{"id":599,"date":"2023-10-02T02:12:46","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T02:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/?page_id=599"},"modified":"2023-12-07T21:12:55","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T21:12:55","slug":"solution-schematic-application","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/?page_id=599","title":{"rendered":"Solution Schematic Application"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was going to be one of those<\/em> days. Antoine was Chief Operating Officer at Viewpoint Industries. Since getting to work 40 minutes ago, he\u2019d already been given a dozen maximum-priority interventions to make. Everything had looked good when he left work last night, but now he wondered what had gone wrong. Where had all these issues come from?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewpoint Industries made refrigerators and freezers, but it seemed like nothing ever turned out how it should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Bernie opened the door to the office he shared with Antoine, Antoine pretended to glare at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the factory manager, Bernie,\u201d he growled. \u201cHave you looked out there this morning? We don\u2019t actually make refrigerators; the only thing that gets produced is chaos!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie pulled up a chair and sat down. \u201cI know. We\u2019ve been friends for 12 years, and we have this discussion every few months. Each time you say the same thing about getting control of the chaos, and each time we attempt to improve our control we get a temporary win, and then it all somehow goes back to how it was. If you\u2019ve got something new, then tell me. If you don\u2019t, then let me grab some of those troublesome tickets off you and I\u2019ll get out of here while you grumble.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Antoine pulled a face. \u201cDon\u2019t go just yet. Look, what happened the last time we made some changes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe same thing that happens every time,\u201d Bernie replied. \u201cWe start making changes, it turns out those changes cause disruptions, these disruptions compound the more we do, and we end up having to abandon them. I don\u2019t like saying this, Antoine, but maybe this is as good as it gets. Maybe this is actually a pretty good system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a loud beeping sound from outside, and Bernie got up again. \u201cThat\u2019ll be the truck. Let me just get the loading underway, and I\u2019ll be back in ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Bernie wasn\u2019t back in 10 minutes. In fact, Bernie didn\u2019t make it back before early afternoon. The goods to go on the truck had been blocked in by some half-finished jobs, and those jobs had been left half-finished because everyone working on them had been reassigned to finish an urgent order for a major customer. By the time he got back to the office, Bernie looked tired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoine pushed a paper bag towards him. \u201cHere. I got you some lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThanks.\u201d Bernie took a big bite from the sandwich. \u201cRight. Now, what were we talking about this morning?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAbout how to actually get control of things out there, instead of running around putting out fires. I think you\u2019re right, we always end up disrupting everything. So, what if we don\u2019t do that? What if we try to limit the disruption: just work on one bit of it, fix that, and then move on to the next one?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bernie shrugged. \u201cIt might work,\u201d he said between mouthfuls, \u201cBut it seems a bit pointless. Suppose we manage to get the Inwards Goods side of things running smoothly \u2013 how much difference would it really make overall? My worry is that it would take forever to see any real benefits. And if it\u2019s going to take a long time then we might as well not bother at all, because by the time we\u2019ve finished, everyone will have forgotten why we started in the first place, and everything will have reverted anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoine glared at Bernie again. \u201cWell, what\u2019s your suggestion? Things can\u2019t keep on like this!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey have so far,\u201d Bernie said, then held up his hands in mock surrender. \u201cOK, OK! I agree. Seems like we\u2019ve got a big problem, though. We want our solution to be endorsed and supported, so we need to show benefits from it quickly. That means we need a solution for the whole business. But we also need to limit the disruption from our solution, so we also need to just do a bit at a time. How do we show a compelling benefit quickly, and still minimise the disruption we cause?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2026 don\u2019t know,\u201d Antoine admitted. \u201cLook, let\u2019s leave that aside for the moment. You were down in Shipping this morning, right? What do you find goes wrong there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bernie had plenty to say about what could go wrong just with the process of shipping finished goods to customers, and Antoine wrote it all down on the whiteboard in their office. He clustered similar problems together, highlighting the disruption they caused, and drew arrows between the clusters to show when in the system they occurred. Eventually, he stepped back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t think of anything else,\u201d Bernie said. \u201cHeh \u2013 it looks kind of like a flowchart, now. Boxes, with arrows going everywhere, and I see there is some overlap in the where the problems show up, that makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Antoine nodded. It did look a lot like a flowchart. Flowcharts didn\u2019t just have boxes and arrows, though. They also had diamonds, which indicated choices or checks\u2026 Antoine blinked. Surely<\/em> it wasn\u2019t that easy, was it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBernie,\u201d he said quietly, \u201cA flowchart is like a schematic, right? Like a design for how things should work. It tells us where to monitor for risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYep,\u201d Bernie said. \u201cWhat\u2019s your point?