Proactive Or Reactive

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Sunita - Sync Resource

How is your business model? Is continuous improvement part of the system and is it incorporated to help be more efficient? Every production manager has the same story. Day after day time is spent putting off fires. These fires are still the same, some may be the design change or machine failure or yet another. A change or error is all it would take to create these fires and time is just spent fixing them. If that is the job description that fits your profile then read along.

I am not going to advice on being telepathic nor have a vision of issues that arise. But I will definitely ask to look at the nature of issues and problems. Are these problems signifying a pattern? In everyday life so much effort is placed to resolving them while most of them can be easily eliminated. Simple checklists, Work instructions, notice boards, problem solving vision boards are ideal for use. What is required is the attitude.

In this climate it’s not a good idea to raise red flags and I completely agree to that. Sometimes issues arise and solving them is good to be seen as problem solver and productive member of team. But if it’s repetitive then it really can cost you your job. Getting involved and setting procedures is very important. On numerous occasions there are production issues which arise because of design errors. Instead of having a ground to score points, it’s important to acknowledge this as a big issue and needs to be tackled with great caution. Is the communication gap a hiccup? How to better that? How to better assist inter team dependencies and create harmonious work environment. Most of places when people run into such issues they have to stop for someone to come and help sort it out since they are tied due to lack of authority to make a decision. Processes exist and procedures are guidelines to help navigate these situations and should be used heavily. Recently I came across a big manufacturer having quality problems. A thorough investigation revealed that their design team and manufacturing have not been communicating in organized fashion. There were out of date designs used to manufacture parts with changes written on them. It was evident that someone made a change but which version of design to use now. Neither the operator nor the supervisor went to ask for new drawing. It is the responsibility of the project manager to communicate these changes when they are accommodates in the specific projects. In manufacturing environment the culture of communication is very important.

Accountability, Awareness, Training are the grounds which lay the foundation to proactive functioning. These will reduce the problems to a greater extent but in order to eliminate them Organizations need to have continuous improvement programs and incentives to be placed on identification and implementation of them.

A system which works at greater efficiency will continue to do for some time and in time deviations will start to creep up. A system needs to be monitored and continuous effort needs to be applied to keep functioning at same level of efficiency. This will involve a lot of proactive working on each process. Only then the results are visible and reduce reactive measures to a greater extent.

This article was recently published by Quality Magazine on June 18, 2012

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Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Posted on March 16, 2012 by Sunita - Sync Resource

The start and end of all the life cycle of any business is requirement vs. satisfied customer. Every business strives to do a very good and diligent job at providing the service and product to best of capability. In doing so a lot of time and focus goes in fulfilling the requirement and the part of satisfied customer is not looked at carefully. Meeting the requirement is often equated to customer satisfaction.

Large corporations have adopted methodologies to monitor Customer Satisfactions through surveys which acts in two ways

a) Company‘s Perception through Customer review

b) Understand Customer needs better and bring new ways to generate business.

Walk into any retailer and the meaning of customer comes first becomes all too clear. From décor to placement of commodities to environment is made to suit the customer.

The question is if the similar result can be made available at a very small scale. Definitely yes. Periodic surveys can not only bring forth the urgency to revamp the way of serving customer need but also getting across the idea that their perception counts. It will not make any difference if all these surveys are collected and no action is taken by Management to bring change if that is call of action.

Businesses which have survived decades and grown will tell the tales of how they have morphed over period of time and come up with better products and services that keep their customers satisfied and happy. One of major issue with GM was that it kept introducing newer models to meet need of new customers but focused little on existing ones and changing needs of customers. Result more than 140 models of cars and no definite focus.

Businesses are cyclical in nature. To start and grow is not a problem most of time but to keep growing and create a reputation is really dependent on your Customer’s Perception of your organization.

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Supplier Control

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Sunita - Sync Resource

Its one of the biggest problems faced by Manufacturers as well as service providers. How do you exert Supplier Control?  What is the extent and course of action in case of failure to abide? How rigorous should an organization be? Is such a control punitive or benefit for both supplier and buyer?

Supplier Motto: Have deliverables with best of Quality in competitive lead time.

Buyer Motto: Meet the Client expectation with superior Quality of Product and service.

If looked at these 2 motto they are just the same. So where exactly is the problem? You give the specifics to the subcontractor or supplier of service/product, timeline needs, price ranges, and quality expectations. But still there are problems in supplier supply chain.

A close attention needs to be paid at the process as well evaluating the steps taken to select supplier and their deliverables. Purchasing process in most of companies is entrusted to an individual who has an access to various distributor networks who partner up with manufacturers as well as service providers to provide the end result. Supplier selection is based on price, quality and ability to meet the demands of the organization.

One parameter of selection to be included to this structure of short listing should be evaluating supplier and performing Risk assessment.  It is not a requirement of just quality system but also the cost of doing business.

Depending on the Business model this criteria can be enforced. If supplied products and services form the backbone of your Business stiff considerations and controls need to be in place. If supplied products /services are part of your offering which does not affect the quality of product or service offered then moderate control needs to be exercised.

Just keeping information of selection and evaluation is good practice. In case of stiffer controls,  Supplier Risk Assessment, Supplier Contracts (Specific to Product/Service) along with alternate supplier list all help maintain the subcontracted supplier process in check.

Review your internal process and check if your needs can fulfilled with following checklist:

1)      Supplier Contract

2)      Supplier Evaluation

3)      Supplier Risk Assessment

4)      Supplier Corrective Action Requirements.

Periodic evaluations will reveal the glitches in purchasing process and will provide the necessary tools to make a advised  decision if your organization needs more control or not.

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