Vergence Business Associates - Catalysts For Process Excellence - Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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If you are a first time visitor interested in getting started with OEE, click here to access our first post “OEE – Overall Equipment Effectiveness“.  This is the post that started it all.

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Until Next Time – STAY lean!

Contingency Planning For Lean Organizations – H1N1 (Swine Flu) – Reference

In our first post on Contingency Planning For Lean Organizations, we made reference to the current situation regarding the H1N1 virus or Swine Flu. We also suggested that history may provide relevant information that can be used to aid in future crisis event planning.

Michael A. Roberto, author of “Know What You Don’t Know” copyright 2009 by Pearson Education Inc., presents a case surrounding the 1976 “swine flu” incident to exemplify how faulty analogies can have devastating effects. In his book, Michael Roberto cites research of Richard Neustadt and Ernest May.

An excerpt from the book, reference pages 77-78, reads as follows:

“In that situation, President Gerald Ford and his advisors drew an erroneous analogy to the infamous flu epidemic of 1918. The faulty analogy led them to dramatically overestimate the seriousness of the problem they faced. As a result, they embarked on a very comprehensive and unnecessary immunization program. Roughly five hundred people experienced a serious side effect that was linked to the immunizations, and twenty five people died.”

This may explain the slow, seemingly uncoordinated, pace of the government to address the current H1N1 outbreak. Many people remain skeptical as to whether the immunization process is safe. This skepticism may be warranted. Again, referencing Michael Roberto’s book “Know What You Don’t Know” (page 78), “More people died from the immunization than from the flu itself.”

The experts of the day advised that this could be another epidemic. Two prior non-swine flu outbreaks, one in 1957 and the other in 1968, caught the government off guard. It is more than noteworthy that an estimated twenty million people were killed world-wide by the virus during the epidemic of 1918.

With mounting pressure from the Centers for Disease Control to avoid history repeating itself and in an effort to be pro-active, immunizations were ordered and given to an estimated forty million people. What would you have done?

For more information we recommend reading “Knowing What You Don’t Know – How Great Leaders Prevent Problems Before They Happen” by Michael A. Roberto, copyright 2009 by Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Wharton School Publishing, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 (ISBN: 0-13-156815-9), Pages 202.

Also see Warner, J. “The Sky Is Falling: An analysis of the Swine Flu Affair of 1976.” http://www.harverford.edu/biology/edwards/disease/viral_essays/warnervirus.htm

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Lean Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – IT and the BSOD

Coincidentally, we are having a first hand experience with the Blue Screen of Death or BSOD with one of our laptops today.  The completely unexpected critical system error that renders Windows completely helpless.  If this isn’t on your list of IT concerns, it should be.

In our case the error appears to be video related – driver or card.  Most IT specialists know how to deal with these types of errors but for the average user, the message that appears is enough to make you sweat.  If the system can’t fix the error, you may very well end up staring at a Black Screen – just as we are.

How is it that we were still able to produce this POST?  Well, we are currently executing our contingency plan and using another system that is operated independently.  Most companies back up their data to prevent or minimize loss.  Another concern that is often overlooked is accessibility to that back up data in the event the system goes down.

What have we learned?

We are not the first to experience this problem.  We did a Google search using some brief terms such as “Computer Black Screen”, “Laptop Black Screen”, and we even Googled parts of the error message that appeared on the screen.  The result?  Thousands of people have experienced this same error.

The point of this post is to demonstrate that you do not have to re-invent the wheel to determine potential solutions or to discover problems that may occur.  Quite likely, they may already have happened and solutions are already developed and available.

There are two probable solutions to our video issue:

1. Update the video device driver (Free)
2. Replace the video card (Cost $)

Hopefully, the first solution is the answer to our problem.  Video cards are not sitting on our shelf and the downtime may be extended if we can’t find something locally.

It is noteworthy that we have not yet identified the root cause of this failure.  We haven’t loaded any new software or experienced problems in recent history.  This may be the topic for a future problem solving post.

