What does the future of improvement and innovation hold?
Below is an extract from this month's newsletter:
"As regular readers will know, onesixsigma.com is not all about Six Sigma. Lean has, of course, been synonymous with Six Sigma for some time now, and over recent months we have been gradually expanding our palate to include other areas of business improvement and innovation. Change Management, Supply Chain Management, BPM, Kaizen and Innovation itself have all been featured as they have become more important and relevant to the quality professional.
"Many of the articles and white papers we have published have emphasised how Six Sigma is most effective when used in collaboration with other methodologies. Indeed, collaboration seems to be the keyword in business at the moment, with communities of practice and other hugely efficient collaborative networks being used to great effect (see our forthcoming article on communities of practice for some outstanding examples of this in action).
"In order to further this spirit of collaboration, we want to involve you more in the topics that onesixsigma.com covers. Are there any important topics that we are missing? Are there some areas we are not paying enough attention to? Do you have particular knowledge to share with the community on any of the areas mentioned above, or anything else that falls within the broad remit of improvement and innovation?"
What do you think? Post below or contact me direct using the "Contact Us" page (accessed from the top right hand corner of this page).
Interesting question.
Submitted by Anthony Reardon on 5 July, 2008 - 13:40.
Hi there,
I am new to this forum but found your challenge interesting enough to comment on. Perhaps my thoughts on the matter will factor into your consideration for solutions. The more information you provide will definately help the experts in this forum find the most direct advice you are seeking.
Ship owners, ship staff, and ancillary service providers might all be viewed as customers-or stakeholders in your management services. In terms of the contracting, the basic financial considerations may be arguable enough to extend preemptive higher paying terms over extended durations (perhaps difference paid upon completion of contract as a retainer bonus). The challenge is not unlike influencing stakeholder involvement in process improvement with performance-based incentives throughout an organization from subordinates to senior executives- and across different departments with seemingly unrelated interests.
The ancillary services you utilize and have more local direct contact with are a good opportunity to employ process improvement for the benefit of all stakeholders as a system. I would assume there are opportunities to involve your firm, the providers, and users- even from the simplest basis of a form.
That interaction can become the context for ongoing improvements reaching closer into the operations of your various stakeholders. The involvement in solutions itself usually requires work from within- perhaps having extended contracts equates to downtime at port- so finding alternative utility for the labor can make the cost worthwhile. The same principle applies to any downtime at sea that may apply.
Anything you can do to eliminate unnecessary waste and standardize cost-efficient processes can return value directly and be brought to spread value indirectly. It is the nonconstructive separation of responsibility for the whole system that causes the distinct "departments" to constrain you with their self-serving interests.
Thus, as a management entity, I can imagine you would not be out of line bringing in a Lean/ Six Sigma component to address your own efficiency, and through complimentary extension, addressing the efficiencies for the various sources you work with. Where it makes sense to work together for the profit/ benefit of the whole, these specialists will have the tools to show those relationships, remove those barriers, and mark every detail in financial terms.
I believe you when you speak of your experience of the age old shipping industry. I would see that as a challenge and an opportunity for dramatic improvement potential. Perhaps these would be more strait talking people with little interest in "methodologies". I would gather you are in a good position to lead improvements in terms they can all relate to and appreciate. The process of involving everyone should go a long way in making your owner clients, contracted crews, and own management services the preferred choices in your competitive market- thereby working on that 15 to 20% retention rate.
Best,
Anthony Reardon
Nascent Dynamics( ) Modern Business for the Modern Environment
Everytime Process improvement.......No People improvement ?
Submitted by unknown13 on 15 April, 2008 - 09:03.
Hi
the word innovation and improvement, six sigma, lean, BPR etc are very good to hear and seen good amount of fame across the industries and services but nobody today working toward their human capital improvement and their growth.
I have read one book on personal performance scorecard (Performance Management) which tells about this new area of improvement and innovation as this is not touched much by the people. in this author tells about the people development as that is the next dimension or differentiator for the companies today everybody is doing six sigma or process improvement in there own way.
regards
Dear Sir, Ship management is
Dear Sir,
Ship management is an outsourcing service. Ship owners contract their vessels to ship managers who supply Crew, Technical service, Purchasing service (stores spares for maintaining the ship), Accounting service and Commercial management too (gainfully employ the vessel). It is a labour intensive service. Ships staff are contracted and are not permanent employee. They are not in the employ of the ship management company. While Shipmanager supplies the crew for manning the ships, their employent contract is with the ship Owner. Once the crew is off the ship, they have no contract with any one and are free to go and find a job with a different owner or ship manager. This is in theory, in reality ship managers have a retention rate of about 80 to 85 pct. There is a great shortage of skilled seafarers and thus good ones are in great demand and a lot of pouching ius taking place. Salaries are rising by the month.
The duration of on board service at one time is between 3 to 6 months. The ship manager provides the tech supdt who is located ashore and he oversees the technical upkeep of the vessel. Similarly there is a Safety bloke, a Commercial bloke and many others who form a shipmanagement team in the Ship managers office.
Pls advise how you see Six Sigma, lean Sigma or any other methodology being used in such an environment.
Shipping by virtue takes ages to change. We still use a Charter Party form in dry cargo trade which is more than a century old and most if not all of it is deleted and boxes inserted with more suitable text while a more modern form from BIMCO is gathering dust.
Thanks and best regards
Capt Prabhat Sharma
General Manager
SeaQuestSandigan Ship Management, Geneva.