Linggo, Setyembre 26, 2010

Your Career Questions Answered by Jolito Ortizo Padilla -Letter Sent by Quality Manager of Binzagr Lever Company-KSA


I have received many queries mostly from the Quality Control Department of MNC-Gulf Countries. I already answered some of the questions through their respective e-mails. For those I have not answered yet, I will try to send through your e-mails in a weeks time.

Letter sent to me by the Quality Control Manager of Binzagr Lever Company Ltd. KSA- "Why Inspection is Vital"

There is a great deal of emphasis within the quality management profession on quality assurance (preventive techniques) rather than quality control(corrective techniques). Inspection , in most cases , is seen as quality control;in other words it is not a way of adding value but rather is viewed as a cost to the business.

Deming said: " You cannot inspect quality into the product; it is already there." Well that's true enough -who am I to doubt Deming- but I'd like to put a little balance into an argument. While quality assurance is a great deal to strive for, there is often merit in doing at least some quality control; inspection still has a valid place in your quality toolbox.

Inspection act as safety net. Quality assurance should be delivering high quality , zero defects that you shoudn't need to check. But suppose it doesn't? Suppose something goes wrong? After all, you don't want your customers to be the first people to spot a problem, so inspection is your chance to find defects first and to fix them quickly so the faults are corrected at source.

Think of a typical problem you had with incoming materials or parts or even with something you've bought for your home. Did it take sophisticated , expensive , calibrated test equipment to spot a subtle defect or could you see it with moment's glance? In other words , would a simple inspection have found a problem? When I think back over my years of experience in the industry, this would be true for many of the defects I have encountered: they were obvious , so why did nobody find them before me?

A simple inspection can be very cost-effective as it can be done quickly compared to other screening techniques such as highly accelerated stress screening tests or soak testing. These can also be very effective but tie up expensive equipment for much longer periods of time.

First you ought to establish your inspection criteria. Do you have cosmetic standards considering problems such as scratches, discoloration and misalignment? You need to have something in place that determines what is visually acceptable and what is not and this should be agreed with your suppliers in order to avoid arguments. You need specifications or drawings if you're measuring things.

You may need measuring and inspection tools including simple magnifiers or optical inspection systems. Digital cameras are a huge asset and you should be keeping records and metrics (key performance indicators) of your inspection results so you can monitor whether quality is getting better or worse over time and do something about it.

A defined inspection process is also beneficial. This helps to avoid the problem of people always inspecting their own work (which can suffer from them having consistent blind spots), missing out key things you want to have inspected or suffering from inspection fatigue, whereby a small number of defects among many good parts don't get spotted at all. If 100% inspection is not desirable , why not use an acceptable quality limit scheme (a contractually agreed limit on the potential number of defects in a batch)?

And here's a thought-why carry out inspection of incoming goods or materials at all? Get your suppliers to do the inspection and prove to you they've done it, using methods such as digital photo records or measurements.As well as saving you money, it shortens their own quality feedback loop and encourages them to improve quality at the source.

To close , let's consider some further words of wisdom from Deming. He said: " You are never better off after the fire department leaves than you would have been if they weren't needed in the first place." But that doesn't mean we should disband the fire service or throw away our smoke detectors and rely solely on fire risk assessment. Inspection has a useful place in ensuring quality and can highly cost-effective. Are you making the best use of it?

Miyerkules, Setyembre 22, 2010

Your Career Questions Answered by Jolito Ortizo Padilla -Letters sent by the Quality Manager of Toshiba and Ads and Promo Coordinator of Almarai -KSA


A letter sent by the Quality Manager of Toshiba- China

I'm a Quality Manager and one of my team members has a bad attitude. What can I do?

An employee's bad attitude fall into several categories. This can include an employee who:
- Stirs up discontent for his or her own enjoyment.
- Constantly spots flaws in new initiatives rather than focusing on what has gone well
- Is resistant to change
- Is lazy and refuses to be motivated

This problem can be hard to solve because an employee may well be performing his or her duties adequately. There may be no tangible bad effects resulting from his or her outlook, but the negative feelings can spread throughout a team extremely quickly. This problem cannot be ignored , especially if ignoring it would be the easy option.

The first thing to note is that as a manager you should never criticise an employee's personality. Calling someone lazy or criticising their mood fails to provide necessary information needed to change the behavior of that person, especially if it emerges that the problem stems from something in the wider business environment.

You will need to take time to observe the person, making notes of the instances where his or her behavior has caused a problem. Having specifics will mean that when you confront employee, it will be hard for him or her to disagree with your comments. It would be beneficial to gain help from your organization or management for backup. If an employee gets defensive when you call a meeting, having another manager who can testify to observing similar occurences will help your case.

