THE WELCH COMPANY
440 Davis Court #1602
San Francisco, CA 94111-2496
415 781 5700


S U M M A R Y


DIARY: October 31, 1995 07:35 AM Tuesday; Rod Welch

Called S&C Ford re tire issue and using SDS for Communication Metrics.

1...Summary/Objective
2...Using Vendor that Does Not Support Ford Products Was a Mistake
3...Management Thought Customer Made Mistake that was Made by S&C
4...Charles has not had time to read the record.
5...Charles said S&C must expedite by relying on conversation rather
6...Charles advised it is frustrating to spend so much time on small tasks
7...Communication Metrics at Ford
8...ISO 9000 - Automating Traceability


..............
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CONTACTS 
0201 - S & C Ford                         415 553 4400 fax or 800...
020101 - Mr. Charles Mori; Controller

SUBJECTS
Millie's Mercury Sable, 940423
Wheel Alignment, Vibrations, Warranty
951008 Replace front tires
Not Enough Time to Read and Write
Talking Seems Fast and Easy Knowledge,
Conventional Management Not Enough Time to

1208 -    ..
1209 - Summary/Objective
1210 -
121001 - Follow up ref SDS 8 0000. ref SDS 6 0000.
121002 -
121003 - S&C's controller indicated this morning that their offer was based on
121004 - the understanding that Welch took the car to the wrong dealer.  When
121005 - this error in understanding was corrected this morning, it was learned
121006 - that sending the car to a vendor that does not support Ford warranted
121007 - products, conflicted with S&C policy. S&C is investigating further to
121008 - determine an equitable result.
121009 -
121010 -     [On 951102 received call from Charles. ref SDS 11]
121011 -
121012 -     [On 951105 received payment on warranty claim. ref SDS 12 1792]
121013 -
121014 -
121015 -
121016 -  ..
1211 -
1212 -
1213 - Progress
1214 -
121401 - Talked to Diane.  She said Charles Mori is the controller.  He is in
121402 - a meeting.
121403 -
121404 - I left a message for Charles to call back.
121405 -
121406 -
121407 -  ..
1215 -
1216 -
1217 - 0817 Charles called back
1218 -
121801 - Using Vendor that Does Not Support Ford Products Was a Mistake
121802 - Management Thought Customer Made Mistake that was Made by S&C
121803 -
121804 - Charles said S&C's offer on 951030 of $43.50 at ref SDS 8 3456, was
121805 - based solely on the invoice from 5 Points, ref DRP 4 4322, and not on
121806 - evaluation of the General Tire warranty, ref DRP 4 3468, submitted to
121807 - S&C on 951023. ref SDS 6 8564
121808 - ..
121809 - Charles said he discussed this matter with his staff.  He did
121810 - not have time to check the record, and so did not know that S&C sent
121811 - the car to a vendor that does not handle General tires. ref SDS 4 5222
121812 -
121813 - He said that action conflicts with S&C's policy to use vendors who
121814 - handle Ford products. Charles advised that he understood the customer
121815 - took the car to the wrong vendor.  In that case, Ford is only
121816 - responsible for the warranty on the tires, and not for customer
121817 - efforts to solve the problem.
121818 -
121819 - Charles said S&C should have sent the car to a General tire dealer so
121820 - that warranty issues could be handled properly and quickly.
121821 -
121822 -     [On 990507 S&C selling tires direct to customer. ref SDS 22 4140]
121823 -
121824 -     [On 990603 S&C selling General Tire products. ref SDS 23 1935]
121825 - ..
121826 - He feels time is very important.
121827 -
121828 - Charles asked why S&C sent the car to the wrong vendor?
121829 -
121830 - I asked if he has reviewed the record on 951009 showing S&C sent the
121831 - car to Leo's Tire Shop because Leo's was qualified to work on Ford
121832 - cars?  ref SDS 4 5222
121833 -
121834 -     [On 991102 Charles decided the customer should be liable for S&C's
121835 -     mistake. ref SDS 10 5852]
121836 - ..
121837 - Charles has not had time to read the record.
121838 - 
121839 - To expedite a solution, he based his decision on conversation and his
121840 - own experience in these matters, because there wasn't enough time to
121841 - check the record, invoices and the warranty submitted to S&C by the
121842 - customer, see ref DIP 2 issued on 951023. ref SDS 6 8564
121843 -
121844 - Charles explained having assumed from the discussions with S&C staff
121845 - that Welch had taken the car to the wrong dealer.  He then decided S&C
121846 - would offer courtesy compensation to assist the customer in recovering
121847 - from a customer mistake, since tires are the responsibility of the
121848 - customer.
121849 -
121850 -     Attributing difficulties to staff, reflects view that failure is
121851 -     caused by staff that did not tell the truth, ref SDS 2 3920, i.e.,
121852 -     an executive disconnected from details, using conversation to
121853 -     "expedite" under feel good management practice reviewed on 911123.
121854 -     ref SDS 1 1331
121855 -
121856 -         [On 960712 prepared paper on challenge to leadership in the
121857 -         age of the Information Highway. ref SDS 14 9302]
121858 - ..
121859 - Charles said S&C must expedite by relying on conversation rather
121860 - than the record of work performed, because S&C's customers demand
121861 - prompt service.
121862 -
121863 - He feels talking is fast and easy; however, the circumstances in this
121864 - case require further analysis to see what was done, and why S&C's
121865 - standard business practices were not followed. He will investigate and
121866 - let me know his findings and decision on how this warranty matter
121867 - should be resolved.  I asked Charles to obtain and review the record
121868 - in our letter, ref DIP 2, then discuss with staff for clarification.
121869 - If he just talks to the staff, it will cause more mistakes, because
121870 - they are busy, and have a limited span of attention, like Charles and
121871 - everyone else.
121872 -
121873 -     [On 961210 the dentist "expedite" work by relying on conversation,
121874 -     because using the record takes too much time, ref SDS 15 2378, and
121875 -
121876 -     [On 961222 Richard Popejoy feels dentists do not have enough time
121877 -     to write. ref SDS 16 8402  Like mechanics looking under the hood,
121878 -     when the dentist looks into a mouth, they can see everything they
121879 -     need to know in order to work effectively. ref SDS 16 0866
121880 -
121881 -     [On 970707 U.S. Air Force article on information entropy shows
121882 -     "expediting" causes continual mistakes. ref SDS 19 0108]
121883 -
121884 -
121885 -  ..
121886 -
121887 - Charles advised it is frustrating to spend so much time on small tasks
121888 - that should be solved in 5 minutes.  He has had to invest 20 minutes
121889 - in our phone call, plus the additional time it will take to read the
121890 - record and follow up. ref SDS 0 8530  He has to go to another meeting,
121891 - and so will not be able to resolve the Welch matter until later.  He
121892 - said that solving these little problems is very, very frustrating.
121893 -
121894 - He will review the record and call back with his ideas for an
121895 - equitable solution.
121896 -
121897 -     [On 951102 S&C wants customers to spend time on small matters that
121898 -     disrupt their work, in order to go fix S&C's mistakes. ref SDS 10
121899 -     5852]
121900 -
121901 -     [On 961106 offered to help S&C improve management to avoid
121902 -     mistakes that cause frustrations. ref SDS 13 0866]
121903 -
121904 -     [On 970707 study shows limited span of attention is overwhelmed by
121905 -     information overload causes continual mistakes. ref SDS 18 0108]
121906 -
121907 -     [On 971008 study shows mistakes that cause rework and frustration
121908 -     are reduced by Com Metrics. ref SDS 20 1273]
121909 -
121910 -     [On 990127 government executives frustrated by continual snafus
121911 -     that should not happen. ref SDS 21 8299]
121912 -
121913 -     [On 990603 spending time on small matters that disrupt the day to
121914 -     fix mistakes. ref SDS 23 3483]
121915 -
121916 -
121917 -
1220 -
1221 -
1222 - .... Charles called back
1223 -
122301 -
122302 -       [On 951102 Charles called back. ref SDS 11]
122303 -
122304 -
1224 -

