We are almost a month into the new year and already there have been a lot of changes and developments for our company. As we reset the bar and kick off a new year, I feel it is important to establish how we will define success in 2023. If we focus on the following items, we can make this happen: Safety, Financial Performance, Performance vs Key KPI’s, and Employee Engagement.
Safety
Each one of us shares the responsibility of making sure everyone goes home to their family safe every day. We can achieve this by following the safety procedures that are in place and taking personal ownership for ensuring safety is the first element in every decision we make.
Financial Performance
While we always look at year over year financial performance as a measurement of success, in 2023, we will define financial success based on exceeding budgeted results. Weaker macroeconomic conditions and inflationary pressures outside of our control will impact our results so benchmarking our performance to last year’s levels is not a fair comparison. Our 2023 budget provides a reasonable projection for our performance this year and we should all strive to exceed those projections.
Performance vs. Key Performance Indicators “KPI’s”
I challenge all of us to utilize “operations” related KPI’s in helping track success against objectives and priorities. For this year, come up with new KPI’s that are relevant to the functions and jobs you perform. Exceeding operational objectives will help us stay focused on items that enable the company to improve. Example KPI areas of focus are safety, quality, capacity utilization, scrap, project management timing, volumes, innovation successes, etc.
Employee Engagement
Engaging our employees more effectively is a critical KPI for me this year. Last week, I visited our plants in York and North Wales, Pennsylvania. The management teams at these facilities are working collaboratively to support and engage their teams but shared that they could be doing a better job with more support. I ask all of us to think about what we can do to engage individuals at all levels of the business to create a better overall experience for our employees. If we can accomplish this objective, the upside that can be generated from our EIP and SIP programs is huge.
Summary:
As we progress in 2023, we should all focus on the key variables that will define Mauser success. I remain committed to our Billion Dollar Plan and despite tough market conditions, we will invest more in 2023 than we did in 2022. In turn, we need to pay particular focus to collaborating and communicating better, working with sales to deliver on more opportunities, placing an emphasis on EIP and continuous improvement, and leveraging our successes across our global business to make Mauser a better place to work.
Mark Burgess
CEO