Our
commitment to excellence and to continual improvement
began in 1975 with the company's founding by two
DuPont chemical engineers. Our Continual Improvement
Process (CIP) is ongoing and is heavily influenced
by the philosophy and teachings of Dr. W. Edwards
Deming.
We subscribe to each of Dr. Deming's 14 points.
We continue to seek ways to consistently apply the
concepts of those 14 points in our day-to-day activities
in the company.
We
believe in statistical thinking and in the importance
of understanding variation. We believe in the concepts
of common causes (normal: from the system) as opposed
to special causes (abnormal: not from the system).
We believe in optimization of entire systems. We
believe that it is wasteful and counterproductive
to suboptimize which often results from (1) too
narrow- and/or too short-range a focus on individual
system components, sometimes called fragmented myopia,
or (2) the well-meaning, but harmful, introduction
and endorsement of competitive driving forces within
an organization.
We believe in root-cause analyses, system improvements,
and reliability rather than inspection or the pursuit
of scapegoats.
We
believe in partnerships, cooperation, and teamwork.
We believe in seamless interfaces between our customers
and us, our alliance partners and us, and our suppliers
and us.
We believe in striving for true win-win situations.
We believe in a focus on the long term, balanced
with a practical recognition of near-term needs
and constraints.
We believe in the importance of understanding and
dealing with tradeoffs, contradictions, and dynamic
complexity.
The
heart of our CIP is our people (associates). Over
the first 24 years of the company's existence, a
high priority and an intense focus have been placed
on finding, recruiting, selecting, training, encouraging,
empowering, and retaining outstanding people. We
have been very successful in these efforts, and
we have found that this process builds upon itself.
Outstanding people are usually willing and able
to help find and recruit others of high competence
and high character to become team members.
We
believe in the philosophy and teachings of Dr. Stephen
Covey and in his concepts of the Seven Habits
of Highly Effective People and Principle-Centered
Leadership.
We believe in a flat, highly interactive, interdependent
organization and in the empowerment and trust of
all of our people (associates).
We believe in the philosophy and teachings of Robert
Greenleaf and Max DuPree with regard to their concepts
of Servant Leadership.
Our
CIP is heavily focused and dependent on (1) our
belief in the importance of strong, positive interpersonal
relationships which are based on trust, and (2)
our belief that trust is ultimately based on consistently
demonstrated trustworthiness.
Our
CIP is facilitated and strengthened by the company's
organizational structure, which is very flat. That
flat structure enhances flexibility, interactivity,
innovation, empowerment, teamwork, responsiveness,
effectiveness, intrinsic motivation, and true value.
Our evolving organizational structure includes two
primary organizational elements: (1) external services
and (2) internal services. We have three corporate
leaders, two of whom focus primarily on external
services issues and one of whom focuses primarily
on internal services issues.
Within
each of our two organizational elements (external
services and internal services) are groups. Each
group is led by a senior leader. Titles such as
director, officer, manager, and supervisor are not
used within our company. Instead, we have corporate
leaders, senior leaders, and associates.
Any
associate in any group may serve at any time in
a lead role on a particular project or task. Groups
and group members often work jointly on projects
and tasks. Strong emphasis is placed on cooperation,
teamwork, constancy of purpose, and systemic thinking,
and optimization of the whole. Competition between
organizational elements, between groups, or between
individuals is strongly discouraged. Competitive
thinking and competitive behavior are viewed as
suboptimal, myopic, counterproductive, and totally
out of alignment with our CIP.
In
1990, a new phase of our evolving continual improvement
process began. In 1990, a series of leadership conferences
was begun. By the end of that year, every person
who was then employed by our company had attended
one of those conferences. The conferences centered
on the theme In Pursuit of Excellence and focused
on our Standards and Values.
During
those conferences, it was emphasized that opportunities
(as well as needs) for leadership exist at all times,
at all levels, in all parts of the organization,
and for all associates, no matter how long they
may have been with the company. And it was emphasized
that every associate serves customers, either external
customers or internal customers and often both.
The
leadership conferences continue to be held periodically
for new associates who have joined the company since
the last conference. Each time a conference is held,
efforts are made to expand and improve the content.
Feedback from attendees provides an excellent source
of ideas for improvement.
In
1991, a quality steering committee (QSC) was formed.
Seven associates from across the company served
as members of the QSC. Their purpose was to study,
learn, and help find ways to assist corporate leaders,
senior leaders, and other associates in our CIP
initiative.
In
early 1995, a new phase of our evolving CIP began
with the formation of two customer councils. One
council was composed of associates from across the
company to focus on external customer issues. The
other council was composed of associates from across
the company to focus on internal customer issues.
In
late 1996, a new phase began with the formation
of a Learning Systems Council. The purpose of this
council was to help find ways to accelerate the
transformation of the company into a true learning
organization. This initiative focused on the publications
of Dr. Peter Senge, including The Fifth Discipline
and The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook.
Also
in 1996, the concept of a separate sales function
with a separate sales staff was abandoned in favor
of integrating throughout the company the full responsibility
for developing and maintaining relationships with
our external customers. This seemingly radical organizational
change was made after extensive study of the research
and publications of Dr. Leonard Berry of Texas A&M,
a world-renowned expert in the unique aspects of
the marketing and delivery of services (in particular,
professional services) as opposed to the marketing
and delivery of goods.
Efforts
to fully integrate the ultimate responsibility for
building and maintaining customer relationships
throughout the entire organization are ongoing.
Movement toward convergence and integration of the
"promise maker" roles with the "promise
keeper" roles has been a very beneficial change
that is believed to be especially important in a
service business such as ours. And, that convergence
and integration are well-aligned with the findings
and teachings of Dr. Berry.
Since
this change began in 1996, associates throughout
the company have had increasing opportunities to
actively participate in our new, evolving process
of finding new customers and then developing and
maintaining strong relationships with those customers.
With the opportunities to more actively participate
have come new challenges and professional growth.
And as a result of that increased participation,
a stronger organization has now been built with
much more capability to pursue, and then to maintain,
the kinds of customer relationships we desire.
Dr.
Deming believed that results cannot be fully measured
or accurately reflected by the use of "visible
figures" alone. We agree. There are many different
indicators we use to help us know how we are doing
relative to our mission. Some of those indicators
involve visible figures, and some do not.
One important indicator we use is the frequency
with which we are awarded sole-source, relationship-based,
and value-based repeat business by an increasing
number of reputable customers at more and more of
their locations world-wide. It is high.
Another important indicator we use is the number
of new, desirable customers we add each year. Since
the beginning of 1997, we have added 53 new customers.