Once you've gathered your evidence , call a one- to- one meeting with the employee. Start by saying something positive rather than launching straight into how his or her behavior is bringing down the rest of the team.When you do reach the subject , start by asking how the employee feels and go from there. It may be that he or she will bring up the problem and give a cause -for example , feeling unsupported or having too much things to do.

Next, bring up the problem giving examples and be specific about the impact of the employee's behavior. How is this damaging the organizational vision? How is it making the rest of the team feel? Gently remind the employee that this could affect future rewards and bonuses.

Finally, don't make the negative employee more negative by leaving the meeting on a bad note. This could do more damage and add fuel to the fire. Say something positive an make sure you both leave the meeting clear about future plans.

A Letter Sender from Almarai-KSA)

My company (Al marai -KSA ) is not using social media advertisement. Should we be and what are the possibilities?

Social media refers to web-based channels of communication such as blogs, Twitter and online networking groups.These differs from traditional broadcast media like print and television in that they are easily accessible by anyone online and are typically interactive.

This means that companies can have conversations directly and publicly with customers. Many companies are taking social media seriously. IBM, for example, actively encourages its employees to blog and maintains a directory of their output on its website. Kodak, which has senior positions of chief blogger and chief listening officer, used Twitter to engage the public and help name its new PlaySport video camera.

Your company should look very seriously at using social media at some appropriate level if not simply because your competition may already be talking to your customers.

Some of the major risks of using social media arise from interacting openly with customers. Nestle, for example , was embarrassed recently when some of its Facebook followers took well-publicized offense at what they saw as an inept reaction to their complaints about the company's international operations.

Misuse of social media by employees is also at risk. But they should be given a certain amount of freedom targets and training can ensure they use it responsibly. When it comes to talking with your customers , your staff are your greatest asset and if conversation is more likely to place online , then that's precisely where you should be.

The learning? Be sure to back up venture into social media with policies and processes that serves your customers' interest as well as those of your company.

Lunes, Setyembre 20, 2010

What Jolito Ortizo Padilla say about "The Virtual Organization"- Find it out in JOPs book -The Strategic Management-Building Competitive Advantage.


It is widely alleged that the business organization of the future will be virtual.But precise definitions of what it means to be a virtual organization are hard to find.A virtual company resembles a normal, traditional company in its inputs and outputs, but it differs in the way it adds value during the journey in between.

The virtual organization has an almost infinite variety of structures , all of them fluid and changing. Most of them need virtually no employees. A New York insurance company was once started from scratch by someone whose overriding aim was to employ nobody but himself.

The Virgin Group briefly held 5% of the UK cola market with just five employees. This was achieved by tightly focusing on the company's core competence:its marketing. Everything else , from production of the rink to the distribution of it, was done by someone else. A virtual organization relies for the most part on a network of part-time electronically connected freelances, sometimes referred to as e-lances.

The virtual organization has very few physical assets, reflecting the fact that adding value is becoming more dependent on (mobile) knowledge and less dependent on (immobile) plant and machinery.

Hollywood is often cited as a template for the virtual organization. The way that movies have been made since the industry freed itself from studio system has been virtual. A number of freelances, from actors to directors via set builders and publicity agents, come together with a common purpose. They then go their separate ways and another (unrelated) bunch of people (with similar set of skills) comes together to make another movie. And so it goes on, very productively.

Linked to the idea of the virtual organization is the concept of the virtual office, a place where space is not allocated uniquely to individual employees. Instead people work as and when they need to, wherever space is available. This practice is commonly referred to as hot-desking. The virtual office has the advantage of providing a different vista every day, but it makes it difficult to form close relationships with colleagues.

Miyerkules, Setyembre 15, 2010

Leading A Sustainable Organization by Jolito Ortizo Padilla



The corporate sustainability /social responsibility global intiative is much more than a fad. Corporate sustainability is 21st century leadership's competitive edge for the future. By operating better and more efficiently, organizations are increasing sales, reducing operating costs , and enhancing their brand reputations and market value. To cope with the trend of globalization , corporate leaders may want to consider applying corporate sustainability/social responsibility plan by addressing their "triple bottom line" which includes paying close attention to their economic (financial factors) , environment (risk, requirement factor) and social (human factors) issues. The use of Global Reporting Initiative(GRI) Index is the generally accepted framework for reporting an organization's economic, environmental, and social performance. It is designed for use by organizations of any size, sector, or location and contains general and sector-specific content that has been agreed upon by a wide range of stakeholders worlwide.

