The Quality Curmudgeon

New Home for the Quality Curmudgeon

2009-02-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

The Quality Curmudgeon has moved! Visit the new, improved Quality Curmudgeon blog at:

www.qualitycurmudgeon.com

Quality Afterthoughts

2007-12-19T16:20:00.000-08:00

I've been writing about quality issues since 1984—23 long years. In that time I've interviewed hundreds of quality professionals, gurus, practitioners, authors, consultants, you name it. Although each person had a unique perspective on quality, each claimed that improved quality (usually as a result of following his or her quality recipe) was right around the corner.

Unfortunately, I don't think we've turned that corner. In fact, in my humble opinion, quality for the most part still stinks. (I say for the most part because the "hard" side of quality—metrology—has made tremendous strides in the last two decades. Unfortunately, the "soft" side of quality—the human side—has fallen farther behind in many quality aspects, particularly with regard to service quality.

Although we see excellent examples of design, product, and service quality all the time, I'm afraid the bad (or more precisely, the mediocre) still outweighs the good.

It's getting to the point where we can't even trust the food we eat, the bridges we drive over, the toys our children play with, the cars we drive in, and the pills we pop. And when we do have a problem, we can't really trust the so-called "customer service" representatives who are supposed to help us through our hour of need.

It's frustrating that after going through zero defects, quality circles, total quality management, reengineering, benchmarking, ISO 9000, Six Sigma, lean, and all of their derivations, that quality is still so bad.

I know that many organizations have had great success with each of the aforementioned programs. Unfortunately, many have not. It seems to me that the ones who have been successful (and by that I mean have high-quality products and/or services; a happy, involved work force; a large and growing market share; and happy stockholders/stakeholders) have made these programs their own. They don't do ISO 9001 for the sake of meeting customer requirements. They don't have an employee involvement program because it's hip; they don't implement Six Sigma because the CEO's golfing buddy's company does.

A more telling sign of an organization's success with these quality initiatives is that they are done because the organization knows that they will result in better products and services, a happier work force, better sales, and long-term growth. The company integrates these "programs" into the company works. It doesn't have to make them separate fiefdoms and wage war against the company culture. It's just the way things work; it's not some onerous process.

Before, you send me the "Duh!" e-mail, stop and think about it. How many programs have you seen come and go over the years. Think about the successes and failures in your own organization. Think, too, about your experiences as a consumer. Are you really happy with the products and/or services your organization produces? More important, are you customers? How do you know? As I asked last month, how do you know you're improving? How do you know your customers are satisfied? Are you actively working to make sure that your customers are satisfied now and will be in the future? Are you really satisfied with the goods you buy? Are you getting the kind of service you think you should?

If you're like me, the answer is no. I'm not satisfied as a business owner with my organization's products and services. I want to make them better. As a consumer, I constantly amazed at the poor quality products I buy and the lousy service I receive. I am constantly amazed at the poor service I receive from customer service reps. I am leery of the food I eat. I worry that my children might be playing with lead-tainted toys. (For this I blame the company whose name is on the product, not the entire nation of China.) It just seems as though things are worse now than they were 20 years ago in many respects.

For example, flight delays and airline dissatisfaction are at their highest levels ever. New whiz-bang products are increasingly difficult to use. Online products and services are great unless they don't work or you have a question, then good luck finding a real person to talk to for help. In fact, many companies go out of their way to avoid interacting with you. How many times when you call for help are you told to "go online"? And, perhaps most telling of all, aren't you just delighted when you receive good service? If I actually get help with a problem or see someone go the extra mile to help it really stands out, even though that's what should happen every time.

You may be a quality manager at an organization. Your job may be to ensure that the widgets your company makes get out the door according to spec. But what are you doing beyond that? Are you collecting data on customer satisfaction with your products, your services, your billing, your technical support, your Web site, your product design, your distributors, your packaging, your advertising. If you say those aren't your job, you just might not have one down the road.

Trick or Treat?

2007-12-19T16:18:00.000-08:00

It’s October and one of my favorite holidays is near: Halloween. Although this year’s holiday holds more tricks than treats as our economy teeters on the edge of recession thanks to an unstable housing market.

As we look forward to a new year that’s likely to be full of more economic bad news, it’s a good time to take a hard look at your organization’s quality system. After all, your goal as a quality professional is to help design products, systems, procedure, work instructions, data analysis and reporting systems, and more that help your organization to be as efficient, competitive, and profitable as possible.

I think it’s a great time for you—Mr. or Ms. quality professional—to ask yourself if your organization’s quality is better today than it was last month? Last year? Ten years ago? How do you know if it is better or worse? How do you define better or worse? Do you measure your quality success in terms of defects? Satisfied customers? Profits? Employee retention? Stock price? What may have been important last year or last month may not matter as much to your organization and your customers as something else today.

You may have the most accurate gages, the highest tolerances, the highest performing product, and lousy customer service. Or, you might have the best service in the industry and lousy products. What matters more? More important, what matters now? And, most important of all, what will matter tomorrow, next month, next year, next decade?

The “what will matter” question is one that Japanese manufacturers have excelled at for decades. And it’s a question that few U.S. manufacturers have been able to comprehend. Take U.S. automakers, for example. They’ve spent two decades catching up to the Japanese. And, they’ve succeeded. Their defects per thousand are on par with the Japanese, but they failed to accurately comprehend where the U.S. consumer would be today. And, I would venture to say that they have failed to guess where consumers will be next year, five years and 10 years from now.

Toyota and Honda accurately predicted that all things being equal in terms of fuel economy, defects, reliability and such, that the consumer would be drawn to functionality and design. (Although I must say that General Motors seems to be closer to hitting this mark than its rivals.)

The Korean automakers have learned from the Japanese. They’ve managed to bring their quality levels to world-class standards in a relatively short time frame. They, too, are now focusing on the future.

The Big Three should take some solace from the knowledge that the Chinese automakers with their low labor costs and government support haven’t seem to caught onto this concept—yet. They, too, are running in catch-up mode.

Another industry where forward-thinking companies are cleaning up is major home appliances. Ten years ago our kitchens and laundry rooms were filled with Kenmores, GEs, Amanas, Frigidaires, and other U.S. brands. Now, LG, Samsung, Bosch, and other non-U.S. brands are popping up everywhere. European and Korean appliance manufacturers correctly met current market needs for more energy efficient appliances that are quieter, with larger capacities, and that have more functionality.

Six years ago I bought a matching Maytag washer and dryer. I was thrilled with my purchase. At that time, it was difficult to find an appliance brand in this country that had a better reputation for quality. Sadly, I didn’t realize that Maytag’s quality had gone down the drain. My Maytag repairman is anything but lonely. We’ve had our washing machine serviced so many times that I’ve lost count. My wife (She Who Must Be Obeyed) longingly eyes the new front-loading washers every time we pass them at Lowes.

So, here’s my Halloween trick (or treat, depending on your perspective) for you: Answer these three questions:

Is your quality better today than last year? How do you know the answer to this? Do you have accurate metrics to compare? What are you measuring? How do these measurements affect your products (e.g., defects, tolerances, reliability, etc.), services (e.g., customer satisfaction, retention, etc.), employees (e.g., satisfaction, turnover, productivity, etc.), stockholders (e.g., share price, market share, etc.), and regulators (local, state, federal, and foreign governments) (e.g., environmental, health and safety compliance, etc.).
What does “better” mean to your organization? What are you striving to improve and why? Obviously, your answer will include all of the above, but what else? What is happening in your organization and with your customers and the market that you as a quality professional need to know about? Is it cheap Chinese-made goods? Is it a new government regulation? A new competitor? Start from scratch. Reevaluate your quality system. See what matters to your customers now.
What are you doing today to ensure that your organization’s products and/or services are meeting the needs of your customers next year? What are you doing to determine these future needs? A crystal ball won’t help, but customer surveys, focus groups, and the like can. I know that many quality professionals believe that this is the domain of marketing or sales, but if you don’t know what customers think of your organization and your products now and what they are looking for down the road, you’re doomed.

