Quality: So what good is it anyway, from an operations perspective?

Okay, we know that ‘Operations types’ focus on production, yield, shipping/receiving of raw material, scheduling, and more production.  They figure their job is to make product, and more product, and continue making product according to the Master Schedule (at the required yield level) in order to make their numbers for the day/week/month.  And they are…

Customer Focused Continuous Improvement – Beyond Words; Part 2 – Customer Need

We started our discussion on Customer Focus last month with a general discussion about what it means to be ‘customer focused’, and how this term is overused and misunderstood in business.  Everyone claims to be ‘customer focused’, yet customer loyalty is at its lowest point in years, complaints are higher than ever before, and almost…

Customer Focused Continuous Improvement – Beyond Words

Customer Focus – probably the most over-used, misunderstood phrase in business today.  We hear it everywhere… every company is customer focused, every company prides itself on having the highest ratings in customer satisfaction.  More than ever before, companies are spending millions on achieving higher customer ratings.  And yet, Customers are ‘churning’ from one type of…