Corporate sustainability /social responsibility is of utmost importance for the survival of organizations and their future generations of employees. Organizations' product/service offerings and vendor networks are interconnected globally and are being recognized on a global scale. The World Economic Forum, which holds an annual global conference , recognizes the Global 100 most sustainable corporations in the world. Corporate sustainability /social responsibility reporting can be used by any organization for benchmarking and assessing its sustainability performance against notable global organizations with respect to laws , norms, codes , performance standards, and voluntary initiatives. Corporate sustainability /social responsibility is indeed critical to 21st century leaders who are entreprenuerial, think out of the box, and are serious about leading and growing sustainable organizations."

Introduction

The globally integrated economy of the 21st century is providing new opportunities and spawning new kinds of dynamics and challenges. These call for innovation in management systems, work force models, employee engagement, corporate policy changes, and stakeholder diversity that requires organizations to apply new methodologies to ensure ongoing corporate sustainability.

Corporate Sustainability Planning

Corporate sustainability planning for an organization balances the need for economic growth with environmental protection and social equality. It is an evolving concept that organizational leaders are adopting because it makes good business sense. Reducing waste and inefficiency within an organization can save money and protect the environment. Syatems- based pollution protection and sound environmental management can be good for employees, customers , and vendors. Organizations derive through strategic sustainability planning an alignment of business objectives such as profit and competitiveness with sound economic , environmental, and social principles in place. Sustainability planning presents strategies for organizations to generate profits and save costs while contributing to the well-being of the planet and its people.

The concept of corporate sustainability planning provides an enlightened and disciplined management approach of corporate resources throughout organization.

Sustainability- A New Management Philosophy

Corporate sustainability can be viewed by environmentalists as ecological sustainability and by many in the business community as economic sustainability, whereas sociologists refer it as " social sustainability."Corporate sustainability efforts therefore promote the integration and balance of all three sustainability concepts. They ensure sustainability in corporate service and /or product developments and offerings for future generations of employees, customers, and stakeholder groups.

Several recurrent themes regarding corporate sustainability includes:
- Management of organizational growth by polluting the environment
less
- Development of processes that ensure sustainability in key products and /or service offerings throughout the organization
- Development of governance and leadership philosophies that promote sustainability throughout the organization, and among key supplier and customer networks that are aligned with the organization
- Development of corporate policies and procedures, partnerships, top leadership commitment, and involvement with various stakeholder groups
-Adressing financial viability and key economic , environmental, and social issues
- Meeting the corporate needs of the present leadership without compromising the ability of future generations of corporate leaders to ensure stability within the organization regarding economic, environment, and societal issues
- Ensuring that diversity is being considered in all corporate hiring, training and employee development programs and offering.
- Ensuring that human rights are being considered before securing services and/or products from various vendor groups.
- Developing strategic short and longer term planning initiatives that promote corporate sustainability.
- Consideration of environmental impacts on all new service and product offerings
- Addressing and attempting to resolve employee, customer, supplier, and stakeholder concerns that relate to economic, environmental, and societal issues
- Evaluation of risk management and regulatory initiatives that are in place to help ensure corporate sustainability
-Recognition of employees , vendors, and customers who exhibit notable sustainability practices.
- Documentation of key sustainabiltiy practices and/or processes throughout the organization.

Sustainability Issues and Strategic Opportunities

Organizations face a wide array of sustainability issues today. Many small and mid-sized organization lack a holistic strategic plan to address them or have a piecemeal and uncoordinated plan may result in the organization being exposed to unnecessary business risks and missing out on strategic opportunities for future growth and development.

Corporate sustainability planning incorporates a wide array of diverse areas, which includes organizational issues such as business strategy, leadership and managemnt development, finance, environmental issues, ethics, management of human resources, diversity, industry and community issues, health and safety, corporate governance, and labor relations.

In order for an organization to strategically address this large array of sustainability issues and to help achieve its vision and mission, the use of the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence has been incorporated throughout the book of Strategic Management-Building Competitive Advantage.

Global Sustainability Indexes and Criteria

There are many global criteria for sustainability that are used by organizations and profit-seeking investors, such as Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, The Ethibel Sustainability Index, Ethical Global Index, FTSEA4Global 100 Index, Humanix 200 Global, Ethinvest Environmental Index Australia, Jantzi Social Index Canada. Johannesburg stock Exchange /FTSE4Good Index South africa and the Humanix 50 Index Sweden. Many of the indices' criteria are related , but are written with specific emphasis on various sustainability issues. In many cases the various criteria appear vague for organizations to use in developing their corporate sustainability plans.