OK, I know this column read a lot more like a college lecture than normal, but, hey, it’s almost Halloween.

The Future of Quality

2007-12-19T16:09:00.000-08:00

One of the fun parts of being a columnist is that you get to opine on whatever strikes your fancy, as long as it somewhat relevant to the magazine’s general content. You also get to make predictions without having to worry about having a ton of supporting data. Sure, I can be wrong, but as long as what I write is moderately informative/interesting/amusing/entertaining, the editors will keep publishing it.

So, having laid the foundation for what comes next, it’s time to once again to gaze into my crystal ball and make predictions about the future of quality. I periodically have this ridiculous urge to make predictions. I am frequently wrong, (and occasionally right), but, hey, who’s perfect?

Prediction no. 1: After declining for the past decade, quality will take on a new importance within organizations and the government. There are several reasons for this. First, the much-touted “new global economy” (or flat world) is finally here. And despite all the wonders it has wrought, quality has suffered. Tainted pet food, poisoned tooth paste, and lead-coated toys are just a few of the more obvious signs that quality basics like design, auditing, inspection, calibration, etc. are still essential to protecting customers. Although we in the West may disregard such flagrant signs of poor quality as those I mentioned earlier, don’t forget that it was Western companies that had these products made for them. Therefore, we need to do a better job of managing our suppliers (and their quality systems).

Second, our aging infrastructure needs help. Collapsing bridges are just one of the more obvious signs that our industrial revolution infrastructure is getting pretty old. We will need to spend billions of dollars updating and retrofitting it. And we will want to make sure that it is of the highest quality.

Third, despite your feelings about Al Gore (and who doesn’t have strong feelings about Al, one way or the other?) and global warming, there is no doubt that our economy will adjust to it (the hype about global warming that is, not Al). We are already selling hybrid vehicles, installing solar panels on millions of buildings, building ethanol processing facilities, and replacing incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones. I believe that these changes will continue to accelerate, culminating in a new and nonpolluting energy source that makes oil (and the countries that produce and export it) obsolete.

This will be the equivalent of a new industrial revolution, creating millions of new jobs and powering a dynamic economy. The solution to our energy/global warming crisis will probably be many faceted and complex, but there’s no doubt that new production facilities and whole new infrastructures will be required. (Let’s hope it is the U.S. economy that benefits.) Of course, all this new technology will require quality professionals to make sure that good quality processes are designed, implemented, and followed.

Of course, new industries/technologies/professions will require new regulations and new standards. That leads me to prediction no. 2: Standards will be become even more widespread and diverse than they are now.

As most of you know, ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 are due to be updated next year. In fact, most of the work on the revision is already done and the committee charged with revising the standard—ISO/TC 176—is putting the finishing touches on the revision and making sure all the different countries involved in approving the standard are happy, which is no easy task. ISO 9001:2008 will then go through several rounds of voting before it is approved.

My sources on the committee tell me that the revisions are pretty minor. This is probably a good thing, both in terms of keeping companies who are using the standard happy and to keep the standard generic, so that it can continue to be used as a platform for industry-specific standards like ISO/TS 16949 and AS9100.

It will also allow the standard to continue to be widely implemented globally in this new flat world. China is already has the most ISO 9001-registered companies in the world, but it has a long way to go both in registering companies and improving its certification process.

Of course, this continued focus on standards and the new standards spawned by new technologies will require quality professionals and auditors. It will also require an even greater knowledge of quality principles by management and workers at all levels. This leads us back to my first prediction.

So, prediction no. 4 is that all those people out there who have been predicting the death of quality will have to eat their words.

Quality Hacks

2007-12-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite Web sites is www.lifehacker.com. The site posts an ever-changing cornucopia of tips, tools and techniques for hacking (i.e., improving) your personal and business life. Lifehacker is updated constantly, and I usually check it a couple of times during the day. It’s a great little break during the workday.

Lifehacker has all kinds of nifty tips, such as using e-mail more effectively, managing your time better, tweaking software to make it easier to use and more productive, and do-it-yourself projects that are fun and meaningful. I’ve discovered a lot of really useful information on the site that I use daily to make my job (and my life) a little easier.

For example, Lifehacker has featured some excellent tutorials on a very cool piece of software for Mac users called Quicksilver, which is a very nifty application that eliminates the need to look for nearly any application, document, file, picture, address or just about anything else you commonly search for on your computer. (Sorry, Windows devotees, but there really isn’t a Quicksilver equivalent for you yet. Launchy is close, but not so much.)

Lifehacker has also taught me how to use Google’s nifty e-mail service Gmail much more efficiently, how to fix a dent in my car, how to make my own paper, and it’s even taught me how to organize the mass of cables that run all over my desk. (OK, I actually haven’t fixed the dents, made the paper or cleaned up the cables, but at least I know how now.)

Recently, while checking out Lifehacker, I got to thinking that there really should be a place to share quality hacks—all those cool time-saving tips and techniques that quality professionals use in the course of their jobs to make their lives a little easier.

To help facilitate the sharing of quality hacks, I’ve just launched a new Web site called, aptly enough, QualityHacks (www.qualityhacks.com) where you can post your quality hacks and check out other hacks that quality professionals have posted. It’s a free site; I’ve just created it to give the quality community a forum to post hacks. Because it’s free, it’s pretty basic for now. If it proves to be popular, I’ll upgrade it.

In order for the site to be useful, it has to contain information. This is where you come in. I invite (beg, plead, urge—you get the idea) you to post your quality hacks on the site. They don’t have to be complicated or fancy. In fact, simpler is preferred. And you don’t have to worry about spelling and grammar and such. We’ll clean it up for you. We just want to give you an easy way to share your tips and techniques.

Here are some possible topics:

How have you modified the SPC software package you use to work better?

How have you set up your document control system?

How do you manage your gage calibration scheduling?

How do you communicate quality issues to employees, customers, and suppliers?

How do you motivate your internal auditors?

How do you recognize and reward team members?

How do you use everyday applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. in your quality processes?

How did you select that last piece of measuring equipment you bought?

If these sound like questions you’d like to see the answers to, you’re probably not alone. If they sound like questions you’d like to answer, rest assured that there a lot of people out there who would really like to know how you answered. Don’t be shy! Your peers are in the same situation you are.

Check out www.qualityhacks.com. Read, post and grow!

A Reader Responds...

2007-05-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

I seem to have struck a nerve with "The Death of Civility." Here's what one reader has to add:

Yep, civility is dead. I attribute it to the "special" factor as much as the other reasons you've listed. You know the "special" people--the self-anointed folks who don't have to wait in line in their cars, and feel free to drive up the "turn only" lane until the last minute, then cut you off (as you've sat through three or my cycles of the light)? The ones who blithely ignore the "10 items or less" rule in the grocery store, holding up 5 other customers with a few items each, all so that they didn't have to wait in the longer, non-express line themselves? The ones who push and bully their way to what they want, and others be damned? We all know these folks--and I work very hard not to BE one of these folks, every day.

They also see no reason to explain or apologize for their actions. Why should they? They're "special."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

The Death of Civility

2007-04-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend during the last few years: the death of civility. The first symptoms of civility’s demise showed when e-mail was born. The symptoms worsened with the introduction of instant and text messaging. Civility took to its deathbed with discussion boards and listservs. The final nail in the coffin was driven with the advent of blogging.

Let me back up a bit. Those under 30 may not remember life before e-mail. But way back when IBM Selectric typewriters roamed the Earth—before e-mail, instant messaging, iPods, PDAs, laptops, cell phones, Blackberries and all those other oh-so-essential gadgets—people communicated in three basic ways: face-to-face, over the telephone, and by letter.

