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Bad Behaviour

12 May, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I read an interesting posting by Seth Godin.  To quote him: “Bad behaviour and irrational decisions are almost always caused by fear. If you want to change the behaviour, address the fear.” The other week I spent some time with a business that runs a team of field service engineers.  The guys who turn up […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: measurement, poor service, reinforcing behaviour

Earth Quake

25 April, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

The cause of the recent eruption in Iceland was scantily dressed women. According to Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi a senior Iranian cleric (but not an operations analyst) “Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes”. Yesterday (Monday 26th April) an […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: clarity, dogmatism, measurement, root cause analysis

This is Mine that is Yours

12 April, 2010 by James Lawther 1 Comment

We decide how we spend money in three areas: 1.  Purchasing:  which materials we buy. 2.  Specification:  what product or service we offer. 3.  Efficiency:  how well we convert raw materials into finished goods. These activities are controlled by the Purchasing, Brand Development and Operations departments.  They have the ability to make changes that will […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: clarity, communication, constraints, cost saving, marketing, measurement, reinforcing behaviour, silo management, tampering

Emotional Sub-Optimisation

1 April, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

I received a flyer from an organic food company.  One of their selling points is that they keep packaging to a minimum.  Sounds sensible.  Less waste in the environment. When you look into it though it isn’t quite that easy.  According to the Advisory Committee on Packaging:–  1.5 grams of plastic extends the shelf life […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: clarity, communication, measurement, political will, silo management, waste

The Benchmark

24 March, 2010 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Curry

A friend of mine makes chicken curry for a living, he makes a lot of it, in fact he makes 2 tonnes of it an hour, he could keep most of Birmingham fed. The problem is that when you make that much curry, invariably you drop some.  Last year he threw away well over £1 […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis Tagged With: benchmarking, best practice, cost saving, manufacturing, measurement, process control

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