QCPC/Turnbacks

 

Do you have a Critical to Customer process that has recently experienced an increase in turnbacks or escapes?  Treasure those turnbacks & escapes - they are telling you there are still opportunities in the process. 

Examine them and do relentless root cause.  You may find that the mistake proofing was not robust enough or that you missed something else.  Make the necessary changes to the process and standard work and monitor the results, and remember to communicate the changes to all. 

 

 

 

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE ACE GOLD?

 

 ACE Criteria 11.5

 

 

1.       Key leadership has driven  by example the work forces participation in Ace

 

2.       Leadership is actively involved in progress reviews and demonstrate commitment

 

3.       The workforce is customer focused and strives for continuous improvement?

 

4.       Active daily use of the Ace operating system

 

5.       The organization maintains a Employee Skills Matrix and competency > 90% to business needs

 

6.       Ace awareness training undertaken by all  employees and records maintained

 

7.       Participation in the full Employee survey (engagement and Favouribility captured)

 

8.       Customers are identified and expectations are defined

 

9.       Industry and competitors have been defined to enable Best in Class comparisons

 

10.   Identification of Best in Class measures started

 

11.    Zero repeat  significant escapes 

 

12.    Customer satisfaction on > 5.0 on Periodic MFA in all categories

 

13.   There have been no significant audit findings and no failed audits

 

14.   Benchmarking process has been established and a plan  established to share best practices

 

15.   Opportunities to add further value are captured through customer feedback

 

16.   Benchmarking has occurred according to plan

 

17.   Negative comments and individual scores of 4 are explained through RRCA and validated with the customer

 

18.   In the last 12 months there have been no accidents resulting in fatality or serious injury

 

19.   EH&S assurance review score (if applicable) was > 70

 

20.   The site  has taken responsibility for all supplier issues affecting performance (if the site’s performance gaps are attributed to a supplier performance the site is working with the supplier to improve)

 

21.   Suppliers are performing according to plan

 

22.   One key process has a maturity  level of >5

 

23.   Future state value streams action plans are on schedule or closed (Silver)

 

24.   Areas are defined and a process is implemented for 6s audits and improvements monthly

 

25.   6s success stories are shared (before and after pictures)

 

26.   Electronic files are organized – electronic 6s

 

27.   All category A  and B equipment cleaned and inspected 

 

28.   A 5step QCPC system is used to continuously identify and reduce or eliminate turnbacks

 

29.   QCPC activity is visibly posted

 

30.   RRCA and MP have resulted in site wide performance improvements

 

31.   A variety of RRCA tools have  been used

 

32.   Examples of RRCA and MP are documented and posted

 

33.   RRCA and MP applied to  QCPC targeted Turnbacks

 

34.   A process to identify, investigate and resolve top issues is in place (escapes are quickly identified ,teams are formed and RRCA initiated)

 

35.    Root causes address the systemic issue ( not human error)

 

36.   Standard work exists and is followed for all Key processes

 

37.   A system is in place to manage update and access Standard work

 

38.   Standard work applications show improvements and reduce waste

 

39.   Work loads are balanced and cross training has occurred to perform multiple job functions

 

40.    Sustain all lower level requirements

Processes

 

When identifying your key processes and assessing their maturity it is good to think about what the key inputs and outputs will be – REMEMBER to think from the “customer” perspective, identify how data will be collected/used and how would these processes will become robust.

 

 

Update

With the upcoming EH&S audit it is important to remember that ACE and EH&S go hand in hand, The various tools we use in the Ace operating system also serves useful in the EH&S world especially, root cause identification and solving, Mistake proofing and Standard work.

Once the Ace Tools are implemented it is crucial that the usage in sustained towards process improvement.

Good luck to the Monitoring and Armed Response business with the EH&S audit we trust that we will achieve a high 90%.

