Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/757428
N ow that the election is over it is good to see the country get back to business, with everybody cheerfully accepting the results and looking forward to spirited and civic-minded debates on the important issues of our time. Ha! Just kidding. If anything, the political climate is more poisonous than before we voted. What's to be done? On the morning the polls opened, I was in Las Vegas attending the Trimble Dimensions conference and listening to a speaker, Steve Trussell, executive director of the Arizona Rock Products Association. Trussell described how ARPA and the aggre- gates industry approached federal, state and regulatory agencies over issues of mutual con- cern. They use what they call Kaizen* events. In 2015, Arizona's governor, Doug Ducey, started promoting Kaizen-like events, called the Arizona Management System, to bring regulators and the public together to make government processes more efficient. According to Trussell, the events that the ag- gregates industry participated in have resulted in a 40-percent reduction in the cost for en- vironmental protection permits, a 30-percent reduction in the cost of Title 5 (air quality) permits and a 60-percent reduction in permit- ting time frames. Some of you may think of government regu- lators as the people you fight tooth and nail at every step. But Trussell says otherwise. "Quite frankly, our challenges are their challenges too," he says. "You don't realize that until you roll up your sleeves and get in a room with them and you hear them say 'Yeah we've always struggled with that, too.'" When you meet with people face to face, when they know you're from the same com- munity, when they hear about the paychecks and the taxes you provide the community, says Trussell, "All of a sudden, it's a different conversation. When you work with people and you recognize that you have the same purpose – perhaps for different reasons– then things can get done." That's a pretty good model for politics going forward. Keep it local, civil and face-to-face. Democracy requires an active and engaged citizenry, not blowhards screaming into their TV and computer screens or demonstrating in the streets. Anywhere from one-fourth to one half the money spent on construction is public money, putting us in a position that requires steward- ship and leadership from the ground up. It would be great to see construction companies and associations follow Arizona's lead and show the rest of the country what it means to be good citizens. If you want better govern- ment, get involved. Join a construction asso- ciation and start engaging. *The Kaizen process was developed by Toyota and is an accepted practice to stream- line manufacturing processes in almost every factory in the world. It is sometimes referred to as lean manufacturing. December 2016 | EquipmentWorld.com 82 final word | by Tom Jackson All politics is local TJackson@randallreilly.com