It’s almost like some retailers finally read the memo. They seem to now understand that customer service is the new differentiator. With quality levels and prices across almost all product categories nearly at par, it’s service that sets retailers apart--and smaller retailers have taken note. I was recently at a new Safeway supermarket looking for dried currants. I asked the nearest ... [Read More]

Curmudgeonly Customer Service I often agree with Scott Paton’s columns bemoaning the state of customer service in America (“Customer Service?” “Quality Curmudgeon,” October 2008) Then there are times when something happens that gives you hope. Our 10-year-old daughter has several American Girl dolls. One of these dolls had a problem--her eyelash had come off. However, for a ... [Read More]

A Different Side to Risk Management A s a result of the ongoing credit crisis, senior managers in financial services firms are reassessing their risk management processes. This is leading to a greater emphasis on enterprise risk management (ERM) or firmwide risk management, according to “The Bigger Picture: Enterprise Risk Management in Financial Services Organisations,” an Economist ... [Read More]

Take a look at the control chart in figure 1. There are no observations outside the common-cause limits, but there are five special-cause flags: • Observation 5: Two out of three consecutive points greater than two standard deviations away from the mean • Observations 21 and 30-32: Four out of five consecutive points greater than one standard deviation away from the mean ... [Read More]

Gwendolyn D. Galsworth, Ph.D., is an educator, implementer, and a researcher with more than 25 years in the field of workplace visuality. Considered by many a leading visual expert, Galsworth is the author of a number of books on organizational improvement and workplace visuality, including Visual Workplace, Visual Thinking (Visual-Lean Enterprise Press, 2005), recipient of the Shingo ... [Read More]

Mammoet USA Inc., the United States division of Netherlands-based Mammoet, a worldwide leader in heavy lifting and transport, brought a challenging problem to P Squared Consulting of The Woodlands, Texas. A new management team, in place about a year, had set a very aggressive goal to triple the size of the division within three years through acquisitions and organic growth. However, with the ... [Read More]