The various index criteria appear to be theoretical , and difficult to understand and simplify to support a strategic focus and a holistic view of an organization's overall sustainable initiatives and strategic opportunities for future implementation. The most notable existing model that is being used by various industries both in the United States and globally is the Criteria for Performance of Excellence from the Baldrige National Quality Award Program that was developed in the United States. This model has indices in place that are aligned with several of the global sustainability indexes presently in place. The Baldrige Criteria not only promotes sustainability efforts , but also provides a framework to identify and implement sustainability initiatives that can strategically aligned and used to promote performance excellence throughout an organization.





Organization

Lunes, Setyembre 13, 2010

The Halo Effect by Jolito Ortizo Padilla explain this management principles in his book- Human Resource Management in Action



The Halo Effect- Jolito Ortizo Padilla explain this management principles through his book Human Resource Management in Action


The existence of the so-called halo effect has long been recognized. It is the phenomenon whereby we assume that because people are good at doing A, they will be good at doing B,C, and D (or the reverse-because they are bad at doing A, they will be bad at doing B,C and D) The phrase was first coined by Edward Thorndike, a psychologist who used it in study published in 1920 to describe the way that commanding officers rated their soldiers. He found that oficers usually judged their men as being good right across the board or bad. Few people were said to be good in one respect, but bad in another.

Later work on the halo effect suggested that it was highly influenced by first impression. If we see a person first in a good light, it is difficult subsequently to darken that light. The adage that first impressions count seems to be true. This is used by advertisers who pay heroic actors and beautiful actresses to promote products about which they have no expertise. We think positively about the actor because he played a hero or the actress because she is beautiful and assume that they therefore have deep knowledge about car engines or anti-wrinkle cream.

Recognition that the halo effect has a powerful inluence on business has been relatively recent. Two consultants , Melvin Scorcher and James Brant , wrote in Harvard review 2002:"In our experience CEOs , president, executive vice presidents and other top-level people often fall into the trap of making decisions about candidates based on lopsided or distorted information... Frequently they fall prey to the halo effect: overvaluing certain attributes while undervaluing others."

This is to consider the halo effect in the context of recruitment. But the affect also inluences other area of business. Car companies , for instance will roll out what they call a halo vehicle , a particular model with special features that helps to sell all the other models in the range.

YOUR CAREER QUESTIONS ANSWERED....

I received a letter from an employee in London. The letter sender wrote:

>>>I think I'm being bullied at work, but I'm not sure it counts as harassment. What can I do?

Workplace bullying is commonplace, although you might not think of it. It is extremely possible that someone whom a colleague or manager is bullying may not consciously realize it is happening and certainly may not mention this to anyone. Behavior that accounts to bullying includes unwarranted criticism, nit-picking, finding faults, exclusion, spreading rumours, being treated differently, being verbally abused, having written warnings imposed and micro- managing.It may be an individual against an individual , or involve a whole group or department.

There are number of reasons why bullying takes place. The most common is that the bully him or herself feels insecure or inadequate. By highlighting the failings of another, he or she is trying to give the illusion of superiority.

A bully's behavior can have a significant effects on an entire organization which is another reason why it cannot be ignored. Whole teams might be induced to hand in their notice if the bully holds a place in the senior management team.

In terms of the legal position of an employee who feels bullied, it is down to the employer to prevent harassing behavior. An organizational statement to all staff about the behavior expected will make situations easier for emplyers to deal with. It is not possible to make a direct complaint to a tribunal about bullying, but there are laws in U.K. that cover discrimination and harassment. For example:
- Sex Discrimination Act
- Race Relations Act
- Disability Discrimination Act
- Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations
- Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations
- Employment Equality ( Age) Regulations

However, before it becomes necessary to turn to the law for help, it is better to explore other avenues first. Speaking to the bully may be an option, in which case it should always be attempted. It is also worth considering:
- Is there an organizational statement that you can consult?
- Can you talk over problems with a line manager, union representative or
colleague?
- Has there been a change in management or organizational structure that you
need time to adjust to?

Talking the problem through with a colleague should be a first port of call. Keeping a diary of incidents will also be handy, particularly if the situation does require you to go to a tribunal.

Sabado, Setyembre 11, 2010

HOW SMART ARE YOU? by Jolito Ortizo Padilla


Creating Corporate Intelligence will lead to competitive success,but only if you do it properly writes Jolito Ortizo Padilla.

Today's most successful companies are intelligent companies. For example, make a look at Google, Tesco, eBay or Yahoo. These are all companies that use their intelligence to gain competitive advantages and trump the competition. But before a method to create an intelligent company can be determined , we must agree on what we are talking.

