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Identification of areas for improvement

 

Today we review a very important point that should never be overlooked. The market and the way to “navigate and survive” in it has multiple facets and all of them add up to a successful future. At Industrias Químicas Iris, the effort to grow and innovate is a team effort. Undoubtedly, a commercial team that knows the market and continuously studies its evolutionary processes confirms this famous phrase:

William Thomson Kelvin

What you can’t measure, you can’t improve.

and what is not improved, is degraded. 

 

¿What do we need??

In order to measure, we need to have information, criticism, opinions… Basically, it’s a matter of gathering reactions or comments on situations, aspects, cycles or work protocols that we feel could be improved.

We’re talking about interacting with the company in order to be more effective and efficient. Adjusting as much as possible to our mission, which can be improved with the feedback received. For this, the important thing is that this is a process open to all those who are related – in one way or another – with the company;

With this information we can analyse the situation and measure. But let us remember that this information does not have to coincide with reality. The information comes from the subject, so it is subjective and personal, that is, it belongs to the person who communicates it, to his or her point of view. And you should always listen to the person who has knowledge of situations that can be improved.

Somehow, these are the questions we must ask ourselves:.

  • How we see each other
  • What we want to look like
  • How they see us
  • How they want to see us

It is necessary to contrast ideas and impressions, assess their generality and act on the most interesting ideas. That is to say, those that represent the greatest room for improvement, those that solve a problem, those that are most urgent, or those that represent the greatest benefit/savings;

Within the improvement process, the end does not necessarily have to provide an economic benefit, that will be the result at the end of the process. It can facilitate processes, shorten deadlines, improve quality, service, training, loyalty, etc. The information received must be treated as it arrives. And we must not cheat ourselves. Criticism is not positive or negative; it is the form. They must be treated as what they are, a way of seeing things. It is not personal. This information assesses us and the analysis must be done naturally, accepting what we may not like. Because this information is universal, multi-departmental, external. Different positions generate different visions.

What are the sources? 

The origin of the information collected is diverse. The source can be internal: work teams (brainstorming, SWOT analysis, suggestion box, etc.); or external: customers, distributors, suppliers, competitors, etc. (surveys, meetings, etc.). Although, also, we can induce the process, ie, identified a potential improvement, we will seek appropriate recipients for, with open questions to know their point of view, as we will need information to set the target.

 

What next?

Once the source has been analysed. We can then see how we can set out these proposals for improvement aimed at improving and/or correcting those aspects considered to be improvable. It is time to ask ourselves questions. Here it is essential to be not only sincere, but also realistic.

  • Do we have the means needed?
  • Do we know how to do this? If not, look for
  • How will the proposed actions improve our position?
  • What difficulties do we encounter or have in implementing them?
  • Solutions we will adopt to address these difficulties
  • Solutions (who can teach us, what the competition does, public institutions’ pupilage, etc.)

When formulating the content of each proposal we must remember that “the best is the enemy of the good“. Sometimes it pays to be humble and not to aim too high. Several simple and manageable milestones put us on the right track and end up being a great achievement.

At Iris, we grow with your needs, we personalise your production experience so that you get the best results. The Iris commercial group is specialised in you.

You will find this information and much more on our website. You can also write to us at: industrias@quimicasiris.com.

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