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If the ball is higher then feet level:
· Aim to the right of target. As you swing you will pull the ball.
· Grip down on the club until you are at a comfortable positioning with your arms length.
· Close stance, hands slightly in front of the ball.
· Ball should be positioned in your stance where the club is coming through to the ground. Make sure you take at least two to three practice swings so you can feel where that positioning is. More then likely it will be more towards your left heel, ball positioned left of center.
· Weight more towards left side during swing to keep balanced.
· As you swing be sure to have good arm extension towards target so you get through the swing

GOOD LUCK!
Pam

When considering points of strengths, productivity is one measure to uncover which business processes we perform efficiently. Productivity is a measure of how efficiently we perform business processes. Efficient business processes and systems are organizational strengths.

Recognizing efficient systems and processes gives us a baseline to evaluate strengths. Understanding strengths helps bring core competencies to a tangible level because strengths are identified as concrete process outputs.

When process measurements, such as productivity, are in place, confidence increases in understanding what organizations are good at producing. With an increased confidence level, determining core competencies seems less overwhelming and more tangible to actual products and services.

Business process efficiency is not the only factor to consider when identifying a core competency. However, establishing process measurements and evaluating which systems and processes are efficient, is a good first start in understanding points of strength. After determining an internal diagnostic, our attention can be turned to the external environments of market place, end users and competitors to complete the process of determining core competencies.

Believe it or not there are similarities between ASAP’s packaging process and a golf swing. Everything we do in life has a process. From the mundane: getting up in the morning, making your coffee and driving to work, to the fun: calling the golf course setting up a tee time, driving to the course, we follow processes to achieve desired outcomes. These processes we follow every day become habits.

In a golf swing, it is key how you approach the ball. Each time you approach the ball, there is a process you will follow. Know where your target is when approaching the ball. Grip, posture, stance, weight distribution and swing. In your swing you need to have good tempo in order to deliver the ball properly to the determined target. If you follow this process each time, you will develop good habits and will have proper alignment when stepping up to the ball.

Golf Swing Process

• Target
• Approach
• Weight Distribution
• Tempo

Likewise, when ASAP receives a project, it is very important how that project is set up. First you need to read the project instructions so you are aware of the customer expectations, quality and turn time. In setting up a project you need to measure how much time each process takes, which processes need to be grouped and how many employees will be on the line for it to be balanced and meet customer deadline. How big will the work cell be, how many tables will be needed and what equipment is necessary to do the process? Next we assign employees to the project and match them to a process that is a best fit for their skill set.

Now see how these two processes compare:

Golf Swing Process >> ASAP Packaging Process

• Target >> Customer expectations
• Approach >> Set up
• Weight Distribution >> Line Balance
• Tempo >> Timing

There are a lot of similarities between packaging and golf; they are both process based. The more you work on a process, the more efficient you will be. You will save time, reduce waste and be more likely to hit your target.

Here are some golf tips to improve your drive and approach.

When aligning for your tee shot it is important to approach the ball properly:

• Approach the ball with your feet together
• Shoulder square to target
• Ball in center of stance.
• Grip the club
• Left arm straight
• Ball in line with your left heel
• Move your right foot over until your stance is shoulder width apart
• The butt end of the club should be directly off your belly button your club will be slightly behind the ball
• Flex your knees slightly
• Distribute weight evenly
• Relax! – swing with tempo and rhythm.

 

I once had a big customer who spoke to me about commitment, openness, and trust. However in the end, they couldn't make a commitment, they didn't trust anyone, and if I was open about key issues I got in trouble.

Once I moved on, it was clear to me that my objective of adding a lot of business didn't mean a hill of beans if at the end of the day I didn't get paid.

If I could have been brutally honest from the beginning about what my company's goals were, it’s quite possible we never would have worked together. Had we worked together, we would have had to build in checks and balances from the start. We may have progressed to a lasting relationship.

Never be afraid to ask for what you need as a business.....

