Chief Polisher

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ctwo
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Chief Polisher

Post by ctwo »

I am the chief polisher. We all work directly with the customer to identify what they want and then we polish to their specification. My boss gave me a goal, and I quote:
Improve the polishing process
Introduce an improved process to enable quicker and more consistent polishing
I had a hard time figuring out what to do because I’ve been polishing for a long time and have refined my actual polishing process to perfection. I mean the actual mechanics of polishing, how to apply the polish, what circular patterns and pressures to use, the type of rags and all that – perfected! And, I can complete a full polish faster than anybody! So, I started looking for what else about the process I could improve.

I noted that we keep all of our polishes on a bench, not well organized. We also talk to the customers individually and present materials to them in a haphazard way (their choices, technical info about our polishes, and customer reviews, etc.), so customers were not all seeing the same things or hearing the same information, and it depended a lot on who they were talking to. I decided to build a nice new shiny rack in the front office featuring all of our polishes. I’ve created an all new brochure module integrated into this rack to feature each polish with all the technical info, and it sports an interactive interface so customers can browse user feedback and other technical info about all of our polishes in a side-by-side, interactive way. They can now see it all at a glance and it’s very convenient to use. It really makes this clear for the customer and it gives them access to directly contribute to product info, reviews, etc... I really like the new rack because now all our polishes are organized and I can track inventory, how much of which products we use, which polishes present problems and by who, and the public exposure is phenomenal.

I review this with my boss who is interested in assessing my performance. After showing him this new system and explaining the problems it addresses and how good it is, he says that’s not what he wanted and he did not even know it existed. That is odd because I've emailed him about it and he once asked me what's this rack out here and told me to move it to the other side of the office, and it's been there for months now. He said he wanted the polishing process to be improved. He said you used to squirt on some polish and rub it in, and asked if do you still do it that way today? Yes, he says, so nothing has changed.

Well, we know what failed goals mean, but honestly I think I give up. I don't think I can solve the problem because I really do not understand it. Let me also qualify that my boss has a bigger problem and that is getting stuff out the door fast enough and on schedule. The polishing process is at the tail end, so often that is when late items start getting some management focus, and of course they are always "held up" in the polishing department, because they are always late getting here or are incomplete, and we have to do odd contortions to accommodate a package, or just plain 'ol that's where they are when management started wondering why it's late, so it's automatically our fault.

I still need to solve this problem because if nothing else, that perception is real... It just seem like it should be my problem to solve. Am I missing something else?

p.s., I'm not really a polisher, but you know what I mean.
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spro
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Re: Chief Polisher

Post by spro »

I know what you are saying but to this day I cannot be more specific. There was great investment into a parallel way yet there were timelines. In the chain there were many techs and the other, call out. Much had to do with the local management at that time and how he/she would delegate techs to support one or another. By the time it was critical, there were issues with the previous link but it all fell on us few. The problems were attributed to the end.
larry_g
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Re: Chief Polisher

Post by larry_g »

Well, we know what failed goals mean, but honestly I think I give up. I don't think I can solve the problem because I really do not understand it. Let me also qualify that my boss has a bigger problem and that is getting stuff out the door fast enough and on schedule. The polishing process is at the tail end, so often that is when late items start getting some management focus, and of course they are always "held up" in the polishing department, because they are always late getting here or are incomplete, and we have to do odd contortions to accommodate a package, or just plain 'ol that's where they are when management started wondering why it's late, so it's automatically our fault.

Develop something like this for your job;

Not to make excuses to the management but explain that your but one step in a multi-step process. When starting a work flow the job needs a step by step process with times and dates on each step through the plant. It take 2 minutes per square inch (or whatever) to polish a part. When the parts hit the polish department then it will be out in (Square" x 2min=) To improve on that then investments are going to have to be made.

Once you have identified and quantified issues then go from there. Are other departments sending you parts that they should have cleaned or deburred? Are you having to do things like packaging that some flunky could do?

lg
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John Hasler
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Re: Chief Polisher

Post by John Hasler »

Sounds like when your boss says "improve" he means "speed up". Surely he has tracking and scheduling so that he knows what departments are not performing. Is your process fully documented? Do you have detailed historical records?

Also, *every* time you have to complete another department's work before you can start your own or do anything else that you would not have needed to do had things gone as planned document what you did and how much time and material it consumed.
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neanderman
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Re: Chief Polisher

Post by neanderman »

I had to look at the date, to make sure that this wasn't posted on April 1. :mrgreen:
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earlgo
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Re: Chief Polisher

Post by earlgo »

Time to spend a bunch of bucks and call in the Kaizen team and get your entire polishing plant involved in perfecting what you have been doing for years. Sometimes it even helps, but the chances are slim to none. However the boss will get to report that he/she has done something about the problem.
Maybe you will even get a 6 sigma certificate and a green belt!

--earlgo (still not missing the bs)
Before you do anything, you must do something else first. - Washington's principle.
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