Customer focus part 1 – Customers’ requirements

Products or services have particular relationship with the people who benefit from them. Different people benefited in different ways from products or services they procured, expectations on a particular product vary sometimes greatly from person to person. Products or services that excel in giving them what they want are regarded as having quality. On the other hand, the products and services that fail to give them the expected results are regarded as inferior or products and services that got no quality. Hence, quality is relative and depending on the expectations of user, like the saying; “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”
As customers are becoming more educated and have easy access to information sources, their dependence on sales persons or sales engineers for information on the products or services are fast decreasing. With the Internet, prospects are readily accessible with mountains of information and this has forced a change in the perspective of the customers toward the information provided by the sales persons. It’s very common for a prospect to immediately get online as soon as the sales person leaves prospect’s office to source for additional information. He/she can easily turn to the Internet for products knowledge in numerous ways, such as getting more facts from competitors’ websites, online forums, blogs and how to.. websites. Thus, the method of how producers and service providers compete are much more open and in order to win they must identify accurately pinpointing the characteristics that surely satisfy the customers in question. The assumptions that all customers can be satisfied by standard features that designers and engineers have thought of are just not going to work nowadays as demands from customers might not be as similar. As I’d written in previous post, sales persons must really get involved in understanding the customers' requirements before engaging in the process of making the products or services so as to grasp the reasons behind each requirement comprehensively before informing the people involved in the production. Sales are the front-wheel-drive; sales persons are the people who deliver exactly what customers want; after which the designers and engineers would transform these requirements into functional units of the products or services. Sales persons have to be the front runner in the defining, measuring, analyzing, designing and verifying the requirements of their customers accurately and get these items endorsed by the customers before kicking off the making process of such products and services.

QQS formula

I was quite surprised when stumbled upon the QQS formula in an old but one of the greatest books ever written about personal achievement. In his book Think and Grow Rich (published in 1937), Napoleon Hill clearly outlined the customers’ focused formula of QQS which meant Quality, Quantity and Spirit. It clearly shown that entreprenuers had already being told the 3 words that were the focal point of customers’ satisfaction long before the emergence of customers focused companies like Sony, Honda and Samsung.
My next series of posts will focus on these 3 magical words that had revolutionized the way businesses being conducted today.

Visual management – ‘A piece a day will keep the boss away’

How much information can you pass on to your boss or a working committee on a piece of A4 (about letter-size) paper? Not a whole lot. You just can’t use it to contain the whole report of a cost saving project that took 3 weeks to complete. However, it can contain complete daily progress report that include graph, charts, drawing and matrixes; enough information for the boss to be updated and informed about the daily progress that you'd made. This type of report is commonly known as one-page report, and it is an invaluable piece of objective evidence that tells the story about the events of the particular day in the course of completing a project.
Why a one-page report is indispensable for a project or a job assignment? There are two good reasons why this one-page report is indispensable. The first is a one-page report on an A4 paper is just nice to fax to the boss or peers of the same project team but located in separate locations; second it can be filed in and converted into the project journal or ledger which would be useful later when compiling the final report of such project. “A piece a day will keep the boss away”….emm, how about that?
The one-page report is usually prepared by hand in about 20 to 30 minutes and it’s normally written towards the end of each day. The content is restricted to the day’s results and observations made on the day. Since visual presentation can replace many words, it is preferred than written or essay style since there are no conclusions to be written. It’s just like making a presentation to the boss on a white board at the end of the day but now instead of the white board it is on paper. The boss or your committee might scribble some comments for you to look into and later would pass a copy back to you.
It fast, efficient and instant documented communication. This concise and simple reporting method is an important element of continuous improvement activity that an active organization cannot do without. It teaches technicians, engineers, and project managers to be more objective in presenting daily progress reports so as to leave a traceable track that can be developed into highway as soon as the project is completed.