When you wrote a letter to someone, you had to take some time to think about what you were writing (you didn’t want to have to use White-Out or correction tape). When you called someone on the phone (you know that thing on your desk with the light that flashes to tell you that you have a voice mail message) you spoke to a real person, usually either the person you were intending to call or a receptionist or secretary. You actually got to hear the person’s reaction to what you were saying, so you could adjust your tone (and your message) accordingly. And, of course, when you had to actually make the Herculean effort to get up from your desk and walk down the hall to speak to someone face to face, you didn’t want to come off as a jerk, so you were careful with what you said and how you said it.

Now, of course, we communicate primarily through the electronic media: e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, blogs, discussion board, listservs, voice mail messages, video conferences, and the like.

When e-mail first arrived, it was oh so cool. You could send a letter to someone, like, instantly. At first, many people treated it the same way they did writing a letter. Soon, though, particularly as young people who never used a typewriter entered the work force, e-mails began to deteriorate into quick-and-dirty rapid-fire messages.

I know that I’m a bit picky—hence the Quality Curmudgeon title—but I am constantly amazed at the misspelled words, poor grammar and carelessness of the e-mails I receive. I can forgive spelling and grammar errors, but I cannot forgive and do not understand the sheer rudeness of many of the e-mails I receive. People seem to fire off the first thought that enters their head when responding to e-mails.

It’s amazing that a medium that is so fast and so easy to use usually requires three or four back and forth exchanges. This occurs because even though you may ask two, three, four or more questions in your original e-mail, the person responding almost always only answers the first question. So, you have e-mail again and again and again.

This kind of communication isn’t limited to e-mails. Text messages and instant messaging is worse. Of course, nothing can match the smug, venom-filled screed that permeates blogs, discussion groups and listservs. Make a post to your blog that someone disagrees with or post something to a discussion board that someone doesn’t like (and I write from personal experience) and you’re in for it. Rather than send a well-written, thoughtful response, they feel free to excoriate you in public. I wonder if these people would stand up in the middle of a sermon at their church and publicly abuse their spiritual leader or speak to their neighbor/spouse/colleague in the same way.

By far the worst consequence of this phenomenon is how it has affected other aspects of our daily lives. I think people are much freer to be rude to your face because they are so used to being that way in their electronic communications. Look at the increased incidences of road rage, for example.

Another disturbing trend is the death of civility in corporate America. Remember when the customer was always right? Now it seems as though the customer is wrong until he or she proves him or herself to be right. Store return policies are increasingly restrictive and employees are increasingly indifferent and rude to customers. I’ve seen young, able-bodied flight attendants shriek at elderly, infirmed passengers who ask for assistance with their bags. I’ve been hung up on by “customer service” reps because they didn’t like my questions. I’ve seen politicians on both sides of the aisle behave so poorly to one another that it makes the idea of bringing back pistol duels appealing.

IBM had a famous one-word slogan that was in every one of its offices around the world for decades. I wish Microsoft would put the slogan on the send button in Outlook. The message? “Think.”

What do you think of the state of civility these days? Please, be civil. Your mother might be reading.

TQM Explained, Part 1

2007-03-27T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here's part one of a TQM training video made by a group of students at a Scottish university. Check out the German-Scottish-Yoda accent! I'll post part two soon.

Just Do It!

2007-03-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

What I really meant to say. . .

As a small-business owner I face an array of challenges every day: finance, marketing, human resources, quality, customer service, new product development, inventory control, and the like. Of course, this is in addition to being a husband, a father, a son, a friend, and looking after my own physical and mental well-being. I constantly struggle with making the right choices at the right time. I know that I’m not alone in making these choices. Whether you’re a small-business owner like me or a quality manager or an auditor or a machine tool operator, you’ve got a mountain of choices of your own to make every day.

Luckily, there are countless time-saving options for all of us overworked, overstressed, overlooked heroes. For example, there’s software, which promises to automate just about any aspect of our lives: time management, document control, weight management, planning, you name it. Of course, you’ll have to determine which software package comes closest to your particular needs.

Once you choose your software package, you’ll then need to ~~whine~~ ~~beg~~ ~~plead~~ convince your boss to authorize its purchase. Once you have approval and you make the purchase, you’ll then ~~spend countless hours on the phone with technical support~~ install it and learn how to use it. (Of course, if others in your organization are to use it too, you’ll ~~have to force it on them~~ to do some significant training.) After you’ve used it for a while, you’ll discover ~~you’ve wasted a lot of time and money~~ you need to modify it to fit your particular needs. Remember, once you’ve become proficient in its use, ~~it will suddenly become obsolete~~ the manufacturer will update it, so you’ll have to relearn the software and retrain everyone to use it. Of course, ~~keep your fingers crossed that Microsoft doesn’t release some new operating system that will make your new software obsolete~~ remember to plan to replace your software every few years.

There are other time-saving options besides software. Maybe if you knew more about a particular aspect of your job, you’d do it better and have more free time. Why not attend a seminar? Of course, you’ll need considerable ~~whining~~ time to convince your boss to send you. But just imagine ~~the horror~~ it: An entire day or two or maybe even a whole week learning to do your job better. Plus, you’ll probably get to travel to ~~the cheapest and nearest seminar location~~ some exotic locale. (Maybe you can even learn a few things about quality, productivity and efficiency from those cheerful TSA folks as you wait in line at the airport.) Ah, but you’ll be ~~worn out~~ superproductive when you return. (At least that’s the way to position it your boss when ~~begging for~~ requesting permission to go.)

Of course, someone will have to cover for you while you’re gone, so you’ll have to ~~work overtime~~ set aside some time to train the other person to do your job for you. This person probably won’t ~~really do anything but screw things up~~ have time to effectively do his or her job and yours while you’re gone, leaving you with even more work to do when you get back, so be sure to set aside some extra time for that when you get back. Oh, and don’t forget that your boss will be expecting a report on what you learned at the seminar so ~~the cheapskate won’t have to send anyone else to a seminar~~ you can share what you learned with everyone else in the organization.

You’ll probably learn that ~~you know more than your seminar instructor~~ you’ve been ~~working with complete idiots~~ doing things ~~totally wrong~~ less efficiently than possible, so be sure to allow a good amount of time for ~~second guessing~~ analyzing your current system when you return. Of course, after a good deal of time has been ~~wasted~~ invested, you’ll discover that ~~the whole thing was a waste of time~~ the way things worked before you went to the seminar was ~~a hell of a lot better~~ probably good enough. Be sure to allow some time to put things back the way they were.

If a seminar isn’t your cup of tea, why not use the Internet to save time? Take some time from ~~surfing porn~~ ~~playing games~~ ~~instant messenging~~ doing market research and Google your way to better time management. Just type in whatever you need and ~~tons of useless listings~~ the answer will instantly appear on your computer screen. For example, I Googled “time management” and got back 1.12 billion responses. ~~What a waste of time.~~ Amazing isn’t it!

I narrowed my search to ~~“learn Klingon”~~ “time management for curmudgeons.” Wow, ~~908,000 hits for “learn Klingon”~~ only 37,000 hits. (Who knew there were so many of us?) OK, don’t get discouraged. You can immediately toss out the paid listings that show up. ~~Your boss isn’t going to cough up any dough after that failed software implementation and you’ve spent your training budget on that useless seminar you attended.~~ So, now we’re down to a more manageable 36,974 listings.

These are just thee options to help you manage your time more effectively. ~~Maybe if I spent as much time just getting the job done as I did trying to do it better, I might actually get something done.~~

What’s your favorite time-saving trick? Post your thoughts here. ~~Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.~~

Do the ISO 9000 Dance

2007-03-14T15:39:00.000-07:00

Now, here's somebody really happy about his company's ISO 9001 certification.

Prescription for Success… Or Failure?

2007-03-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

The city in which I live—Chico, California—is a wonderful place. It’s a relatively small city (about 75,000 residents), but it’s home to California State University, Chico, so there’s always a lot of fun stuff going on. Chico is safe, clean, and has most of the modern amenities considered vital in today’s world: Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Costco, etc.

