Mission: Zero Defects

Over the past three months our company has been engaged in crafting and implementing a customer focused strategy. As part of this process we identified six objective distinctions which define our customer strategy. These distinctions are: Pricing, Product Variety, Knowledgeable Employees, On-Time Delivery, Zero Defects, and Cost Management Solutions.

To help us get a clearer picture of how we are currently performing on each of these six distinctions, we gathered feedback from our employees and customers via a comment website. The feedback we gathered was critical in helping us identify areas of our business that should be improved.

The feedback we received from many of you and several of our customers, highlighted the fact that we make our fair share of mistakes. These mistakes have negative effects on our customers as well as our employees. Based on this feedback, the company's management has decided that the first objective distinction that we are going to work on improving is Zero Defects.

(Please note: In reality, it would be impossible for our entire company to operate completely error free, however we know that we can dramatically improve our performance in this area, and that is our goal.)

To help us get traction on our goal of achieving Zero Defects, we have put together the following plan:

Step 1: Tracking Defects - The company will develop a system for tracking defects. This system will track accidents, incidents, and mistakes from every department within the company. This will include our sales, dispatch, billing, credit, and delivery departments.

Step 2: Establish Benchmarks - During the month of August, we will track our performance in regards to defects. Based on this data we will determine how we are performing, and establish defect goals for the months of September and October.

Step 3: Communicate Progress - We will communicate our progress on this plan in our weekly Team Update newsletter.

Step 4: Reward and Recognize - We want to reward and recognize those team members and departments that help us in reaching our Zero Defect goals. (If you have any ideas on this, please share them with your manager or with me.)

Every department within the company will be involved with this project, and your active engagement in the process is critical.

How can you be engaged in this process? Here's a few thoughts:

• If you have ideas on what you and/or your department can do to decrease the number of defects/mistakes experienced by our customers, please share your ideas with your manager.

• Make sure that you know what defects your team is tracking, and stay updated on your department's performance.

• As mistakes/defects happen, analyze them. Find out why the defect took place, and be proactive in finding ways to minimize the possibility of that defect in the future.

Remember - It's one thing to be good at what you do, and it's an entirely different thing to be the best. Our Mission is to be the best distributor of fuel, lubricants and propane.

I'd love to hear your thoughts. Tony@repowell.net

Tony Christensen

www.repowell.net