Regardless of the outcome of our present dilemma, we have learned that it is a good idea to keep device drivers up to date.  As a planned activity, this may prevent some of you from having to experience the BSOD as we have today.

The loss incurred for this event is more than just the cost to repair.  This computer may be down for a few days.  How much is the down time worth?  Unless we play out the scenarios that may threaten or pose a risk to our business, we may never have the opportunity to prepare for the event until it actually happens.

Keep an open mind and use the resources available to you to help solve the problem.  In some cases a simple Google search could confirm your concern in a matter of seconds.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part III

Contingency Planning for Lean Operations – Part III

 

“Deaths spark huge crib recall” was the main headline of today’s Toronto Star (24-Nov-09).  This recall was the result of 4 infant deaths and affects up to 2.1 million units sold.  Click here to access the full article.  This announcement has made headlines throughout North America and is certain to be featured on all of the major network news stations.

Managing a major product recall is likely one of the more significant events where contingency plans are fully executed and developed.  As tragic or unfortunate as the events may be, it is imperative for a company to manage the recall event in professional and responsible manner.  While it may seem difficult to prepare for an event that has not yet occurred, learning to anticipate the sequence of events to recovery and to script are necessary steps to developing an effective contingency plan.

What are the elements of an effective contingency plan?

We will be covering the elements of an effective contingency plan over the next few posts.  Before we get too far into the process, it is important to recognize that one of the critical skills required as part of the contingency planning process is the ability to perform an effective risk assessment.

It is not our intent to cover all aspects regarding risk assessments and analysis as this would require a book in itself.

A newly released book, The Failure of Risk Management – Why It’s Broken and How to Fix It, by Douglas W. Hubbard (copyright 2009) and published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., provides extensive insight and resources to perform effective Risk Management Assessments and Analysis.  The reasons why some risk management methods fail or are susceptible to failure are also covered in detail.

As exemplified in the opening article, there is no real means to measure the net effect or impact of a recall campaign of this magnitude.  Elements such as Consumer Confidence, Brand Loyalty, Loss of Life, or Warranty are difficult to value in tangible terms.

Unfortunately, there are too many examples of crisis events where the knowledge was available to rectify or fix the situation before any tragic event occurred.  As heard in many workplaces, “Why is that nothing is done until something bad happens?”

An effective contingency planning is not only designed to manage tragic or crisis events, it should also aid to identify potential failure modes that can be captured and addressed before a product is ever released for mass production or to market.  Consider the following two scenarios:

• Scenario 1: (Highly unlikely …)
  • Jill:  What if the part fails?
  • Jack:  We’ll recall it.
  • Jill:  How will we do that?
  • Jack:  We have an excellent recall management process

What if the dialogue took a different turn as follows:

• Scenario 2:  (More likely …)
  • Jill:  What if the part fails?
  • Jack:  What could possibly go wrong?  It’s perfect.
  • Jill:  Engineering said it barely passed the tests.
  • Jack:  Well, maybe we should take another look at the design.
  • Jill:  Great, you know we can’t risk a recall.

Developing a Contingency Plan – The Process

1.  Corporate Responsibilities – Charter

If contingency planning ever concerns an individual person in the company directly, it is the Chief Executive Officer or the president who are personally at risk of significant legal ramifications and also the greatest level of exposure.

This past year Maple Leaf Foods experienced a major Listeria outbreak at one of their food processing facilities.  Contaminated product reached the market place resulting in illness and loss of life.  A major recall was initiated and the company immediately initiated corrective actions.  During this crisis, the CEO took personal responsibility for public relations, communicating the strategy, and ultimately overseeing the recovery process.

The CEO or President should be leading the charge for the development of contingency plans and to assure their effectiveness.  To this end, it is also imperative that the team responsible for formulating the plan includes a cross-section of people from across the company.

The CEO or President will also want to assure that everyone is trained to respond to events that pertain their specific areas of responsibility.

2.  Contingency Planning – Form a Team

As we mentioned in our previous posts, contingency planning is an enterprise-wide process.  The collective intelligence of the team is greater than that of any team member.