Creating lasting customer relationships through brutal honesty requires an environment of trust. Trust is earned early in the development of a relationship, particularly while actively listening to clients. Often for most of us this requires a shift in paradigms to focus on the client’s needs and wants instead of our own. The process of engaging in client centered dialogue and actively listening to the client’s strategies and goals can feel risky.

Risky because, we are checking our ego at the door and relinquish control, and letting someone else drive the meeting. But I find it’s more rewarding to listen, first, and problem solve with our clients once a need is expressed, rather than force a prepackaged 60 second elevator pitch on someone.

When we listen and understand, we feel a connection and our clients become committed to listen to our honest appraisal of their business situations. This commitment leads to lasting relationships, where over time, unexpected business opportunities present themselves.

When trust and honesty exist, both parties move together towards goals. Each person is communicating openly, and the checks and balances of proper documentation are not divisive. Documentation becomes a guide to enhance the relationship.

While developing honest business relationships, it is our job to both actively listen and contribute honest feed back. When we are unable to be honest with a client and yet continue pursuing a client’s project, the costs can be devastating both financially and emotionally. It is said that trust is intuited, not rationalized; if we are not perceiving trust and are not building honest rapport it may be better to move on than to accrue more sunk costs and further risk.

Here are two good books and a blog that I have found insightful which discuss trust in business relationships.

Trust Based Selling: Using Customer Focus and Collaboration to Build Long-Term Relationships by Charles Green

The Trusted Advisor by David Maister

Client Relationships: Honesty is the Best Policy

The Likert Scale uses either a 5 point scale or 7 point scale to measure perceptions or beliefs about a situation, object or person. Here is a quick example of the scale using probability as the attribute being measured:

Rate the probability of your home computer crashing to an irrecoverable state on the following scale.

Score / Probability
1    Very Improbable
2    Improbable
3    Somewhat improbable
4    Neither probable nor improbable
5    Somewhat probable
6    Probable
7    Very Probable

Granted each person perceives risks differently, but for this example I will rate the above stated risk 3-somewhat improbable. You might be thinking right now, “but what about my computer being crippled by a virus or Trojan horse?” So we would apply the scale again to this concern and obviously you would get a different answer depending on if you use or don’t use virus protection. For this exercise, I’ll consider the question without having virus protection software in place, so I’ll rate that as 6-probable.

The next step for using this tool is to use the 7 point scale to estimate the importance or significance of a problem. Taking the first concern and rephrasing it to:

How important or significant would it be if your computer crashed irrecoverably?

Score / Importance-Significance
1    Very unimportant if it happens
2    Unimportant if it happens
3    Somewhat unimportant if it happens
4    Neither important nor unimportant if it happens
5    Somewhat important if it happens
6    Important if it happens
7    Very important if it happens

Seeing that I don’t keep any important files on my home computer and family photos are kept on a different computer I’ll rate that the importance to me as a 4 – neither important nor unimportant. I’ll give the same score to the concern about a virus crippling my computer.

The next step is where the real power of this tool comes in. For each concern, the probability score and the significance score is multiplied together to make a raw priority score. For instance:

Computer crashing irrecoverably | Probability 3 X Significance 4 = 12
Computer crippled by virus | Probability 6 X Significance 4 = 24

Right now with these raw priority scores it is easy to see, if I wanted to take action on one of these risks, my priority score on virus protection is double that of an irrecoverable crash. These scores can be taken one step further and be multiplied by 2 to put them on scale that resembles a 100 point scale or to turn the scores into percentages (actually it is a 98 point scale, where 7 x 7 = 49 x 2 = 98, and 1 x 1 = 1 x 2 = 2).

Using our example:
Computer crashing irrecoverably |raw priority score 12 x 2 = 24%
Computer crippled by virus | raw priority score 24 x2 = 48%

I think this tool becomes more powerful when you are facing many challenges and score each one. Then by listing the challenges in order of the priority score, it becomes clearer what challenges need to be given your time, attention and resources to problem solve.

Credit for this decision making tool goes to Ron Hale-Evans author of Mind Performance Hacks, where this tool and many other useful systems are explored.

