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Posted 10 December 2000
Sucessions at GE and 3M
If you've read our case study material on 3M's Dental Products Division, and the exhibits on DPD and the parent company, you may be interested in this late Y2K news.
Posted 21 October 2000
Q-Newz column 1
Quality is dead, long live quality
A decade ago, at the end of the cold war, Francis Fukuyama famously declared 'the end of history.' We've travelled as far as it is possible to go, he said, and Western liberal democracy has prevailed – the argument is over. There are people who say similar things about quality.
Q-Newz column 2
The dilemma of innovation, and the tyranny of 'best practice'
There's a dilemma at the heart of the movement that anyone who has 'quality' – written or unwritten – in their job description needs to be thinking about. It's captured by the headline messages of the new economy gurus – the Tom Peters and Gary Hamels of the business glitterati – who say, in effect, 'innovate or die.'
Q-Newz column 3
The knowing-doing gap
If your interests are quality-related – whatever that means – then you'll know about the gaps that exist between what people know and say, and what they do. We've all sat through meetings where a course of action has been agreed, and then nothing has happened. A lot of us will have heard presentations on doing things differently, or faster, or even better – and then carried on exactly as before.
Posted 28 August 2000
Workplace ethics - should 'behaviour' be a policy issue? And if you've got them in your place, are they more trouble than they're worth. Jeffrey Seglin on the ethical dimension of attempting to regulate behaviour by dictat - the good, the bad, and the ugly. And the wasted time!
The Firestone tyre recall - A large sign outside the Decatur, Illinois plant displays the words, "ISO 9000 Certified", " ISO 14000 Certified". Is this the biggest 'cost of poor quality' case of the decade. You (and, according to CNN on August 28, hundreds of court cases) decide.
Recent additions
- download the old-format pdfs Performance Measurement in Health Care
Six Sigma at Citibank
Cost of quality
Measuring what you manage in HR
The legacy suite - posted early 1999
3M fights back
Key insights into the culture and corporate priorities of the parent of 1997 Baldrige winner 3M Dental Products Division
Aligning HR and corporate goals
APQC and Allstate Insurance partner to explore best practice in aligning human resources with business objectives. Features Arthur Andersen, Chevron Chemical and Metropolitan Property and Casualty
Alignment explained
A quick and dirty look at a key Baldrige concept with illustrations from Boeing A&TP and Raytheon
Americans at Work - Inc. Magazine's annual survey
Here's how average American workers feel about their jobs, management, compensation, and economic futures … everyone's happy, apparently
Complaint management and problem resolution
An APQC white paper summary – best practice in dealing with complaints. Test what you do against nine of the best, add credibility to your Baldrige application or self assessment
Balanced scorecards
A primer. Buy the book(s) for the detail, but start here for the reason why. And take a quick look at two Baldrige-winner's approaches
Baldrige's origins
Did the award really begin because Secretary of Commerce Baldrige was killed at a rodeo? Well, yes. Here's what actually happened, in the words of someone who was there …
Benchmarking and best-practice sharing
A Baldrige fundamental, benchmarking is what lifts organisations from good (~400 points) to great. Doing well in Baldrige terms requires the constructive use of benchmarking and comparisons to best practice bench marks. An overview from APQC, with fine detail and process recipes from Raytheon
Boeing corporate update, mid 1999
A collection of mainstream media summaries of what's going on at Boeing – an aid to understanding 1998 Baldrige winner and Baldrige Eight member Airlift and Tanker Programs
Business ethics
If your organisation's core business processes are not grounded in sound values like integrity, respect, trust and fairness, then you're exposed to ethical vulnerabilities that could lead to fraudulent, discriminatory, even illegal activities. Oops
C-17 Globemaster III
The details of Boeing Airlift and Tanker Programs' single (not quite) product, President Bill Clinton's “world's best moving van.” From Killer whales to Abrams tanks, nothing's a problem for the C-17
Catchball processes
Context and an example, catchball processes explained and at work
Community involvement at Granite Rock
“To be good citizens in each of the communities in which we operate.” Best practice for Baldrige Public Responsibility and Citizenship
Company responsibility and citizenship at Boeing A&TP
A&TP's recognition of the community as an essential stakeholder means that its requirements and expectations are systematically taken into account during the assess and understand phase of the company's integrated planning process
Customer and market focus at 3M Dental
How and why customer focus has become a key Dental Products Division business process and a way of life throughout 3M Dental, from the horse's mouth
Customer and market knowledge at Boeing A&TP
A&TP's relationship with the US Air Force is one of its most important competitive advantages, depends on both working together as a single team with a shared destiny through joint plans, goals, and reviews
Customer calling at IBM Rochester
They get on the phone! Here's a process overview, and a word by word telephone script. Best practice networking that yields world-class data
Customer relationship management at Solectron
When you've only got 120 customers, and they're the basis of a $7 billion business, you take good care of them. Here's how the only 2-times Baldrige winner does the business
