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[ Up ] [ Aging Exceptionally ] [ Know Thy Competitor ] [ Selling Coffee on Venus & Mars ] [ The 80/20 Rule ] [ The Espresso Culture ] [ The Genesis of Decaf ] [ The Quality Equation ] [ Where is OCS Going ]
The Quality Equation,
Perception and Quantification
© 2002 Brian Martell
Close your eyes for a moment
(after reading this of course) and think of the perfect business environment.
Everything runs efficiently without any snags or surprises. Your premises are
perfectly kept, with design and function in perfect harmony. Your staff moves
through this space with the purpose of fulfilling the mandate of getting your
products and service to your customers, who promptly pay you within the set
terms.
There is never a complaint on
your products and service because: (1) Your suppliers always deliver on time a
perfect product. (2) Your staff handles and distributes it perfectly in trouble
free equipment. (3) All your customers know how your equipment works, and they
never make mistakes. (4) Communications between yourself and staff, suppliers
and customers is always crystal clear.
Now open your eyes slowly, you
don’t want the shock of reality to wreak your day entirely. Truth is, we don’t
live in a perfect world; we make mistakes, suppliers make mistakes, customers
make mistakes, we don’t always have the level of capitalization we want, etc.
What we want to do is work within the world as it is to make our business as
good as it can be. Herein lies the quality equation and question: What will it
take for me, and my company to go from the "as is” to the “should be”
or as close to the “should be” as possible?
Many quality initiatives such as Six Sigma and
ISO are based on the principle that getting it right the first time is a lot
less expensive and makes companies more competitive. Of course quality at any
cost would deny the reality we find ourselves in on a daily basis, but it doesn’t
mean we should stop striving to improve.
The measurement of quality can be a nebulous
exercise if your focus is on Fred Taylor management (he was the guy who, at the
turn of the century, encouraged managers to run around with stop watches to
squeeze more productivity out of everyone). Quality does promise getting closer
to the above business Nirvana scenario, but understanding how to get there is a
matter of accepting change, constantly. As vending operators, there is a
continuing demand to meet customer expectations while juggling the limited human
resources needed to affect the service. New technologies that help manage
machine inventories are a step in that direction, as are better communications
through all aspects of the business. Choosing outside partners qua
suppliers will also have a profound impact on the level of quality you offer to
your customers. Indeed, the choice of suppliers may help your efforts or hinder
them, depending upon their level of quality and how well your and their gears
mesh.
Coffee roasters make up part of the supplier
chain of quality. Operators need to choose a roaster who will deliver on time a
consistent product while being flexible to keep up with the continuing change.
While mistakes will happen (we haven’t figured out how to remove the human
element yet), the mark of a good supplier is how the errors are overcome. This
requires good communications between you and your suppliers to get a
understanding of what the supplier is capable of, and how their system can work
to your benefit. While it has become a cliché, your suppliers are your partners
as they have a vested interest in seeing you succeed. The quality of service
they provide will dictate how committed they are to the partnership and their
ability to understand the way you do business. The only way they will gain that
better understanding is if they take it upon themselves to learn about your
operations. This lies at the heart of good communications being essential to
part of the quality equation. While this is true for you and your relations with
your suppliers, it is also true for you and your relationship with your
customers. In the end, your goal to be a better operator depends upon the
quality initiative you set out as well as those set out by customers and
suppliers; communications is the glue that makes them all come together.
Questions or comments? Reach Brian at Brian@heritage-coffee.com
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