Intelligence is an umbrella term that refers to a person's capacity for reasoning, planning, problem solving and learning. It is the very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience. It is not merely about book learning, a narrow academic skill, or taking tests. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings, making sense of things and figuring out what to do in a situation.

So if intelligence refers to our individual ability to plan, make sense of things, solve problems and learn then these are also the key components of corporate intelligence. Intelligent companies ensure they understand the world in which they operate and use this understanding to inform decision making and learning. They bring together tools such as enterprise performance management, business intelligence, analytics, key performance indicators, management reporting and strategic decision making to generate real competitive advantage.

How to Decide

Intelligent companies lead the way to ensuring that they marshall and analyze available data to add significant value to the organization. They explicitly use the best and most current information to guide decision-making processes.This is much more than just the collection and storage of data and information in large quantities -it is about building knowledge and competitive strategies around data-driven insights.

Decision making needs to be supported by the best data possible in the same way we apply the scientific methods of rigourous data collection and analysis to gain new scientific insights or we expect our doctor to apply the principles of evidenced- based medicine. Intelligent decision making basically means finding the best information you can, facing those facts, and acting on them.

However, while more evidence- based decision making leads to better decisions, the challenge is finding the right data. Thanks to a decade or so of breathtaking advantage in information and communication technologies, we live in a world in which decision makers are bombarded by an ever expanding supply of data , which is placing them and their organization under great strain. The more data that is available , the easier it is to miss the most crucial bits of information.

As data volumes grow at explosive rates, the challenges of managing this information is turning into a losing battle for most companies and they end up drowning in data while thirsting for insights. This is made worse by the severe skills shortage in analytics, data presentation and information communication. This is where quality professionals could play a much more strategic role in the organization, providing some of much needed skills to move organizations forward to become more intelligent. Quality professinals tend to be more data-savvy than other positions and might bring analytical skills such as data analytics, six sigma and value driver analysis to the executive team.

In reality the people who are often seen to be in charge of data and analytics are IT professionals. The reason for this is not that they posessess the best analytical capabilities, but because they have overseen the implementation of software tools-so called business intelligence applications. However, despite huge investments in business intelligence software and solutions in recent years organization are still failing to convert data into strategically valuable knowledge. Business Intelligence alone cannot make this happen-rather it must be used in support of rubost analytic processess. This is huge opportunity for quality professionals to work closely with IT to deliver true business intelligence by joining up analytics and business intelligence efforts with the aim of creating an environment of evidence -based decision making.

The Building Block of Intelligence

There are five key steps to becoming an intelligent company. These steps involve a number of key and best practice skills that top performing organizations need to apply to become more intelligent companies.

. Step 1: Develop more intelligent strategies by identifying strategic
priorities and agreeing your real information needs.
. Step 2: Develop more intelligent strategies by creating relevant and
meaningful performance indicators as well as qualitative
management information linked back to your strategic
information needs.
. Step 3: Develop more intelligent insights by using good evidence to
test and prove ideas and by analyzing the data to gain rubost
and reliable insights.
. Step 4: Develop more inteligent communication by creating informative
and engaging management information packs and dashboards
that provide the essential information packaged in a way that
is targeted and easy to understand.
. Step 5: Develop more intelligent decision making by fostering an
evidence -based culture of turning information into
actionable knowledge and real decisions.

In today's turbulent, unpredictable markets it can prove immensely challenging to identify the core strategic objectives of an organization. But it is only by doing so that it becomes possible to ensure that the analytics we generate are relevant to the organization's competitive positioning and support its greatest information needs.

Step 1
Intelligent organization such as Tesco or Google have created strategic performance management frameworks to guide the collection and analysis of data. Tools such as balanced score-cards and strategy maps can be used to identify high -level objectives. Tesco has clearly routined its strategic priorities in a balanced score card called steering whel.

Once a performance framework is in place, any efforts to use data can be linked back to the strategy of the organization. That way, organizations don't waste valuable time analyzing something that doesn't really matter in the grander scheme of things.

Any efforts to collect and analyze data need to be focused on:
1. The strategic objectives of the organization
2. The big unanswered questions in regards to those objectives.
The executive team in Google for example , has identified the strategic priorities and then formulated a set of questions that they as executives really needed to answer to. These questions are now used to frame the collection of data. Google's CEO Eric Schimdt makes it very clear that any major efforts to collect or analyze data should be linked to strategic questions the excutive team has formulated.

Step 2
Once the data and information needs are clear we can start to collect the appropriate data and performance metrics, that, in turn, will help to answer the strategic questions. The emphasis here is on gathering and organizaing meaningful and relevant data to meet the information needs identified in step one. Organizations need to assess whether the data needed is already held in the organization or devise the best way to collect the data.

