26/04/2009 by Phil.
An in-site from the Evening Standard…….
How Banking functions - the European way.
Heidi is the owner of a bar in Berlin. To increase sales she decides to allow her loyal customers, most of whom are unemployed alcoholics, to drink now but pay later.
She keeps track of the the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers loans). Word gets around, and as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Heidi’s bar. Taking advantage of her customers’ freedom from immediate payment constraints, Heidi raises her prices for wine and beer, the most ordered beverages.
Her sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic customer service consultant at the local bank recognises these debts as valuable future assets and increases Heidi’s borrowing limit.
He sees no reason for undue concern since he has the debts of the alcoholics as collateral. At the banks corporate headquarters, expert bankers transform these customer assets into Drinkbonds (DBs), Alkbonds (ABs) and Pukebonds (PBs). These securities are then traded worldwide. No one really understands what the abbreviations mean or how the securities are guaranteed. Nevertheless, as their prices continuously climb, the securities become top selling items.
One day, although the prices are still climbing, a risk manager (subsequently, of course, fired because of his negativity) of the bank decides the time has come to demand payment of the debts incurred by the drinkers at Heidi’s bar. However they cannot payback the debts. Heidi cannot fulfil her loan obligations and claims bankruptcy.
DBs abd ABs drop in price by 95%. PBs perform better, stabilising in price after dropping by 80%. The suppliers of Heidi’s bar, having granted her generous payment due dates and having invested in the securities, are now faced with a new situation. Her wine supplier claims bankruptcy and her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor.
The bank is saved by the government following dramatic round-the-clock consultations by leaders from the political parties. The funds required for this purpose are obtained by a tax levied on non drinkers.
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09/02/2009 by Phil.
The only problem with continuous improvement is that you have to keep changing things. The question many of you will ask yourselves is ‘will this change improve things?’. Hopefully you will have gathered your data and based your plan on sound logic, so don’t worry too much, as the chance of any of us getting any change right first time is pretty slim. As long as you have set up so that you can monitor the effects of your change and modify where you need to, then get on with it. The worst thing that can happen is that you procrastinate. That can only lead to stagnation and in today’s climate it’s the companies and people that are moving forward who will be in the best shape to survive. Don’t wait until you are 100% sure or that the solution is 100% right, make that change now. You can perfect it the next time you change. Tomorrow.
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28/01/2009 by Phil.
Are you into Facebook? No neither am I. But as these social networking sites take over the world (as it seems to me!) it would be a lost opportunity not to try them to improve networking for your business.
Have you tried LinkedIn yet? I looked at it as part of a marketing plan for EMS and I have to say I find it very useful. I have re-connected with some respected and valued colleagues from years and years ago and in places like China, Belgium and the USA. If I have a question, or need information, I can ask my connections or the whole community (currently 30,000,000+++) and get answers quickly. Likewise if they have a need they can easily contact me. You can even read this BLOG on my LinedIn profile. Like all good network system it relies on connections. Although I have under 100 1st level contacts at the second level (my contacts, contacts) there are 13,000+, and at the third level almost 1.4 million!!
So why not take a look and give it a go. 15 minutes spent entering your profile (tip: copy and paste from your CV, it’s quicker) is well worth the investment. And if you want to send myself or Geoff an invitation to join your contacts you are going to get a ‘YES’ http://www.linkedin.com/?trk=hb_logo philt@emseff.co.uk geoff@emseff.co.uk
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12/01/2009 by Phil.
I don’t know if you were as shocked as I was to hear the news that Toyota announced losses for the first time in 70 years. That should either give us all extra encouragement that even Toyota, at the cutting edge of Lean thinking, can get it wrong, OR lay down a marker as to just how deep this recession will cut, if even they can get bitten.
They are now looking to increase their number of LEAN managers to help them through the crisis. It seems that as they also got onboard the global expansion bandwagon they omitted to keep pace with the need to have enough Lean, Change managers on board. With so many famous names, especially on the high street, failing to keep pace with the rate of change and facing closure, it should make us all consider whether what we offer our customers is what they want? Is it relavant and up to date? What is our Unique Selling Point (USP)? Do we have enough Change managers in our organisation.
Toyota will come through the other side stronger and more able cope with even more difficult situations in the future. The question we should ask ourselves is will we be able to say the same?
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22/12/2008 by Phil.
Managing a business and especially the people that work in that business, is never going to be easy. The current economic climate makes it even more difficult with conditions changing day by day / minute by minute. No one can even guess what the next bombshell might be. It’s always tempting to chase the latest management trend (or 3/4 letter acronym) in search of the ‘Holy Grail’ of management techniques that is going to make your business so much more profitable / bring your business more success / make your life easier / give you a better work/life balance.
The problem is these techniques all come with their experts and are held up as ‘the solution’ for the moment. We are all guilty at some point. No one denies that LEAN, 6 Sigma, TPS, Balanced Score Cards, 5’s, TOC, Clouds, etc, etc are all useful techniques which when applied at the right time can have real positive effects. But lets get back to basics. If you don’t have a plan and have not got your team all pulling in the same direction then these techniques are not going to solve your problems.
Deming had it about right - PLAN - DO - CHECK - ACT. And maybe we would add in ENGAGE your people!!!!
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07/12/2008 by Phil.
Our new website has just been verified as W3C (The World Wide Web Consortium) compliant. In a direct quote from the W3C website ‘The social value of the Web is that it enables human communication, commerce, and opportunities to share knowledge. One of W3C’s primary goals is to make these benefits available to all people, whatever their hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability.’ For example you will see that on our site all the fonts are scalable, so that visitors with sight difficulties can view the site at a comfortable font size for them.
Just beware though. There are some companies testing your site and cold calling to talk to you about W3C in a marketing drive for their business. As always just beware and check things out with your website designer or developer first.
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01/12/2008 by Phil.
Phil has just taken on a long term project to assist a printing company in attaining Business Improvement Techniques NVQ II qualifications for a good proportion of it’s workforce. The program consists of workshops and coaching sessions aimed at LEAN improvements identified, implemented and monitored by the students. When I say that some of the students have worked there for 39+ years and the average length of service is 28years, then you will see they have a lot of experience to draw on. More reports as the work progresses.
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02/11/2008 by Phil.
Getting the management team up to speed with Goldrat’s Theory of Constraints was the objective of a recent seminar run by Geoff and Phil. This customer is part of a global corporation and a major large plant manufacturer in the local area. The company is heavily commited to lean and continuous improvement. In fact the room was full of Black Belts!!! They certainly identified where their bottlenecks might be and where the future projects should be focused. Watch this space. You might find the article ‘Two’s Company’ useful for your business -
just click http://www.emseff.co.uk/twoscompany.html
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