E17 - Kenneth Scruggs - BMW Manufacturing

Balancing Automation and Wisdom with Kenneth Scruggs from BMW Manufacturing

Episode 17: Show Notes

As more automation makes its way into manufacturing, there is an increasing need for experience and expertise to guide these systems. Joining us on the show today to talk about his history in the automotive industry at BMW Manufacturing, is Kenneth Scruggs, who has worked at the company since the early 1990s! Kenneth gives us some context of his initial employment at the company and then goes on to explain how he rose in the ranks over the years. He also talks about the history of the company in South Carolina and beyond. Throughout our chat, Kenneth shares great nuggets of wisdom about leadership and management, and practical advice that any professional can apply to their work to get ahead. We discuss some of the challenges to the automotive industry and the manufacturing sector at large before diving into some of the daily work that happens in Kenneth's wheelhouse. Our guest also shares some great resources and ideas that have had an impact on his trajectory, and we wrap up with his thoughts on safe and healthy automation in the future. So, to hear it all and join in our fascinating chat, be sure to press play!

Key Points From This Episode:

• The events that led to Kenneth joining BMW and his long career at the company since! 
• A deeper look at BMW's manufacturing history in Greenville, South Carolina. 
• Kenneth shares some of the older BMW history, from the post-WWII years. 
• The biggest challenges facing the company at present: why manpower is a big problem. 
• Advice from Kenneth about leveling up in leadership in the manufacturing world.   
• Some of the resources and books that have had the biggest influence on Kenneth's path.  
• The mentors and leaders that Kenneth has learned from in his career.
• Kenneth delves into his most memorable lessons about patience and allowing space for others.
• Finding synergy between the different departments at the company; Kenneth explains this particular challenge at BMW.
• A walk-through of Kenneth's day-to-day work in his position. 
• An exploration of systems and processes; how BMW approaches efficiency in manufacturing.  
• Kenneth's thoughts on the future of the manufacturing sector in the US, and the importance of automation. 
• The specifics of the machinery at the company right now. 
• Myths around automation: Kenneth talks about the amount of manual work that is still done in the automotive sector.
• Parting advice from Kenneth about listening to grow as a leader.
• How and where to connect with Kenneth online! 

Tweetables:

“My first job at BMW was sanding cars. Cars came in, you feel the car for defects, and sanded them.” — Kenneth Scruggs [0:02:01]

“When it comes to management, the one thing that I found associates appreciate the most is consistency.” — Kenneth Scruggs [0:07:38]

“I think that a lot of managers, we want to put out the fires. We want to jump in and fix things. Sometimes we need to let the associate fix their own problem, so they can learn from it.” — Kenneth Scruggs [0:15:12]

"It has gotten more automated, but there are still a lot of manual processes in the automotive industry." — Kenneth Scruggs [0:33:06]

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Kenneth Scruggs on LinkedIn

BMW

The Power of 1 

Morty Hodge&