Everybody should be a Risk Manager!!

27 Thursday Nov 2014

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product risk analysis, production risk analysis, risk analysis, Robert Vernon Associates, suppy chain

shutterstock_123603859 In all businesses there are risks; from the small service delay to the major catastrophe!!

Unfortunately most of us think of risk in terms of the major disaster and by the way its a professional risk managers responsibility to calculate and determine what ‘could’ happen.

This kind of thinking is costing the supply chain a lot of wasted time and resource. For the sake of a few minutes, lifting up our heads and looking beyond current challenges, we can very easily use the concept of risk management in quick and easy ways to avoid future issues in the supply chain or the product..

Identifying a potential hazard for your product, social/ environmental compliance and supply chain operation can be done through various team meetings. Once hazards have been agreed then the following elements in determining the risks are vital to unlocking the potential benefits:

How Serious is it (death being the most serious)
Frequency ( how many times it could happen)
Can it be detected ( Can the hazard be seen)

Formal risk analysis has mainly been the domain of the engineers and number crunchers and has not been used enough in practical ways by operational teams. Its worse in the UK where the above 3 elements have not always been applied, resulting in some poor and very often media ridiculed decisions in governmental departments. (no more conker fights in the schoolyard).. This has resulted in 40% higher costs for UK health and safety management when compared with Germany.

All parts of the supply chain can on a daily basis conduct simple but formal risk analysis. They can easily determine the hazards and then using the above 3 elements calculate the risks and what preventive actions if any, are to be prioritised and implemented!! This need not be complicated, time consuming or costly to do!! The savings and improved service levels will be tremendous in terms of; improved cost management, vendor efficiency, employee job satisfaction and customer service levels.

Find the best, simple and effective method for your organisation to conduct risk analysis; try not to use the engineering and number crunching solutions. Its probably best to avoid the methodology used by UK government departments!!

As part of our Good Business Growth training offers, RVA conducts PRAS – Risk Analysis training. With all our training courses, this is conducted in a very practical and fun way.. Please click here for more details.

Mark K.Astley

Example: How to handle a possible child labour incident..

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by mkastley in RVA Updates

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factory management child labour incident, handling child labour incident, process flow charting, process flow: child labour at factory, Robert Vernon Associates

shutterstock_198620522 When operating and buying in developing countries, companies must be well prepared for various eventualities. One of the most sensitive and extremely urgent to resolve is discovering Child Labour in a factory. Our own experience in this matter has not been positive; with confusion, delays and extensive disagreements on the evidence discovered and actions to be taken. On two occasions in the past 6 years it became necessary to stop production and hold deliveries until the issue was resolved.

Very often company instructions are available to guide buyers and factory suppliers when a possible incident of child labour is found on the factory floor. However, like most things when these directives are more than two pages, the stakeholders are not familiar enough with the instructions. Valuable hours and days can be lost before all parties become aligned in agreeing and resolving the situation – in some cases this does not even happen if the situation drags on too long!!

The most important point when suspected Child Labour is found is to put the safety and well being of that person at the front of everything. All decisions must be made with this mind-set firmly secured.

RVA have witnessed and has been frustrated at the failure of stakeholders to get to grips with the requirements and the decisions to be made. This has been mainly due to the lack of understanding on how the situation should be handled and processed. To address this, Robert Vernon Associates have produced a one page Process Flow chart to handle a possible Child Labour report. It is based on various existing company instructions and our own experience in capturing all actions and decisions to be made; providing work colleague and suppliers a simple guide to know and understand beforehand what to do, or if an incident does happen then a tool to use and guide everybody in a transparent and efficient way.

We hope below is useful for any international sourcing and factory operations to adapt and utilise. We also hope it proves the power of flow charting as a communications tool. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further details and assistance in developing robust international sourcing tools and guidelines. The example below is just one part of our Good Business Growth operational tools package.

cl-flow-chart-_what-to-do4

The Cost Down Programme – CDP

14 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by mkastley in RVA Updates

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Business Development, CDP, Cost Down programme, good business growth, reduce costs not profit, Robert Vernon Associates

Robert Vernon Associates announces a new one day activity to its expanding programme of Good Business Growth training and facilitation courses:

THE COST DOWN PROGRAMME: CDP

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Introduction: A one day activity programme, conducted on the production floor to identify and reduce article and production costs in a win/win situation for buyers and suppliers.

The Course Objectives: Secure current business and improve potential future volume levels by finding ways to reduce the price for the final customer, improve costs for the retailer and improve profitability in the supply chain.

The CDP is highly activity based, conducted on a client’s nominated production floor.. For more details please take a look at the activity details in this link..One Day on site training course_CDP.

If you and your company are interested to run Cost Down activities in your factories or in your suppliers please complete the contact form.

Golden Circle of Human Motivation..

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by mkastley in RVA Updates, Uncategorized

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Apple Inc., Golden Circle, golden circle of motivation, Human Motivation, ikea, robert vernon associates' Golden Circle, Simon Sinek, Sinek, start with the why

We are big fans of Simon Sinek’s ‘The Golden Circle’ of Human Motivation. A simple concept on how companies and leaders shall inspire their workforce and their customers.

All companies know WHAT they have to do – sell a product or provide a service. Most companies will know HOW to do this, through their operating procedures, directives or systems. Not a lot of companies know WHY they do what they do.. Why do they exist, how do they justify their existence? Its not for profit as Sinek’s says, because profit is a result not a why!

From a company where RVA has had a lot of experience with, the Golden Circle can be applied.

The IKEA vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people.’

This is a company that works from the inside to the out. Their values and justification to exist are deeply inscribed in the why. With their vision they inspire customers to have fabulous looking homes filled with affordable well designed/quality products, made and supplied by people who care. This vision then inspires their co-workers to do great things in the store, in the warehouse and at the factory. The many people include the factory operators as well as the customers.

Companies regardless of their size and industry inspire from the inside of the circle to the out – their customers buy Why they do not the What they do. Apple Inc prove this – they are not the cheapest on the market and they are not the most innovative but their vision about doing things differently and challenging the status quo is an inspiring message. MP3 players, tablets and smartphones existed on the shop shelves before Apple delivered their products, but it was Apple that created the markets for these devices – they inspired us to buy and use..

At Robert Vernon Associates; we recently looked at our offer and compared it against Sinek’s Golden Circle..

Mark K.