 

 

 

 

Benchmarking

 

Don't wait to begin benchmarking - start right away and continue throughout your journey.  There are so many good practices taking place in the various business sites – adopt these and improve your processes.  Remember to share with the other sites the successes that you have had in your site.

Control Panel MFA

Although the control panel tracks the overall satisfaction score for MFA, be sure to drill into the individual low scores in the Quality, Delivery, Working relationship, and Responsiveness to problems questions to understand what areas the gaps in your performance are in.

 

Remember the importance of ensuring Foundational requirements through the Ace journey.

·         Customer requirements are validated and met

·         Site is recognized as Best in Class

·         Negative comments and low scores are explained through RRCA

·         It is visually obvious were the product flow is and if bottlenecks exist

·         Methodology for collecting  Turnbacks is defined

·         A robust 5 step QCPC system is used

·         Root causes address systemic issues or processes

 

 

 

 

 

Standard Work

To ensure its repeatability, standard work documentation should include:        
What: The task

Who: The person responsible

When: The frequency

Where: At what location

How: The methods used

 

Transactional MFA – (Market Feedback Analysis)

 

The Voice of the Customer is very important. It is crucial that any business knows whether they are meeting or not meeting their customer’s requirements. Every month the Monitoring and Response business conduct MFA on a variety of their customers in order to establish where turnbacks occurred or where service delivery has not been met.

For the past 3 months MFA was conducted on M&R Management Favorability, Ace Lead Favouribility and Transactional MFA on External Customers. The good results are a portrayal that M&R is doing everything right.

This month MFA is conducted separately for Monitoring and Response. The Monitoring Business’s MFA is on the Inbound service delivery and quality of the Inbound Operators, and the Armed Response Business’s is on their External Customers who have had a response during the last 24 hours. On the rare occasion when a low is scoring is received a RRCA is immediately done in order to establish a Mistake proof and

Because of the volume of customers surveyed the Transactional MFA is conducted over a period of 2 months in order to obtain an as high hit rate as possible.

 

As at the end of May the score were respectively as follows: Inbound: 6.02 and Armed Response: 5.90.

It is awesome that at this stage of the Ace journey Customer feedback is so high. This is proof that the Monitoring and Response Business meet and exceed the Customer expectations. Well done to M&R, we exercise adding value and have proven to be very customer focused.

 

 

 

 

Lean

 

The lean aspect in value stream mapping facilitates and make visual the flow of people, material, and information necessary to deliver what the customer wants, in the exact quantities they require, the moment they need them.

 

ACE Gold

Continuing on your ACE journey to become Best in Class will result in exceeding the customer’s expectations.  This is the ultimate goal.  While ACE Gold is the statement of verification for this fact. – THINK BEST – BE GOLD!

 

 

 

 

 

ACE Tools - RRCA

Remember the criteria states that you must use a variety of RRCA tools.  The 5 Why's are not the only Root Cause tool – the right methodology should be chosen depending on the type of problem.  Other tools such as the Root Cause Tree, Fishbone, Event Tree, Multi Vari, Concentration diagrams etc. are effective tools that yield good results for many business problems. There should be at least one RRCA expert in each site.

 

 

What is Value Stream Mapping?

Value Stream mapping is a structured approach to defining processes and eliminating waste. It graphically depicts processes that provide quality to the customer.

It is also a method to improve turnaround time and quality. VSM strengthens customer satisfaction and supplier relations. Most processes have three versions.

What you think it is

What is actually is

…and what it Could be.

VSM is a technique used to depict the value stream graphically, allowing employees to easily identify waste and inefficiencies.

11.5 Gaps scoring Tool

The 11.5 Gaps scoring tool is used to identify any gaps as you progress towards the next leg of your Ace journey. The scoring tool serves as a guide  to show where you lack and where improvements are needed. Each month the Monitoring and Response team complete a Gaps Scoring tool  measuring their progress towards the respective Gold and Bronze journeys.
The Monitoring Team status is currently on 99% towards our Gold achievement with some gaps to close around examples of a variety of  RRCA tool usage,suppliers performing according to plan, Benchmarking and sharing best practises.
The Response Team status is currently on 98% towards our Bronze achievement and the gaps we are experiencing include (once again) a variety of RRCA tool usage, Best in class practises implemented and some issues related around EH&S.