Customer report cards at Granite Rock
Just because they quarry rock and lay asphalt doesn't mean they can't be smart – Granite Rock's sophisticated and effective customer relationship processes has built a best value brand that locks in premium prices, keeps the big boys at bay, builds market share
Customer satisfaction and loyalty - NZ vs US banks
Not as good as they should be, and not as good as the US competition. Not theory, either – a real-world example of what customer satisfaction data look like in the service sector
Customer satisfaction and market share
An empirical case study based on 10 years of data from IBM's AS/400 division “to determine if there were any relationships among the numerous measurements that the organization focuses on”
Customer satisfaction by William R Loomis
“For small and midsize manufacturers of durable goods, usage of customer-satisfaction monitoring is truly bleak, with fewer than 1 in 10 using surveys to make management decisions,” says author Loomis. Find out why, think again about QS 9000
Customer satisfaction measurement
“Your customers have the answers.” More than a primer, but still a great place to start – a collection of survey and sampling tools, ten tips for better customer questionnaires and a wealth of other useable information and advice
Customer satisfaction: The impact on revenue
A case study from IBM Rochester
Customer surveying by Ken Miller
If customer loyalty is based on the product's ability to help customers achieve a desired result, shouldn't that be the first question on every survey? Surprisingly, it is rarely asked at all, says Miller
Customer value
Customer and Market Focus concepts value and satisfaction , developed, discussed and analysed in a business to business context – a 1999 HBR resource that's 'useful to anyone dealing with customer value issues'
Data and analysis at 3M Dental
Irvine Plant Manager Ajay Myer's presentation material … “Business performance indices are collected from all over the division … including customer satisfaction, product performance and reliability, financial and operation indexes, employee satisfaction and training and value-added indices
Deming Primer
Deployment of quality plans at Granite Rock
Three process diagrams from Granite Rock's 1994 Governor's Golden State Quality Awards Application Summary
Employee development
A Baldrige winner's employee development program – the why, how, and for whom – with program details, curricula and testimonials
Employee satisfaction survey
Based on 1998 Baldrige winner Solar Turbines' workplace example – best practice in satisfaction surveying
Fort Benning's 'Baldrige' application
A rare resource! And a big file (be patient, it's worth it). Full-strength, 50 page, national award-winning applications are not usually available. Here's a military show and tell that every Baldrige enthusiast should be familiar with
Gain share at Texas Nameplate Company
Gain sharing is as important to TNC as short-pay is at Granite Rock ... and “it produces results second to none. Last year alone we were able to share an additional $240,000 or 10.78% of net earnings among our employees for defect-free work,” says CEO Crownover
Granite Rock's IPDP
Almost everyone's a candidate and it's not about promotion or pay … Granite Rock's comprehensive process for integrating the company's human resource needs and quality objectives with worker's aspirations and abilities through education and training
Graniterock's statement of corporate objectives
Ever wondered about what drives a national icon? Here's the fine print
Human resource focus at 3M Dental
Employee satisfaction, development, and productivity are key business drivers and management believes that responsibility for cost, quality, service, and development should be assigned to the employees closest to the job
Human resource focus at Boeing A&TP
A&T's goals and objectives are achieved through team-based work design, supported by a process-oriented culture, teaming and employee involvement
Human resource focus, retaining staff
Employee retention is the current Red Hot Issue - to the point where entire human-resources conferences are devoted to it, says FORTUNE's Annie Fischer
IBM corporate history
Context and history from Big Blue's web site
IBM in the media, mid 1999
Context and current events, from the mainstream media
IBM Rochester's Quality Dashboard
All the AS/400 numbers, and what they mean, in red, yellow and green
IBM Rochester's strategic framework
Mission to metrics – this is what drives Rochester's multi-$billion AS/400 business
Information and analysis at Boeing A&TP
A&TP's Performance Management System drives its measurement system - goals, indicators, targets, and action plans - at every level of the enterprise
Innovation
Baldrige's missing category eight? Contemporary drama from a 1998 Inc. magazine article
ISO 9000 at United Airlines
When United Airlines' Engine Maintenance Division needed to compete, ISO 9001 did it for them
ISO 9000 and TQM - an introduction
The future of standards may be on many corporate (and consultant's) agendas, and “TQM is dead” (wrong!) may be echoing down executive corridors, but a bit of recent history is still useful … especially if you're dealing with these issues in your organisation, or your application
ISO-busting!
Who you going to call? A British ISO-buster at work. Compelling. Gaining currency. Necessary reading for anyone interested in process management and performance excellence
Keeping current (not) at Levi Strauss
How to trash a great American brand … 'keeping current' is Baldrige's newest key concept
Keeping current with business needs and directions
How do you make sure that as the real world changes, you change right along with it?
