March 22, 2016 at 10:398 types of telecom losses
By analogy with publication 1, I decided to make a similar analysis, but only from the point of view of my experience in telecom. I will exclusively analyze my situation, I think that for others it will not be similar, but it may be similar.
Let me remind you that in accordance with publication 2, "loss" in Japanese is called "muda", this is any activity that consumes resources, but does not create value for the client.
So, Muda 1: losses due to excess reserves.
This type of loss in telecom can include:
- a communication network that does not pay off;
- stocks.
Communication network.
In general, a moot point, because in telecom, a communication network is the basis of the company's capitalization, so to speak, “fixed asset”. However, from the definition of “muda,” if a communication network consumes resources (and in any case, resources are required for its construction and maintenance) and does not “create values for the client” in the form of communication services, then this is really a loss. Those. in any case, the communication network should generate income, moreover, one that covers expenses (“captain evidence”?). Income from a communication network can be obtained from its growth and from an increase in the profitability of the constructed network. Usually the “increase in profitability” is pushed, because it is easier to increase the total income due to growth. Any network growth requires investment. The larger the growth, the greater the investment, that is, the costs that commerce always seeks to reduce. With a decrease in investment, the growth is crooked. We built up to some district, “skimmed the cream” from 1-2 large customers and ran on. Then these customers left, the network immediately became unprofitable. What to do? You can dismantle the communication nodes of a given segment of the communication network, reducing their costs, you can recall the increase in profitability of the constructed network. Usually choose the first option, because it is easier. All this is treated only by increasing the profitability of the built communication network, but here the question of “how” is the responsibility of sellers and merchants and their motivation.
Stocks.
In order to reduce the time of purchasing equipment and materials, as well as reduce dependence on suppliers' problems, a stock is usually created in a telecom. Replenishment of stocks is a necessary thing, it allows to reduce the time of connecting a client. However, the list of equipment and materials is ordered by technicians, and their supply service buys them, which does not care about the actual need for a particular position. If the suppliers have not yet been clearly set the task, then “according to the law of global harmfulness” is absolutely not purchased. Further, a number of items in the list soon cease to be relevant, new items appear in the purchasing list, and old items from the list are not deleted. This "iron" lies in the warehouse and no one uses it. How to fight? In principle, it is necessary that this list of equipment is constantly updated. Automation of procurement processes helps very well. If you want to add a new position to the list, delete the old one, even if the old one still seems to be not quite old.
However, there is one more point. When upgrading the communication network, the old equipment is dismantled and sent again to the warehouse. Over time, it becomes a lot. Sometimes attempts to somehow sell it all are initiated. Usually unsuccessful, because there is more fuss than benefits, especially since the equipment is really old and no one uses it at all. In the future, it is simply scrapped or thrown away.
How to fight? Dismantled equipment must be sold immediately while it is still in demand. Of course, this may be against accounting, because for the price for which they are ready to buy a piece of iron, they are not ready to sell it. But otherwise, in my opinion, only increase this option muda.
Muda 2: loss due to unnecessary transportation.
Here I would attribute the problems associated with the fact that someone is doing something wrong, getting used to doing it “the old way” when “everyone did it like that”. Personal professional incompetence is the cause of these losses. New industry technologies include new knowledge, new work procedures, new tools, new materials. If you do not use them, the quality of work decreases, and the terms increase.
How to fight? Helps the banal training of employees, and not only ordinary. It’s great if it is periodic and covers all services. It is not necessary to send everyone to study, you can send one or two with the subsequent load of training colleagues.
Muda 3: overproduction losses.
This would include operational losses on maintenance or restoration of the communication network. It is tightly connected with Muda 1. Often, when connecting a client, they save so much at the necessary costs that they then sharply increase operating costs. We saved on the method of connecting the client - we got the need for daily field trips to fix problems. It is eliminated by only one - competent justification of installation payments and shifting of further operational costs to the budget of the same people who ordered the work. This is not necessarily about the end customer, it is about the commercial department of the telecom.
Muda 4: time loss due to waiting.
As they say, waiting and catching up is the most thankless task, especially in telecom. If, in anticipation of any approvals (agreements by lawyers or accounting) or approvals (projects by different committees), you also face the fear of specific individuals to make decisions, take responsibility, then the whole thing is a “trumpet”. When someone asks you to prepare material for consideration of the project by some financial committee, and then the first one votes against it, it hits you hard. Even worse, when these expectations really cause problems on the communication network and increase losses according to Muda 3.
Muda 5: losses due to unnecessary processing steps.