Oddly enough, however, Chico only has one 24-hour pharmacy: Walgreens. This is problematic for those of us with small children, who are prone to get sick after the doctor’s offices and regular pharmacies have closed.

A few days ago, all three of my kids came down with some nasty bug. So we loaded up the minivan and headed off to the local after-hours clinic. The doctor phoned in three prescriptions of antibiotics for the kids. Walgreens was our only option. After we loaded up the kids for the ride home, my wife remembered that we had a little bit of antibiotic left over from the last illness so we decided to pick up our prescription the next day.

The following day I head to Walgreens to pick up the prescriptions. I wait 10 minutes in line only to be told that they haven’t been filled yet. I remind the woman behind the counter that the prescription had been called in 16 hours earlier (remember, this is a 24-hour pharmacy). She tells me that the best they can do is fill them in about 10 minutes.

I wait 10 minutes and then get back in line for another 10-minute wait. When I get to the counter again, I am told that they didn’t bill my insurance, so I’ll have to wait another 10 minutes while they do the insurance billing.

OK, at this point, the Quality Curmudgeon’s blood is boiling. I am mad, mad, mad! Such incompetence! I vow never again to use this pharmacy (even though I know I will have to). I realize that my anger really was out of proportion to the situation. So, being the nice guy that I am, I didn’t say anything. I just waited along with everyone else.

After another 10-minute wait, I am called back to the window and told that Blue Cross doesn’t seem to have my daughter in their system. OK, I was about to lose it at this point, but something curious happened. My anger at Walgreens and Blue Cross turned into sympathy and compassion for Andrea, young woman who was helping me. Rather than just say, “Sorry, I can’t help you,” she called Blue Cross and spent 15 minutes on the phone arguing on my behalf. When a supervisor at Blue Cross finally told her that my daughter didn’t exist and there was nothing Blue Cross could do, Andrea just hung up and called back. She spoke to a different person who was able to find my daughter in the system and (hopefully) fixed the problem for good.

I thanked Andrea for her help. “This happens all the time,” she said shrugging her shoulders. “It’s no big deal.”

Andrea then told me that she had to have a pharmacist check the prescription before she could sell it to me, so I had to wait another five minutes. When I was called back to the counter to pay, Walgreens’ computer system wouldn’t let them sell me one of the prescriptions. At this point, I wasn’t really so much angry as I was amused. Five different employees tried in vain to override the computer system. Finally, one of the pharmacists told the cashier to just manually enter the info and sell me my prescription.

I was in the pharmacy for over an hour. In that time, I went from annoyed, to angry, to exasperated, to sympathetic, to amused.

So, what lessons did I take away from all of this? Who’s fault was it? Mine for not encasing my children in a plastic bubble? Greedy lawyers for driving up the cost of health insurance with frivolous lawsuits? Incompetent management at Walgreens for not designing a better process? Computer software manufacturers for not designing better software? Blue Cross for a lack of training and inefficient processes? So how can I improve this situation for the future? Let’s examine my options:
• Move to a bigger city.
• Encase the children in plastic bubbles.
• Try to get to the doctor earlier in the day so I can use a different pharmacy (though given the state of health care these days, there’s no guarantee that I will have a different experience with a different pharmacy).
• Switch insurance companies. Again, there’s no guarantee that would be a better solution.
• Accept the fact there are some things that I just don’t have any control over, do the best that I can and not be so intolerant of those caught up in the process.

I think the last solution is probably best. I know that Andrea and the other people at Walgreens were doing the best they could with the system they had to work in. The same is probably true of the reps at Blue Cross. Many of our readers face similar scenarios every day. You’ve got to follow somebody else’s processes and make the best of it. Isn’t that what this quality stuff is all about? Making the best of somebody else’s process and adapting your organization’s capabilities to meet the customers’ (external and internal) needs.

What processes drive you crazy. Share your experiences here.

Alec Baldwin on Six Sigma

2007-01-26T10:18:00.001-08:00

At last. Six Sigma explained!

Is Quality Slipping at Toyota?

2007-01-26T10:06:00.000-08:00

Does another Toyota recall signal slipping quality? Has Toyota grown too large? Nope. Here's an interesting link from Bloomberg's Doron Levin on the subject:

Has the most-admired, most-copied, most-studied and most- envied automaker of the past 20 years suddenly and disastrously lost its way? Most quality experts say no. Toyota has had recalls before, as have all automakers. In fact, the number of vehicles the company recalled in 2006 plunged from the year earlier.

Though Toyota's quality ratings have slipped from their once-lofty heights, they remain at or near the top of most scales of measurement. In the closely watched J.D. Power & Associates initial quality study for 2006, Toyota was rated No. 2, after Hyundai, for non-luxury brands. Among luxury brands, Toyota's Lexus was second, behind Porsche.

Read the rest of the story here.

Sunset for Detroit?

2006-12-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

A smaller, more humble Detroit might just be the best thing for the U.S. auto industry.

It won’t be much longer now. We’ve known for some time that the Big Three’s reign would one day come to an end. Refusing to learn from their mistakes, General Motors Corp., Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. continued to churn out gas-guzzling clunkers that consumers just didn’t want. The first of the Big Three to fall was Chrysler, absorbed in a laughable “merger of equals” with Daimler-Benz in 1998. That left the Big Two: Ford and GM.

Despite a legacy dating back to the “inventor” of the automobile, Ford is practically melting away. Its “Way Forward” campaign aims to reduce its work force by 30,000 employees and shutter 14 manufacturing plants. Chairman Bill Ford’s actions have made it clear that the family’s goal is to preserve its wealth over preserving the company.

That leaves GM, currently the world’s largest automaker. Like Ford, GM has been hemorrhaging jobs, market share, plants and cash. GM recently refused to consider a proposed global alliance with Carlos Ghosn’s Renault-Nissan, preferring to go it alone.

The Big Three’s losses have been the Japanese and Korean automakers’ gains. Toyota will soon replace GM as the world’s No. 1 automaker. But, as GM and Ford (and DaimlerChrysler, too) discovered, bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better. Toyota’s ascendancy to the No. 1 spot may be exactly what Detroit needs to revitalize: By being smaller, more nimble and more driven (pardon the pun), U.S. automakers may be able to compete more effectively against their larger Japanese rivals.

Already Toyota is worried about being too big and too slow to react to the market. A recent Wall Street Journal article discusses Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe’s fears. Forget kaizen, the relentless focus on incremental improvement. According to The Wall Street Journal, Watanabe wants kakushin—revolutionary change in how Toyota designs cars and factories. “His ultimate aim: Cut at least a trillion yen ($8.68 billion) in vehicle costs in the next three to four years—the equivalent of about $1,000 a vehicle—and keep slashing costs at similar rates thereafter,” says Norihiko Shirouzu, writing in the Dec. 9, 2006, issue of the Wall Street Journal. “That is on top of one trillion yen Toyota squeezed out of its parts purchasing from 2000 through 2004, an effort led by Mr. Watanabe in an earlier role.” Does this sound like a man content to let Toyota rest on its laurels?

GM and Ford have seen disastrous results in product design and innovation from their narrow focus on cost cutting. Let’s hope that Toyota doesn’t forget about the customer in its drive to slash costs.

So far Toyota’s growth in market share has been matched by growth in profitability. But remember how profitable Ford and GM were in the 1980s and 1990s? Toyota has also seen an increase in the number of vehicle recalls and quality problems. Some chinks in Toyota’s armor are beginning to appear. “In the U.S., the number of Toyota recalls hit 2.38 million vehicles last year, more than the 2.26 million vehicles the automaker sold the same year,” writes Shirouzu in the Dec. 11, 2006, issue of the Wall Street Journal.