You should consider the skill sets that may be required to support the team.  Although we are not suggesting that you need to be an expert in probability theory or statistics, someone having exposure to these types of assessment tools or an outside consultant may be worth the effort.

It is not possible for one committee to prepare contingency plans for every area in the company.  When forming teams, how the skills and levels of expertise required to support the team in one area may be vastly different for another area.  For example, Product Engineering and Operations will have different failure modes to contend with.

To ensure the appropriate resources are available, we recommend that  executive management or a steering committee are assigned to oversee the contingency planning and development process.

Based on some of the scenarios cited in this post, it would stand to reason that most CEO’, Presidents, and / or owners are primary stake holders in the Contingency Planning process.

More will follow:

• Performing Risk Assessments
• Contingency Planning Tools
• Do The DRILL
• Publish
• Review

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Lean is Eco-Friendly – Coke Shows How

Today’s front page of the Toronto Star (Monday 22-Nov-09) featured an article on Coke’s new Eco-Bottle. The revolutionary plastic made from sugar cane byproducts is not biodegradable but can be 100% recycled.

Are companies beginning to understand how their product or service may be impacting the environment?  Coca Cola has taken corporate leadership to the next level.  For Coca Cola, understanding how the “complete” product affects the environment has driven tangible change to make a difference.

While Coke’s new eco-bottle is welcomed news, environmentally friendly or Eco-Friendly products are only one aspect to consider in terms of impact to the environment.  Other considerations include how and where the product is manufactured and end-of-life disposal.  At least Coke has addressed the end-of-life disposal aspect.

An extension to the manufacturing process is supply chain management from origination to the final consumer.  The transportation required to supply raw materials, produce, package, and distribute the final product  is as much a concern to the environment.

There is as much activity, if not more, in waste management and recycling than in the manufacturing and distribution processes.  Every stage of phase of a product’s life cycle generates waste in various forms.

Waste management companies are subject to the same environmental impacts through their own supply chain and distribution management, the recycling and disposal processes, and packaging of the product whether or recycled or deemed true end item waste.

Coke at least has demonstrated how large companies can take responsibility for the products they sell.  As consumers, we still have to do our part by making sure the bottle makes it to the recycling bin.

When you are the leading softdrink company in the world it follows that if you can’t improve your product then improve the packaging. We’re sure this will be part of a new marketing campaign to promote Coke as an eco-friendly company – and so it should.

From a Lean Manufacturing perspective, Coke has clearly demonstrated that Lean extends to every facet of the business – inside, outside, and beyond.  This is improving relentlessly.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

We are not affiliated with Coca Cola, Coke, or it’s products and services.

Celebrating 1 Year Online

November19, 2009, marked our 1 year anniversary on this blog.  Click here to see our first post.

Thank you to all of our visitors and of course the people behind the scenes.   

Please feel free to forward any questions, comments, or suggest a topic for review.  If you don’t like the public forum, we can always be reached by e-mail at leanexecution@gmail.com or vergence.consulting@gmail.com. We appreciate your feedback. 

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations (II)

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part II

Putting together a contingency plan can be quite challenging when you consider all the things that could go wrong at any given point in time.  Contingency plans should not only be restricted to ”things gone wrong” and are not limited to operations or process specific events.  All aspects of an operation are prone to risk.  As such, contingency planning must be an enterprise wide activity.

Failing to understand and assess the risks that may impact your operation is a recipe for future failure.  If you fail to plan then plan to fail.  The same is true for contingency plans.  Effective risk management and contingency planning are critical to minimize or eliminate the effects of failure.

Natural disasters (like we’ve never seen before) continue to plague us without prediction.  Yet, we are able to respond immediately and effectively.  If you get hurt or injured, someone is there to help you simply by dialing 911.  Emergency units are ever present and available to respond.

Unfortunately the same is not necessarily true for business.  The recent turn in the economy caused financial markets to tumble and decimated corporations on every scale.  Millions of people are affected by the fallout.  The government “loans” were not crafted after the event.  Did contingency plans exist to even consider this level of change in the economy?

