"This new problem solving process has helped us to put in place a new methodology for identifying and then solving key business problems. It has forced us to become more disciplined in the way we solve problems." --- Chief Financial Officer

In 2000, High Performance Learning was asked to help a manufacturing company with five separate manufacturing plants, employing over 3,500 people, to implement a company-wide Continuous Improvement process. Our initial assessment revealed that:

• The company needed to adapt more quickly to changing markets and customer requirements
• Employees were concerned that they were working harder and faster - but not smarter
• There were often unclear, or conflicting, customer requirements for major projects
• There were very few process, outcome, and/or performance measures
• There was little understanding of the impact of work across other departments/functional areas
• Problems were rarely solved "once and for all"
• Overall quality was not what they would like it to be
• The employees believed that high productivity goals were promoted over quality

The company's existing problem solving process had been characterized by employees as:

• "Fire-fighting" with no follow through;
• short-term fixes that don't address root causes;
• the same people always working on the same problems; and
• a lack of senior management commitment to solving problems once and for all.

After meeting with the Senior Management Team during a two-day Senior Management Work Conference, HPL helped the company to create and launch a new Continuous Improvement process, which initially started with three Quality Action Teams (QAT) to work on the follow critical business issues:

There was an operating budget (estimate) of roughly $10 million of scrap at the start of 2001. Even though this number represented less than 3% of the company's projected operating budget, it was having a very negative effect on the company's overall profitability.

The main contributors to this poor performance were inadequate specification system, inadequately defined processes and methods, conflicting economic order quantities, and other specific contributors. The team's goal was to create clear and concise product specifications, establish "Best Practices" in processes and methods, establish optimized economic order quantities, and take advantage of other specific contributors.

By using the FADE Problem Solving process, the Scrap QAT was able to achieve measurable and effective cost savings of more than $1 million in 2001.

Given the success of the Scrap QAT, another QAT was established by the Senior Management Team to gather consumer, customer and employee feedback to identify root causes of remakes. The team is now focusing on solving key issues that will provide good results for consumers, customers and company employees with a savings goal of $1 million or more in 2002. The FADE Problem Solving process is currently being utilized by this team as well.

A third QAT was established to look for additional ways to reduce "the cost of quality." Currently, the team is using the FADE process to:

• Correct the most influential errors, to produce truer accounting which will in turn support better decision making and achievement of excellent results for customers, employees and company owners
• Take advantage of true "quick fixes"
• Suggest and implement incremental improvements that will ensure sustained improvement to profits in 2002 and beyond.
• The root causes the team has initially identified related to the work processes of developing programs, developing pricing and promotions, entering data into the system, developing customers, shipping product and administering returns and allowances.
  

"The goal was to save at least $1,000,000 in 2001, and our documented savings exceeded $1.2 million."   --- Quality Manager