Email Jim at jthompson@taii.com

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Quality comes in many shapes and forms. I want to talk about some of them this week.

The first is being on time to meetings. In person, conference call, web conference call, I don't care--you should be on time. In a physical meeting, that means you are in the room and seated at least slightly before the announced start time. On the phone, call in ahead of time, or if you are to be called, be at your phone, waiting for the call.

Of course, once in a while, you will be late. However, I think you will agree with me, that within the coterie of people with whom you normally interact, you know which ones are chronically late. When I am in one of my better moods, I think they should be fired. At other times, I think that is too good for them.

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Morning meetings present some of the most egregious quality violations. If I were ever a mill manager again, I would impose several rules for morning meetings:

1. There would be a box outside the room for all radios, cell phones and other communications devices.

2. The only interruption I would want to hear would be a fire alarm or tornado siren.

3. Everyone should come with all the paperwork needed for the standard morning meeting. This includes their calendars (unless their calendars are on their phones, in which case those people should at least have in their heads their appointments for the day).

4. No long storytelling.

5. Come to the meeting already knowing the KPIs for the previous day (that is, safety incidents, production tons, downtime and so forth). We don't have the meeting to learn what these are; we have the meeting to determine what we are going to do next.

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Developers up to their old tricks... Check out the latest edition of Strategic & Financial Arguments.

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There is a concept in golf called "ready golf." The idea is that you walk smartly up to your ball and are ready to take your shot when it is your turn. It keeps the course from becoming clogged up. Play your job the same way.

There are so many who walk around ignoring these items, items I categorize as quality issues. You see, quality is not just about physical objects; it is about services, too. At your employment location, at your customer's place of business, you are serving others, even if you are the mill manager. A crisp operation where everyone respects everyone else is one that sets high standards and meets lofty goals.

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Dr. Peter Hart will be reporting on the developments of the Eucalyptus Plantation Program in the SE United States at the at the 7th Annual Light Green Machine Institute Conference (16 - 18 Oct 16 in Raleigh, NC)

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This is the reason the military functions well. They start with the kinds of things I am talking about in this column, in fact, they go several steps further. They start with the uniform. They spend a lot of time on the uniform and what they call "customs and courtesies." These are all quality issues and set the tone of quality expected. I have seen a number of military veterans come out of the service, join our industry and remark about how sloppy and lackadaisical we are. They are correct. Quality starts when you rise from your bed in the morning.

What do you think? Let us know by taking our quiz this week here.

For safety this week, we do practice more quality principles in our safety programs and training than we do in our everyday mill life. We need to find a way to pass these principles on.

Be safe and we will talk next week.

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