Quick Tip: Mind Your Language!

I just came across this little gem, and it reminded me of why anyone outside the sphere of Quality, finds the subject as interesting as toast. Not even the buttered kind, probably even toast that is a little bit cold.

"Suitably qualified entities are invited to register their interest in being invited to tender to undertake the role of design services consultant for certain services on the basis described in the Invitation to Register Interest."

I beg your pardon? Now this clearly isn't a quality related statement, but nonetheless, it is an etymological period point, highlighting the need for both sentences with commas, and, demonstrating the superfluous nature of generic statements. Was the author charging by the word?

If you want people to understand and engage in your Management System, then try to not put them in a coma when you are writing associated policies or procedures. If you are dozing off in front of your computer from reading your own work, then what hope does everyone else have?

Take Notes: There is ALWAYS a Pop Quiz!

There once was a time, before the Internet, before overly accessible annoying pop idols and their exploits, when people used to employ this old contraption called a note pad. I can imagine that your minds eye immediately becomes populated with some form of laptop computer, but what I am referring to was even MORE convenient than that! Yes it was so!

These notepads were the weapon of choice for flat foots and gum shoes alike, no doubt recording some of the most crucial pieces of information in the 20th century! Clues to a murder, the crux of a news story.... a long as you could find a pen and a fountain in which to refill it (I'm pretty sure that's how they worked...). More importantly, as per my mantra, that information was ORGANISED then ANALYSED to identify an opportunity.

They [notepads] are almost redundant these days, (though ink has been conceptually superseded by battery power) with the introduction of smart phones, tablet PCs and the like. In fact these days, many things that people hoped could not be recorded, suddenly are being aired across the globe in a matter of minutes for all to see. Thanks Youtube, Wikileaks, Wikipedia and co.

There is so much information out there that if you really wanted to know something or find an opportunity, it would just be a matter of looking in the right place.

The same thing can be said for your business intelligence (No need to look sideways when I say that. It isn't all cloak and dagger subterfuge). Where ever you are, you should be able to access, review and update customer data, and, record potential opportunities.

Satisfying customer expectations is the essence of Quality Management, but, how can you meet expectations with out knowing what the customer wants? That is where things like the smart phone have become so essential. Every little detail that you learn, contributes to your understanding, and therefore, your ability to prepare for and meet, your customers expectations.

If Customer X calls your company and your customer relations representative is about to transfer them to your phone, you have roughly 20 seconds to reacquaint yourself with their history, before they start to think that perhaps their business is not that important to you.

If your quality management system is worth what you pay for it, you should be able to get to that information before interest wanes. Ready? Start flipping through that note pad... NOW! 20, 19, 18....

P.S. I recorded the notes for this piece, verbally on my smart phone.

Evolution And Innovation: what's the difference?

When you see something new, how often do you really see it as innovative? These days, technology makes our whole world smaller, and, chances are that when you see something new, it has been done before in one form or another. Does that make it any less innovative? Is most modern innovation really just evolution?

One impending product, which is being promoted as a great innovation, is the electric car. Electric cars aren't exactly new, in fact, I had one when I was about 10 years old. Sure it could only carry 6 gun brandishing G.I. Joes, and the battery was about half the entire mass of the vehicle, but I had one nonetheless. In fact, at the start of the 20th century, almost a third of all automobiles sold in the U.S. where EVs (electric vehicles).

Geeting back to more recent times, in the U.K., the diminutive G-Whiz, which is apparently the world's best selling electric car, is more Golf Buggy than a modern car. In fact, if you have more than one friend, or want to travel more than 48 miles, you had best look elsewhere.

Japan, of course, have the iconic Hybrid Prius and Honda Insight (as well as a selection of other mild hybrid vehicles)which utilise energy normally lost through braking, to charge batteries, which in turn drive the front wheels. The wheels can also be driven by the petrol engine to add modest pep to progress, or take over entirely as speed rises, or battery charge drops.

The U.S. has a number of electric vehicles, including the cost prohibitive Tesla Roadster, which adds a bit of sexiness to battery vehicles (in fact it looks a bit like the aforementioned remote control vehicle that used to transport my G.I. Joes), which is, like the G-Whizz, solely dependant on battery power, and therefore, not really that practical. This is compounded by the fact that it is actually stupid fast, which is an energy hungry pursuit.