On that that note we would like to encourage everyone of the importance of the Ace corner stone and how in overall usefull the Ace  Quality program is. Strive for Gold in everything you do and remember that a quality first mind set achieves Gold.
Good luck to Monitoring and Response !!

QCPC/Turnbacks

Remember to share the successes of your QCPC projects.  This is the 5th step in the 5-step QCPC process and is critical for effectively spreading ACE culture so the organization knows what has been worked on and what to look for in the future as turn back/escapes.

 

Make QCPC work for you.  Have you ever had difficulty identifying waste in your work?  Try keeping an interruption log at your desk.  Each time you are interrupted, document the interruption and the reason.  Each of these represents turnbacks as there is wasted time to recover your thoughts and complete your work.  Document these at the end of the day in your turn back system.  As actions are taken to minimize or eliminate the causes of the interruptions, prioritizing the important over the urgent will become easier.

 

 

 

 

UPDATE INCOMPLETE STREET ADDRESSES

The incomplete address QCPC project by the Armed response team has come to an end. The team has collected a total of 10 757 incomplete addresses which they have corrected.This is a huge saving in the bigger picture in terms of Response times etc.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Response officers who particpated in this project, Its good to see that the tools are being used  at all levels and that you undertand that your particpation makes a difference.
Well done guys and keep using those Ace tools in an effort to eliminate waste.

MONITORING CROSS FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITY

The Horison team has started a Cross Functional activity with various departments within the business in an effort to promote Team work and enhance service delivery ,  It is so much easier to  offer a good service if you know what is expected from you.
The cross functional activites gives the Monitoring team the opportunity to visit other departments and see what their service delivery entails.

The activities was started in the Data centre and will move across to IT and Armed Response as well.Operators visit these departments and see the Process flow through their eyes, asking questions and enquiring about what they can do to not interupt the Process flow and deliver a defect free end product.
Operators who have visited the Data centre said that they did not know off all the other functions that gets done in the Data centre and how it all comes together.

The activities will continue at the Training department,IT and False alarms, goving staff more opportunities to see how they can make a difference in delivering a perfect service and working together.

Ensure that you understand what the requirements are with regards to Escapes:

An escape is a quality non conformance that leaves your cell or site and reaches an internal or external customer.  While cell and sites should talk the initial responsibility to define escapes for their workgroup, escape definitions should be validated with the customer to align cell/ site priorities and requirements to customer requirements. 

 

 

MFA

Good MFA is vital to your ACE Journey.  Incorporate an MFA customer list review into your annual process management impact maturity process to assure that customers for all your products and services are identified.  Refresh the list immediately prior to your MFA cycle to be certain organizational changes are properly reflected.

 

 

KAIZEN EVENT MONITORING AND RESPONSE

The Monitoring and Response have identified an opportunity for a Kaizen Event.  Stand off (Arrival times) are not logged correctly and this creates a Turnback that affects both Value streams, Monitoring and Response as the RO is responsible for advising that he is Onsite and the Dispatcher is responsible for logging this information.
Not logging or supplying this information results in turnbacks or in some cases even escapes, long response times, client complaints etc.
The first item the team will focus on is mapping the process, inorder to identify where the Kaizens are.