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoine took a deep breath. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be all that hard to come up with a master view that shows how things flow around here, right? How jobs flow through the business, I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie shrugged. \u201cNo, it probably wouldn\u2019t be all that difficult. I don\u2019t really see how it would help, though. We already know how things work around here \u2013 badly. We need something that gives us more control.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut everyone would recognise it, wouldn\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd we could also make a flowchart for how we want<\/em> things to work, including the points in the flow we would monitor so we can act pre-emptively, with precision, and stay in control,\u201d Antoine continued, \u201cAnd what would be different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He grabbed a different coloured whiteboard pen and started adding more symbols to the whiteboard. \u201cFor example, what if we started looking for risk here, just before everything gets taken to the loading dock\u2026 if we see losses showing up here, that\u2019s a sure sign we\u2019ll have more problems to deal with in the next few hours. It would help to have some advance warning, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bernie grinned. \u201cYeah!\u201d he said happily. \u201cAnd we could also monitor\u2026 here,\u201d he said, sketching in another control point near the start. His face fell. \u201cAntoine, this is great for coming up with a solution, but how does it solve that big problem? You know, the one where either everything gets disrupted, or we don\u2019t show any benefit?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoine was grinning now too. \u201cIt solves it, Bernie, by avoiding it entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAntoine, I have no idea what you\u2019re talking about. Did you drink too much coffee?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing like that! We draw up a schematic of how our products flow. Then we draw up a schematic of what our solution would change, the control points, and we show them both to people. They\u2019ll be able to see the difference our solution makes\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 So they can see the benefits from it, even if we only do a bit at a time,\u201d Bernie finished. “This is brilliant. In fact, I think we can make it even better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie moved over to the whiteboard and started writing and drawing. \u201cThat schematic works for most things we do; all our \u2018base\u2019 products. But if we want it to cover everything, we need to add some more to it.\u201d He kept writing and drawing for several minutes, while Antoine watched. When Bernie had finished, he\u2019d nearly filled the entire whiteboard. Antoine had to stand at the other side of the office to take it all in, and when he did, he sighed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBernie, come over here and take a look at your masterpiece.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie walked over, then turned around. They both looked at the whiteboard, then they looked at each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bit\u2026 cluttered, isn\u2019t it?\u201d Bernie said eventually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYep,\u201d Antoine nodded. \u201cToo cluttered. So badly cluttered that it\u2019s more or less unusable, in fact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie sighed. \u201cI suppose I\u2019d better take all those additions off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antoine thought for a moment. \u201cMaybe not, let\u2019s check\u2026 Do we need all these additional control points? How many of them are actually addressed by the existing control points? Let\u2019s check, surely we do not have that many exceptions, the differences between refrigerators are not that great.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYeah, that could work,\u201d Bernie agreed. He went back to the whiteboard and made some changes. Bernie noted that some refrigerators were larger, some used different compressor types, some required different finishes, but almost all went through similar steps, and most of the additional control points were versions of the same in-common control point. \u201cLooks better now, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMuch better, Bernie.\u201d Antoine said. \u201cYou know, this could help in other ways too. As it is, we can show the benefits of the solution, and <\/em>minimise the number of changes and any adverse disruption caused, just by detailing the few control points we will install. Having the low-complexity schematic to refer to also means the solution is less likely get reverted.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd Bernie, if it works for operations, I see no reason it can\u2019t work in other areas too. The sales team, for example, it has a lot of moving parts, and Catherine has been wanting to improve the flow there for some time now. Too many opportunities are being lost due to our tardiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie grinned. \u201cSounds good to me,\u201d he said. \u201cDo you think we can get control with this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d Antoine said, \u201cBut it\u2019s a good start, isn\u2019t it? Let\u2019s get to work. I have a feeling that once we finish rationalising the control points it will all go much smoother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was going to be one of those days. Antoine was Chief Operating Officer at Viewpoint Industries. Since getting to work 40 minutes ago, he\u2019d already been given a dozen maximum-priority interventions to make. Everything had looked good when he left work last night, but now he wondered what had gone wrong. Where had all …<\/p>\n

Solution Schematic Application<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-599","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2512,"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/599\/revisions\/2512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keypractices.viagointernational.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}