Being out of sync
Everywhere I go I notice that much of life’s frustration is related to people or systems being out of sync. We all have experienced what happens when some one does not have what they need when they need it. We have to wait (for the doctor, for the retail person, for customer service, for my order, for parts to assemble, for information to assemble the parts for the machine to assemble the parts and on and on….or we get the wrong thing (part, test results, information). In these situations the customer waits while the supplier sweats under stressful and frustrating conditions. In short, both customer and supplier lose.
But there is hope. It is possible to develop a system that provides the perfect handoff from supplier to customer (internal or external) every time. By handoff we mean delivering what is needed in the right quantity, just when it is needed. Any business with more than one employee needs successful handoffs: Healthcare, administrative, service, distribution, manufacturing, for profit, not for profit, education, just about any industry.
Some examples of in sync process:
Operations has everything they need just before launching the job into production. They have received all the technical specs required from engineering , Materials Management has researched the availability and status of materials and given its OK and sales/customer service has researched the ship date, the items and revisions, the quantity, the ship to address, the PO # and any other information required to produce and ship the customers order.
When arriving at a medical specialist for an appointment the receptionist has all your insurance information, all test results and/or x-rays are easily accessible to the physician, no duplicate tests need be taken. It is clear the referring physician and the specialist are in sync.
I am sure you could add to this list: Department of Motor Vehicles, Auto Repair Shop, a big box retail store, Restaurants getting your reservation or food order correct………………
This is the goal at Dwight Bowen & Associates, to help business reduce poor service and headaches associated with issues due to lack of process stability and synchronization. To provide them with the tools, techniques, philosophy, coaching and support to implement and then sustain these perfect handoffs.