Although history may be the best predictor of future events, it is not exclusive or exhaustive to predicting unforeseen future events.  Even if history did provide a glimpse of potential future failures, we may simply choose to ignore the probability of recurrence – this isn’t the first time the financial markets have crashed, yet we can’t seem to determine or understand what key indicators existed that could have prevented this current situation.

Certainly new variables are introduced as technologies continue to evolve and become more integral in our operations.

In Part I of this series we suggested that contingency plans should be prepared to address potential labour challenges and more specifically availability.  Certainly, the recent concerns regarding the H1N1 virus have heightened attention with respect to labour shortages.

• Inclement Weather – Immediate effects of Snow Storm, Hurricane, Heavy Rain, Tornado.
  • Other considerations include:
    • Duration
    • Seasons
    • Cumulative Severity
    • Delayed Effects (flooding)
    • Property Damage.
• Accident / Injury:  Personal versus Workplace
  • Long Term
  • Short term
  • Considerations to reduce or minimize impact to operations:
    • Early Return To Work
    • Modified Duty
    • Restricted Duty
    • Reduced Hours
• Illness (Personal / Family / Extended Family)
  • Short Term
    • (Flu, Cold)
    • Emergency
  • Long Term
    • Surgical Care
    • Chronic Care
• Sudden Premature Death
• Parental Leave (Maternity Leave)
• Bereavement – Immediate Family, Out of Country
• Retirement / Attrition
• Training
  • Onsite vs Offsite
  • Duration
• Meetings – Department
  • Company Wide
  • On Site
  • Customer Site
• Quality Disruption
  • Containment Activity
    • Sorting
    • Rework
• Travel
• Vacation Allowance / Timing
  • Customer Driven
  • Company Mandated
  • Personal Choice
  • Season
  • Duration
    • New Hires – Zero Weeks
    • Senior Employees – Per “X” Years of Service
• Holidays
• Absenteeism (Culpable)
• Layoff and Recall
  • Short Term
  • Long Term
• Supply Chain Disruptions – Raw Material or Part Supply
• Planned Shutdown / Start Up Events – Holidays
• Leave of Absence – Short Term / Long Term
• Facilities
  • Loss of Utilities:  Water, Electricity
  • Fire, Suspended Services
  • Parking Availability
  • Locker Space
• Equipment – Breakdown / Malfunction (Major)
• Tooling – Breakdown  / Malfunction (Major)
• Skill Levels Required – Non-Skilled, Semi-Skilled, and Skilled Labour
•  Union – Strike
• Customer Decreases
  • Shutdown (Reduced Volume)
  • Slow Down (Reduced Volume)
  • Reduced Work Week (4 vs. 5 days)
  • Shutdown (Planned)
• Customer Increases:
  • Volume
  • Extended Work Days (Daily Overtime)
  • Extended Work Week (Saturday)

There are likely more areas of concern that may impact your labour pool, however, this does serve as a starting point.  Do all of the above elements require a contingency plan?  Not necessarily.  We still contend that it is good practice to document all potential concerns.  It is easier to add a note to document the reason for exclusion from the contingency plan by stating:

• The following elements were discussed during the preparation of this plan, however, specific contingency plans were not considered necessary at the time of review:
  • Training – Scheduled Activity
  • Culpable Absenteeism – Progressive Discipline Program
  • Add Elements to the List as applicable

This latter task may seem somewhat trivial, but consider who else may be reading the report.  Defining the scope of the contingency plan and adding a list of exclusions supported with reason(s) clarifies any ommissions from the core plan, will minimize the time required for review, and eliminates any assumptions regarding unintended ommisions.

Our next post will address the elements to be considered when developing a contingency plan.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part I

Contingency Planning For Lean Operations – Part I

Lean operations are driven by effective planning and efficient execution of core activities to ensure optimal performance is achieved and sustained.  The very nature of lean requires extreme attention to detail through all phases of planning and execution.  Upstream operations simply cannot tolerate any disruptions in product supply or process flow without the risk of incurring significant downtime costs or other related losses.

