faces of the frontline: manufacturing’s all stars

Scott Walker is living proof that anyone can be an advocate for change, provided they have a desire to learn and to put that learning into practice. Undergoing several eye surgeries throughout his life, he never allowed his personal challenges to prevent him from living up to his potential. Scott joined Nature’s Sunshine, a wellness herbal products manufacturer, six years ago. He was quickly recognized for his problem-solving skills and moved up the ranks. 

Scott takes it upon himself to learn new skills and uses them to reduce waste time at the facility, remove inefficiencies, and train others to do better. This can-do attitude has made him a standout leader and earned him recognition as a Manufacturing All Star.

Rising to the Occasion

Scott has always been a go-getter. When he joined the Issuing Department six years ago, he spotted inefficiencies and immediately introduced new workflows to drive productivity. His impeccable work ethic was quickly noticed by the Swing Shift manager who gave Scott even more responsibilities.

“We feel like all of our team members are valuable, but we’re always looking for these diamonds in the rough that are on our shop floor. There are those that rise quickly, and we can see we need to give them more opportunities, or they’re going to find it somewhere else,” says Dustin Simons.

Scott was one of those diamonds. Three years ago, he was promoted to the role of Process Support Operator, which also put him in charge of managing Redzone – the company’s connected workforce solution. That’s when Scott really began to shine. Even though he was given only baseline training, Scott quickly became proficient in Redzone and building reports.

“Scott began to fly and started creating reports. And I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to say that Scott began learning how to design reports from YouTube videos. He’s truly self-taught,” says Simons.

Reducing Downtime with Advanced Reporting

Scott’s insatiable thirst for knowledge didn’t stop with YouTube, though. He quickly learned Tableau and PowerBI to build more detailed and visual reports that were displayed on TVs across the shop floor. The reports were also shared with the leadership team. “Scott’s taken this mantra that if you can’t tell the story from a report in five seconds, then it’s not a good report,” says Simons.

Scott’s reports have given everyone greater visibility into their own downtime as well as what they can do to improve it. Nature’s Sunshine is a small batch manufacturer, so their production can sometimes run less than an hour. Understanding uptime vs. downtime is crucial for improving productivity. “He’s helped us point out this ratio of uptime versus downtime, and also what’s planned downtime versus unplanned downtime,” says Simons.

Using historical data from these reports has also helped leads and different team members identify opportunities for improvement and drive productivity through friendly competition. For instance, each month, the team uses Redzone to track who’s had the most weight checks or who’s performed a certain task the most. They’re then rewarded with a gift card as “The Winner of the Month.”

Lifting Everyone Up

What makes Scott truly stand out is his unwavering desire to be of service. While he strives to excel at everything he does, he’s never too busy to help his team solve a problem or train them to further develop their skills. 

Even if he’s off duty, Scott is quick to respond to any enquiries because he knows his team needs him. “Downtime at the plant can be costly and we need to get running again. Scott’s not in the office every day, but he always gets back to us quickly, which is very valuable,” says Mike Taylor, Manufacturing Manager at Nature’s Sunshine.

It’s not uncommon for Scott to go above and beyond until he’s given his team exactly what they need. A colleague, for instance, asked Scott for some data in Redzone. After directing him to a historical report, Scott took it upon himself to build another, more detailed report using PowerBI. When the colleague asked for timestamp, run sequence, and stock-keeping unit (SKU) data, Scott included that as well.

“He designed all of that and basically had it in a couple of days for me. And it was just off of one question that I didn’t even ask for the report. I asked, ‘Hey, how can I look at this information?’ And then he had this report all designed and ready to go, which probably took him hours to create,” says Simons.

Inspiring Greatness in Others

This combination of impeccable work ethic and willingness to help has inevitably rubbed off on others. The company experienced a lot of staff turnover during COVID-19, so not everyone was on the same page in terms of what they were trying to accomplish at the facility. 

Scott met up with each team individually to train them on Redzone, explain what overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) meant for their day-to-day work, and inspire them to push the envelope with the downtime they were experiencing.

“We didn’t have a fully matriculated crew, so the data accuracy as far as assigning downtime codes was all over the place. So, there was a need to explain what OEE means, how they’re affecting it by what they’re doing on the floor, and how we’re trying to drive waste from the system,” explains Scott.

Educating others meant that once Scott got promoted and left the swing shift, the team was able to resume working with the same enthusiasm and drive. They continued using Redzone to track their tasks and improve their performance.

“My role is to make their job as easy as possible. So, it’s really good to see people taking the initiative and saying, ‘Hey, there’s a problem here,’ and then everybody just working together to try and get everything approved,” adds Scott.

Scott has undoubtedly achieved a lot during his time at Nature’s Sunshine, but he doesn’t take full credit for it. Instead, he points out the company’s focus on continuous improvement as the inspiration behind his mindset and outlook on life. It instilled in him a desire to always do better both at work and at home. Scott’s natural qualities as a leader are perhaps best summarized in his own words: “If I’m doing well, everyone’s doing well.” This mantra has propelled him forward and inspired tangible change across the whole business.

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