ROs and Dispatchers please remember to log those Arrival/ Stand off times. It creates a smoother work flow in the bigger picture

ITO 10 COMMANDMENTS PLUS 1

1. The group leader must always be cultivating the strong conviction and practise of "quality first"
2. The dedicated manufacturer shall possess and maintain specialized technical capabilities which are valuable to society
3. The group shall have good morale which is a fusion of an outstanding team
4. The company shall have an internal doctors clinic (QCPC) at which patients (turnbacks) are examined
5. There shall be a fully implemented information gathering system under the direct control of the group leader
6. Abide by the 9 principles of action  - see below
7. Finance shall engage in practical action which fortifies and encourages quality improvement
8. Technical development and Design shall work untiringly to realize products which will be welcomed by society
9. Everything begins with  Manufacturing , treating the shop floor as sacred in name and fact
10. Purchasing shall actively foster the growth of suppliers which offer the best overall cost including  good quality
11. Supporting departments shall enthusiastically absorb technical knowledge and shall exhibit high morale

THE 9 PRINCIPLES OF ACTION - Putting action into practise

1. All action must be taken with revolutionary speed which breaks the barriers of common sense
2. Improvement must not be abstract, concrete and clear  goals must be set
3. Achievement of objectives must be done in an extraordinarily short period of time
4. Our job is production of superior products
5. Candidates to become model "champions" shall be determined and focused upon
6. There shall be absolutely no abstract theory or opinions, rather "genba( practise of working with actual parts) shall be thoroughly implemented
7. The management function which drives improvement  shall not engage in abstract theoretic type activity
8. When a problem is discovered, one has attained the opportunity for success.Do not reprimand sub ordinates or those responsible
9. Action which improves quality must give mental fulfilment and reduce the burden of labour.Do not use difficult theory and complicated tools. Simple is best

RESPONSE TIMES POLOKWANE

The Polokwane AR team initiated a RRCA to determine  the reason for the average response times greater than 8 minutes in the designated location. The targeted response times for this area is 6 minutes and anything greater than this is deemed a turnback or break in the process flow. The Fishbone showed contributing factors such as :

• Shift change
• Communication break down
• Ros talkong on radios
• Late dispatching

The Action plan was created and action items include :

• RSL to assist with outstanding alarms
• Peak time refresher breaks to be stopped
• Eliminate chit chat over the radio

Once the plan has been put into action a difference regarding RTs will be noted in order to determine whether the action plans are effective, nevertheless it portrays positivity that the Response team take the initiative in using the Ace program and tools.

MONITORING TEAM RRCA PRACTISES

The monitoring teams Horison and Cape Town regularly use the RRCA Tools to eliminate operational problems and anything that hinders their work flow.One such example is the RRCA conducted by Cape Town .The quality of the calls handled by Premier operators raised some concerns and the team recognized an opportunity for some RRCA.
 Randoms call from the team were placed to the Premier desk and this was used as QCPC in order to establish were the faults lie. Staff were rated on the calls and judged on criteria such as , Sounds helpful,sounds professional,followed script when answering,ability to assist,sounded friendly.
These were just some of the criteria on the list and in the end the operator received a high or low score out of 16. The common factors were placed into a Pareto and the team identified Action items.
Call coaching and telephone etiquette awareness were among the items on the Action Plan. It is crucial that Operators are aware of the importance of the first contact with the client.
Once again an Ace tool was used in order to establish what the actual root cause is.

ACE/Safety

 

To develop ACE and EH&S culture, begin each meeting with both an ACE tip and Safety tip.  These two systems work hand in hand – you can only benefit from both when you use the tools and policies to guide you.

 

Achieving Competitive Excellence is about maturing processes so they are sustainable at the site level. You should always be focused on providing benefit to your customer and your people while developing repeatable skills.

 

 

 

A ROBUST 5 STEP QCPC SYSTEM

QCPC is a fundamental and user friendly tool used to collect turnbacks which occur in each step of a process.It measures quality as well as the amount of rework  at any given process step.

This tool is mainly used to

• Discover steps in the process that impede performance
• Measure the amount of rework within the process
• Identify the most troublesome turnbacks
• Prioritize turnback improvement initiatives and monitor their effectiveness

5 step QCPC system

Step 1   Initiate a QCPC system or activity
Step 2  Collect and sort data
Step 3  Analyze the data
Step 4 Prioritize the project list
Step 5 Document success stories

QCPC was developed as a management tool to track  quality control.QCPC allows employees to track errors and inefficiencies and helps identify improvement opportunities.