Back in the days when quality was supposedly “job one” at Ford, lean and mean Toyota and Honda pecked away at the Big Three’s market share by focusing their resources on building exactly what the consumer wanted and relentlessly improving existing models. Honda introduced the Civic in 1972, and has refined and improved it ever since. U.S. automakers can’t stand to keep a model in production for more than a few years before killing it off in favor of something new. Remember the Taurus? Once America’s best-selling car, it slipped quietly away and recently ceased production.

The new leaner and meaner Detroit might have a chance to beat the Japanese, Koreans and, quite probably, the Chinese at their own game. If they can use their smaller work force, flattened bureaucracy, and (hopefully) a newfound humbleness to regain a focus on improving quality and giving consumers what they want, they can compete. If not, don’t be surprised if one day you’re checking out a new Toyota Mustang or Hyundai Corvette. Think it can’t happen? Not many people thought they would be driving a Daimler-made Chrysler, a Ford-made Volvo or a GM-made Saab.

There is hope for Detroit. As Shirouzu wrote in his Dec. 9, Wall Street Journal article, “Toyota is finding that there are limits to its efficiency drive, with each incremental improvement increasingly hard to win. In 1998, it took the Japanese company 21.6 hours to assemble one car in North America, more than 10 hours faster than GM. By last year, Toyota had improved only marginally, to 21.3, while GM had almost caught up.” It’s easy to see why Toyota’s Watanabe is worried.

What are your thoughts on the future of U.S. auto manufacturing? Will Ford and GM remain independent? Should they? Can they successfully compete against Japan, Korea, China and the Europeans?

Parenting a Business

2006-12-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

It’s been more than a year since I left the august position of publisher of Quality Digest. In that year, my life has changed dramatically: I have two more children—a boy and a girl who are now eight months old, in addition to my five-year-old son—a business that is growing in ways I never imagined and a new perspective on growing a family and a business.

Growing your family is a never-ending job full of worry, excitement, laughter and anticipation. Growing a business is very similar: There are high expectations when it’s being developed, birthing pains when it’s launched, and the same mix of worry, excitement, laughter and anticipation while it’s growing.

Of course, while I was at Quality Digest, I was also running a business. I always treated my job at Quality Digest as if it were my own because I always believed that that’s the only way to work. Now that I’ve left, I realize my folly. Of course, it wasn’t my business, so no matter how much I acted that way, I couldn’t be fully invested. So while I worried and planned and hoped, I was always worrying, planning and hoping for someone else’s business. I realize now that it was kind of like babysitting. (And sometimes, it really felt like I was babysitting.)
Now that I have my own business to run full time, it’s like raising my own children. The parallels are remarkable:

You can’t be a part-time parent or part-time business owner. They are both 24-hour, seven-day-a-week jobs. If the baby cries at 3:00 a.m., you are there. If your alarm system goes off at your office at 1:00 a.m., you are there. Waking up in the middle of the night worrying about meeting payroll or worrying about paying for college results in the same lack of sleep.
You must constantly adapt. The skills I used to parent my five-year-old son Ian are very different from the skills I used when he was two. Not only have I learned from my mistakes but he has grown and developed and requires different parenting now. My business is very similar. Now that I have more employees, different products and services, and different income needs, I must run my business differently.
You must invest for the future. Right after each of my kids was born, I opened a college savings fund. I have a set amount automatically transferred from my checking account to their college funds. It’s not always easy to see that money being siphoned away, but I know it has to be done if I want my kids to have a shot at a decent college education one day. The same is true for my business. I am constantly investing in new technology, new product development and developing my skills.
You must clearly define your expectations. It’s silly for me to get angry with my child because he does something I don’t like if I haven’t clearly defined the expectation. Of course, the same is true for my. What aren’t sometimes so obvious are the expectations I need to set for myself. As a parent, I need to be clear about what I need to do to meet the goals and objectives I have for my family (e.g., I must save for my children’s education now.). As a business owner I also have expectations for myself (e.g., I must work toward my goals, not just to get by.)
You must make education a priority. Mornings at the Paton household are chaotic at best. It’s my job to get Ian to school while my wife, Heidi, looks after the twins. Every weekday I somehow manage to deliver a somewhat reluctant five-year-old to his kindergarten class complete with backpack, snack, sharing item, library book and whatever else he needs. After school, Heidi helps him with his homework even though he’d rather be playing soccer, watching TV or riding his scooter. At night we read stories before bed and practice our letters. It’s amazing to see his progress. Now, I don’t read stories to my employees, but I do my best to help them grow in their job skills. It’s not easy for a small business to send employees off to training seminars or have them attend a webinar or take online training, but it’s essential for employee development and the growth of your business. It’s also just as rewarding to see an employee grow from newfound skills.
You’ve got to have faith. As a parent I sometimes just have to let go and have faith that everything will be OK. When Ian goes off to his grandma’s house for the weekend. I have to hope that he will behave, be safe and have fun. The same is true for my business. Although my business never goes off for a weekend with grandma, it is run in large part by my employees. I have to have faith that I’ve hired the right people and trained them well.
You have to work hard, very hard. Face it, raising kids isn’t glamorous and sometimes isn’t very fun. The same is true with running a business. Sometimes you just want to quit. But if you’re fully invested in your business (as you have to be with your kids), you can’t quit. In fact, the thought can’t even enter your mind. You have to be in it for the long haul or you won’t have the level of commitment you need to succeed. The good news is that even though your business probably won’t give the same thrill as seeing your baby take his or her first step, it can be very fulfilling to see the results of your hard work come to fruition in a new product or the extraordinary work of an employee.

As I said these are just a few of the parallels. Post your thoughts on running a business or raising kids (I need all the help I can get).

Online Document Control

2006-09-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Here's a new online application that holds promise for those looking for a simple and free document control system.

Share Your Documents. Anywhere, Anytime.

Approver.com makes it easy for you to share documents and ideas with friends and colleagues.

You can use Approver.com to create or upload notes or documents. When you're ready, you can use Approver.com to invite friends or colleagues to provide feedback. When colleagues have reviewed your document, you'll receive an alert. If they forget to review the document, we'll bug them in email so you don't have to.

Looks pretty cool, albeit basic. But, hey, it's free. For more info, check out www.approver.com.

Blog New World

2006-09-05T12:39:00.000-07:00

It’s been more than a year since I started this blog. Pretty impressive for a guy who didn’t even know what a blog was until a few months before. Thanks to Dennis Arter for introducing me to the “blogosphere” (i.e., what geeks call the world of blogs).

Blogs are a great way to create dialogue and share information. Their interactive nature adds depth to the topic being covered. The best blogs provide open access and discussion about a particular subject.

In the quality world, there are several blogs worth visiting:

The Audit Guy—www.auditguy.blogspot.com. This blog by Dennis Arter, known in certain circles as “The Audit Guy,” discusses a wide range of issues, from quality auditing to technology. Dennis is a quality expert and technology guru, a nice combination.
PDCA Auditing—www.pdcauditing.com. This blog by Paul Palmes discusses auditing issues and includes podcast (a downloadable audio file) interviews with quality professionals.
The Quality Weblog—www.qualityweblog.com. This blog features discussion on a wide range of quality issues and is hosted by Darryl VanDorp.
Sarbanes-Oxley—www4.asq.org/blogs/sarbanes-oxley . This blog features discussion on Sarbanes-Oxley (SOx) and is moderated by John Walz. Although not technically a quality issue, SOx is certainly important to quality professionals. The American Society for Quality hosts this site.

ASQ has a blog section on its Web site (www.asq.org/blog). Unfortunately, it has only four blogs listed at present, including John Walz’s SOx blog. However, there is a link to suggest blog topics and potential moderators. This seems like a logical place for ASQ sections and divisions to post their blogs. I don’t know if the reason they aren’t listed here is because none of the sections or divisions have blogs, or if I just can’t find them on ASQ’s rather labyrinthine site.