SUBJECTS
SDS Marketing, Send product information
Ford Motor (S&C Ford)

1405 -
140501 -  ..
140502 - Communication Metrics at Ford
140503 -
140504 - I asked Charles if S&C is looking for ways to improve communications
140505 - to reduce these problems and frustrations?
140506 -
140507 - He said they now reviewing their business processes to make
140508 - improvements.  Charles said Ford Motor supports this effort.  I
140509 - mentioned my work in Communication Metrics using the Schedule Diary
140510 - System (SDS) which appears to offer advantages over S&C's current
140511 - methods.
140512 -
140513 - Charles said I can submit information on SDS and Communication
140514 - Metrics, and he will submit it to Ford.
140515 -
140516 -      [On 951106 did this. ref SDS 13 0866]
140517 -
140518 -
140519 -
140520 -  ..
140521 - ISO 9000 - Automating Traceability
140522 -
140523 - I will submit the paper on the New World Order ... that explains the
140524 - need for automating this process. ref OF 1 7502
140525 -
140526 - The paper cites ISO 10006 on project management.
140527 -
140528 - Ralph Battman at Performex and Bob Hirth at Arthur Anderson report
140529 - that ISO 9000 also calls for a process of traceability to original
140530 - sources, see discussion on 951031. ref SDS 9 9674
140531 -
140532 - Ford likely applies these standards and so appreciates how critical it
140533 - is to effective management.  However, without automation, firms are
140534 - discovering that effective traceability is very difficult to achieve
140535 - because modern communications move too fast for traditional work
140536 - practices, ref SDS 7 3384.  This seems to be what happened on the tire
140537 - problem discussed above. ref SDS 0 8530
140538 - ..
140539 - SDS can make Communication Metrics a strategic risk management
140540 - asset at Ford.
140541 -
140542 -
140543 -
1406 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"