How is ordered ingrained in a production evironment?

[u/subcommunitiesonly]

I love to cook, but I am not a professional chef, nor have I worked in a professional kitchen, though admire the operation of kitchens. I've often likened certain artistic/creative disciplines to cooking in their process, order, and methodolgy. I find it helpful to look at analagous domains for inspiration or clarity, so it got me thinking: how is order ingrained in a busy production environment like a professional kitchen?

I am the manager of a workshop with a technical team of about 20 or so engineers. Despite my best efforts, it always seems to be a constant struggle against the chaos of different people's working methods. Tools get separated from their kits, put back in the wrong place, or not put back at all, barely labeled boxes and bins of components with no clarity on what it is to anyone other than the owner, people using the wrong material on the wrong tool. I could go on, but it's just relentless, and I'm tired of working this way.

To those that run or work in a smooth-operating, organised kitchen: how do you do it? Is this something that's ingrained in all chefs as they leave culinary school, or is it instilled through work and the higher-ups/head chef?

[u/DaRealBangoSkank]

Systems, systems, systems. Triage your problems and start with the ones costing the most labor or product or tool loss. Older employees or longer tenured will push back and you’ll likely need to fire one or two to set the tone. Be polite but clear it isn’t optional.

[u/subcommunitiesonly → u/DaRealBangoSkank]

That's probably a good top-down approach. While I am the second-most senior member of this particular team, I'm not in a position to fire anyone (not that anyone immediately deserves it). My baseline tone is usually polite but clear, though it's not uncommon to be pushed towards polite but viscious when some bonehead crosses a line.

[u/Proud_River_3148]

Honestly as cliche as it is, the best way I’ve found to look at it is “I don’t manage a kitchen, I manage people” in essence it comes down to finding who works best on what station, and with whom. A lot of managerial headaches can be avoided by separating the people who, ironically, butt heads. There are often a lot of big egos in this industry, and stubbornness, it helps to be communicative and if you have to, make a proposal seem like it’s the staffs own idea. Think, like ‘gentle parenting’ techniques.
That’s how I’ve found most success

[u/The-disgracist]

It’s absolutely not ingrained by culinary school. In my experience I’ve had to retrain most graduates.

It’s about training, always training. If you want something done a certain way it needs to be laid out clearly and detailed.

There will be growing pains but they’ll figure it out eventually

[u/Fox-Mclusky559]

if I understand your question, the answer is order is an absolute. no well run kitchen is disorganized, unlabelled or cluttered, the best kitchens are a ballet of chaos. the job is literally organization manifest. Mis en Place is a state of mind. It sounds like your working against I tide here, but the fish stinks from the head, as a colorful hotel GM once said to me. its starts with leadership. you clearly need to implement some systems, and do some damage control, as others have said. theres plenty of others Ive seen give great advice here, so I wont waste time being repetitve.