Re: decentralize QC function

[James Robert Crow <jr1crow@mindspring.com>]

Hello Group:

A simple run chart of shipments by day of the month should demonstrate to
management the costlyness of their current process and the folly of
management by the numbers.  Your inability to ship quality products to the
customer on time is everybody's problem, and it should be approached from a
systems prespective.  A lot of things drive delivery dates, including what
sales is promising the customer to get the business in the first place.
Sales may be making promises that it knows cannot be met in the belief that
the customer will not cancel the order when the delivery date cannot be
met, and they are probably right.  However the damage to your reputation
has been done and sales may find it difficult to get more business from
this customer.  Even worst the customer may talk to other people and have a
detremental effect on your reputation in the industry affecting future
sales.  I have worked with clients in this area and it is usually
relatively simple to correct once they understand the importance of timely
deliveries to the customer.  A customer survey is another tool that can
help emphasize this to management.

One of my clients also looked at the impact of the variation of orders by
day and determined that there could by tremendous fluation from day to day.
 Their previous policy had been to get everything into the system each day.
 This ment that on some days order entry was there late at night.  This
created a ripple effect that had to work it's way through the whole
operation and affected quality, and on time delivery.  They reverted to a
three month moving average of daily orders, and worked to stablize order
input around that number.  The result was a stable work flow, better
quality, and on-time delivery to the customer.  Better employee morale and
reduced overtime were also realized by making this change.

You reorganization will have to be handled very carefully to make sure
everyone understands why the company is being reorganized otherwise it may
look like a turf war in which production has won.

Robert Crow
Principal
Crow Consulting
165 River North Circle NW
Atlanta, GA 30328 USA
Voice 770-396-2280
FAX 770-396-7010
jr1crow@mindspring.com
www.crowgroup.net