Top Management Commitment to Action
Clearly define top management's permanent commitment to ever improving quality and productivity, and… [more]
Sick of the Green Revolution
"If I have one more person tell me I need to make my company Green, I'm going to become politically incorrect."… [more]
Pride of Workmanship is Power
Pride of Workmanship is Power Permit pride of workmanship Remove the barriers that rob hourly workers,… [more]
Arbitrary Numerical Targets
Management Review - a Continuous Improvement Tool or Generator of Arbitrary Numerical Targets Eliminate… [more]
Leaders Help Others
Institute leadership Adopt and institute leadership aimed at helping people do a better job. The responsibility… [more]
ISO 9000
Arbitrary Numerical Targets
Management Review – a Continuous Improvement Tool or Generator of Arbitrary Numerical Targets Eliminate arbitrary numerical targets Eliminate work standards that prescribe quotas for the work force and numerical goals for people in management. Substitute aids and helpful leadership in order to achieve continual improvement of quality and productivity. Dr. W. Edwards Deming Doing it [...]
Creating and Maintaining a Corporate Culture Using ISO 9001
How do we maintain and communicate corporate culture using ISO 9001? I have a Saturday morning secret weapon, to improve my business. I attend the Levy Entrepreneurial Group meeting. Thank you Joe for creating it, Jack and Terry for leading it, and Don for introducing me to it. I love talking to the [...]
ISO 14000 – Green Standard
Cha-ching! Part 1 of Go Green, Save Green
This is going to be a running article to see how much we can save companies and individuals, simply by changing habits. Technacon Company Inc. is looking for your ideas to see what we can save the average person - and put more money in the implementer’s pocket – Cha-ching. We want to help people go green [...]
Sick of the Green Revolution
“If I have one more person tell me I need to make my company Green, I’m going to become politically incorrect.” This statement was made in a CEO round-table meeting and perfectly describes the frustration business owners feel. Sales are down, the economy is questionable and they are being pressured to make an investment because [...]
Continous Improvement
Top Management Commitment to Action
Clearly define top management’s permanent commitment to ever improving quality and
productivity, and their obligation to implement all of these principles. Indeed, it is not enough that top management commit themselves for life to quality and productivity. They must know what it is that they are committed to—that is, what they must do. Create a structure in top management that will push every day on the preceding 13 Points, and take action in order to accomplish the transformation. Support is not enough: action is required!
Dr. W. Edwards Deming
What is Management’s Job – Commitment to Action
One of my father’s favorite sayings was, “lead, follow or get out of the way”. Management’s job is to lead. There must be a commitment to constant and on-going improvement. Each and every morning, management must look at their operation and decide what needs improvement and make a commitment to take action.
The Price of Failed Commitment to Action
If management does not make a commitment to constant and on-going improvement, it
will not happen. Management does not have to implement the change but they must lead the change or their employees will end up building internal empires or chasing projects with
a lower value to the company.
Part of creating this commitment is developing a structure that guides the employees to
an on-going commitment of improvements in quality and productivity. Management must establish a system, indicate its’ importance to the company and demonstrate their own commitment to constantly and forever improving. It does not have to be fancy, but management must believe and support it.
The Call for Commitment to Action
There is a childhood chant, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will
never hurt me.” I wish it were true. How many suicides were prompted by cruel words? Words have power, the power to build up or the power to tear down.When management stands up and says “this is who we are and this is what we stand for” it can change the world.
My first job was with an ethical pharmaceutical company. We had a simple rule,
“Would you want your child to take this medicine?” If the answer was no, we threw it away. Every person on the line had the ability to call the supervisor and point out a problem. Each and every person on that line knew the importance of what they did and that attitude came from the top down. The VP of manufacturing walked through the plant several times a day and any operator
could stop him with a question or a concern. We had power and pride.
So what are you going to do, lead, follow or get out of the way?
Sick of the Green Revolution
“If I have one more person tell me I need to make my company Green, I’m going to become politically incorrect.” This statement was made in a CEO round-table meeting and perfectly describes the frustration business owners feel. Sales are down, the economy is questionable and they are being pressured to make an investment because it is the “right thing to do”. The first priority is to stay in business and find a way to make payroll. Getting pressured to make what they perceive as unrealistic investments for a feel-good
moment is not something a wise business owner does.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t be more wrong.
The Start of the Green Revolution
In the early 1990′s, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) created the environmental standard ISO 14000 as a response to conservation initiatives from the 1970′s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_14000.Unlike the more well known ISO 9000 Quality Standard, ISO 14000 was not required by most clients, for one simple reason, all cost benefits went to the implementer. ISO 9000 allowed clients to eliminate costly auditing staff, supplier audits and incoming inspection. There was a direct benefit to the
client to insist the supplier implement ISO 9000. The benefit for the implementation of ISO 14000 was indirect so many companies did not include it as a requirement to do business with them.
Why Aren’t Business Owners joining the Green Revolution
Suppliers had limited resources and meeting the customer requirements was the first priority. ISO 14000 got lost in the shuffle as few people had time to analyze the standard and realize the cost benefits.
How does ISO 14000 Relate to the Green Revolution?
The purpose of ISO 14000 standard is to create a continuous improvement process to reduce consumption and waste. If a company can make more product using less materials and energy, and has to pay less to process waste, the unit cost of producing their product is reduced. This gives the business owner the option of increasing profits or reducing price and increasing sales. Still business
owners did not see ISO 14000 as something they wanted to pursue. To make it more palatable to the average business owner, ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 have been gradually changing to make them so similar they can be implemented through thesame process and systems. Companies already meeting ISO 9000 will have little or no difficulty incorporating ISO 14000.
Frequently the barrier to implementing continuous improvement in reduced consumption and waste is a capital investment.http://technacon.com/… However, due to the Green Revolution significant grants are available to help
companies across this hurdle. Now is the time to embrace the Green Revolution, implement ISO 14000 and increase profitability. Joining the Green Revolution could make more business sense than it does today.
