Have you heard these terms before? What are they?
All terms are related to restricted substance management. Several substances (or materials) have been banned by OEMs and others.
There 6 main substances that are prohibited (for a complete list see www.gadsl.org) with some expections for some time. Some of the exceptions (lead in bearings for example expires in 2008) are still in force (lead in steel alloys for machining purposes).
The six are hexavalent chromium (Cr6+, chromium trioxide), cadmium, mercury, lead, pbb's and pbde's. So, heavy metals and two substances containing bromium.
What are application of these six? Applications include rust preventive, solder, batteries, TV tubes, paint, plastic additives and flame retardents.
What do they cause? Nausea, learning disabilities, carcinogenic and can cause death.
So, beware.... Have your suppliers declare that their goods do not contain these substances.
The MDS system (initiated by automotive OEM can assist to identify these substances).
We are working with a large manufacturer to get the MDS system setup. Another benefit is knowing what substances are in their products to assst with costing and hedging material cost fluctuation.
2008/02/27
Sudden customer requirements.... (PPAP, APQP)
Did you receive a phone call from your customer about new customer requirements that you did not know about before? What do you know?
We have been contacted by clients who face exactly this problem. What do you do?
One thing you could do is try to read/understand these new requirements. Of course your customer wants you to share everything you have.
What about intellectual property? Do I have to share all of it? What if my customer takes my information and starts shopping around with it?
As with most standards there is an offense and defense. As a supplier, you are playing defense. You want to meet the requirements and not give away the store. Is that possible?
Sure, it is. We have worked with customer and suppliers to protect both parties. The customer wants a guaranteee that your products work in the application. The supplier want their intellectual property protected. There is a middle ground.
Most recently, we were approach by some one (now a client) exactly in this situation. PPAPs were required to finalize a contract. We help this client to prepare a PPAP satisfactory to the customer and protecting the client. Win-Win.
What would you do in a situation like this?
We have been contacted by clients who face exactly this problem. What do you do?
One thing you could do is try to read/understand these new requirements. Of course your customer wants you to share everything you have.
What about intellectual property? Do I have to share all of it? What if my customer takes my information and starts shopping around with it?
As with most standards there is an offense and defense. As a supplier, you are playing defense. You want to meet the requirements and not give away the store. Is that possible?
Sure, it is. We have worked with customer and suppliers to protect both parties. The customer wants a guaranteee that your products work in the application. The supplier want their intellectual property protected. There is a middle ground.
Most recently, we were approach by some one (now a client) exactly in this situation. PPAPs were required to finalize a contract. We help this client to prepare a PPAP satisfactory to the customer and protecting the client. Win-Win.
What would you do in a situation like this?
2008/02/15
Reporting Project Status
My preference for reporting project status is RYG.
Red = project is behind (timing, cost, resources). Team needs help.
Yellow = project is behind, but the team has a solid plan in place to bring project back on track and go green soon.
Green = project is on schedule (timing, cost, resources), maybe minor slippage that the team can correct quickly.
Important is for management not to shoot the messenger (the one that brings the red status to their attention). If the team turns the project RED, management must act and make a decision what to do about it.
Secondly there should be no fear in the organization, so that the team can score the project accurately. Management does not like surprises, however fear prevents the actual project status to be communicated.
Thirdly the team is usually proud of the work they are doing. Reporting RED would mean to them that the team is not performing (usually beyond their control).
I have seen instances where projects were green during all project phases. The product launched and it turned out to be failure (customer complaints, warranty, overtime, high scrap, expensive product and process changes after launch). The company lost about $10,000,000 and in the end stopped making the product.
Red = project is behind (timing, cost, resources). Team needs help.
Yellow = project is behind, but the team has a solid plan in place to bring project back on track and go green soon.
Green = project is on schedule (timing, cost, resources), maybe minor slippage that the team can correct quickly.
Important is for management not to shoot the messenger (the one that brings the red status to their attention). If the team turns the project RED, management must act and make a decision what to do about it.
Secondly there should be no fear in the organization, so that the team can score the project accurately. Management does not like surprises, however fear prevents the actual project status to be communicated.
Thirdly the team is usually proud of the work they are doing. Reporting RED would mean to them that the team is not performing (usually beyond their control).
I have seen instances where projects were green during all project phases. The product launched and it turned out to be failure (customer complaints, warranty, overtime, high scrap, expensive product and process changes after launch). The company lost about $10,000,000 and in the end stopped making the product.
2008/02/04
Feel Good Metrics / Improving Business Performance
Do your metrics not give you the results that you are looking? You have metrics, but your business is improving?
Did you know that there are plenty companies that use Feel Good Metrics? Feel Good Metrics are reported weekly or monthly to staff, departments and the work force. These metrics are always above the goal or have no goal. A chart with Feel Good Metrics shows the heights of the bar often near the maximum of the chart. During the meeting, every one gets a pad on the shoulder, look how well we did!.
This is not the purpose of a metric. A metric should be an indicator of your management system performance. There should be a goal that is somewhat of a stretch. Action plans with due dates and responsibilities must be in place to drive the metric towards the goal. When the goal is reached, the goal must be changed and new plans initiated.
An example of a Feel Good Metric is how mang gauges were calibrated during a month. The number of gauges calibrated varies month to month depending on a schedule that was created. A better metric for a gauge calibration system would be how many gauges came up missing, how many gauges were out of calibration, what % of due gauges were calibrated.
Do you have Feel Good Metric? Review you metrics and maybe you are willing to share it here. You can also sent me an email to review your metrics.
Did you know that there are plenty companies that use Feel Good Metrics? Feel Good Metrics are reported weekly or monthly to staff, departments and the work force. These metrics are always above the goal or have no goal. A chart with Feel Good Metrics shows the heights of the bar often near the maximum of the chart. During the meeting, every one gets a pad on the shoulder, look how well we did!.
This is not the purpose of a metric. A metric should be an indicator of your management system performance. There should be a goal that is somewhat of a stretch. Action plans with due dates and responsibilities must be in place to drive the metric towards the goal. When the goal is reached, the goal must be changed and new plans initiated.
An example of a Feel Good Metric is how mang gauges were calibrated during a month. The number of gauges calibrated varies month to month depending on a schedule that was created. A better metric for a gauge calibration system would be how many gauges came up missing, how many gauges were out of calibration, what % of due gauges were calibrated.
Do you have Feel Good Metric? Review you metrics and maybe you are willing to share it here. You can also sent me an email to review your metrics.
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