Effective risk management methods, contingency plans, and loss prevention strategy are critical components of successful operations management in a lean operation.  Risk management and preventing disruptions is the subject of contingency planning and requires the participation of all team members.

Successful contingency planning assures the establishment of an effective communication strategy and identification of core activities and actions required.  Contingency plans may require alternative methods, processes, systems, sources, or services and must be verified, validated, and tested prior to implementation.

Understanding and assessing the potential risks to your operation is the basis for contingency planning with the objective to minimize or eliminate potential losses.

Inventory represents the most basic form of contingency planning.  Safety stock or buffer inventories are typically used to minimize the effects of equipment downtime or disruptions in the supply chain. 

The levels of inventory to maintain are dependent on a number factors including Lead Time, Value, Carrying Cost, Transit Time (Distance), Shelf Life, Minimum Order Quantities, Payment Terms, and Obsolescence.

Why is this relevant?

Material and Labour represent two key resources that may be influenced by external factors that are beyond the control of any company policy or practice.  Internally controlled or managed resources such facilities, equipment, and tooling are less susceptible to unknown elements.  For the purposes of this discussion, we will examine Labour in a little more detail.

The H1N1 virus, originally known as the Swine Flu, is the latest potential health pandemic since the outbreak of SARS only a few years ago.  The government has been struggling to organize mass immunization clinics and to engage the media to aid in the cause.  In the meantime, the potential impact of the H1N1 virus on your operation remains to be an unknown. 

Experts have commented to the media that the lessons from the SARS outbreak have still not been learned.  One would expect that past practices would have already been adopted into new best practices from our experiences with other similar events in our history.

Government agencies at all levels (Federal, Provincial, and local) have mismanaged the activities required to procure and distribute the vaccine, and failed to provide an effective communication and immunization strategy to ensure the risk to public health was minimized and the at the very least understood.

The lack of coordination and accountability for the success or failure of the communication strategy, procurement and distribution of the vaccine, and other related activities are strong indicators that the planning process did not consider the infrastructure requirements and relationships needed between levels of government.

The lack of an effective communication strategy introduced confusion and speculation in the media and the general public.  Mass education only seemed to become more aggressive as incidents of severe H1N1 complications and related deaths were reported in the media.

If this really was a pandemic event, many operations today would (and may still) be adversely affected due to direct or indirect (supply chain) labour shortages.  Do you have contingency plans in place to address this concern?

It could be argued that “if we are affected to this extent, then our customers will be as well.”  This is not necessarily true unless your customers and / or suppliers are located in the same immediate area or region of your business.

People travel all the time, whether they are commuting to work from out-of-town or traveling to or arriving from a foreign country on business.  The source of exposure is beyond your immediate control. 

What other elements can directly impact labour?  We will explore some of these in our next post.  In the meantime, keep your hands washed and remember to cough into your sleeve.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Unexpected and Appreciated – Uncommon Courtesy:  This morning, a person cut into the drive through lane ahead of us – not realizing the gap in the line was there for thru traffic.  Recognizing the error in drive through etiquette and to make amends, we were pleasantly surprised by the ”free” coffee at the pick up window.  Thank you ladies!

5S Your Software (Computer)

We recently discussed how software skills of people in your company can impact their effectiveness and efficiency.  One of our suggestions was to provide additional training and resources to allow staff to upgrade their skill levels.

We should also mention that upgrading to the latest software release may also improve their performance.  Microsoft recently announced upgrades to their Office product line so now may be the time to “5S” your computer and install the latest software.

The Learning Curve

When the Office 2007 upgrade was introduced, many of the software interfaces that we were accustomed to were changed.  The intention of changing this interface was to make some of the more “advanced” features available to the average user.

While these intentions are admirable, we have found that many companies didn’t upgrade.  Compatibility concerns will soon become an issue as software developers desire to take advantage of the newly introduced functionality and capabilities of the latest release.

When we made the switch to 2007, admittedly there was a bit of learning curve.  The new functionality introduced by the new user interface seemed a little awkward at first, however, the effort was more than worth our time.