Visual management – Getting ahead with symbols

Using symbols in your presentation, whether it’s on screen or on paper is very effective and could give clear picture to your audiences. Symbols usage had rooted thousands of years before the invention of the modern day’s alpha-numeric writing which I’m using now. Nevertheless, the use of symbols nowadays are still widespread and among the symbols that are popularly used today are the cross (×) and the tick (∕) which carry the universal the meaning of wrong and correct or right respectively. The cross and tick are symbols have been the most useful means of communication between teachers, students and parents for many decades. All ticks in the homework books would make parents proud of the children as they know that their children are good in their studies.
During my early school days I would feel uneasy if my homework books are filled with crosses marked by my teachers, the more crosses I received the more uneasy I’d become. I got on few occasions the teacher would just made a big cross that covered the whole page of my exercise book. I felt like tearing off the page which I couldn’t because the teacher would report my bad behavior to the headmaster.
In daily business communication, the use of symbols have many advantages over descriptive words. Two profound advantages in symbols are first symbols do not occupy large spaces particularly if the presentation is on a spreadsheet and secondly it’s a real time saver as there are no descriptions to be written. There are four symbols that are being used in Total Quality Management in entire Japan, they are the cross, the triangle, the circle and the double circle (one smaller circle inside the circle). These four symbols have powered Japan Industries as leaders in the production of quality products and services.
There are two types of measurements that must be carried out when conducting analyses in today’s businesses; they are either quantitative or qualitative measurements. The quantitative measurement is one that quantifies amount of the items being measured, example are, 5.89kg of potatoes in a bag or $4.12 per piece of screw. While qualitative measurement is commonly made in comparison with a standard or a reference items. It is relative. One example is a par in your golf score can be marked with a circle symbol in your score card or in another example a lighter object against the standard object can be indicated by a triangle in your record sheet. Symbols can be used in most of the qualitative measurements and analyses and in some situations they are most suitable.
The four symbols described above are; first, a cross symbols which means any situation that is totally out of expectation or an action plan that has not started. The second symbol which is a triangle represents any situation that has just taken off or test results that below the expectation and not good enough. When confronted with a triangleor even a cross, more effort must be taken as corrective actions to get the expected results. The third symbols, a circle means situations or conditions that meet the set expectations, such as a par score on a certain hole of a golf round; it can also mean that situations that are under control or a project that is ending with expected results. Lastly the fourth, the double circle or a closed loop is to indicate any situation or condition that is closed or completed. This symbol is also used to indicate above expectation results, like an A+ grade of a test for example.
Projects matrixes, charts and tables can be simplified by utilizing these symbols, they are simple to prepare, easily to understand and a real time saver.

Visual management – simply the best communication option

I’m very sure that most of us knew pretty well what is meant by the saying “A picture can tell a thousand words”. This old cliché is very much useful in simplifying the communication process intra and inter organizations. A smiley in an instant messenger is a perfect example of a visual that has replaced lots of descriptive words and a tremendous time saver. It’s so simple, direct, understandable, and fast to get your message across; I sure that you’d agree with me.
Some countries have come up a very simple and easy to identify rest rooms whether they are for male or female with only visual signs; but unfortunately in my country this simple convention has not been used for reasons which I really don’t know. In Japan for example, a ladies rest rooms are marked by any simple drawing shape (triangle or a circle) that is pink in color while for gentlemen the shape is colored blue. So, being a simple minded person, I’d always look for blue color when looking for public gents rest rooms. In Malaysia most of the toilets signs are unicolored and a simple sketch (long haired face and a side face figure with a tobacco pipe in the mouth) to differential between ladies and gentlemen respectively. Wouldn’t it be easy if the same color convention by were to be used?
Signboards, posters and banners are the existing visual management media that are still being trusted by organizations as the effective means to communicate to employees, contractors and customers. With the advent multimedia for PCs and mobile devices, the possibilities to communicate with visual management is limitless. Myspace.com and Youtube.com are excellent examples of how visual management can be very effective in helping managers and entrepreneurs to getting their business goals faster. Business performance graphs reprsented online can be programmed to impart tremendous amount of information to affiliates and branches offices around the world. Google Analytics has done a really good job in making graphic presentations which has vast application potential. Visual management is simply the best communication option that is readily available.

What’s hidden under the slogan ‘Anzen Ichi Ban’ (Safety First) part 10 – Safety management.

