Wednesday, May 21, 2008

IV: A GOOD SYSTEM

This is actually the most important of all! Have a GOOD SYSTEM for your company, which can governs all, and avoid the 'stand alone' types where every thing is not linked. Bad system will waste up to 80% of your people's productivity.

Further improvement: It is wisest if your company has its own programmers to program it all. Work it out with every department on all their 'needs' list, and later the 'wants' list. Create a good and reliable system that can really perform, in churning all the data which to be translated into good analytical findings.

III: Retaining Good Employees (Performers)

RETAINING GOOD PERFORMERS and influence those 'poor to average' to shift their paradigm to Good.

How they did it:
1. Establish 'Employee Suggestion Scheme' or whatever you wish to call it.

2. Create for it a self-manage system (self-managing to a great extend) that management role is simplified to just Verifying the actual savings or profit leap via the suggestion and thus when the project matured (when the project reach the age of 12 or 13 months old), there will be some 'gain sharing' of substantial gain after less improvement costs.

Example: Net savings / profit leap of 10K - 1KK will result in teams getting a cheque of 'gain sharing' of 1K - 50K which they can share among their 5-10 members in their team. The table for reward/'gain sharing' calculation should be transparent, and the audit should come from the facts & figures department. For those reaching gains of more than 1KK, or those with very beneficial but intangible result, should also come with some creative extras, like shares/bonds/motorbike/gold/house depending on the team's outstanding nature/figure of achievement/improvement.

3. It is very important that reward should not be calculated on projected/forecasted gains, rather, on the actual amount which entered company's pocket, which should only be audited & verified by the relevant department such as finance/costing/accounts/etc. (the facts & figures dept).

4. Very importantly, it is wise to 'blow it so loud' by having a presentation of mock cheques (for the substantial gain sharing) at the canteen (very public place of your company) during lunch time for all to see that "the management does mean business" and will appreciate every employees' effort. Do it monthly.

5. Note of cautions: This is very contagious, and before long, you will find it a bit difficult to appreciate so many achievers. So it is important to set it right the first time.


ROI:
The snow-ball effect of this is in the overall satisfaction of customers and the quantum leap in your company profits.

II: Stop Overloading & Stop Confusing Our People

STOP OVER-LOADING & STOP CONFUSING our employees with all the quality jargons in the world.


Further Improvement:

1. Benchmarking many Japanese organizations, they put all types of improvement under ONE banner Quality Control Circles, no matter if the improvement are for tackling 5S/processes/system, everything is under ONE name - Quality Control Circles and the basics are the QC Tools and the PDCA cycle. And this formula is "One for All" (regardless if they are from production/support function, and regardless of their level - Operators / Clerks /Tehnicians / Executives / Engineers /Managers / etc.).



2. Further, there should be 'annual convention' to boost the spirit of Plant-Wide Improvement and Teamwork where all the teams will come up stage to share their improvement every year during one 'Season'. You may ask how then, can we judge between 'Apple & Orange' (eg. 'Production & HR'); the answer lies in their very simple and basic rule / judgment criteria, that they only penetrate into every project with sharp eyes (experienced judges) to look into each Effort. The key is simply "Effort". That is why, a marketing team which has many intangible benefit and only a few thousand of tangible savings, beaten production teams that achieved 5 to 7 figures of savings.



3. Spent on the winning teams (3 or 5 teams a year), give them free return ticket & lodging, & some pocket money to do shopping, fly them overseas to present & share their improvement projects with your other branches worldwide.



4. Upon reaching an optimal cycle, you can even have the convention twice a year.



5. Most importantly: don't go drive by "$" but by "Effort"


ROI (returns of investment) from the above:
Easily millions a year (or at least 20% leap in your profit).

I: New Operator (New Employee)

When a NEW OPERATOR (NEW EMPLOYEE) comes in, after induction and passing all the interviews and tests, they should be located to production with an assigned buddy. But the Buddy's priority (such as their own yield of so many machines under them) must NOT remains. Only thus the Buddy could prioritize and coach their new team member.

Further Improvement:
Get the Good performers out to become full time Buddy/Trainer because only Good performer will 'duplicate' Good performers. Stop loading them with too many priorities and let them focus on "duplicating themselves in others".
Important formula of the universe: "Only Good will breed Good".

Natural Disaster:
Assigning average performers / new employees as Buddy/Trainer will jeopardize further by designing your Quality & Productivity system to fail from the start.