Although we did lose some perceived functionality in Excel, specifically with our custom menus, the newly added features have been well worth the effort to transition to the next generation of software.  This added functionality is evident by the many Function Specific books that have been written on topic such as Charting, Pivot Tables, and VBA.

Microsoft is Upgrading Again

We recently heard that Microsoft has announced yet another upgrade of the Office products to be released in the near future (if not already).  It can be increasingly difficult for software developers to support multiple versions of previous software releases.

Visual Basic for Application (VBA) programmers are more than aware that even Microsoft’s Macro Recorder does not capture all the functionality to support the features available in the 2007 Office software.

Although Excel has evolved considerably over a relatively short time, we are still surprised to find Excel 1997, 2000, 2002, and 2003 being used like they were released yesterday.

5S Your Software

Recognizing clutter in our physical environment is easy.  We don’t do a very good job when it comes to our “Digital” work space.  The Digital Dump doesn’t exist.  Even deleted files are sent to the Recycle Bin.  Increased storage capacities also make it easy to add new software without having to remove prior versions.

Retro-Compatibility sacrifices can usually be resolved in some form of work around that results in someone losing more of their valuable time.  We also carry multiple versions of Microsoft’s Office software to assure continued compatibility with prior releases and at times sacrifice features and functionality accordingly.

Sooner or later, compatibility will be compromised.  Few have ever performed a Software 5S, this may have just been one of our first times discussing it as well.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

Time Studies with your BlackBerry

Performing a time study is relatively easy compared to only few years ago.  The technologies available today allow studies to be conducted quite readily.

Time Studies and OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness)

The Performance factor for OEE is based on the Ideal Cycle Time of the process.  For fixed rate processes, the Name-Plate rate may suffice but should still be confirmed.  For other processes such a labour intensive operations, a time study is the only way to determine the true or ideal cycle time.

When measuring the cycle time, we typically use ”button to button” timing to mark a complete cycle.  It can be argued that an operator may lose time to retrieve or pack parts or move containers.  Including these events in the gross cycle time will hide these opportunities.  It is better to exclude any events that are not considered to be part of the actual production cycle.

When calculating the Performance factor for Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), the efficiency shortfalls will be noted by the less than 100% performance.  The reasons for this less than optimal level of peformance are attributed to the activities the operator is required to perform other than actually operating the machine or producing parts.

All operator activities and actions should be documented using a standardized operating procedure or standardized work methodology.  This will allow all activities to be captured as opposed to absorbed into the job function.

The BlackBerry Clock – Stopwatch

One of the tools we have used on the “fly” is the BlackBerry Clock’s Stopwatch function.  The stopwatch feature is very simple to use and provides lap time recording as well.

When performing time studies using a traditional stopwatch, being able to keep track of individual cycle times can be difficult.  With the stopwatch function, the history for each “lap” time is retained.  To determine the individual lap time or cycle time, we recommend dividing the total lapsed time by the number of completed cycles (or laps).

The individual lap times are subject to a certain degree of uncertainty or error as there will always be a lead or lag time associated with the pushing of the button on the BlackBerry to signal the completion of a cycle.  Although this margin of error may be relatively small, even with this level of technology, the human element is still a factor for consideration.

Once the time study is complete you can immediately send the results by forwarding them as an E-mail, PIN, or SMS.

The BlackBerry Camera – Video Camera

Another useful tool is the video camera.  Using video to record operations and processes allows for a detailed “step by step” analysis at any time.  This is particularly useful when establishing Standard Operating Procedures or Standardized Work.

Uploading videos and pictures to your computer is as easy as connecting the device to an available USB port.  In a matter of minutes, the data is ready to be used.

Video can also be used to analyze work methods, sequences, and also serves as a valuable problem solving tool.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!

We are not affiliated with Research In Motion (RIM).  The intent of this post is to simply demonstrate how the technology can be used in the context described and presented.

10 Ways to Enhance Customer Satisfaction

Customers are the reason we are in business and customer satisfaction is what keeps them coming back.  It takes a tremendous effort to gain a new customer and only seconds to lose one.  Service must be exemplary if we want to sustain and grow our customer base and ultimately our business.