Many companies and businesses nowadays regard safety management more important than other management systems due to the fact that it could stimulate cost saving, produce higher quality products and services, provide ideal working environment and an organizational culture that is positive towards attaining higher goals. The topic like 5S which was traditionally regarded as the steps for the betterment of housekeeping has made its way into more important revenue generating activities integrating itself with kaizen or continuous improvement, total productive maintenance and time management systems. In fact safety management, if we were to look at it in a broad perspective is the driving power of all systems that are essential for a good business of today.
A successful safety management today does not only focus on accident prevention and accidents investigations, it encompasses all activities that make business running and earning profit. As mentioned earlier, this is accomplished through its integration with all the functions of the organization. The benefits that a company may enjoy can be listed as following:

1. In human resources department: High employees’ morale is always associated with organizations that are accident free and always show evidence of lower rate of employment turn over. People are more attracted working in accident free organization – it goes without saying.

2. In finance department: Accident free environment of a business would resul in lower premiums of various types of insurances. Medical expenditure would also be at minimum.

3. In manufacturing department: High efficiency of work performance and lower resignation rate are the forces behind better quality products and services, hence meeting the requirements of customers. Meeting delivery datelines of customers is also one of its merits.

4. In design department: As all the employees are driven by the ‘Safety First’ slogan, design personnel will take serious considerations on the safety aspects when designing new products or an improved new versions of the existing products. This will increase the confidence of the customers towards using the products or services provided by the company.

5. In purchasing or procurement department: Getting reliable services from suppliers and sub-contractors can be a nightmare if they were unreliable, problematic and without the knowledge of 5S. Sub-contractors who are outstanding in the safety records would normally share the same values with the principle companies and often they have no problem work in accordance to the set of rules that were imposed upon the by the principle companies when signing the service agreements.

6. In the CEO’s department: As the leader of the organization or the company, he has to lead his organization by giving undivided attention and facilitate in all safety activities. He has to demonstrate leadership by example and to uphold the 3 objectives of safety management; firstly zero loss of life, secondly zero injuries and thirdly zero damage to properties.

What’s hidden under the slogan ‘Anzen Ichi Ban’ (Safety First) part 9 – Positive attitude.

In today’s post I’ll introduce you the final process of making your work place a safe and efficient place to conduct your business. The route towards realizing zero accident and maximizing your profit started with firstly cleaning/clearing up, secondly orderly arrangement, thirdly making them shine and fourthly operational standards. The fifth and final process which is in the same category as the forth process, that is maintaining and upkeeping the new improved conditions is mainly concerned about getting the right habits to sustain the improved conditions that were set up by the earlier processes. It’s instilling the right culture to the team or organization so that everybody in the team will contribute equally to sustain the continuous improvement activities for as many generations to come. Many Japanese corporations have proven that this approach is undeniably correct.
The five processes can be broken down into two stages. The first being the action stage where physical effort is required to clear up, arrange to order and keeping everything spic-and span; the second stage which concentrates on managing and maintaining the results and conditions from the first stage and sustaining a constant ‘growth rate’ of continuous improvement.
The content of this fifth process was already written in my previous 5-part blog posts entitled ‘Positive thinking’. Please read them if you’ve not read them. A positive mindset is simple to acquire if you decide to take immediate actions on things that can be accomplished within 2 to 3 minutes first, listing them as priority in your daily do list. If you make it a point to act 10 minutes at the beginning of your day, 10 minutes when you resume after lunch and 10 minutes at the end of your day, you got 30 minute to focus on items that need immediate actions. Within this period you could easily complete 10 to 15 simple but necessary items for the day leaving you with ample time to concentrate on meetings, discussions and jobs that require interaction with others. These actions will leave your ‘in’ bin empty every day before retiring for the day.
The 5 processes which I mentioned is popularly know as 5S activities, namely;
1. Seiri (Cleaning / clearing up)
2. Seiton (Arrange to order)
3. Seiso (Shining or Spic-and-span)
4. Seiketsu (Operational standard of the system in placed)
5. Shitsuke (Positive attitude of team members)
As I indicated earlier, items 1 to 3 are actions that require physical efforts and some form of creativity, item 4 is making the working conditions suitable, comfortable and safe, and the final item 5 is ‘fine tuning’ our attitude and mindset towards achieving the vision of the group or the organization that we belong to.
For further read up on the processes that I wrote please do a Google search on ‘5s activities, lean manufacturing, kaizen’. Happy reading.