Now that you’re getting ready for Virtual Audits, it’s time to look into the ‘Cost of Quality’ concept. All the ideas apply to Environmental, Health and Safety and all other management systems. How are we making sure our systems are giving us value? What kind of resource allocation should we make to this activity? To […]
What’s This ‘Cost Of Quality’ Thing? Read More »
John Seddon has been promoting Systems Thinking for years – I’ve been following him for nearly 30 years now and I’ve used the Vanguard Method approach to management system design since the early 2000s. A number of Federal Departments in Ottawa still have them in place. This post is based on the last part of
The Process Approach – What’s In It For Me? Read More »
John Seddon (vanguard-method.net Tactics for Getting Started) has been helping companies improve processes for decades. He has improved organizations with ‘Systems Thinking’ based on Deming’s work and the Toyota Production System that Taiichi Ohno created in post WWII Japan. He is laser-beam focused on the customer and it shows. In this instalment, we’re going to
Are Our Measurements Helping Us Understand Customers? Read More »
Clause 9 requires that we monitor and measure the effectiveness of our management systems. For many, this becomes a chore with little or no valuable information to show for all their work. So if we’re measuring, let’s make sure it’s giving us great info and helping us determine if our system is working. John Seddon
Are Your Measurements Killing Performance? Read More »
John Seddon has been a Systems builder since the 80s. He bases his work on the genius of Taiichi Ohno – The Toyota Production System – Beyond Large-Scale Production. Seddon has been successful adapting Ohno’s TPS approach but using it in services. There’s always a temptation to set targets and try to convince people to
What’s your ‘Purpose’? Read More »
Daniel Markovitz posted a blog called ‘The Folly of Stretch Goals’ in the Harvard Business Review. He outlined the dangers of using ‘stretch goals’ and gives some examples of unwanted behaviours that can result. He identifies three areas where ‘stretch goals’ can result in ‘off the rails’ behaviours. Stretch Goals Can be Demotivating When an
Why ‘Management by the Numbers’ Doesn’t Work… Read More »
John Seddon, Vanguard Consulting, released a great book called ‘Freedom From Command and Control’. There are plenty of great ideas in there, and I enjoy sharing them with you! Seddon started applying the ‘Toyota Production System’ to the service industry back in the 90s. You’ll find his insights very helpful. Systems Thinking is what he
A New Twist on PDCA Read More »
Waiting until the end of your production cycle to do inspections is a recipe for disaster. By then, it’s too late. You have time and money invested by this point and it’s important to get a return on your investment. It makes more business sense to build checks in along the way. Better yet, design
Stop depending on final inspections! Read More »
We all need to assess how well our system is working. It’s a requirement in section 9 of all the new Standards and it’s just a good thing to do for a business. One thing that is often overlooked when putting measurements into place is the effect they have on behaviour. And if you doubt
Are Your Measurements Killing Performance? Read More »