Mission:  Exceed Customer Expectations

Is it really possible to EXCEED customer expectations?  How can you exceed customer expectations when the expectation is 100% Quality Products Delivered On Time - In Full?

Consider the fast food industry.  Many popular Fast Food companies offer drive through service.  The expectation is that we will get what we ordered and receive the correct change when we pay.  This is the service rendered and expectations have been met (provided of course that the quality of the food is also upto our expectations).

Every customer expects to be treated like …

… a customer or at least a human being.  It could be argued that employees are expected to be kind, courteous, and cheerful while serving the customer.  These attributes of good customer service may also be clearly defined in the “customer service” clause of their respective employment standards or published in the “Who is OUR Customer” poster.  Instead of doing it because it’s the right thing to do, good customer service is now a condition for continued employment.

Vending machines can provide similar services without the human touch.    When Vending machines fail to deliver what we paid for they are slammed, cursed, tilted, shaken, and kicked.  When people fail to deliver, we write letters, attempt to talk to management, or we simply don’t go back. 

Mission:  We Will Enhance Customer Expectations

Some employees are exemplary – courteous, kind (at a minimum they at least say thank you, have a nice day), and are very efficient. Some employees are on the opposite end of the spectrum – almost as though our presence is an inconvenience.

Do you ever feel like you are being served by “the hand”?  For some of us, the first person (or hand) we see in the morning is the one at the drive through window.  Can this person make or break your day?  Likely not, but they can at least enhance the experience with a friendly “Good morning and have a nice day”.

What is the point of this post?  The customer perceives VALUE based on the full service experience.  The people in customer service can make or break the customer’s experience with  your product or service.  VALUE is worth more than simply meeting Cost Objectives and Performance Expectations.  Value and Cost are not equal.

Someone may VALUE your opinion although they wouldn’t necessarily pay you for it.  The expression “let me give you my 2 cents on this” comes to mind.

How do you enhance customer satisfaction?

Major food chains and retailers are constantly looking for customer feedback.  You may even be enticed to complete the “How did we do today” survey by an offer to discount your next purchase.

10 Ways to Enhance Customer Satisfaction

1. Communicate.  Communication with the customer is the key to enhancing customer satisfaction.  Follow Up and Follow Through to assure and confirm expectations have been satisfied.
2. Be Confident.  Customers like to deal with people who know what they are doing.  We don’t want to hear, “This is my first time doing this so …”
3. Be Professional.  The customer is always right – even when they are wrong.
4. Build Customer Confidence.  Your performance and ability to meet the customers’ needs will re-assure them that they have made the right decision.
5. Build Value (Reputation).  Be effective and perform efficiently:  Everyone  wants the best lawyer or the best doctor.  “We have the best person on it.”
6. Ask the customer.  Is there anything else we can do for you today?  This suggests that you are able to do more if necessary.  The customer may just say, “Not today, but may be next time.”  At least you know they’ll may be back versus NEVER.
7. Don’t send out surveys.  There are many ways to measure customer satisfaction without sending surveys.  “Paying” someone to provide an opinion may even change it.  “Will I still get a free lunch if I tell you what I’m really thinking?”  Remember the Vending Machine example from above?  The vending machine knows exactly how poor performance looks and feels.
8. Be THE Solution.  We coined a phrase some time ago – “Thinking so you don’t have to.”  Take away the problem and be the solution.
9. Thank You.  Show your customers that you appreciate their business.  It may be as easy as saying “Thank You for Your Business.”
10. Smile – Whether the customer can see you or not - SMILE.  Studies have suggested that people know or can sense when other people are smiling.  We can’t quote a source for this statement, however, smiling is also good for you.

How does this relate to LEAN?  Poor customer service will kill any business.  At that time it doesn’t matter how efficient or lean your operation is.  Most lean operations “present” very well.  The cleanliness and organization of the operation suggests a degree of sophistication and a real sense of “we know what we’re doing.”  Unfortunately, the customer experience may not include tours of your operation.

Until Next Time – STAY Lean!