There are a couple of other nonquality blogs that I visit frequently and I highly recommend:

Lifehacker—www.lifehacker.com. This blog’s description says it all: “Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the software downloads and Web sites that actually save time. Don’t live to geek; geek to live.”
43 Folders—www.43folders.com. This blog is about personal productivity, life hacks and simple ways to make your life a little better. It features a lot of good information about David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” methodology.

I’m sure there are some great blogs out there that I haven’t mentioned; please post your favorites here.

User input makes blogs even more interesting. Most blogs allow visitors to post comments, and most bloggers appreciate visitor input. One caveat, however: Be polite and have something useful to say. Some people think blogs are an open invitation to personally attack others. What would your mother say?

If you think the blogosphere is pretty cool and might want to start one of your own, you’re in luck. Setting up a blog is simple and free. A number of services, including Blogger (www.blogger.com) and Word Press (www.wordpress.org), provide free online software and hosting for blogs. I use Blogger, which happens to be owned by Google. Blogger includes a variety of templates to vary the look of your blog. In addition to text postings, you can add links to other blogs and Web sites, images, and audio or video clips. I set up my blog and began posting in less than 10 minutes. If you do set up your own quality blog, let me know about it. I’d like to feature some quality blogs on mine and provide links to them. Adding links to your blog is a great way to drive traffic (i.e., users) to your site.

If you’re uncomfortable with newfangled terms like blog, blogosphere, Web log, podcast and such, relax. They’re entering the mainstream. Toss them around at your next company meeting or with your kids. Your co-workers will think you’re hip; your kids probably won’t. Still confused? Look in Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), the free online user-compiled encyclopedia. (Another nod to Dennis Arter for enlightening me about this useful tool.)

Toyota Takes Action to Improve Quality

2006-08-25T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting story from Yahoo about an automaker taking steps to deal with its quality problems:

Toyota May Delay Some New Models

OYAMA, Japan - Toyota may delay some of its new models, the company's president said Friday, as the world's No. 2 automaker tries to improve its quality control process in order to reduce a spate of recalls that is threatening its reputation.

(Read the full story here.)

As Toyota grows and adds an increasingly complex product line, there are bound to be some quality problems but it's encouraging to see an automaker take such public steps prior to introducing models to address potential quality issues. The U.S. automakers' approach seems to be to hide quality issues and address them behind closed doors after the fact.

I'm still mystified why Ford and GM are still so far behind the Japanese in quality, product design, reliability, fuel efficiency, etc. Many of the Japanese autos sold in the United States are designed and built here so I don't believe it's a cultural issue. What do you think? If you disagree, then explain the decline in market share--and there's more to it than rising gas prices.

Let's Blame China!

2006-08-21T21:02:00.000-07:00

Here's two interesting headlines on the homepage of American Society for Quality's Web site today:

Dell’s Recall Sparks Worry About Foreign Manufacturing Quality

U.S. Automakers Closing Quality Gap; Dell Bounces Back After Service Slide

Just when Dell seemed to be "bouncing back," disaster strikes!

I think it's interesting that the first article puts the blame on "China" and not Dell or Sony, which had the batteries manufactured for it in China and then sold to Dell. Isn't it Dell's and Sony's responsibility to ensure that their suppliers are manufacturing according to specifications? Aren't they auditing their suppliers? Inspecting product? Testing product?

Another point in the first article that caught my eye: "An industry group is meeting in September to, among other things, examine ways to create industry-wide standards dealing with quality control." Hmm. I thought we had international groups that developed standards for quality. Haven't they heard of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) or the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)?

Unrealistic/Undefined Customer Requirements?

2006-08-18T12:25:00.000-07:00

The post below from Joe Gliksman is representative of a number of posts I've received about my Curmudgeon School post:

I think you missed a key point with this blog--quality is in the eye of the beholder or customer. To some, if it is cheap they are happy--to some, lowest price IS quality--a quality deal or experience no matter what else. To some, if it is fast, the rest does not matter, etc. Finally, some will never be happy and never find quality... the author maybe?

Although I agree with Joe that quality is defined by some people as "the lowest price," I think he (and many others) missed my point: There are certain basic customer requirements that organizations fail to recognize. As a customer, I expect a toy water gun to last more than two hours even if I have only paid $1 for it. I think that almost anyone who bought that toy would have the same expectations. The toy manufacturer has no excuse to be ignorant of these basic requirements. It's easy to survey customers, benchmark other manufacturers, and--yes--use common sense.

The only "lesson" that I have learned as a customer is that I shouldn't buy that toy (or other toys) from that company again. As a parent, I buy cheap toys for my kids all the time (we all do it). Most of them don't break after two hours. In fact, I usually throw them out or they get lost before they break. (McDonald's Happy Meal toys are practically indestructible.)

Stellar Customer Service

2006-08-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

As you may already know, I have little tolerance for poor customer service. In fact, I've been burned so many times that when I do have to call customer service to resolve a problem, I enter the conversation with fear and loathing. However, I recently had an experience with an online service that launched my feelings about their service into orbit.

Or should I say, "Orbitz," a leading online travel Web site. I use Orbitz four or five times a month to book travel for me or the trainers who work with Paton Press. I've always been impressed with the site's low fares and easy-to-navigate interface. Despite having purchased hundreds of airline tickets through the site, I never had an occasion to call customer service until recently. (I guess that in itself says something about the quality of the service I've received.)

While reviewing my last American Express statement, I noticed two charges for the same amount and the same itinerary. I knew that this was a mistake because I had only purchased one ticket. I logged onto the Orbitz site and looked at my past trips. I saw that there was only one booked itinerary for that person for that week. Orbitz had made a mistake.

I knew I would have to call the company to get the error corrected, and I began to experience that uneasy feeling I get whenever I have to call customer service. Where would my call get routed? Would they believe me? Had I made a $335 error?

I began the process by going to the Orbitz home page. I was impressed. At the top of the page in large, easy-to-read type was a tab that said "Customer Service." Probably a link to a "Frequently Asked Questions" database, I thought. To my surprise, when I clicked on the tab, there were three options: an FAQ database, an e-mail link and a toll-free number to call for help. The customer service department is open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. This is impressive, especially when traveling. OK. This was looking good, but how would my call be answered?

I dialed the number and was immediately connected to the Orbitz voice mail system, which asked for my home phone number. Apparently, this let them know where I was calling from. After entering my phone number, I was led through a surprisingly quick and easy voice mail navigation system that divides calls by type of inquiry. I generally hate these kinds of voice mail systems, but Orbitz's system was painless. I was through it in a matter of seconds.

When I selected "help," my call was answered within a minute. A pleasant woman asked how she could help me. I explained that upon reviewing my American Express statement it appeared as though I had been double charged. Her first reaction was to apologize.

"I'm sorry you had a problem," she said. "Let's see what we can do to resolve it for you."

She asked me for some information and then asked me to hold while she checked on the problem. When she came back on the line after about two minutes, she apologized for leaving me on hold. The Orbitz system had indeed double charged me. She explained that Orbitz would refund my money and that it might take 30 to 60 days to show up on my American Express card statement, depending on when my statement was issued. She again apologized and asked if there was anything else she could do and if I was satisfied with the problem resolution.

About one week later, I received a letter from Orbitz apologizing for the problem with an explanation for what had occurred. The letter also included a $50 discount coupon toward my next Orbitz purchase.

Why was this a good experience? Orbitz did everything right:

• It had an easy-to-find customer service area on its Web site. Many sites don't offer this. Check www.amazon.com or www.walmart.com, for example. I couldn't find a phone number on either of these sites, or a general customer service link.

• It provided me with multiple options for getting help: an FAQ database, an e-mail link and a 24/7 toll-free phone number.

• It quickly channeled my call to the correct person. I didn't feel like I was lost in voice mail hell.