Then there is the Chevrolet Volt, which will be popping up across the globe in the next few years, under the Chevrolet, Opel, and possibly, Holden brand names. Similar in approach to the Hybrids from Japan, the Volt has both an internal combustion engine (or ICE, which is just like any contemporary petrol engine) and electric motor with batteries. It differs, however, in it's preference to drive solely from the battery pack and electric motor. The ICE actually serves as a generator, creating electricity to charge the batteries. Pretty innovative, right?

Well, sort of. Submarines have been doing this for decades. Of course the Chevrolet Volt will also have the benefit being plugged into the garage wall when you are at home, which wouldn't be advisable for U-boat Captains.

So what is the difference between Evolution and modern Innovation? Application and time.

Innovation can be the start of a new process, so looking to other industries to solve your own problems, can make you an innovator in your own industry.

Evolution is the rest of the industry trying to catch up to you.

Are You A Good Listener?

Yesterday, I attended an Innovation Forum hosted by Gympie Regional Council. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, nor what my role would be exactly, but, was very surprised with the synergy amongst speakers, despite their differing positions within the customer, consultant and provider spectrum. The most common theme was a need to analyse your business, by listening to both internal and external sources. Today, I'll cover the external side of things, and, hopefully encourage you to do the same with your business. There were more personal stories about internal feedback, but we'll cover that later.

External Feedback

We all know that customer is key and we should be placing the relevant weight on their feedback, however, if you are getting customer feedback through measures such as a one-size-fits-all form that you periodically email at the end of a contract or task, you may be missing out on the information you really need. Life can rarely be defined in a 1-to-5 sliding scale.

One of the presentations was by Gil Harkness from the Advanced Manufacturing Advisory Service. From his list of Eight Deadly Wastes in Manufacturing, number one was Over Production and number two was Excess Inventory. Whilst the latter can be a result of the former, both can be circumvented by looking at (generally) trends in the market place, but more importantly (and specifically) by maintaining strong communication with your customer. Whether they be retail or trade customers, their own level of communication with their customers, drives their own purchasing behaviour. Maintaining a strong personal relationship is the key to identifying trends much earlier than you will get from focus groups or box ticking surveys.

Small and Micro Business owners may find yourselves a little short on feedback, since sometimes your engagement period can be a little shorter. That is where networking can serve as another valuable external input. Justin from GreenTreeIT is a local service provider in the IT industry but is also a member of a very strong network group called the "Go Getters". By collaborating with other local businesses [and yes, all you small and micro business owners know that collaboration sometimes just means a trip to the local supplier of caffeine], they can pass leads amongst themselves. This constant communication allows members to become more aware of your capabilities and also ensures that when another member tells you about an opportunity, they know that you will repay the favour when the ball is in your court. Networks are also a great way to get immediate feedback on how you operate your business, obtain ideas about how to improve it, and, it just feels good to help out a friend.

Gina Lofaro from Wordmistress is another great example of how to do it right. I turned up at one of her informal get togethers and many of the attendants were also her customers. By extending her business relationship further into the personal realm, she now has affordable and reliable access to where her customers are heading, allowing her own products and services to remain relevant to those most important to her.

So are YOU a great listener?

There are many sources on the 'net were you can find local networking groups and even get feedback without leaving your home.

For Australian small and micro business owners, I strongly recommend a trip to Flying Solo. Not only do they have great forums, but also, it is a great central location for advice on start ups and plenty of articles that actually answer questions relevant to small business, because most of the articles are written by small business owners.

But please, above all, remember to get out there, have a chat and listen!

......or you could stay at home and stare at an excel spreadsheet with survey figures on it.

Toyota's Unintended Decceleration

It would be remiss of anyone interested in Quality Management Systems, to not have a long hard look at how the most titanic of Quality Management Organisations attempted to skip (or ignore depending on whom you ask) at least one step and fell harder than almost any other global manufacturer in recent memory... Yes. It's Toyota.

As I've said previsouly, Quality is measured by a products ability to meet expectations. People's expectations can often make a product of overall average quality, appear to be high in quality. Toyota trade on a reputation of high reliability, and accordingly, that is what a typical Toyota customer would expect. As long as that is what Toyota provides, their customers will view their products to be of high quality.

Whilst they spent a lot of time and money focusing on reliability, which became their stock in trade, other aspects of their products where hardly ground breaking or even admirable by automotive standards. Their interior plastics are rather ordinary, their handling is generally pretty abysmal, and (we'll keep Lexus aside for the moment) comfort is not much better than budget competitors. Nonetheless, they were briefly the largest automobile manufacturer in the world, and still today, retain a number of eager supporters. The most vocal of those supporters would cite the Prius as a reason for worship, and fair enough too. The Prius is an important milestone in the modernisation of personal transport. A shame then, that the latest generation Prius was also subjected to a recent global recall.