For this loss, you can rant for a very long time. I will dwell on the practice of holding meaningless and endless meetings. There is one pattern in management theory: the duration of a meeting and the number of participants are inversely proportional to the effectiveness of the meeting. The fewer people gather for a meeting and the less they consult in duration, the more effective the meetings. An ideal meeting of 3 interested people for 20 minutes. You should always remember that a meeting is a way of making decisions by a working group. Therefore, before the meeting, everyone should know what topic they are going to, what options are available. Each participant should leave the meeting with a specific task (who does what, by what date and how). Otherwise, options are possible, such as, “we think about this issue until the next meeting”, or “we continue to think about this issue,” or “but let us nevertheless compose the intelligible text” (algorithm, order, etc., necessary to emphasize). All this should already be ready for the meeting in the form of options. I also admit the options when people are going to “crackle” on a topic or simply tell the boss what is happening on one topic or another, but would call it “information”.
I will not say that because of these losses, new telecommunication services are introduced for a long time or projects are slowed down.
Muda 6: loss due to unnecessary movements.
The client calls his telecom with some kind of problem, and they begin to redirect him several times to a new employee due to the fact that the one with whom the client was talking cannot solve his problem for one reason or another. Complicated if each time the client is forced to repeat the description of his problem. Common situation? The idea is to be treated by the fact that people appear in the office who are able to solve any client problems. Usually this responsibility is assigned to technical support. The difficulty is that their competence for this must be sufficiently high.
It happens differently, a client is called by several different people from telecom at different times and ask the same thing on the same topic. The problem is peculiar to projects in which there is no one responsible, when everyone is responsible only for his piece. However, if there is no person responsible, then he must be appointed.
Muda 7: Losses due to defective products.
A classic quality problem. They worked with the client so that after an hour he handed back the inoperative service or, even worse, the communication network segment “fell on its side and did not want to get up”. When you start to understand, the reasons turn out to be commonplace - they worked sloppy with the clutch and hit the working fiber, prescribed clumsy routing and killed a whole pool of addressing, etc. Lack of competence, accuracy, non-observance of the rules of production processes, etc. It is well treated with one rule: " nakosyachil - and correct it. " Leave for the place, apologize to the customers, and if because of this you fill up other tasks (yours + strangers) - be sure that your homeland will not forget you.
Muda 8: unrealized creativity of employees.
I will not discover America if I say that projects that are initiated and carried out by the same employees are best implemented. Successfully implemented or simply launched projects on the initiative from below also “light a fire” in the eyes of colleagues. However, these lights are extinguished by the head’s response in the style of “Don't make a wave.” A couple of times "turned off the light", you look and the subordinate stopped initiative to go out or began to grumble on the topic "swamp, nobody needs anything." Working in such a team is still a pleasure, although everything is predictable and some like it. That's just a breakthrough will not be there. Is this good or bad? In a developing telecom, it’s bad, because the market does not stand still and it is necessary to quickly respond to its challenges. And here it is necessary for the leader to push colleagues' initiative into implementation, having carefully analyzed them for adequacy. In telecom
Let me remind you that in accordance with publication 2, "loss" in Japanese is called "muda", this is any activity that consumes resources, but does not create value for the client.
So, Muda 1: losses due to excess reserves.
This type of loss in telecom can include:
- a communication network that does not pay off;
- stocks.
Communication network.
In general, a moot point, because in telecom, a communication network is the basis of the company's capitalization, so to speak, “fixed asset”. However, from the definition of “muda,” if a communication network consumes resources (and in any case, resources are required for its construction and maintenance) and does not “create values for the client” in the form of communication services, then this is really a loss. Those. in any case, the communication network should generate income, moreover, one that covers expenses (“captain evidence”?). Income from a communication network can be obtained from its growth and from an increase in the profitability of the constructed network. Usually the “increase in profitability” is pushed, because it is easier to increase the total income due to growth. Any network growth requires investment. The larger the growth, the greater the investment, that is, the costs that commerce always seeks to reduce. With a decrease in investment, the growth is crooked. We built up to some district, “skimmed the cream” from 1-2 large customers and ran on. Then these customers left, the network immediately became unprofitable. What to do? You can dismantle the communication nodes of a given segment of the communication network, reducing their costs, you can recall the increase in profitability of the constructed network. Usually choose the first option, because it is easier. All this is treated only by increasing the profitability of the built communication network, but here the question of “how” is the responsibility of sellers and merchants and their motivation.
Stocks.
In order to reduce the time of purchasing equipment and materials, as well as reduce dependence on suppliers' problems, a stock is usually created in a telecom. Replenishment of stocks is a necessary thing, it allows to reduce the time of connecting a client. However, the list of equipment and materials is ordered by technicians, and their supply service buys them, which does not care about the actual need for a particular position. If the suppliers have not yet been clearly set the task, then “according to the law of global harmfulness” is absolutely not purchased. Further, a number of items in the list soon cease to be relevant, new items appear in the purchasing list, and old items from the list are not deleted. This "iron" lies in the warehouse and no one uses it. How to fight? In principle, it is necessary that this list of equipment is constantly updated. Automation of procurement processes helps very well. If you want to add a new position to the list, delete the old one, even if the old one still seems to be not quite old.
However, there is one more point. When upgrading the communication network, the old equipment is dismantled and sent again to the warehouse. Over time, it becomes a lot. Sometimes attempts to somehow sell it all are initiated. Usually unsuccessful, because there is more fuss than benefits, especially since the equipment is really old and no one uses it at all. In the future, it is simply scrapped or thrown away.
