JUST PLANE CULTURE
Then there are the blatant
disregards for quality and safety that have caused not only financial losses but losses of life. Examples include the Massey Energy mine disaster in West Virginia and environmental catastrophes such as the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
FIVE WARNING SIGNS In the words of Stu Weisbrod’s article in the 2010 October issue of Quality Progress, Warning! Warning! Five signs quality is at risk in your organization, “…there is a constant drumbeat from financial analysts for improved corporate profit margins, with never-ending improvements to the labor productivity metrics tracked by
companies. But when does an endless series of cost-cutting cycles, or related warning signs, lead to an inexorable decline in the quality of the products or services companies provide?” Those five warning signs are:
1. Repeated cost-cutting cycles.
2. Operational signals ignored or delayed.
3. Aging equipment or degradation of maintenance services.
4. Direct cuts to quality or operational excellence personnel.
5. Elimination or outsourcing of customer assistance resources.
Let’s look at each one.
1. Repeated cost-cutting cycles. There is nothing inherently wrong
with cutting waste. We want to run a lean operation but we also need fat to run our bodies. Do we have the resources to do our jobs? Those who reduce resources are often not knowledgeable of what is required for us to do our jobs. They look at numbers but business is run by people doing things, not numbers. The “do more with less” mantra is mindless adherence to management principles.
2. Operational signals ignored or delayed (like at Toyota and Dell). Burying your head in the sand isn’t going to make the problems go away, no matter how small. It doesn’t take much effort to hold a half glass of water in your hand with your arm outstretched. However, it gets more
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DOMmagazine.com | aug 2019
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