Production & Delivery Procedures

Matrix Key:  Financial Viability - Production and Delivery - Procedures

"A bad system will beat a good person every time." - W. Edwards Deming

We've often talked about how a good business shares many of the characteristics of a winning sports team.  No team can win the game if they don't know the rules.  As we can see from the WholeLife Matrix, your business will not win if you don't have production and delivery procedures in place. Imagine trying to create a product if your team has no idea how to make it?  You must create specific procedures for all aspects of your production system, and you must review and update them regularly.

Here are four things to think about when developing your production procedures:

1. Systems - Break down your production flow into logical steps.
2. Standards -  Define how to make your product the best it can be.
3. Quality - How will you know if the product meets your standards?
4. Customer Service - How do you respond to your customer?

Developing procedures takes time and effort, but it is time well spent.  The trick is to have specific actions that your employees and staff understand.  They also need to grasp the "why" behind the "how."  If your procedures make sense and clearly make a contribution to the end product and to customer satisfaction, your employees will take more ownership in doing the job right.  When they know the rules, they can win the game.

Are You Ready to Win?

Production & Delivery - Running With The Ball

"You are never really playing an opponent. Your are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits that is real joy." - Arthur Ashe, American Tennis Player

Production and Delivery – this is where your company runs with the ball. This is where you make your product, develop your service, and get it out to the public. You’ve got to have an energized, efficient production and delivery system, or you’re never going to win the game of business.

The Four Elements of Production and Delivery are:

· Measurements of Performance
· Resources
· Procedures
· Team

Measurements of Performance are essential to any business operation. They provide the specifications to employees so they can know if they are winning in their job. If you give someone a task, and you do not define what you want, that person has no means of determining what will satisfy you. It’s like going into a restaurant and asking the waitress to go get you something to eat. Who knows what she might bring from the kitchen? You do not want to take that chance. By defining your measurements of performance, you eliminate the guesswork. The specific, measurable results clearly explain what you expect and give the employees benchmarks for success.

Resources are the building blocks you use to produce your product. They include your facilities, equipment, inventory, labor and management. You combine these ingredients in various amounts to create your product. You must manage each carefully. You must control the purchase and distribution of each. How well you manage the cost and use of these resources determines the profit of your business. Setting up systems to control, manage and reduce the cost of resources is a great way to increase profits.

Procedures set up the flow of your business. When you move from a business that has all the information in people’s heads to one that has the procedures on paper, you will have matured into a company with the potential for more growth. It also creates potential for a business that can grow without the owner there on a day-to-day basis. That is the sign of a growing business. Putting your procedures in writing is often the limiting factor. Once companies take this action, the door opens up to a lot of new opportunities. More people can be cross trained to more jobs, creating more efficiency. Employees can deliver a more uniform product that meets the company’s written standards.

Team is what is present when your company is aligned on a purpose. People work together as a high-performance team when they are aligned on a common goal. If you look at your business as a sports team, you will see that all the elements that are present in sports are present in your business. Goals, rules, scoreboards, penalties, coaches, celebrations, winning, losing, and deciding what to do next time. You must create team spirit in your company to get the turbo boost that happens when people work together. When all their efforts combine the whole is greater than the sum of the parts and you win the game of business.

Are you ready to win?