So one could assume, considering their success, that they [Toyota] had a strong grip on quality control and management thereof, within their corporate structure. That is until their recent cataclysmic fall from grace where, after customers had died from alleged unintended acceleration, the industrial giant tied itself in knots attempting to deflect blame. The final result was a recall of over 8 million vehicles globally. The first scapegoat was an assumption that floor mats were wedging the throttle assembly to the floor, resulting in a maintenance recall which trimmed the offending throttle pedals and floor mats secured to the seat frame with cable ties. No really.

Next was CTS, an American Manufacturer, which had reliably served Toyota for many years, including the manufacture and supply of throttle assemblies. Despite receiving awards for the Quality of their products, CTS was given a massive hospital pass by their longtime [satisfied] customer, even though most reported cases of unintended acceleration were related to vehicles not even fitted with CTS manufactured throttle assemblies. Then came the rather emotive silence or "I-don't-know" responses from Toyota US President of Sales and member of Toyota's Board of directors, Jim Lentz, in response to questioning during Congressional hearings.

Finally, Toyota admitted that Quality levels had not been maintained during their exponential growth over the last decade.So where did Toyota fail?

Did they organise their data? Running such a mammoth organisation would be a proportionately mammoth task and you would have to assume that they [Toyota] had access to and awareness of all manner of reliability data, including customer complaints regarding unintended acceleration. Reports had, after all, been coming in (allegedly) since 1997.

They would no doubt have analysed every little bit of information they could, to try and maintain their reputation for reliability.

Improvement is where they have failed. The ability to go AND stop are two of the most fundamental operations of their core product. It wasn’t until a family tragically perished whilst on the phone to Emergency Services, that Toyota started grasping at straws with respect to a attributing a cause.

So what about repeat? Well they got that part right, because they have consistently done the wrong thing in successive instances, now also having recalled vehicles for everything from corroding cross members to ineffective Dynamic Stability Control systems.

Toyota is a prime example of outgrowing your Quality Management System. When initial reports where received and subsequent attempts failed to resolve the issue, their very process to seek out the problem should have come under review.

Now, they have diminished their reputation for reliability, are having to address a financial costs that will no doubt extend into seven figures and still have no definitive answer as to what causes unintended acceleration.

Oh, and they also now have a “Special Committee for Global Quality”.
Makes you wonder what they were doing beforehand. Perhaps they are starting to get the hang of that elusive “improvement” word. Reuters.com has the minutes from Toyota’s new special committee which really just details measures which they should already have had in place. You can read it for yourself right HERE

Clearly, not being able to stop a vehicle is the antithesis to what is expected of a quality vehicle. Then again, it does put the auto in automobile.

What is Quality and how do I get some?

So I guess I should start with explaining the definition of Quality!

It's not as easy to define as one might think. Even the presence of quality is a difficult concept to put your finger on. Quality relates to the ability of a product or characteristic to meet an expected standard, good or bad. High quality is expected, but is only conspicuous in its absence, to folks whom have previous experience with the good.

In order to manage quality, my banner pretty much sums up the whole process. Organise, Analyse, Improve, Repeat. It's a simple map that only goes from left to right. You can't start in the middle. You can't go backwards, and none of the steps can survive on their own.

Organise:
Have all of your relevant data at hand. This includes both internal and external information relating to your business and products. From design to application, every piece of information could come in handy, so have it where you can get it, quickly and easily.

Analyse:
Companies are usually run at break neck speed, so piecemeal ideas are often implemented in-situ, just to get by at the time. Have a look at everything you do and see if it is still relevant to your current business. Compare how much revenue is being generated or lost by what you do every day and don't forget to put a dollar value on hours saved by specific tools or external services.

Improve:
Now you have a general idea of what to do next. If this is the first time around, you can find a surprising amount of savings in your internal business, by culling a large number of small things.

Repeat!
If it is your second time around, you should find yourself with a bit more cash flow (and time!) to improve your actual external business. Organise your new set of data (that's basically the olde data with all the unnecessary flotsam trimmed off). Analyse what your biggest successes AND failures have been. Improve them with the freshly available time and capital.

Congratulations. You have just created a culture of Quality Management!