Written 11/07/2009
Hello Everyone,
Well the buzzword of the past few months has come home to us here in the Print shop. The word is change. There has been an incredible change in our assumptions across the United States and the world we share. I am proud to have voted and hope that each one of you was able to do your civic duty.
Change… it is coming to the Print Shop, it’s been slow but has picked up steam with the submission of our RFP and a date being set for the taking over of the transactional data. The proposals for the new workflow and equipment are due by November 28 and if all goes well we will officially take on two new employees, Jon Davis and Clayton White on November 23.
What does this mean for you? Well it means a continued shift in our thinking, of what quality is and is not. By now, everyone has heard me say in regards to our transactional print that its either right or it’s wrong, there is no in between. We will also incorporate this thinking into the production of our daily work. It is imperative everyone is on board, that each of us continues to look for opportunities of growth while maintaining the standards we have already reached.
There also needs to be a change in the thinking that others are going to take care of us here in the Print Shop, Postal Center, and Surplus Property. Yes, there is so much outside of our control and we can only influence our position so much. However, this bit of influence we do have, we must exercise with caution, care, and commitment to our customers.
We have seen a continued growth in our customers coming to us for mailings and it’s simply because we’re able to fulfill their orders that they come here. Remember in business it’s not what you’ve done for me it’s what you can do for me. Every time you pick up the phone in the Print Shop, you affect that person perspective on all of us. Remember that every phone call is a potential sales call.
One of the wonderful things in my position is I am exposed to other company’s philosophies surrounding customer service. One company that I have enjoyed learning about is the Department of Doing, based in New Zealand. I have enjoyed reading about this company because they offer a change in how to work for and with customers. Their whole philosophy is about doing the right thing all the time. That’s a sea change in thinking and one we need to incorporate into our daily connections.
I’ve included the link here for their website and I encourage you to take a look. It will come up their “mission statement” called The Directives of Doing.”
http://www.departmentofdoing.co.nz/directives.html
I bring this up because I believe we have already turned down that path, it’s a rare week that the Print Shop, Postal Center, or Surplus Property isn’t acknowledged for doing a great job. In the last BGS newsletter Gerry Myers, our Commissioner commented on each of our programs, and we should be proud of the recognition.
Quality service has brought our programs to this level and continued improvement will continue to help us grow and change. Remember to take the time to do the right thing and the change we encounter will feel as if it has always belonged there.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Kevin
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Success comes from working together
Written 10/31/2008
Hello Everyone,
Taking the time to write these few paragraphs each week has allowed me to reflect on the needs of our department while keeping in mind the needs of the unit as a whole. My whole week I was thinking about sales and how to impress that each of us makes a difference, that were each ambassadors to this process. However, that will need to wait for another week as I have something equally important to share.
Success comes from working together; we succeed together or we fail together, from the whole units of the Print Shop, the Copier Lease program, the Postal Center, and Surplus Property to the individual unit of ourselves as employees.
I make this statement after attending a conference on what I believed would only be a copier based information meeting. What I received instead was a lesson on how so many singular units of individual businesses work together. Forming a collective group striving to deliver environmentally sound products, while being a viable future based business. Together, these companies have a mandate of ZERO waste being sent to a landfill… that’s impressive as they need to recycle hundreds of copiers each day that have been retired from active duty.
Moreover, to see this in action makes you wonder how much does this cost. Then you think it’s because of companies willing to forgo a bit of the green to do the right thing that makes me want to know more and do more with them, or better said, to do more because of them.
To be inspired… Ten people could possibly describe the word Inspiration in ten different ways, each with their own impetus in doing so. However, inspiration is only wonderful if acted on.
My challenge this week is for all of us to think about how we can work together as a collective unit versus the thought of I only work in this one area because… to improve ourselves, which in turn improves us all.
I want all of us to think “what if,” to look at ourselves with the words “what if I did” you fill in the blank here. What I suggest is that we all create our own IDP, Individual Development Plan; this will help to give us goals, direction, and that other word that accompanies inspiration, vision. I believe we have in place the management structure to support these brand new ideas, and to help us all with the transitions that are inevitable for us to succeed.
More often, our fortunes in business are tied with those of our neighbors and theirs ours. We can have a direct effect on this. I find it amazing that the wire that holds up all suspension bridges is no bigger than the width of the lead in your pencil. It is the process of winding them collectively together, which makes them strong enough to support and endure.
It is with this thought of unity that I wish you all a wonderful Halloween. I like so many dads will be asking for that homemade popcorn ball, wish me luck!
Sincerely,
Kevin
Hello Everyone,
Taking the time to write these few paragraphs each week has allowed me to reflect on the needs of our department while keeping in mind the needs of the unit as a whole. My whole week I was thinking about sales and how to impress that each of us makes a difference, that were each ambassadors to this process. However, that will need to wait for another week as I have something equally important to share.
Success comes from working together; we succeed together or we fail together, from the whole units of the Print Shop, the Copier Lease program, the Postal Center, and Surplus Property to the individual unit of ourselves as employees.
I make this statement after attending a conference on what I believed would only be a copier based information meeting. What I received instead was a lesson on how so many singular units of individual businesses work together. Forming a collective group striving to deliver environmentally sound products, while being a viable future based business. Together, these companies have a mandate of ZERO waste being sent to a landfill… that’s impressive as they need to recycle hundreds of copiers each day that have been retired from active duty.