Ace message

The first S is Sort

This is the stage when you go through all the materials in the area being improved and sort the necessary from the excess, the useful from the old/expired/worn-out.  The object is to ask 'what is really needed here to do the job(s) performed in this area?'   And, get everything else out of the way.

UPDATE :QCPC - Incomplete Street Addresses

To date the Armed Response team have corrected a total of  9487 (an increase of 59% since the last update) incomplete addresses. A big well done to the following branches who have completed the QCPC collection thus far

• Amanzimtoti
• Bloemfontein
• Gauteng East
• Gauteng North
• Ladysmith
• Mafikeng
• Nelspruit
• Newcastle
• Pietermaritzburg
• Polokwane
• Port Alfred
• Port Elizabeth
• Pretoria
• Welkom

The importance of QCPC and team work is displayed in this effort. The collection of these golden nuggets will ensure that your process flows easier. This in the bigger picture also contributes to the reduction of response times.
Remember to keep collecting those golden nuggets.

RRCA: Dispatchers not giving out relevant information

The Horison Monitoring did a RRCA on an item of concern :  Dispatchers not giving out relevant information.
It is crucial that Dispatchers relay all important information to Response officers as this could save a live (the clients or the ROs). Information such as (for example) :

• Electric fence
• Dangerous dogs
• Entry points
• Suspects on prem

These are just a few examples of situations the RO might encounter at the premises.The RO needs to prepare himself before responding to the call , and by equipping him with this information he is aware of what to expect.

The Monitoring team brainstormed the fault and some of the reasons found that this procedure is not being compiled with are :

• Dispatchers filter the information and regard some information as unimportant
• It is time consuming
• Lack of supervisor visibility
• Complacency

The team have put Control measures into place in the form of an Action plan, which includes :

• Toolbox talks to raise awareness and importance
• The possibility of introducing a Best in class program
• Revisit the Dispatch SOP 

The Action plans include deadlines as well as responsible persons. Once these are implemented an improvement should be seen.

Monitoring HRJ QCPC Project

The Monitoring team have initiated the QCPC project regarding HRJ – response jobs. Due to the high amount of false alarms it is imperative that the correct response jobs are opened according to the situation on the premises.

We find that a percentage of HRJs being opened result in a False alarm and for this reason it is crucial that all HRJs are valid.

The Dispatchers will collect the QCPC around HRJs noting detail as follows, cs number, notes in history – these are the notes made by the Operator, result of HRJ (activation) – was it a true incident or a false alarm.

The project will run for a week, in order to collect as much usable data as possible, which we will RRCA and start on the Action plan in order to eliminate any turnbacks.

ACE - QCPC

The purpose of ACE is to improve the business to delight the customers.  The metrics, tools and assessments are merely tools and processes to help achieve stakeholder satisfaction.

 

What is the health of QCPC in your workgroup or site?  What is the top turn back for your workgroup or site?  How do you hear what projects are being worked to eliminate waste?  If you are unsure of the answers to these questions, please contact your QCPC champion or tool expert.  QCPC is a tool that we all own and use to identify waste in our processes. 

 

 

 

MONITORING TEAM RRCA PROJECTS

The respective Monitoring teams – Horizon and Cape Town have monthly RRCA sessions on Turnbacks identified within their Value stream. It is good to see that the Monitoring teams use the Rattler and Python analogy when tackling problems.

Some of the projects they are currently busy are the following:

·         Early detection - QCPC collection on all True Dispatches and Incidents which have occurred. The aim is to investigate and break down the events in order to find the Root cause or preventive measure to the incident

·         Delays when assigning calls – in the process the importance of dispatching the RO as fast as possible is highlighted. Delaying factors include, weather conditions, busy channels, work load

·         Call quality – Calls handled by operators are accessed based on a pre determined criteria and the operator is scored according to how the call was handled

These are just a few of the projects lined up, the main ingredient in these projects are the Monitoring and Dispatch staff who assist with their valuable contributions during the RRCA sessions. It is important that everyone at all levels participate in RRCA. Grass root level participation plays an important role as these are the people who actually work with the product.