A typical trap is to think of data of data as just numbers that come from operational or transactional systems or those that are collected using over-simplified surveys or questionnaires. If organizations want to gain rubost picture of reality then they must keep in mind that data comes in myriad formats-sounds, text, graphics, and pictures are as much data as are numbers.Moreover, there are many methods for collecting data, which can be quantitative (they are concerned with the collection of numerical data) or qualitative (concerned with the collection of non-numerical data). The richest insights seem to come from key performance indicators that are both unique to the organization and observe actual behavior.

Take for example, the insurance firm Progressive Insurance. The company was among the first to make extensive use of consumer credit scores as input to its automobile insurance underwriting. as competitors caught up this technique the company has always found new and innovative ways of collecting and using data to gain a compettive edge. Tesco is another great example. With its Clubcard data it can now observe consumer trends in almost real time and gain insights quicker and in more detail than any of its competitors.

Step 3
Data has to be analyzed and put into context in order to extract information and insights. In the same way as data collection, analysis must support the core strategic objectives of the organization as understood through step one. Central to the analytics process-and in line with the scienific method -is the running of a series of experiments to test assumptions.

Two best practice examples of organizations that make good use of experiments are Yahoo and eBay. Both organizations receive many millons of hits to their homepages each hour. To test new assumptions -in Yahoo's case that making a certain alteration to the homepage will change behaviors of visitors-they randomly assign 100,000,200,000 users to an experimental group and have several million other visitors as a control group. At eBay , simple A/B experiments that compare two versions of a website can be structured within a few days and they typically last at least a week so that they cover full auction periods of selected items.

Step 4
This fourth step focuses on communicating the information and insights extracted in step three. The main focus here is to get the information, in its most appropriate format, to the appropriate decision makers. It is extremely important to keep in mind the target audience and its needs when communicating. Even with proper and tailored analysis it is crucial that the visual presentation tools are clear, infomative and compelling. Information needs to be packaged in different ways in order to help recipients understand the key messages.

Different types of graphs and charts can be used as appropriate, such as pictographs, tally charts, bar graphs, histograms, scatter plots, line graphs and pie charts. Moreover, it is important to use more narratives that provide context and meaning to the data. Using graphs and narrative together will enable the telling of the story, which neither can fully do in isolation.

Step 5
Amassing knowledge, however insightful or compelling, is of little value unless it is turned into action. Decisions have to be made and acted on. However, making this happen often requires a wholesale reworking of the process. This often needs a cultural transformation that might include for example, ensuring that:
. The organization has apassion for learning and improvement
. There is an unswerving leadership buy-in to the principles of being
an intelligent company
. There are eidespread analytical capabilities within the organization
. There is willingness to share information

The five sequential steps of this framework provide a blueprint for any organization that is looking to work more intelligently. However, the logic of good evidence-based decision making is not just linear. an organization needs to ensure that there is a feedback loop between the last and the first step. Once learning has taken place and the decision have been made they in turn inform future information needs.

Martes, Setyembre 7, 2010

The Quality Manager's Role in Projects... A Help and a Hindrance? by Jolito Ortizo Padilla




Projects are temporary organizations somewhat detached from business as usual. Experienced managers who move into project management often express surprise that managing projects requires a different focus to thier usual thinking. The project's focus on specific objectives and products with a restricted timescale and budget means that different ways of working focus on delivery over process. A quality manager with the knowledge of the way the business usually works may be tempted to enforce all the normal procedures and processes. This approach must becarefully considered and adapted.

In projects, some work will not survive the end of the project and will not need the same rigour as the work needed for the final product. It may be acceptable for a prototype to be more roughly made-the extra engineering would cost time and money that could be devoted to the final product. This lack of finishing can grate with some quality professionals.

The quality system used in projects must be tailored to accomodate differing products. Quality management actions must be included in the project plan so that the project team, quality professionals and management understand where strictly applied procedures are needed and where a lighter touch will work best. An inexperienced quality manager asked to review the plan will not recognize this and will insist on uniformity of process, adding cost to the project for no gain in output quality. However, some project managers will forget that the project will contribute to the long term knowledge and understanding of the organization.

The project and organization's risk managers can highlight the most risky steps and work with quality managers to support a successful outcome. By asessing the most critical tasks from a quality perspective, risks can be identified and decisions made about the most appropriate actions. Continuous improvement can be seen as less important when a task will only be done once in a project. Most project management methods stipulate that lessons learned must be recorded, be analyzed and feed continuous improvement both in projects and organization. The quality manager's role continues beyond the project and in the wider organization making them the ideal person to hold these records.

