The Meilink ‘way of working’: Symbol supports continuous improvement

During the pandemic, this became all the more evident as we had to keep adapting to the circumstances. Therefore, to become more future-proof as a company, we declared a new mission, vision and strategy some time ago. From that, we then developed a strategy for continuous improvement that we call the Meilink ‘way of working.'”

The Meilink Principles

“But just putting a strategy on paper, of course, is not enough,” Frederiek continues. “To achieve our goals, we need the cooperation of our people. However, Meilink is a traditional organization where people work very hard, but where little has been invested in managing and coaching employees in recent years. If we were to suddenly start doing this now, it would not catch on. That is why we have created Meilink principles: rules of conduct that we can easily explain to all our employees. One of the principles, for example, is ‘We only win as a team’. One explanation for this is that we keep the agreements we make. So when we go into a meeting, we all make sure that we are well prepared. Whoever is not well prepared afterwards may be called to account.”

Supervising the management team

Ruud Sweelssen guides Meilink in implementing and following the six different Meilink principles. He is now a consultant at Symbol, but was previously Lean / QEHS Manager at Meilink and from that role was also involved in the creation of the Meilink “way of working” and principles. Ruud now coaches the executive team, among others. “When we get distracted by everyday concerns, he brings us back to basics: ‘Guys, what did we agree on again?’ That’s how he keeps us on our toes,” Frederiek says. “He also helps us get the Meilink principles percolating through the organization. After all, some people see continuous improvement as something that is time-consuming and difficult to implement. It is up to us as MT to turn around the excuse that it takes too much time. Because of course it takes time – especially in the beginning – but eventually it is going to save time. If everyone adheres to the principles, we will really start working efficiently and streamlined. And that is necessary to achieve our goals and make our company future-proof.”

Workshops for executives

To get the principles even better into the organization, Ruud also organizes workshops for executives. “In it I give them tools to gain support for the principles in their own team and to ensure that they are actually followed,” Ruud says. “In the workshops, I always outline the context first. Management has been working on this for about three years, but not everyone in the organization. For many people it is new. Therefore, I first explain what the Meilink ‘way of working’ looks like and what the objectives are – why are we actually doing this? If the ‘why’ is not clear, it remains something that people don’t take the time to understand. Then I make the translation from vision to action. Because you can think up all kinds of things and put them on paper, but if you don’t act on them, they are of no use. In the workshops we therefore discuss concrete situations on the shop floor. How is your team doing, and where do you need help?”

A tangible result

After each workshop, participants may provide feedback. Thus, it is a learning process and no workshop is actually the same. From this feedback, something tangible was also created: a booklet. Frederiek: “One of our principles is ‘Customers talk, we listen and ask’. This means, among other things, that the customer’s need is the starting point of our actions. At Ruud’s workshops, our employees are that customer. They needed a booklet in which the principles are depicted in drawings so that it comes to life. That booklet has been realized and is now handed out at the beginning of every workshop. And it is already being used on the shop floor as well – nice to see.”

In the doing mode

The booklet is so far the most concrete result of the process with Ruud. “People also regularly ask me to email them the drawings from the booklet so they can share them with their team. Other concrete results need more time – behavioral change simply has to be put away over time. But there is already more awareness and I see and hear that things are changing. We are in the doing mode, which is exactly what we wanted.”