More Profits From On-going Small Improvements: Part 2

Continued from Part 1 of the article More Profits From On-going Small Improvements by Abe WalkingBear Sanchez.
Twenty two years ago my younger son, Andres, was seven years old and one night he was doing some school homework. He was sitting at the dinner table with a sheet of paper and in the center he drew a box. Inside the box he wrote “A boy and his dogs”. Then he drew a line from each corner of the box toward the edge of the paper and at the end of each line he wrote about something that had happened or been done, and by who. He then numbered these “actions” in sequence of events or priority. He then took a second sheet of paper and “A Boy and His Dogs” became the title and the “actions” became paragraphs…he was organizing and writing a story. A couple of weeks later while working with a distribution company on their Credit and A/R Management, the CEO asked if I could help organize and improve on how things were done in the warehouse…not knowing anything about warehouse operations I said “sure”.
I thought the best place to start learning about the warehouse and about areas of opportunity for improvement was to ask the experts, the warehouse guys. Not having a flip chart or white board available we broke down a box and put it up on a warehouse wall. I then drew a box in the center of the box and I drew lines from the center box toward the edges of the flattened box…and then we called in the experts.
“Every business function must have a clearly stated purpose that addresses the costs associated with the carrying out of that business function.”, I said to warehouse experts. They then led me through the costs involved with the warehouse function: inventory, heating/cooling, buildings, their paychecks, taxes, equipment and shrinkage/obsolescence. “So why incur the costs?, I asked. And of course one guy answered ,”To make a profit.”. “What’s the best way to “earn” a profit?”, I asked. We finally came down to “meeting or exceeding customer expectations” as being the best way to earn a profit and for the warehouse function that meant having “an acceptable on time fill rate”. In the box at the center of the flatten box I wrote “On-time Fill Rate”.
The next step in organizing the “warehouse story” was to break it into “actions” or major components. We came up with receiving, shipping, truck maintenance, and inventory control, in sequence of events. The last thing we accomplished that day was to establish a goal for each of the major components: receiving…take in right and put up right, shipping…take down right and send out right, truck maintenance …get what suppose to be where it’s suppose to be when it’s suppose to be, and inventory control…know what you need, what you have and where it’s at. In a follow up session we establish how the goals would be accomplished…the steps needed to be taken in order to achieve the goals, and we also established who would do the work. The management team and I were then able to establish “Performance Measures” based on the ”goals.”
Over the years I found that this method for organizing and documenting the knowledge needed to do things as right as possible the first time worked with any business function.
The Five Organizational Ps
Purpose: Every business function must have a clearly stated purpose which answers the question, “Why incur the costs that go with the function?”
Policies: Goal driven guidelines for each major component within the function.
Process: The step by step method for achieving the goals established by the policies.
People Requirements: The right people for the job based on the process.
Process Monitoring and Performance Measurements: Monitoring key steps in the process to ensure quality and measuring against the goals established by the policies.
If the established goals are not achieved either the process is wrong or you have the wrong guy in the job.
Financial profit is necessary for any business to stay in business and the best way to improve on profit is to do things as right as possible the first time. We will never achieve perfection because things keep changing and that’s why Policies and Procedures are never done and we need to place a cover sheet on them that says “UNDER CONSTRUCTION”.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Every person on the planet sees things differently, His Holiness, The Dali Lama says that there are six and a half billion of us and six and a half billion versions of reality and if you’re married
you know what the Dali Lama is talking about…it’s the same with companies. Businesses are a collection of many different people, none of whom define the business but collectively they make up the business. And what works at one company may not work at another… every company and it’s people are unique . The process for best business practices must be based on each company’s understanding of what is… is.
In Closing
It was time to rotate the tires on the pick-up and for an oil change and lube, I knew it was time because of the sticker on the corner of the windshield. I’ve learned it’s best to make an appointment rather than just show up at the tire place and have to wait if they’re busy…guess what? …no phone number on the sticker. This is a national tire chain and yet I had to wait and remember to look up their phone number when I got home. If I had been able to call them from the pick-up at the time I’d noticed the sticker I’d might have been able to get in sooner, and at my age they were lucky I didn’t space it out altogether. I mentioned all this to the asst. manager when I was checking in and he got it at once…he pulled out a note pad and wrote it all down
saying as he did so ,”This is one for corporate, we all use the same stickers.” Good for him…now lets see if Big O corporate gets it.
When people are told that on-going small improvements are desired and that they will be measured on coming up with them, they become different people. They find that they are capable of thinking outside the established box and that it gives far more meaning to their work lives, than just a paycheck.
Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.