I have recently read several
color lab ads that state something like “Nobody surpasses our…”. But
they are so general in nature that it begins to resemble a political
campaign. It makes you wonder just exactly how are they measuring their
service?
Since 1991 (In March to be exact!), we have been
monitoring ourselves in three distinct areas – accuracy, timeliness and
productivity. However, we knew we needed some outside professional
assistance – someone whose expertise is in this area. For more than
sixteen years, we have been working with an outside consultant to
measure our progress daily, monthly, and annually. And this is more
than just lab-wide. It is within each department. Each morning when we
arrive, we have detailed statistics awaiting us. We instantly know the
condition of each department and can promptly react.
We
are proud to announce that this is the best year we have since our
consultant began monitoring. I won’t bore you with detailed statistics
but we certainly can back up our claim (and here is a photo of some of the information that arrives on our (virtual) desk each morning).
ACCURACY - It is you who determines our accuracy. If you return something, it goes against our accuracy statistics. It’s that simple!
TIMELINESS -
Our timeliness continues to lead the industry. If your order doesn’t
leave by or before the time scheduled, it is marked against our
timeliness. We have been told that, because you receive so many of our
orders ahead of our published times, it is no longer a surprise.
PRODUCTIVITY -
You may ask, “What does productivity have to do with service to you?”
Because of our constant improvement in productivity, we have been able
to hold our pricing for many years.
These three areas of
measurement tell us whether or not we are improving and whether or not
we are satisfying your needs. We know that constant improvement and
measuring it in a consistent way are the only ways to properly measure
our progress!
Dick Coleman