At this time more than ever, quality is required, for a double reason, for the full satisfaction of consumer requirements, and for the effect on prices via lower costs.
The conjunction of higher added value generated by higher quality accompanied by lower prices leads the company to an increase in its competitive advantage, thus generating an increase in profitability thanks to higher sales accompanied by lower costs, the latter resulting from a less loss of resources and higher levels of productivity.
The best way to make this higher quality viable is through continuous improvement. Continuous improvement to be applied in, and by, the operating units of the company, that is, where most of the personnel work.
The quality of a product or service, although it is planned at the highest levels of the company, is generated every day by the workers and employees who work in the operating units of the company.
Giving workers and employees participation requires an effective system, this being the one known as DRW (Daily Routine Work), which means “Daily Work Routine”. What does that "daily work routine" mean? It means carrying out improvement work day after day (both in the products and in the processes) added to the operational work, by the operators, in order to raise quality levels and reduce costs. Ideally, the DRW system should be part of an overall company total quality program.
As the company continues to grow and change, it is important to take care of it. Some of the work processes that worked acceptably well a year or two ago may no longer be the most effective and productive if the goal is to fully meet current and future quality demands.
System caracteristics
What gives this system its special profile is:
The same applies to the smallest levels of unity within the company; such as sections, departments and work cells among others.
It must be applied to all areas of the company.
It is applied permanently, in a continuous process of improvement, since perfect quality is never achieved; it is always possible to improve something.
Being a continuous process, it has the same “routine” nature of all the other activities carried out in the unit.
It applies to the normal and regular activities of each unit.
It takes as a fundamental reference the satisfaction of customers, both internal and external.
Achieving such continuous improvement involves a systematic management process in each unit of the organization.
The fundamental objective is that the unit's own personnel take responsibility for improving the quality of their own work. In order to achieve the objectives, both the involvement and the total commitment of the hierarchical head of each of the company's units is necessary and essential.
Order of priority
When it comes to prioritizing, the starting point is to first know the needs of external customers, starting from there to define the needs and requirements of internal customers.
As the international quality consultant Merli has known how to define it: "customers are the absolute priority to ensure the survival of the company".
Work methodology
The DRW system follows the well-known sequence created by WE Deming known in Spanish as PREA (Plan-Perform-Evaluate-Act), which was disseminated both by Joiner in the United States and by the consultants Imai and Ishikawa in Japan. being fundamental for them as a tool of the Kaizen system.
In PREA, the first point is Planning, and within the DRW system, planning revolves around a key concept consisting of converting both internal and external customers into the reference point or basic parameter in the application of the improvement. To do this, the incorporation of internal and external clients in the processes of the operating unit must be focused in such a way that they become the real objective of daily routines. This is made up of fifteen basic steps:
1. List of activities: The entire process begins with the preparation of a detailed list of all the activities that take place in the unit.
2. Interrelation: The activities listed above are interrelated with business processes.
3. Input: A list of the inputs used by the various sectors or areas of the company is drawn up, whether they are inputs directly from outside the company or from another area of the company. Special care must be taken in gathering the conditions that these inputs must meet.
4. Output: We proceed to identify the outputs or results generated by each area of the company. This output can be a final product or service for external clients, or intermediate products or services to be used by the various sectors of the company. Special attention deserves the determination about the characteristics that each product or service should have.
5. Internal activities: The activities of each unit that have no interrelation with other areas of the company are identified and listed.
6. Clients: The internal and external clients of each unit are identified, be it operational, administrative-financial, or commercial.
7. Suppliers: The question is answered, who are our external suppliers, and which are our internal ones?
8. Customer research: Internal customers of the unit are interviewed in order to identify their needs, critical issues related to the unit's outputs, the most appropriate performance and quality indicators or ratios, and the ways that exist to increase your satisfaction levels. In the same way and with special care and dedication, attention is paid to the needs of external clients.
9. Supplier analysis: Both the processes and the characteristics of the products or services are analyzed with internal and external suppliers, in order to improve quality, costs and response times or times.
10. Joint objectives: We proceed to establish in a systematic and comprehensive manner coordinated objectives for the search for results with both customers and suppliers, both internal and external.
11. Methods: The methods aimed at consistently improving the results of the various activities and processes are defined.
12. Implementation: The plan is prepared and its implementation proceeds.
13. Verification: Implementation of the improvements, the results are controlled and verified, then proceeding to make the pertinent corrections to adjust the results.
14. Goal: Once the controls and corrections have been carried out, and once the objectives have been met, the established goals are deemed to have been reached.
15. Setting new objectives: New and higher levels of performance are established.
Key features of the system
- They are applied to the smallest levels of business units. It is a constant process that is never terminated. It has the same “routine” nature as the other activities that are carried out in the unit. It always takes as a point of reference the full satisfaction of the company's external and internal customers. The staff of each unit must take responsibility for continuous improvement in the quality of their work.
Conclusions
This simple system to understand and put into practice is just another way to make continuous improvement feasible in terms of quality, costs, productivity, response times and deadlines, and levels of satisfaction, putting a very special emphasis on full satisfaction of the external client of the company for which we work and to which we owe our commitment to generate the greatest added value.
The continuous improvement process is imperative and essential for success. In today's competitive arena, DRW will enable you to achieve the greatest success. By improving processes, results are improved, and consequently this implies reaching the maximum benefits.
Bibliography
Successful Process Management - Michael Tucker - Editorial Panorama - 1997
Continual Process Improvement - Richard Y. Chang - Ediciones Granica - 1996
The Management Tools - Small Business Research & Publishing Co. - 1997
