Page 6 - Fedral Mogul News Collection

Bradford United News - Issue 1 Challenge 2000 - continued from page 5

The Purchase & Supply Quite rightly, not only have these The Finance Challenge
action teams cut across the various ar-
Challenge eas of the business but they have been
instrumental in identifying areas where t is all too easy to dismiss finance
hris Buckler’s team in the pur skills need to be improved – whether departments as being no more than
chase and supply area plays one that’s customer handling or computer Ipaper chasers. The truth is that with-
Cof the most important role’s in the handling. out the due diligence of the Finance
company – getting the right product in team, the resource of the whole of the
the right quantity onto the warehouse The Warehouse & rest of the business would probably be
shelves at the right time without over- squandered in ill-directed effort and
stocking. Assembly Challenge sloppy paperwork.
The major challenge for that de- The effect of inefficient administra-
partment during 2000 will be to achieve ith the biggest single team on tion is to add cost into the business.
and maintain ‘A’ rank availability at site, Ian Fleming, literally Mistakes mean dissatisfied customers
100% and to strive for a minimum ‘B’ Wcontrols the nuts and bolts of which means not only that we don’t get
and ‘C’ rank availability of 95%. the business. With approximately 4000 paid on time but also that we pay twice
Sounds easy. But the secret of the thousand part numbers a day to be picked to do the same job over. So, the Finance
Key Goals Plan is that it gets behind the and packed and shipped, what goes on team has a huge part to play in helping
wish list. First it identifies the activities in the warehouse has a big part to play to reduce transaction costs by focusing
which are preventing targeted in improving customer service. on the control of obsolete stock, run-
availability being achieved and puts in Getting things rights first time must ning an efficient credit note system, and
place actions to remove those obstacles. be a major focus and detailed plans are improving inventory record accuracy.
Under Chris Neill, a team is looking at already under way to identify and cor- Ironically, for the team which, in
reducing back orders, Gary Knowles rect the causes of picking and packing businesses throughout the world, has
and his team are investigating stock- errors, shipping errors and late des- a reputation as paper-pushers – one of
out causes and Ian Fleming is creating patches, eliminate ‘bouncers’, reduce Finance’s primary concerns is to get rid
a plan to achieve binning of stock on the frequency of carrier complaints and of paper altogether and introduce elec-
receipt. to help streamline the returns proce- tronic recording to speed up the flow of
Long-term, Chris’s departmental dure. information around the business.
objective is to assess the management Just as important is to provide what
of the whole supply chain, to change the customer is already telling us he The People Challenge
the focus from anticipated forecasting expects from us which is to get the
to demand replenishment. availability right and cut the costs
entailed in delivery. And that means he biggest challenge any company
The Commercial more than simply renegotiating supplier faces today is to make sure that
contracts – although that is part of the Tevery single employee knows what
Challenge deal too – during 2000, the long-term role he or she is playing in contributing
challenge will be to embrace lean to the overall success of the company
manufacturing techniques. and knowing where that fits into the
nder the leadership of Robin overall plan – and, most important,
Longdon, all the areas which go having that contribution recognised and
U to make up the Commercial valued .
Department are involved in Without that plan – the
some form or another in glue which holds us all
helping to improve our service together – it’s simply too easy
to the customer. for people, without meaning
The first question we asked to, to be working against each
was – what does our customer other, or be following a less
not like about our service? important objective, or getting
The answers have set off it wrong because they simply
no fewer than nine action didn’t understand the process
teams to investigate everything correctly or didn’t know the
from the way we structure the focus had changed.
teams fielding sales enquiries The Federal-Mogul em-
so as to provide a single ployee survey has highlighted
contact point (under the many areas of concern. The
leadership of Janet Croft) or concern now is to demonstrate
other queries; to how to a willingness to work together
improve the credit notes to improve against all those
procedure (leader Charles areas – better communications
Saer); to how to reduce picking from top to bottom of the or-
and packing errors (leader ganisation, proper reward and
Graeme Morpeth). Lean manufacturing is all about recognition schemes, effective skills re-
But the process doesn’t stop there. stripping the processes right down to quirement identification and the plans
Anyone, regardless of whether their their bare essentials to identify where and commitment to deliver them, cel-
contact is direct or indirect, whether the potential breakdown points are and ebrate success.
their allegiance is to Commercial or re-building them so that each stage of The challenge is to make Bradford
some other area – after all, the that process is credited with being as a good place to work, where people are
customer isn’t going to be impressed by fast and efficient and as cost-effective treated fairly and honestly and with
a system which breaks down because as it is possible to be. respect.
people work in different departments - It’s a process which can be applied The Federal-Mogul core values are
who has a part to play in fulfilling equally whether it’s actually a a good place to start. But they have to
6 a customer order or query is manufacturing, assembling or office be more than words on a page. We have
environment. In other words, getting
another link in the chain of getting
to think about what they mean and
smart about the way we do business.
that service right.
mean to deliver them – all of us.