The blog will be regular updated with these Success stories of waste elimination and problem solving opportunities.

Ace Update

As the Monitoring and Response teams’ journey towards the respective Gold and Bronze Certifications the Team members have regular meetings, this serves as a platform to discuss Ace issues as well as striving towards the Improvement process.

It is recommended that you contribute 25% of your work week (1day) towards Ace and as you start using the tools regularly so your Processes improve and become mature.

6s Events, RRCA activities, Ace training sessions these are all part of the contribution towards  making the quality system work for you. The more you practise the better it works for you.

Regular application of the system will ensure that you eventually deliver a world class service with zero or minimum turnbacks.

The Quality system consists of three elements

• Culture, the human element
• Tools, the hardware element 
• Competency, the implementation element

The aim is that the use of these tools and elements eventually become a natural way of life.

The levels of achievement include

• Qualifying – Awareness education, processes identified, waste elimination
• Bronze – Advanced training ,application of tools to achieve improvements, leadership involvement
• Silver – First demonstration of step increase in customer satisfaction and results
• Gold -  Best in class customer satisfaction and business performance, culture of continuous improvement

Key success factors are

• Keep it simple
• Be realistic
• Don’t force the use of a tool into the wrong application
• Don’t check the box

We Must Have a “New Spirit” For the Future of Our Business

RRCA/DIVE

When using the D.I.V.E. (Define, Investigate, Verify, Ensure) process for problem solving, the Ensure phase includes more than implementing a solution that prevents reoccurrence. Five additional actions required to complete the Ensure phase are: mistake proof the solution, communicate changes including updating standard work, create a control plan, share best practices and celebrate success.

 

 

Terminology and Definitions 

1. Gemba,Management walks the floor with staff in order to identify waste and areas of improvement
2. Muda,A Japanese word meaning Waste
3. Defect,The result of error
4. Error,The cause of a defect
5. Benchmarking,The continuous focus process of measuring and comparing our service against industry leaders
6. Escape,Any problem or ineffiency that reaches the external customer
7. Lean,A waste free process
8. Mistake Proofing,Developing methods and devices that help perform a task without a defect

ARMED RESPONSE TEAM COLLECT QCPC AT GRASS ROOTS LEVEL

Since February 2011,the R/Os have started the QCPC project, Incomplete Street Addresses.

An incomplete address on the system is a contributing cause of delayed and long responses as the R/O has to drive around searching for the premises which in some cases is only identified by very vague special insructions.
The team was able to obtain a report from the system depicting all addresses which only stipulate the Street name with no number. R/Os visited these premises and were able to get any outstanding information regarding the addresses.
The main focus of the project is to improve response times and to provide a best in class service to the customers.
To date a total of 5614 addresses have been edited , now making it easier for a R/O to find  the premises instead of driving around searching.
The team is still experiencing some challenges regarding Premier accounts as these are mostly situated in a Mall or Shopping centre, they do still in the interim try to obtain as much information regarding the location as possible.

How can the Monitoring team assist.

• When informing the client of an activation try to obtain as much information as possible.
• If you note that an address is incomplete or not specific enough ask the client for further detail
• Remember to log data changes if applicable
• Go the extra mile to deliver a world class service

It is important to rememeber that QCPC can be collected in any job activity. It is the collection of any interruption to the work flow or your job function.

Keep visiting the blog to see the Incomplete Street address numbers drop and service levels increase.

The 7 deadly Wastes (+1)

• Defects
• Overproduction
• Waiting
• Non-use
• Transportation
• Inventory
• Movement
• Excess- Processing