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Here is something else that is cool! I recently read an interesting article in the PDMA’s Quarterly Magazine, Visions, March 2010 Issue entitled The Story of Eli Lilly’s Open Innovation Journey - How One Company Developed a Mature Model. The article discusses Eli Lilly’s approach to open innovation, collaborative product development and its creation of alliances. This link is to the article on pages 19-22.

In the next few blog posts, I will explore the impact productivity has on the many facets of an organization. Productivity impacts the release of new products and new product development, strategic planning, pricing strategies, operations and administrative functions.

Businesses, at their core, deliver services and products through complex systems and processes; each of these deliverables takes time to produce. Productivity is the measure of the efficiency of how the output is produced.

Creating a productivity measurement is a three-step process:
1. Process Definition
2. Standardization Study
3. Performance Study

Process definition requires the understanding of why the process exists, who performs the process, the process inputs and outputs, process sequencing, and the delineation of where a process starts and ends. Once these factors are known and documented, the process is measured in terms of time.

Through measuring defined processes in terms of time, we can create processing time trials. During processing time trials, the process is measured from start to finish by taking several samples. In turn, this data is calculated into a baseline of average processing time also known as a standard.

Once a standard processing time is known, we measure real world processing outputs and compare them to the standard processing time, thereby creating productivity measurements. For example, if the standard processing time to create an invoice is 2 minutes and then we measure output over a 1-hour period resulting in 25 units produced, the output productivity over the sample hour is a productivity rate of 83%.

It is important to note that the initial process definition & standardization captures variables that replicate the production environment.

The process of creating productivity measurements is a powerful business tool. Defining all business processes creates a better understanding of how a business performs. Process analysis enables process improvement efforts and tells us how efficiently we are performing specific processes.

Armed with this information, we can begin to answer questions such as:

• What are our organizations points of strength?
• How long will it take to build this new product and is this process time accounted for in the business case analysis?
• How does our processing efficiency affect the Profit & Loss Statement?
• How much does it cost to process an invoice?Where are the constraints in my manufacturing processes and how much do these constraints cost?

The ability to find the answers these multi-disciplined questions is essential to staying competitive in today’s business environment.

Stay tuned for my next blog articles where I explore how productivity measurements are used as a guide in answering these important questions.

Collaboration as a Process
Step 3: Integrate operations

My last blog discussed synchronizing systems, where the goal of this step is to align all stakeholders within the supply chain to efficiently meet end user requirements. Continuing the Collaboration as a Process discussion transitions into step three of the collaborative process, Integrate Operations.

Integrating operations has one objective, to efficiently share dynamic information about end users’ preferences regarding the client’s products and services to all stakeholders within the supply chain delivery system. The ability to respond to dynamic end user requirements delivers on the promise to listen and to understand true needs as expressed by end users.

This extensive information sharing allows all stakeholders to measure sales, to define and refine requirements, to initiate production activities, and to react more quickly to changing inventory needs.  The integration of operations necessitates the building of information communication systems, processes, and infrastructures to efficiently sustain the rapid response rates to changing market needs.

Information sharing directs the appropriate data to the right stakeholders within the supply chain creating the opportunity to seamlessly combine services at a lower per unit cost.  These cost savings derive from the ability to augment product features, maintain lower inventory levels, postpone final product configurations and deliver smaller quantities at larger volume pricing.

Packaging It Up: Collaboration as a Process Summary

Collaboration as a Process has three components: client-centered dialog, synchronize systems, and integrate operations. These three components enable businesses to efficiently deliver products and services that meet the needs of the end customer. To recap:

Client-centered dialog focus on the needs of the end user/customer, which earns trust and is the primary method to obtain information.

Synchronizing systems leverages the best of core competencies from firms in the supply chain.

Integrate operations is the information conduit that supplies dynamic market data from the end user and other market conditions to all stake holders.

The collaborative process is fluid and dynamic as information flows from one step to another. The process creates innovative ways to meet end user requirements in this complex and volatile economy.