Moreover, to see this in action makes you wonder how much does this cost. Then you think it’s because of companies willing to forgo a bit of the green to do the right thing that makes me want to know more and do more with them, or better said, to do more because of them.
To be inspired… Ten people could possibly describe the word Inspiration in ten different ways, each with their own impetus in doing so. However, inspiration is only wonderful if acted on.
My challenge this week is for all of us to think about how we can work together as a collective unit versus the thought of I only work in this one area because… to improve ourselves, which in turn improves us all.
I want all of us to think “what if,” to look at ourselves with the words “what if I did” you fill in the blank here. What I suggest is that we all create our own IDP, Individual Development Plan; this will help to give us goals, direction, and that other word that accompanies inspiration, vision. I believe we have in place the management structure to support these brand new ideas, and to help us all with the transitions that are inevitable for us to succeed.
More often, our fortunes in business are tied with those of our neighbors and theirs ours. We can have a direct effect on this. I find it amazing that the wire that holds up all suspension bridges is no bigger than the width of the lead in your pencil. It is the process of winding them collectively together, which makes them strong enough to support and endure.
It is with this thought of unity that I wish you all a wonderful Halloween. I like so many dads will be asking for that homemade popcorn ball, wish me luck!
Sincerely,
Kevin
What's new in the Print Shop
Written 10/24/08
Hello Everyone,
Again, another busy week with a lot of the finishing work being done by committee. You have all excelled this week in the production of the jobs and I want to let you know I appreciate the above and beyond each person is doing.
This week I want to focus on the quality control steps that we have in place and to ensure that were all doing them for each job. As we multitask, we might feel the urge to skip a step and this is where quality and collisions happen. We must with out fail follow our processes.
When we follow our workflow process, it is evident that they work for many reasons. I have put in place the QC Checklist for us to begin to use. It is my intention that we will receive written comments on these for me to review and to share our findings. It is through a simple process like this that will give us the tool to sharpen how we do things. I am not for redundant processes and if we can clean up a step, we will. I do not believe in change for change sake but I fully believe in the constant approach of quality improvement. We need to ensure that we are maintaining our operating norms and not making exceptions to the rule just to hurry a job along.
This week we had Mike Clausen and Paul Brodie from the Retirement Office visit the Print Shop to view their job in process. I want to thank Carla, Andy, Tim, and John directly for their help in showing and explaining the different quality control step we are using. It is imperative that we do this for our customers and as we move forward, I will be inviting more customers to visit us.
On Wednesday of this week, we held the Bidder’s Conference for the replacement of the equipment and workflow software we are currently using. It went very well and the next step is to answer the questions sent to us before the submission of the proposed bids.
I also want to highlight a job that we did this week; this job was for a customer that was trying to print, stuff, label, and mail 1000 pieces. They realized that they could not meet their timeframe and called to ask for assistance. Again, this customer heard that we now have an inserter. With our combined efforts of Tim receiving the job, Richard doing the printing, and Andy doing the inserting. We produced the job in less than a day. Again showing the incredible teamwork, we have in place.
My travels in the production world have shown me many things but the one thing that stands out here in the Print Shop is the combined ability and desire to work together to get things done. It will always be our cornerstone to stand by and to show that together we have what it takes to succeed.
Sincerely,
Kevin
Hello Everyone,
Again, another busy week with a lot of the finishing work being done by committee. You have all excelled this week in the production of the jobs and I want to let you know I appreciate the above and beyond each person is doing.
This week I want to focus on the quality control steps that we have in place and to ensure that were all doing them for each job. As we multitask, we might feel the urge to skip a step and this is where quality and collisions happen. We must with out fail follow our processes.
When we follow our workflow process, it is evident that they work for many reasons. I have put in place the QC Checklist for us to begin to use. It is my intention that we will receive written comments on these for me to review and to share our findings. It is through a simple process like this that will give us the tool to sharpen how we do things. I am not for redundant processes and if we can clean up a step, we will. I do not believe in change for change sake but I fully believe in the constant approach of quality improvement. We need to ensure that we are maintaining our operating norms and not making exceptions to the rule just to hurry a job along.
This week we had Mike Clausen and Paul Brodie from the Retirement Office visit the Print Shop to view their job in process. I want to thank Carla, Andy, Tim, and John directly for their help in showing and explaining the different quality control step we are using. It is imperative that we do this for our customers and as we move forward, I will be inviting more customers to visit us.
On Wednesday of this week, we held the Bidder’s Conference for the replacement of the equipment and workflow software we are currently using. It went very well and the next step is to answer the questions sent to us before the submission of the proposed bids.
I also want to highlight a job that we did this week; this job was for a customer that was trying to print, stuff, label, and mail 1000 pieces. They realized that they could not meet their timeframe and called to ask for assistance. Again, this customer heard that we now have an inserter. With our combined efforts of Tim receiving the job, Richard doing the printing, and Andy doing the inserting. We produced the job in less than a day. Again showing the incredible teamwork, we have in place.
My travels in the production world have shown me many things but the one thing that stands out here in the Print Shop is the combined ability and desire to work together to get things done. It will always be our cornerstone to stand by and to show that together we have what it takes to succeed.
Sincerely,
Kevin
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
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