Category Archives: Lean

A production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination. Basically, lean is centered around creating more value with less work. Lean manufacturing is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS).

KPIs – Who needs them?

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What KPIs would you suggest are the best for Customer Service and/or Supply (logistics, purchasing, warehousing, distribution, etc)?
Many people can advise the regular quantity/volume based ones but providing real quality based KPIs is much more difficult.  Not because it can be hard to define them, it is usually more to do with people’s perception at which point quality measurement should measured – this is especially so with Customer Service.

I manage this by getting a definition of what the Key Result Areas are, then getting confirmation as to what aspects indicate success in each area, only then can the KPIs be set.

But KPIs must be easily obtained, and easily monitored.  This also depends very much on cycle times.  Daily/weekly and monthly KPIs should all reflect different aspects of the business and together tell a story of how the company is functioning.

Many times I have seen reports and KPIs that actually hinder the process, using up vital resources and sometimes even sending people on exercises that are not required as the message gets diluted or worse, confused.

Good KPIs are invaluable for a business in identifying trends and gaps in process and capabilities – the not so good ones are at best, a waste of time.

When Customers ask – how can I help

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This blog has more focus towards B2B  – After recently reading a number of articles on customer service I find there is a plethora of information but often this information is conflicting.  For example there are those that espouse the opinion that by having happy employees you will attain happy customers, others state that happy employees have nothing to do with happy customers.

One claim I read, there was research proving that customer’s who have experienced near perfect after sales customer service are more loyal than those that obtained a perfect product and had no need to contact customer service at all. Then there is the classical, identify your customer, identify what they value and then keep assessing their satisfaction. Does this mean always build in one flaw? (only if your after sales is great).

The quandary I have when reading these articles/thesis is that they are all correct –  sort of, but the proponents all appear absolute (all or nothing). Yes, it is about learning who your customers are and what they want, not being everything to all customers (or, knowing who you do want as a customer), making sure your staff are happy (they may not make your customer happy but at least they will not make them unhappy), and finally work WITH your customer.

After asking the standard question “what can we do for you”, find out how the customer can help you.  They may be doing something just because they always have or think its easiest for you. Discuss with them both side to the relationship there may just be that “A-ha” occasion and everything works better and everyone wins for example delivery sites/times, order timing, etc.

Yes it is all about really finding out:  who you want as a customer, what that customer wants, then what fits best for both – see if the customer can help you, do what you do better !