Intertape Develops Leaders on the Plant Floor

At Intertape Polymer Group’s Blythewood manufacturing plant, self-directed work teams keep production flowing.

Drop-in on Intertape Polymer Group’s manufacturing plant in Blythewood, South Carolina, and much of what you see on the shop floor won’t be surprising. For example, whiteboards located around the facility spelling out production targets and achievement toward those targets. Operators setting up their machinery for the next job… What you won’t see, this likely will be surprising to you. Self-directed work teams of associates make team decisions to keep production flowing.

“They create leadership on the floor,” says Doug Nalette, senior vice president of Intertape Polymer Group.

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Intertape Polymer Group

Blythewood, South Carolina

Employees: 130, non-union

Total Square Footage: 348,000

Primary Product: paper masking and duct tape, and stencil for the monument industry

Start-up Date: 2014

Achievements:

• ISO 9001:2015;
• 565 accident-free days as of March 4, 2019;
• Energy Star Award recipient for five consecutive years;
• 48% reduction in in-plant defect rate;
• Annual labor turnover rate is 1.4%

The idea behind self-directed work teams is one of shared leadership, mutual responsibility, and agreed-upon goals. The teams run the machining center, or production line or functional area, and are accountable for getting the job done. In 2017 it received the company quality award.

And while there are no supervisors, there are team leads, who also are operators. Those team leaders must know the production processes, be committed to excellence and be effective communicators for self-directed work teams to succeed, said Tyron Javis, operations manager.

The company started production in Blythewood’s nearly 350,000-square-foot building in 2014. Prior to that, the products manufactured here had been made at Intertape’s Columbia, South Carolina, plant, located about 20 minutes away.

The Columbia facility consisted of multiple aging buildings with aging equipment, old technology and environmental challenges that did nothing but steadily drive up production costs. For a time both sites operated simultaneously as production lines were shifted to Blythewood. Severe flooding in South Carolina in 2015 heavily damaged the Columbia site and moved up its planned closure date.  

The new site brought with it new processes, new technologies and equipment, and new leadership thinking—moving from a command-and-control structure to coaching and mentoring, Nalette said. For associates making the move from Columbia to Blythewood, self-directed work teams were a new concept, so they received training on topics that included teamwork, conflict resolution and problem-solving. Team leaders receive additional and ongoing training.

No one suggests the transition to self-directed work teams was seamless, but “it has been a good benefit for us,” says Renee Lucas, a continuous improvement coordinator, about the work teams and team lead arrangement. “Some operators feel more comfortable with someone they are actually working with. There’s no ‘us’ against ‘them’ mentality.

Productivity and Quality Office