WHAT FEDEX CAN TEACH INVENTORY MANAGERS
COMMITMENT TO QUALITY
It’s funny, but many companies treat quality as a given. “We deliver quality.” “Our products are the ¬highest quality.” “Quality is our only job.”
Even in their “mission statement” has the obligatory commitment to quality. “We strive to deliver products and services that set new standards for quality.” “Our mission is to raise the bar in quality products and services.” “We are committed to the highest quality standards.”
An east Tennessee friend calls statements like these “Chin Music.”
It’s not a complement.
Quality is not “chin music” at FedEx. FedEx is obsessed with delivering quality at every level.
One FedEx poster says it all: “IF we are satisfied with delivering just 99.9% of our packages on-time every day, 8 million packages a year won’t get there when we said they would.”
Getting it right 99.9% of the time is unacceptable.
Quality improves performance. Did you know that FedEx couriers have a set procedure for entering and exiting their trucks? It is the most efficient way to get in or out of a vehicle and it also is the safest. The reason is simple: Drivers who are injured cannot deliver packages. Drivers who do not lock their doors have their packages stolen.
FedEx drivers seldom get injured and they don’t get their packages stolen. They follow the procedure without fail. And they practice it in competitions.
Over the years FedEx has spent millions of dollars and man-hours developing and implementing LEAN and Six Sigma improvements. The result is a level of quality from one end of the organization to the other. What’s startling is that the process of improving quality never stops. Employees are encouraged to develop new and better ways to get their job done. They are driven to eliminate wasted time, wasted motion, wasted effort. Everything is documented, reviewed, tested and analyzed before it’s put into the operations manual.
Is your inventory management system designed around delivering quality?
How are orders for raw materials generated? Entered? Verified? Routed? Received? What causes a received item to be flagged for Quality Inspection? How is it tracked from receiving, to quality and into stock? Is item put away developed so the operator is routed to the correct location? Does your system automatically cycle count inventory locations at put away or at picking? Is your warehouse organized so the highest volume inventory, whether for customer orders or manufacturing are located at the point nearest where they will be used?
Going back to the previous article on Custodial Possession, do your warehouse employees feel a sense of ownership and obligation in completing their tasks and delivering the highest possible quality result?
Coming up next: TOTAL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: THE MOTOROLA REVOLUTION