The subject of my last blog, Collaboration as a Process, provided a model for thinking about collaboration as process where creating client-centered dialogue is the first step. Shifting our internal paradigm from “Let me tell you about me and my products” to focusing on our client’s paradigm by asking “What are your goals for your products and services?” leads to creating client-centered dialog, which helps to begin uncovering true needs for our clients and end users.

Client-centered dialog and active listening facilitates the free flow of information. We learn about our client’s core competencies. We learn about our client’s strategic objectives and vision for success in the market place. We learn what our client’s are really good at producing, and how they go about bringing their products and services to market. Then, together we can move to problem solving and synchronizing systems.

The goal of synchronizing systems in the collaborative process is to align all stakeholders within the supply chain to efficiently meet end user requirements. This outcome is achieved by exploring the client’s and the supply chain’s systems, processes and core competencies to consider how the combined services can serve to strengthen the client’s positioning to deliver on its strategic objectives.

The process of examining key components uncovers gaps between the client’s strategic objectives in meeting end user requirements and how it delivers on those objectives. These gaps are value creation opportunities. Value creation opportunities include the ability to align stakeholder systems and processes, to reduce or eliminate redundancies, while each stakeholder works within its core competencies. When organizations collaborate within their respective core competencies, organizations can provide efficient solutions to the end user at reduced unit prices and at significantly lower investment cost.

Once the value creation opportunities are identified, supply chain resources are qualified and the systems are synchronized, then the next step in the collaborative process begins. This next step, integrating operations, is critical in delivering the promises of meeting target price points and lowered investment costs.

Continue the conversation with me on my next blog post, where I discuss methods on how to integrate operations within collaborative relationships.

In the product development community, collaboration is an emerging concept and can be thought about as a process. Collaboration appears in Product Manager’s blogs, in product development books and journals as well as the topic of many product development seminars.  Collaboration and collaborative relationship should not be mistaken for the 90’s buzzword, partnership. In product development, collaboration is being conceptualized as a process that is embodied by three main components:

First, to help understand collaboration, it is helpful to consider what it is not collaboration. For distinction, collaboration is not a partnership. Partnerships focus on transactional relationships. To simplify the concept, a partnership implies transactions from one party to another, such as a legally binding relationship where documents are signed for the delivery of products and services for the exchange of money. Collaboration is an idea sharing process where business needs, information and knowledge are willingly contributed and problem solving begins.

To move from partnership thinking to collaboration, we can view collaboration as a process where we focus our energies on one component of the process at a time, then widen our perspective back to the concept of collaboration. The first step in the collaborative process is creating client-centered dialogue.

Creating client-centered dialogue requires the development of an open and trusting environment. Creating this environment requires a shift in our context or paradigm from “me” or “my” to “you” and “ours,” and most importantly that of the end user. We shift from an internal paradigm: “Let me tell you about me and my products, my services…,” to focusing on our customers paradigm by asking, “What are your goals for your products and services? What types of challenges are you facing? What needs are being left unfulfilled?"

When we collaborate, we intentionally shift our thinking to that of our clients wants, needs and desires. We then are free to ask open-ended questions, actively listen and brainstorm ideas. Through shifting our paradigm, we change our dialogue and we begin the collaborative process.

Creating client-centered dialogue allows opportunities for the free flow of information, thereby, true business and end-user's needs can be uncovered.  When we discover these true needs (or gaps), a different opportunity presents itself, the opportunity to innovate! Thereby, we create a unique and differentiated value for the end-user. Additionally, the intentional focus on collaboration can be purposed to lowering overall unit prices, quickening response times, and lowering inventory levels while enhancing the end users’ experience with our products and services. 

In the first essential step in collaborating, we are initiating client-centered dialogue to begin achieving an opportunity to create an exceptional value for the client(s). To continue the value creation in the collaborative process, it is necessary to analyze and determine how to synchronize with client systems.

Stay tuned for my next blog, where I will discuss my methods on how organizations can synchronize systems to deliver exceptional value to clients.

Enjoy!

When Sara Taylor-Niemann turned over her production facility to making ‘bundles of love’ for a day in October of 2008, she didn’t know how much love she was giving.

