CAR (Corrective Action Request) for On Time Delivery

[tonefordays]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of tackling issues that we've been battling in our organization regarding On Time Delivery. I've been struggling with keeping the management team involved and proactive, as this is not an issue I can resolve alone. I plan on issuing a CAR at our next management review meeting, however I'm not sure who to address the CAR to. I feel that myself, as "management representative" would have the responsibility. If this is the case, do I write a CAR on myself ? I feel like the management review would be a good place to acknowledge the fact we have a serious problem with OTD, and hopefully delegate some action items to the crew. Any thoughts, opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Ninja]

Re: CAR for On Time Delivery

Depends on the company culture and politics...

If it would help to solve the problem, issue it on yourself.
If it might put you in a bad position and not solve the problem, consider a general OFI (assuming no procedure or requirement violated).

Whichever path you take, make sure that addressing the problem is the focus...improving OTD. It isn't about blame, it's about improving.

Sometimes the best way to avoid the blame game is to take the blame yourself...sometimes not so much. You know your company behavior better than any of us do.

FWIW: you wouldn't be the first to write themselves up...been there, done that.

 

[qusys]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of tackling issues that we've been battling in our organization regarding On Time Delivery. I've been struggling with keeping the management team involved and proactive, as this is not an issue I can resolve alone. I plan on issuing a CAR at our next management review meeting, however I'm not sure who to address the CAR to. I feel that myself, as "management representative" would have the responsibility. If this is the case, do I write a CAR on myself ? I feel like the management review would be a good place to acknowledge the fact we have a serious problem with OTD, and hopefully delegate some action items to the crew. Any thoughts, opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I think this could be a topic of the management review as you said, considering that probably KPI of the process of shipping showed some pitfalls.
You do not see the issue as a personal thing, given that it should belong to all the organization that cannot meet the customers' requirement in case of delay in delivering process.
Work in team to fix the issue, analysis the data and modify the process in case there are some failure.
Problem solving method should be applied to find the most probable root cause and working in mulktidisciplinary approach to plan and implement adequate solutions

 

[tonefordays]

Thanks for the feedback.

I think I may go ahead and issue the CAR to the general Mgt., just so everyone feels some sort of obligation and hopefully we will get more participation. I feel it will take input from all of them to determine a root cause. If I issue the CAR to myself, Mgt. will probably look at it as my problem, and not theirs.

 

[Sidney Vianna]

I think that, more important than issuing a CAR (or not, or to whom), is to have evidence at hand that your OTD performance is a concern, from the customer's perspective. Do you have recorded customer complaints about your OTD? Can you attribute loss of business to poor OTD performance?

One of the typical problems in management reviews is lack of factual data to support certain positions and opinions, despite the fact that one of the ISO 9000 principles is the factual approach approach to decision making.

 

[Golfman25]

OTD is an organizational issue -- multiple departsments may be involved. What is a "serious problem with OTD?" Are you sure your management see's it as a problem that they want to spend time and resources on? Are you sure it is corrective action and not continious improvement? Do you keep any data in regards to why a shipment is late? That may tell if the problem is even "solvable."

I would follow Sidney's advice first and devleop the numbers. At your management review you can make your case. You need acknowledgement that it is problem worth of resources, then you can act to fix or improve it. Good luck.

 

[tonefordays]

One of our quality objectives is on time delivery. We try to maintain a 98% monthly OTD. We have been missing the mark (considerably) for several months, and have seen a rather steady decline in meeting that goal. I track OTD weekly, and post results monthly for the entire organization, so the trend is evident based on that data. I also have record of customer complaints and customer scorecards to back up my data. I feel that our OTD track record may have prevented us from getting work from certain customers based on informal discussions, although I can't prove this.

Management does realize that our OTD is struggling, however because of the magnitude, and complexity of our problem, it has been put on the back burner time after time, and never seems to be addressed. My goal is to bring forward the problem of On Time Delivery (with supporting data) so we can put together a problem solving team, and at least decide, based on input from the entire team if the problem can be fixed, or at least improved.

 

[Golfman25]

One of our quality objectives is on time delivery. We try to maintain a 98% monthly OTD. We have been missing the mark (considerably) for several months, and have seen a rather steady decline in meeting that goal. I track OTD weekly, and post results monthly for the entire organization, so the trend is evident based on that data. I also have record of customer complaints and customer scorecards to back up my data. I feel that our OTD track record may have prevented us from getting work from certain customers based on informal discussions, although I can't prove this.

Management does realize that our OTD is struggling, however because of the magnitude, and complexity of our problem, it has been put on the back burner time after time, and never seems to be addressed. My goal is to bring forward the problem of On Time Delivery (with supporting data) so we can put together a problem solving team, and at least decide, based on input from the entire team if the problem can be fixed, or at least improved.

That certainly sounds reasonable. Doesn't appear that you are at the "corrective action" stage yet. One thing I have learned these last few years, and something you might want to consider, is that the actual dollar cost of maintaining a 98%+ OTD is exponential when compared to maintaining a 96% OTD. In our case there where few, if any, customer complaints. Good luck.

 

[Gary Burdette]

Hello all,

I'm in the process of tackling issues that we've been battling in our organization regarding On Time Delivery. I've been struggling with keeping the management team involved and proactive, as this is not an issue I can resolve alone. I plan on issuing a CAR at our next management review meeting, however I'm not sure who to address the CAR to. I feel that myself, as "management representative" would have the responsibility. If this is the case, do I write a CAR on myself ? I feel like the management review would be a good place to acknowledge the fact we have a serious problem with OTD, and hopefully delegate some action items to the crew. Any thoughts, opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I can say that as our QMR I had the Quality Manager (who reports to me) issue the CAR listing all Sr. Management. This included me as this is a corporate wide issue. So I didn't actually initiate it, on paper, however it was my decision to include everyone that has the ability to resolve this issue. This did prompt a staff meeting in order to close the CAR to the satisfaction of the Quality Mgr.

 

[normhowe]

The fact that you appear to be concerned about "write a CAR on myself " tells me that the culture of your organization is impeding the solution of the OTD problem. The culture is blame rather than accountability. All CARs should be viewed as addressing errors in the system. When blame enters the picture, people clam up, and important sources of information evaporate; bureaucratic friction goes up exponentially. OTD is the symptom. Culture is the problem.

Slightly different topic: How could the OTD situation as you've described it not be a big problem. Assuming your customers have agreed with the delivery dates you set, then you are consistently breaking your commitments to them. Can they trust you ever again? Don't expect to hear complaints. It's much easier for them to switch to the competition.

Don't worry too much about assigning the CAR to yourself. OTD is always a big, systemic issue. Mgt knows it. Mgt also like employees who take responsibility. Just make sure that everyone knows how big the problem is and that you're going to need help to fix it. Make lots of noise when you don't get that help.