. You learn how to track your own metrics.”
At the end of the day, someone could be the best mold designer or toolmaker in the world, but they can still not fit in with the company culture.
Seasoned professionals and next generation workforces don’t have to be at odds with one another. They can learn from one another.
Hire slow, fire fast.
For customers, Westminster Tool has the saying “your challenge is unique, so is our solution.”
After the Westminster Tool video came out, the company had businesses coming out to visit them, interested in their workforce development practices.
Other companies who visited had excuses for why the Westminster model wouldn’t work for their business. It's easier to say why this won't work than to try it. The only way change happens is when the cost of staying the same is greater than the cost of changing.
Have a purpose and a vision for change. “If you get in your car and you drive without knowing where to go, you're never going to get there.”
Most of the shop doesn’t have the chance to go out and experience conferences and such, so the company is finding ways to share that experience and knowledge with their teams back in Connecticut.
It's more important to have the right fit. Or it'll never work. There will be failures and difficulties along the way, but if you stick to it, it’ll work.