• Its customer service rep was a well-spoken, pleasant, sympathetic person. I didn't feel as if she were reading from a script. This woman genuinely wanted to make things right. Plus she told me that she could tell from my purchase history that I clearly knew how to use the site. (A good ego-stroke never hurts.)

• It didn't leave me on hold for 15 minutes. The customer service rep was back on the line within two minutes with an answer and a solution to my problem.

• Its solution was logical: A full refund. No arguments, no complicated explanations.

• Its customer service rep summarized the problem and solution, and she made sure that I was happy with the resolution. In addition, she thanked me for being an Orbitz customer. This is so simple and yet so often overlooked.

• It followed up a week later with a letter that included an apology, an explanation and an incentive to use the service again. Will I? You bet.

How about you? Post your thoughts on what makes customer service out of this world.

The Customer Should Have Known Better

2006-07-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

In last month’s column I ran a quiz with some fairly typical everyday quality scenarios. I presented 10 situations and asked if the experience was a “quality” one. I received some interesting feedback.

A number of readers disagreed with my answers to the quiz, believing that it was unfair of me to expect a different outcome because I hadn’t communicated my requirements to the supplier or that I had unrealistic expectations. Several people told me that I had misinterpreted Phil Crosby’s definition of quality: conformance to requirements. One reader told me that I really should have used “conformance to stated requirements” as my definition.

This kind of thinking—what I call “the customer should have known better” thinking or CSHKB—is responsible for a great deal of customer dissatisfaction these days. It’s not my responsibility to communicate my requirements; it is the supplier’s responsibility to determine them. In most cases (especially in the 10 scenarios I presented), it’s not difficult to determine basic customer requirements. For example, in my quiz I stated that I had to wait 15 minutes for an elevator each time I wanted to go to my room in a four star hotel I stayed at in New York City. I think most people would agree that a 15-minute wait for an elevator in a hotel is far too long. It doesn’t matter if the hotel is in New York City or Mayberry.

CSHKB thinking is responsible for a whole host of quality problems in a range of industries. The airline industry has been beset with huge losses during the last decade. However, in my quiz when I said that I expected my luggage to arrive at my destination at the same time I did regardless of the price of the ticket, one reader told me that for the price ($198), I was lucky that my luggage didn’t end up in Kazakhstan. Talk about low expectations! I hope this guy isn’t responsible for any bridges that I’ll be driving over anytime soon. It’s this kind of thinking that has driven nearly every major airline into bankruptcy in the last 10 years. It may be cliché to mention Southwest Airlines, but it somehow manages to get people to their destinations—with their luggage—for pretty low prices. They understand their customers’ requirements and meet or exceed them. They also manage to consistently make a profit.

The issues I presented in my quiz aren’t so much conformance-to-requirements problems as they are a total disregard for the customer. An organization that cares about its customers (and therefore its own survival) takes the time to determine what the customers’ requirements are and then makes sure they are met, every time. It doesn’t matter if the organization is producing $1 toy guns or $45,000 SUVs.

One reader says I am naïve to expect much from a $1 toy gun. Let’s examine that more closely. I was dissatisfied with the toy because it broke within a few days of purchasing it. The failure was not as a result of my son being too rough with the toy. The trigger simply fell off. Because I was dissatisfied, I won’t buy one of those toys again. I imagine that most people who experience the same problem won’t buy the toy again. If enough people have the problem, the toy manufacturer goes out of business. The same is true with automobiles. If enough people have enough problems with the cars they buy, the automaker will be in trouble.

In most cases determining customers’ requirements is simply a matter of asking them. Countless books, articles and seminars exist to show you how. In other cases, requirements can be gleaned from research or other data.

Sometimes quality professionals focus so much on customer specifications that they forget customer requirements, in all their forms. Crosby’s definition of quality as conformance to requirements goes beyond stated customer requirements or specifications; it applies to the implied or unstated requirements as well.

When I purchase a plane ticket, I don’t send my requirements to the airline. I assume that part of the deal will be that my luggage will arrive at my destination the same time that I do. As a consumer, I also understand that different vendors will provide me with different service levels. For example, when I buy a ticket on American Airlines, I understand that I will have an assigned seat and will have a decent shot at upgrading because of my frequent flier status. When I choose to travel on Southwest Airlines, I understand that I need to check in online as early as possible and get to the airport early to avoid getting stuck in a middle seat. But in either case, I expect both airlines to depart on time and get me and my luggage safely to my destination.

CSHKB thinking is deadly to business. It’s the organization’s responsibility to determine its customers’ requirements in all their forms.

Curmudgeon School

2006-06-26T17:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome students to the new session of Curmudgeon School! I am delighted you could join me for today’s lesson. Today we are going to have a pop quiz. I know, you all hate quizzes, but my job as professor of Curmudgeonliness is to ensure that you all have the knowledge you need to succeed.

I am going to present 10 scenarios and I want you to tell me if they were “quality” experiences. The answers are at the end. Base your answers on Philip Crosby’s definition of quality: “conformance to requirements.” Remember, the provider of the product or service needs to deliver it in a manner that meets the requirements of its customers.

Problems
1. I buy my son a $1 water gun at Target. He plays with it for two hours and the trigger breaks. It no longer squirts water but he continues to play with it.
2. I buy a $45,000 SUV. Within 12 months, the power seat needs to be repaired, the power mirrors needs to be replaced and it averages 11 miles per gallon, which is much lower than the dealer told me it would get.
3. I buy a $20,000 Toyota Camry. After signing all the paperwork I notice that there is a small scratch on the hood of my new car. The dealer promises to make it as good as new. In fact, the dealer does repair the scratch and I can’t tell that it was ever there.
4. I purchase a round trip airline ticket from San Francisco to New York for $198. I am in a middle seat both ways. No food was served. The airline lost my luggage on the way to New York. The luggage was delivered to my hotel in New York the morning after I arrived.
5. I check into a four star hotel in New York. My $279 a night room is on the 27th floor. I have to wait between five to 10 minutes for the elevators each time I want to go up or down.
6. I check into a Motel 6. My room costs $49. There is no elevator, and I have to carry my luggage to the second story room. The room is clean but very spartan.
7. I go through the drive thru at McDonald’s at noon and order an Asian Salad with grilled chicken. I am told that I have to go park and wait 10 minutes while my chicken is cooked. The salad is delicious.
8. I buy a new computer from a warehouse club retailer. The computer is plagued with problems and I eventually return it after eight months for a full refund.
9. I have 3,000 books printed. The printer promises me they will be delivered within four weeks. They arrive after only three weeks. However, the books are missing 16 pages. The printer reprints and reships the books to me at no additional cost. I receive them five weeks after I originally ordered the books.
10. I read a very engaging article in a magazine. I notice that there are two misspelled words and that the table of contents points me to the wrong page for another article I wish to read.

Answers
1. No. And don’t give me that “What do you expect for $1?” nonsense. If you can’t make a toy that will last for $1, then don’t sell it for $1.
2. No. I expect everything to work right, and I expect to be told the truth. The fuel economy didn’t come close to what I was promised.
3. No. A new car should be blemish-free. If I had wanted a scratched car, I would have bought a used one. Although the dealer did make it right, they should have made it right before I purchased the car.
4. No, even though the price was great. The seat was lousy and the lack of food was annoying but those issues didn’t affect the quality of the product. I know that airlines only have so many aisle and window seats available, so there is a chance I will get a middle seat. Also, anyone who has traveled recently knows that airlines don’t feed you anymore. The issue was the lost luggage. I expect the airline to get my bag to my destination the same time it gets me there.
5. No. The hotel should be designed so that I don’t have to wait an eternity for an elevator.
6. Yes. I know what I am getting with Motel 6. I don’t expect a fancy room or elevator service.
7. No. The whole point of a drive thru is for speedy service. Although the salad was delicious, a 10-minute wait for an item in the drive thru is ridiculous.
8. No (and yes). Clearly, there was a problem with the computer and so I didn’t have a quality experience with it. However, I did have a quality experience with the store. It accepted the computer back and gave me a full refund eight months after I purchased it. That exceeded my expectations.
9. No. Although I really appreciate the printer for correcting the error in such a timely manner, it should have printed the books correctly the first time.
10. No. It is the responsibility of the magazine’s editors to make sure that the articles are error-free.