“This is the biggest one-day event we’ve had from any company in the whole time that we’ve been around,” said Teresa Wilts, North Metro work coordinator for Bundles of Love.

Bundles of Love is an all-volunteer organization that sends needy mothers of newborns home from the hospital with a pack of 25 items that they will need to care for their babies – blankets, sleepers, bibs, diaper bags and more.

Taylor-Niemann is owner and president of Assembly Services And Packaging Inc., a small company in the town of Hudson that usually puts together and packages things for customers like 3M Co., Target, Imation and PUR Water Filtration Systems.

ASAP started in 1995 with a staff of six in a rented facility next to the Hudson Sports & Civic Center. The company moved to a building at 579 Schommer Drive in the town of Hudson in January 2007.

It now employs about 20 production workers and does contract assembly and packaging work for some 150 corporations worldwide.

Early this year, when Taylor-Niemann was looking for a charity to aid as part of a Corporate Citizenship Day, her sister-in-law steered her to Bundles of Love.

On Friday, Oct. 24, ASAP suspended its regular production and went to work cutting and sewing baby blankets, newborn gowns, bibs and burp cloths – and butting snaps on sleepers and bibs.

Six ASAP managers and 14 production employees participated, along with three members of a First Presbyterian Church sewing group and other community volunteers.

In all, 236 work hours were donated to cut and sew 274 blankets, 223 burp cloths, 42 newborn gowns, 30 bibs and six sleepers. Snaps were put in a month’s supply of sleepers.

ASAP also donated an industrial sewing machine to Bundles of Love, along with $845 that the company collected from business associates.

“Our volunteers were amazed by just how many receiving blankets were finished, never mind all the other stuff. It’s hard for me to describe how much we appreciate what you’ve done for us,” Wilts wrote to Taylor-Niemann in an email following the event.

The need is real
Asked how serious the need is for the services of Bundles of Love, Wilts answered: “Oh, boy. When I started with this group that’s what I thought, too.”

Living in the comfortable suburb of Mounds View, Minn., she doesn’t see much poverty, Wilts said.

“But boy what a nasty surprise I got when I started working with this group and finding out what it’s really like.”

Wilts told the story of a pregnant woman so malnourished that a doctor gave her nutrients in IV bags to take with her. She was living in a car, so she would hang the IV bag from the rearview mirror.

“These are not isolated stories,” Wilts said. “The poverty that we have here, that don’t even know about and don’t see, is just terrible. We have groups on our waiting list because we don’t have enough volunteers or enough cash to make as many bundles as we really need.”

Bundles of Love was founded in 1999 by Mary Jo Prinsen of Apple Valley, Minn., who got the idea of using her hobby of sewing to help impoverished babies and mothers that she had learned about through the Internet.

The charity now has hundreds of volunteers who supply close to 50 clinics, hospitals and social service agencies with free bundles of infant supplies.

Presbyterian sewing group
The women’s sewing group at First Presbyterian Church of Hudson has been purchasing fabric and sewing items for Bundles of Love for two years.

The sewing group meets from 9 a.m. to noon the first and third Tuesday of each month in the fellowship hall of the church at 1901 Vine St.

Georgia Whitcomb, a regular with the sewing group, learned that ASAP was planning a workday fro Bundles of Love through her husband, Dick, who is active in the Hudson Area Chamber of Commerce.

Whitcomb offered to join the ASAP crew and was welcomed, along with fellow sewing group members Renee Snow and Sharon Schweitzer.

“It turned out to be just a delightful experience for us,” Whitcomb said. “We thought we were only going to stay about four hours. We ended up staying about six because we were having such a good time.”

ASAP provided the workers with a catered lunch from Kaladi’s delicatessen, 3250 Heiser St.

Whitcomb said Wilts brought between 12 and 18 serger sewing machines for the workers to use.

“It was a major effort for her to bring all that stuff out,” Whitcomb added.

You can learn more about Bundles of Love at www.bundlesoflove.org, and about Assembly Services And Packaging, Inc. at www.asapwi.com.