The quality manager has a role as the project manager's independent adviser. Because the quality manager will have an independent reporting line, their objective advice can be invaluable. The quality manager's route to senior management can also assist a project manager to resolve organizational issues that are blocking the progress.

Project managers are tasked with delivering results that are pleasing to stakeholders, on time and within budget. Time, cost and quality must be traded off against each other to deliver optimum solution. Having the support of the quality manager when making decisions about varying the quality helps to ensure that compromises are realistic and accepatable.

The quality manager has one more role: their broader view of the project and the organization is invaluable when informing senior managers, project sponsors and HR at a strategic level. Each year a number of projects fail because organizations do not have the capability in resources, the experience or the technology to complete the project successfully.

The quality manager's insights into the team, objectives and organizational issues are especially useful to the project sponsor as assurance that the overall quality of processes within a project is working. They may also be asked by the project sponsor to participate in its internal assurance activities where they can bring expert knowledge and experience and moderate the project team' work.

Huwebes, Setyembre 2, 2010

Driving Sustained Improvement - Jolito Ortizo Padilla explains How 5S Brought Award-Winning Change to Colliers Nissan-A Case Analysis...


Colliers Motor Group was founded in 1926 by Richard Collier, with an Austin franchised dealership in South Yardley, Birmingham. During the 1990s the group expanded to seven sites, all within the Midlands area. The Midlands-based company is still privately owned currently by the chairman Alan Clarke, it has a turnover of 40million Sterling Pounds and employ nearly 300 staffs. The franchise currently held are: Nissan, Fiat, Seat, Jaguar, Mazda, Land Rover, Chevrolet, Honda and Peugeot.

In 2008, the business decided to address a specific problem involving Colliers, Nissan in Acocks Green, Birmingham. The Nissan dealership site was about to undergo a major showroom refurbishment as part of the business development. The company wanted to examine this future activity and establish:
- How it would impact on what was already a profitable dealership.
- The potential secondary effect on the rest of the business-specifically parts
and service.
- How change might affect the service provided to the customer.
We also wanted to increase workshop efficiency and the after sales department's profitability. Added to this, the service department lead-time was growing and we needed to use the available facilities to grow the capacity.

The Nissan Service Way

We enlisted the help of Nissan Service Way initiative. This initiative began in 2006 and over 100 dealers participated including the Philippines. It is being implemented on behalf of Nissan by lean experts from Renault- Nissan Consulting using training and on site coaching techniques.

The Nissan service way program was established to take Nissan acknowledged expertise within lean manufacturing and apply those principles to the dealer workshop environment. Extensive research in a number of Nissan dealerships identified that there were significant opportunities for efficiency improvements in both servicing and repair, and in the customer handling process. Detailed "time and motion" studies were carried out plotting the "walkpaths" of staff involved in the whole process, and identifying improvements to both physical layout and working practices. To optimize practical benefit the dealer is required to make changes to the typical workbay to facilitate use of factory style "standard operations."

The initial review at Colliers identified problems around the service reception area, which was located within the showroom environment. This included the lines communication that extended between the after sales area of the business and the sales department. We then looked at the sales delivery proces and how we carried out our daily tasks to understand how effectively that current process interacted with the relevant departments that were involve.

We decided to focus on the work instruction for pre-delivery inspection of new cars before handover to the customer. This needed to be clear, the relevant resources had to be available, such as technicians and vehicle was ready for delivery by the agreed customer deadline.

Identifying the Areas for Change

To highlight the required changes, we used the following mthodologies:
- Process map tracking of works instruction
- Process map following customers' keys
- 5S assessment of after sales department
- Video of technicians to identify wastage
- Flowchart of car park movements
Three areas of chnage were identified: the service reception, the workshop and the parts department. For the service reception,we began by looking at what we do and how and why we do it. The review entailed detailed analysis of the appointment booking criteria and the throughput process of the customer when they physically arrived at the service department. This highlighted that there was room for improvement.

We had to have an accurate count of hours that would mirror the loading capacity that was available within the workshop. This meant showing which technicians were available , their skillset and their potential efficiency in carrying out those tasks. This could be used to set the throughput.

There needed to be a mechanism for the service department that could control both the resource available and its related time constraints. There also needed to be an input to ensure all the necessary components were available when they were required.

While reviewing the workshops, we asked ourselves." while the workshop does not need in refurbishment, could we use the resources available in a more effective manner?"we thought about production facilities:"How do they minimize wastage or potential down time?" technician productivity and efficiency was also an area for improvement.

A video camera was used to capture data and map out on a spaghetti chart where the technicians went when they left their work bay because the tools they require were somewhere else. They also had to walk to the parts department and the service respetion desk several times a day to be issued with new jobs.

