Mack Boring & Parts Company
management team, with the help of a director of
business development, sets mutually agreed upon
goals, reviews performance, and follows through
continuously. Based on my exposure to the process,
I suspect that being a manager at Mack Boring is
both challenging and rewarding. The company
expects managers to deliver, and if they don’t, a
good explanation must be forthcoming.
Here’s an example of one challenge to which
Mack Boring’s managers rose. The company found
itself with more than 6,000 square feet of prime retail
showroom space available on a major thoroughfare in
busy downtown Union, New Jersey. As a distributor/
wholesaler, there weren’t many options for use of the
showroom; displaying engines that the public can’t
purchase directly made little sense, and the showroom
was nowhere near the water. The solution was
straightforward enough: become a dealer for the
recently resurrected and now highly sought after
Indian Motorcycles. Mack Boring hired an expert
motorcycle mechanic and set up shop. Indian
Motorcycle of Northern New Jersey, which includes
Manhattan in its territory, now offers a fully stocked
showroom filled with gleaming Indians. (As an
experienced motorcyclist, I lusted for quite some
time as I reviewed the stock—for research purposes,
of course—including my favorite model, the WWII-style Chief Bomber, a gearhead’s dream.)
The aforementioned cellular assembly process was
especially interesting to see in action. In some ways,
it’s the antithesis of an assembly line. An engine, for
instance, may be marinized or modified by one
individual who is surrounded by all of the needed
tools and components. Mack Boring has analyzed this
process to the nth degree, working diligently to reduce
the number of steps—the actual movements on the
part of the assembler—required to carry out a specific
task or assembly. The results are clearly quantifiable,
and it was easy to see that those involved were
enthusiastic about the challenge, and about the positive
results. Saving a few minutes on a process may not
seem critical, but Mack Boring must continue to excel
in a fiercely competitive marketplace where everyone is
vying for a piece of the ever-shrinking marine-engine-sales-and-support pie.
Mack Boring also fosters a thriving business with
the military, filling contracts with most of the service
branches for engines and generators, as well as training
the military personnel who will repair and maintain the
equipment. During my tour, I was able to examine (but
not photograph) a series of large generator sets that were
being built for the U.S. Army for use overseas.
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