Knowledge management
Current hot topic on the conference circuit, KM '… specializes in the distribution of knowledge, or expertise, throughout the enterprise, where it's needed, when it's needed … the sharing of process knowledge … the best practice, or optimum process, for any task'
Leadership at Boeing A&TP
Where it all begins. Its gone from the criteria, but this is a leadership system that works
Learning at AlliedSignal
“… companies that master the ability to learn, adapt and acquire new capabilities quickly and efficiently will be the winners in the next century. At AlliedSignal, we expect to be part of that elite group”
Metrics
Raytheon's best-practice industrial-strength approach to gathering and using data to establish, drive and track process improvement
Micrografx white paper on process management
An introduction to software-based process mapping from the people who make some of the best software. Comprehensive, current
Mission to metrics at Solectron
The whole business on one page
New-customer best practices
Best practice in new customer acquisition – an APQC white paper focusing on communication, training, technology, compensation and recognition, relationship-building and measuring success
New Product Introduction at Solar Turbines
Detailed new product introduction processes and a full suite of diagrams from a 1998 Baldrige winner
New Product Introduction at Solectron
Media comment about Solectron's recently opened New Product Introduction centre near Tokyo, Japan - the first US-based electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company to establish a manufacturing presence in Japan
Performance appraisal
One more time: Just what's wrong with performance appraisal – an interview with Peter Scholtes
Performance management references
Three pages for your collection
Perks that work
What you need to do (and what you shouldn't do) to retain staff. Lessons from the World's longest and strongest bull market, from Business Week's on-line resources
Planning improvement processes at Graniterock
An overview and a process diagram
Process management at 3M Dental
Baldrige Eight best practice. The effective management and improvement of processes require four essential elements … task identification, organisation, management and, finally, review of the processes
Process management at Boeing A&TP
A seven-step process improvement methodology known as process-based management starts with teams defining their processes in terms of suppliers and inputs, customers and outputs, and the tasks required to transition from one to the other
Process maturity matrix
“… all process-based industries should define, characterize, optimize, validate, and control …” processes before implementing them. A graphical tool that helps map your position, scope the 'where next' questions
Process quality management at Graniterock
Graniterock manages the quality of its product lines, aggregates, concrete and asphalt and the performance of its product formulations mainly through statistical process control. Pound-perfect premix
Redesigning work
A company that built-in employee retention, and how its CEO nearly threw it all away
Results at 3M Dental
What do Baldrige-winning results look like? Here's a summary from one of the 1997 winners
Results at Boeing A&TP
And here's a summary from one of the 1998 winners
Sharing success at AlliedSignal
People who work hard for a successful company deserve to share in the rewards. That's why AlliedSignal offers a variety of resources to help our people achieve their personal and professional goals…
Six Sigma
A primer – six sigma at Raytheon, AlliedSignal and Motorola
Six Sigma by Jerome Blakeslee
An overview, some real-world examples and an entry-level users guide
Skills assessment at IBM Rochester
An overview and a process diagram from IBM Rochester's 1991 Baldrige Application Summary
Solar Turbines' Baldrige application summary Available via the Caterpillar web site, here's 1998 Baldrige winner Solar Turbines' 20 page application summary, edited for this site with re-drafted graphics
Solectron business excellence mapped to Baldrige
How Solectron uses the Baldrige criteria to run an international business on many sites and in many cultures, but with common processes and universal standards – all on one sheet of paper
Strategic planning at 3M Dental
Cited by Fortune as a best practice, strategising at 3M DPD is an extensively-deployed year-long process that involves 'town-hall' meetings, includes a high percentage of all employees
Strategic planning at Silicon Systems
Another one page mission to metrics summary, this time from a small computer assembler in New Zealand
Strategic planning at Boeing A&TP
Not a stand-alone process, but part of a highly-integrated system that underpins everything that happens at 1998 Baldrige winner's A&TP's Long Beach plant
Supply chains
Two views, and a process illustration
Teams
“Just because it looks like a team and talks like a team doesn't mean …,” a collection of material on teams … information from a web site by specialist Will Mays, and a discussion by Dr Brian D Janz of the FedEx Center for Cycle Time Research at the Fogelman College of Business and Economics at the University of Memphis
Teams 2 (advanced teamwork)
Enough theory! Here's our summary of a common-sense, practical article on co-opetition – collaboration among competitors – according to Andersen Consulting
Valuing low wage employees
If you employ staff on below the average wage, is it still possible to be a good employer? Seven organisations and four unions worked for a year with New Zealand consultancy Top Drawer Consultants and the Equal Employment Opportunity Trust to answer this question
Wellness in the workplace, Steelcase
A comprehensive wellness program yields employee health and business benefits
Exhibits are single-topic publications, designed to illustrate and explain key
Baldrige concepts.
Used with the associated workshops, worksheets, case studies and Baldrige-sourced material, exhibits add value to your performance excellence activities. Some exhibits supplement the Baldrige Eight case studies … with material from the business press and academic literature, for example, or with aditional material from company sources. There are currently just over 100 individual exhibits in the collection, and (after a pause while we concentrated on other business) we're adding more all the time |