MESSAGE FROM MANAGEMENT

 FOCUS ON THE SMALL STUFF*

                 In today's fast-paced, rapidly changing world, most of us have become accustomed to looking for instant solutions: Identify what's broken and fix it.  And by the way, do it yesterday!  Just watch TV week after week, and you'll see supposedly average people solving huge problems in just one hour - minus more than a few commercial breaks.  If only it were really that easy!

             As we work on doing our part to meet the challenges of our everyday working life, it's tempting to look for big things - "quick fixes" - to instantly bring our behaviors in line with organizational values.  Well, we all need to fight that feeling and save our strength.

                 Here's another lesson from Reality 101: Complex issues are rarely addressed successfully with singular approaches.  Just as there's no one big secret to being a better spouse, parent, or friend, there's no single thing that will make us values driven - no matter how committed we may be.  True success comes from lots of small behaviors strung together … and repeated again and again.

                 So look at the tasks, activities, and interactions that make up your job.  Chances are you'll find a whole bunch of opportunities to make small improvement "tweaks" in most of what you do.  And remember: All of us are more effective when we focus our attention on doing ten things ten percent better, rather than attempting (usually in vain) to do one thing one hundred percent better

 Go for singles rather than home runs.

They're a lot easier to hit.  Besides, every four singles

equals a run … and the bases are still loaded!

*Excerpt from Walking the Talk Together - Sharing the responsibility for bringing values to life

SAFETY TEAM NEWS

                 Were you around to see the fun with water hoses on May 30?  Actually, the safety team asked Boone's Fire Chief to come out to the plant and assist us in checking out the fire hoses.  It had never been done before and the team thought it might be a good idea to check them out.  All hoses are in good shape.  We sure did get some nasty water out of them though.

We will set a schedule to check them twice each year from now on.

                 We've been receiving a lot of "SOS" sheets from you all.  Thanks so much for getting involved. 

 We, along with the Boone County Sheriff's Comm. Center, have been trying to fix our bad weather warning system.  Right now we have a loaner, but we should be back up and running with our own equipment soon. 

We're still working on our ergonomics program.  Some of you may remember hearing that the federal government quashed the OSHA program that was proposed to go into effect this fall.  The safety team feels that it's in everyone's best interest to establish an ergonomics policy for our company anyway.  Rumor has it that the "feds" will pass some sort of ergonomics policy in the not too distant future anyway.  There will be cameras out in the plant again.  We do appreciate your cooperation and please don't be shy.