How to fight? Dismantled equipment must be sold immediately while it is still in demand. Of course, this may be against accounting, because for the price for which they are ready to buy a piece of iron, they are not ready to sell it. But otherwise, in my opinion, only increase this option muda.
Muda 2: loss due to unnecessary transportation.
Here I would attribute the problems associated with the fact that someone is doing something wrong, getting used to doing it “the old way” when “everyone did it like that”. Personal professional incompetence is the cause of these losses. New industry technologies include new knowledge, new work procedures, new tools, new materials. If you do not use them, the quality of work decreases, and the terms increase.
How to fight? Helps the banal training of employees, and not only ordinary. It’s great if it is periodic and covers all services. It is not necessary to send everyone to study, you can send one or two with the subsequent load of training colleagues.
Muda 3: overproduction losses.
This would include operational losses on maintenance or restoration of the communication network. It is tightly connected with Muda 1. Often, when connecting a client, they save so much at the necessary costs that they then sharply increase operating costs. We saved on the method of connecting the client - we got the need for daily field trips to fix problems. It is eliminated by only one - competent justification of installation payments and shifting of further operational costs to the budget of the same people who ordered the work. This is not necessarily about the end customer, it is about the commercial department of the telecom.
Muda 4: time loss due to waiting.
As they say, waiting and catching up is the most thankless task, especially in telecom. If, in anticipation of any approvals (agreements by lawyers or accounting) or approvals (projects by different committees), you also face the fear of specific individuals to make decisions, take responsibility, then the whole thing is a “trumpet”. When someone asks you to prepare material for consideration of the project by some financial committee, and then the first one votes against it, it hits you hard. Even worse, when these expectations really cause problems on the communication network and increase losses according to Muda 3.
Muda 5: losses due to unnecessary processing steps.
For this loss, you can rant for a very long time. I will dwell on the practice of holding meaningless and endless meetings. There is one pattern in management theory: the duration of a meeting and the number of participants are inversely proportional to the effectiveness of the meeting. The fewer people gather for a meeting and the less they consult in duration, the more effective the meetings. An ideal meeting of 3 interested people for 20 minutes. You should always remember that a meeting is a way of making decisions by a working group. Therefore, before the meeting, everyone should know what topic they are going to, what options are available. Each participant should leave the meeting with a specific task (who does what, by what date and how). Otherwise, options are possible, such as, “we think about this issue until the next meeting”, or “we continue to think about this issue,” or “but let us nevertheless compose the intelligible text” (algorithm, order, etc., necessary to emphasize). All this should already be ready for the meeting in the form of options. I also admit the options when people are going to “crackle” on a topic or simply tell the boss what is happening on one topic or another, but would call it “information”.
I will not say that because of these losses, new telecommunication services are introduced for a long time or projects are slowed down.
Muda 6: loss due to unnecessary movements.
The client calls his telecom with some kind of problem, and they begin to redirect him several times to a new employee due to the fact that the one with whom the client was talking cannot solve his problem for one reason or another. Complicated if each time the client is forced to repeat the description of his problem. Common situation? The idea is to be treated by the fact that people appear in the office who are able to solve any client problems. Usually this responsibility is assigned to technical support. The difficulty is that their competence for this must be sufficiently high.
It happens differently, a client is called by several different people from telecom at different times and ask the same thing on the same topic. The problem is peculiar to projects in which there is no one responsible, when everyone is responsible only for his piece. However, if there is no person responsible, then he must be appointed.
Muda 7: Losses due to defective products.
A classic quality problem. They worked with the client so that after an hour he handed back the inoperative service or, even worse, the communication network segment “fell on its side and did not want to get up”. When you start to understand, the reasons turn out to be commonplace - they worked sloppy with the clutch and hit the working fiber, prescribed clumsy routing and killed a whole pool of addressing, etc. Lack of competence, accuracy, non-observance of the rules of production processes, etc. It is well treated with one rule: " nakosyachil - and correct it. " Leave for the place, apologize to the customers, and if because of this you fill up other tasks (yours + strangers) - be sure that your homeland will not forget you.
Muda 8: unrealized creativity of employees.
I will not discover America if I say that projects that are initiated and carried out by the same employees are best implemented. Successfully implemented or simply launched projects on the initiative from below also “light a fire” in the eyes of colleagues. However, these lights are extinguished by the head’s response in the style of “Don't make a wave.” A couple of times "turned off the light", you look and the subordinate stopped initiative to go out or began to grumble on the topic "swamp, nobody needs anything." Working in such a team is still a pleasure, although everything is predictable and some like it. That's just a breakthrough will not be there. Is this good or bad? In a developing telecom, it’s bad, because the market does not stand still and it is necessary to quickly respond to its challenges. And here it is necessary for the leader to push colleagues' initiative into implementation, having carefully analyzed them for adequacy. In telecom
