To be successful in
standardization, you must
take on the main objections
clearly and
straightforwardly.
Delay and loss of control
are the main arguments—previously
they could analyze the
situation and make a
change or a purchase
immediately. Both of these
arguments
are valid and are part of
the costs of standardization.
The way to address this is
(1) to make sure that the
benefits outweigh these
costs and (2) to limit them
as
much as possible. This can
be accomplished by putting
definite time limits on
responses and
standardization
efforts and to make sure
that the cross-functional
team
is well represented from all
areas. Lastly, you will only
be successful with
management dictate. Your
most important
tasks are prior to even
starting. You must convince
management of the importance
of this effort and receive
their signatures because
even they sometimes weaken
when their pet project is
evaluated.
The largest impediment to
standardization is vested
interests. There will always
be vested interests, and arguing
with these people is futile.
There must be a
non-subjective way to decide
between competing systems;
otherwise it becomes a
battle of personalities and
opinions.
If you have a procedure and
can define everything
in black and white, the
decisions become obvious.
The only way to win is to
have concurrence, top
management
support, and hard data. When
you have this, vested
interests melt away. Hard
data is created by using a
matrix. On one side will be
a rated importance and on
the other will be a rated
capability to meet the
stated
requirement. Take all the
information of the
participants
and rate accordingly. This
number will be the functionality
rating, which will be
recorded along with cost,
time
to deliver, current degree
of standardization,
ease-of-use,
cost savings, benefits, etc.
This final rating is the
hard
data desired.
A few years ago in
DaimlerChrysler Stamping-America,
a realization of a problem
occurred. New systems
were proliferating at an
alarming rate, their
utilization was dismal, and
too much time was taken
on training and retraining.
Of course, knowledge of a
problem is the first step in
recovery. The next step was
to catalog the current
systems. This was not an
easy or
quick assignment. Once
catalogued, they were
assigned
categories in order to
evaluate them based on
functionality and overlap.
Finally, priorities were
assigned and
cross-functional teams were
put into place to take on
the task. Hard data was
collected for each system
and
decisions were made on
standardization. Once these
team decisions were made, a
signed document from top
management was issued to
assure there was no second-guessing
the intent. Most important,
this decision was
referenced in the purchasing
process.
Continued