Class dismissed.

Quality Apathy

2006-04-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

I’ve written extensively in the last year about the state of quality today. I’ve recounted my customer service horror stories from Wal-Mart, Target, AT&T and others. Not surprisingly, I’ve received many letters and had numerous postings to my blog that question my motives. Readers complain that I’m too hard on a particular company or I don’t understand a certain industry or tell me that I shouldn’t let one isolated incident frame my perception of an organization. Although I acknowledge that I am not an expert on many things, I am expert on how I expect my quality requirements to be met. I may not always know how to define poor service or bad quality, but I sure know it when I experience it.

The letters defending the poor service that I received are indicative of a general quality apathy in this country (and most of the Western world). Consumers are either afraid to speak up when they receive poor service, defeated in their attempts to counter it or don’t have an alternative. Unfortunately, this same apathy is shared by organizational leadership. Therefore, we expect poor quality and we are given it.

This apathy is pushing us toward a tipping point that may strip us of our ability to effectively compete with the rest of the world. Thomas Friedman points out in his excellent book, The World Is Flat, that technology, innovation, capital and free enterprise systems around the world are converging to make doing business in India as easy as it is in Indianapolis. (By the way, if you haven’t already read The World Is Flat, buy it now. It should be required reading for anyone who works for a living.) We’re losing not just manufacturing jobs to places like China and Mexico, but we’re also beginning to lose the high-paying white collar jobs that are the engine of economic growth. Jobs like tax preparation, software engineering, project managers, and administrative assistants can now be done in India for a fraction of the cost of doing them in the United States.

If you read my column regularly, you probably know that I am a staunch advocate of free trade. I believe that free and open trade will benefit our country in the long run. However, we’ve got to start paying attention to what’s going on in the rest of the world. There is no quality apathy in China. The government and the people are passionately committed to it. They know that a commitment to quality is vital to success of their economy.

Unfortunately, I’ve received many letters from readers who believe that China is one big slave labor camp. This is nonsense. I agree that the Chinese people do not have the same liberties and basic human rights that we do. However, the Chinese are desperate to catch up with the rest of the world, and they are doing it. The transformation of China is nothing short of miraculous. And China is just one example. India, South Korea, Malaysia, and others are following the same model.

Our country has always thrived in the face adversity. Competition will make us stronger, if we meet it head on. Some people believe that trade barriers are the only answer to save our industrial base. I believe that trade barriers only prolong the evitable and make the consumer suffer with high prices and poor quality. The only solution is to improve the quality of the products and services we deliver.

For corporate America the time has come to wake up and smell the coffee, perhaps literally. Take Starbucks, for example. What could be more mundane that selling a cup of coffee? Starbucks has raised it to an art form. It delivers a consistently good product with terrific service in a welcome environment. And, guess what? Starbucks is thriving in China. A U.S. company doing terrific business in China for the same reason it does well at home.

We’ve got to reverse the quality apathy, and it has to start at the top. Senior management has to be passionate about designing, building, delivering, and servicing products that people are excited about. Apple Computer’s Steve Jobs is a perfect example. Apple dominates the portable music player market because it built a really cool product that works exceptionally well and is easy to use. Jobs’ latest coup, a Macintosh that runs both the Mac OS and Windows, is another stroke of genius.

General Motors and Ford have got to start designing and building vehicles that people actually prefer to Hondas and Toyotas. Chrysler has had some success with its PT Cruiser and the 300M, but it, too, has a long way to go. It’s absolutely inexcusable that nearly 30 years after we rediscovered the works of W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran that Detroit is still losing market share and building vehicles that can’t compete with the Japanese, South Koreans, Germans and (soon) the Chinese. It’s time for Detroit to stop obsessing over the latest quarter’s financial results and to start focusing on quality.

What do you think? Is quality apathy rampant? How is the flattening world affecting your business?

Playing Monopoly

2006-04-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

Remember when you were a kid and playing Monopoly was a fun way to pass the time? I recently had the opportunity to play monopoly and it wasn’t fun at all. That’s because I wasn’t playing the Parker Brothers version. I was playing the AT&T brand of monopoly.

In case you haven’t noticed, Ma Bell has come back to life. Like the creepy creatures from B-grade horror movies, AT&T has risen from the ashes. And just like the reincarnated zombies from those movies, the reanimated AT&T is a little off kilter.

Let me explain. When I was publisher of Quality Digest, I had a business phone line with DSL installed in my home. When I did this, I disconnected my home DSL service because I didn’t need two DSL lines. Now that I have officially left Quality Digest’s employment, it’s time for me to sever the ties (and the free DSL).

About the time I decided to do all of this, SBC, formerly just one of the so-called Baby Bells, which used to be known as Southwestern Bell, acquired the old AT&T and took the AT&T name. It also recently announced its acquisition of Southern Bell, which will make it the largest telecommunications firm in the world. By the way, in addition to owning most of the old AT&T system, the new AT&T will also own all of Cingular when it completes its acquisition of Southern Bell.

When I decided to disconnect my home phone line and reinstall DSL on my home line, I logged on to AT&T’s Web site to sign up for its $12.99 per month DSL special. I began the process by typing in my home phone number. I was surprised by the result: “We’re sorry but AT&T high-speed Internet service is not available in your area.” Now, this was surprising because I was sitting in my home office using my home business DSL line.

This is just some confusion due to the merger of SBC and AT&T, I thought. I’ll just give them a call. When, after navigating through seemingly endless levels of voice mail hell, I actually managed to talk to a woman who thanked me for calling SBC (I guess she hadn’t heard about the merger). I explained my situation to her. She told me that the Web site was correct and that DSL service was not available in my area.

“But I have DSL in my home now on my business line, and I had at home on my regular home line prior to that. I use it every day; how can it not be available?”

“I’m sorry, sir, but it’s not available in your area,” she explained.

“Uh, I just told you that I already have in my home. It has to be available.”

“No, it isn’t available.”

“Can you tell me why?” I asked.

“No. I am just showing no availability in your area. I will transfer you to the DSL department; maybe they can find the cause of the problem.”

Then she cut me off. Argh. Back through the 17 levels of voice mail hell again. And again I get the same answer, “DSL service is not available in your area.”

I whine. I plead. I protest. I am put on hold for five minutes.

“I found out why you can’t have DSL service in your home, sir,” the AT&T representative explains. “We are required to provide DSL lines to our competitors, and we have run out of lines to give out in your area.”

“But, if I am cancelling service on one line, that will free up a line to add to my home line, right?”

“No. If you cancel your DSL service through your business line, we will not able to give you DSL service again.”

“OK. Can you tell who your competitors are so I can contact them?”

“No.”

Argh! I give up.

The AT&T monopoly may be back, but 2006 is a much different world than when Ma Bell was broken up the first time. This is a very different competitive environment with much different customer expectations. There are also a lot more options today. For example, I can find out who those AT&T competitors are with a simple Google search.

I can now get phone service from my cable provider and from Internet service providers, such as EarthLink. I can also get Internet service from a radio signal beamed to my home. I can talk to business associates in places such as Australia and China using voice over Internet technology, such as Skype for free. In other words, AT&T is acting like a monopoly but it really isn’t. Its customers now have the power to pull the plug on this reanimated beast. Sheer size won’t help it maintain customers. It must provide quality products and services. Sure $12.99 a month for DSL is one heck of deal (if you can get it), but acquiring and keeping customers requires excellent customer service, high-quality products and services, and innovative, customer-focused employees. Based on what I’ve seen of the new AT&T, they’ve got a long way to go.

What are your thoughts on monopolies and the new business model of today?