The review of the parts department identified that up to 20% of parts required for the vehicles currently being worked on were not available. There needed to be a process that ensured that routine components should be available for fitment.

Application of the Tools

The first step was a workshop control board. The board is used to plan the technician's workload throughout the day, minimizing the need to interact skillset is allocated and that the vehicles are ready for collection at the agreed time. The board also helps to control any vehicles that need to be carried over and maintains continuity within the workshop process. The board encompasses the waiting option given to customers as this helps alleviate the car park congestion.

The implemented board has the technician's names on one side and time slots alongside. The work is then planned for each technician the day before using magnets. It enables the department manager to see instantly if there is enough work for the day and provision any shortfall accordingly.

We also decided to make improvements on the the work bay areas. All services were installed in the work bays and the technicians were given a trolley that had all the tooling required to carry out the servicing function. Ramps had additional tools located within the bay area to limit the work downtime. A standardized walk path is now used to enable the technician to carry out all functions and wherever possible minimize the need to revisit areas already worked on.

After the success of this initial work this was then partially deployed to the rest of the workshop. 5S methodology was the main process used to create a desire for change within the workshop team and it was clear that as the team went through the process there was a huge mindset change.

The works instruction flow was improved so that all works instructions are validated for customer information and work required and then passed to parts for pre-picking. This enables the technician to follow a flow of work and to concentrate on his task in hand, minimizing disruption and the need to leave the work station.

Sustainable is Possible

We have made our improvements sustainable through 5S audits. Criteria were selected to ensure the main elements of the process could be maintained , which requires all individuals to take ownership of their part and instills a daily discipline. A checklist was created with key areas of the process and the service manager now carries out the audits to ensure sustainability. This, allied to the standard dealer key performance indicators, is used to identify potential shortfalls.

Overall the project has been a great success. This can be shown in a number of different ways:
- Hours sold throught the service departments have increased
- Technicians' overall efficiency has improved by more than 20% and productivity
by 13%
- Workshop sold per repair order increased by 25%
This helped the service department to increase its bottom line profit by 30,000 Sterling pounds and has given an increase by 60,000sterling pounds when using a year on year comparison.

The improved process has resulted in vehicles being prepared and delivered within three days. This means the funds are already in the company bank acount from the customer or finance house before the manufacturer debits the vehicle cost and there are no new vehicles taking up unnecessary parking spaces. The car park is now more fluid with "while you wait" visits encourages as the capacity is there to ensure the vehicle can be turned around within the agreed timeframe.

The improved process now covers the entire customer experience from booking the car in to collection after completion of required work. Colliers Nissan is able to offer its customer an accurate timeslot for service and reduced "turnaround" time. The customer therefore benefits from absolute certainty that his or her car has been serviced exactly in line with Nissan requirements as well s spending less time waiting and in discusion with dealership staff.

It's very rare to embrace a program and see all aspects of initiative have such a positive impact in all areas of the business including an increase in staff morale, improvement in processes , increased capacity and efficiency, improved customer satisfaction and the substantial increase in profit.


KEY QUALITY TOOLS USED IN THIS PROJECT:

5S is the anme of a workplace organization methodology that uses a list of five Japanese words , transliterated and translated in english, start with the letter S. working with the process usually involves discussion with employees to build a clear understanding of how work should be carried out. It also aims to isntill ownership of the process in each employee.
The 5S are:

1. Seiri/Sorting- Go through all tools and materials in the work area. Keep only essentail items. Everything else should be stored or discarded.

2. Seiton/ Straighten or Set in Order- There should be a place for everything and everything should be in place. The place for each item should be clearly labelled. Items should be arranged in a manner that promotes efficient work flow.

3. Seiso/Sweeping or Shining or Cleanliness (systematic cleaning). keep the workplace clean as well as neat. At the end of each shift , clean the work area and be sure everything is restored to its place.

4. Seiketsu/Standardizing . Work practices should be consistent and standardized. Everyone should know exactly what his or her responsibilities are adhering to the first 3 Ss.

5. Shitsuke/Sustaining the discipline. Maintain and review standards. Once the previous 4Ss have ben established they become the new way to operate. Maintain focus on this new way and do not allow a gradual decline back to the old ways. While thinking about the new way, also think about even better ways.



Spaghetti Chart is a tool used to demonstrate the physical flow of an entity or multiply entity types (e.g product , information) and the associated travel distance for a single cycle of a process. It is a visual representation of travel distance and travel patterns. (The name was conceived by Jolito Ortizo Padilla- Copyrighted)