LOGISTICS GIANT
VOLUME MANAGEMENT FedEx CEO Fred Smith’s guidance affects more than 8.5 million shipments every business day.
effectiveness. How does FedEx approach quality, and how important has it been to the company’s success?
A. From the beginning, FedEx has made quality a core value and in the ’90s was the first service company to win the Mal- colm Baldrige [National Quality] Award. Today we use Quality-Driven Manage- ment (QDM) to keep a sharp eye out for gaps, overlaps, and wasted effort. QDM is also essential to design systems of greater flexibility in the event of disasters, politi- cal unrest, or work disruptions.
The six QDM principles help us focus on the right things and eliminate nonessen- tial activities.
• Customers Define Quality: Strive to understand customer requirements and expectations.
• Be Scientific: Base decisions on facts 88 Army AL&T Magazine and data, not guesses or opinions.
• Measure, Measure, Measure: Measure failures, measure variation.
• Optimize Business Performance: Mini- mize unnecessary effort, time, and cost.
• Quality Involves Teamwork: See work as a collaborative process.
• View Failures as Opportunities: Seek the truth, and end the blame game.
The quality process, no matter which one you use, is a never-ending cycle that enables excellent organizations to keep meeting the challenges of a more demand- ing global marketplace.
Q. Do you have advice for organiza- tional leaders on how best to prepare for cutbacks in their operations?
A. The most important principle is com- munication. If circumstances change for the worse and an organization must make
hard decisions, the rationale for those decisions must be communicated hon- estly to all involved.
During the recession, we found it necessary to stop our 401(k) match, suspend bonuses, and reduce salaries for all management and professional staff (but not front-line work- ers). We explained that volumes were down (any front-line team member already knew that) and that we needed to take difficult measures to save as many jobs as pos- sible. We also said that when our volumes improved, we would restore some of the original benefits. Since the economy has begun a slow but steady growth, we are reinstating some of the pay benefits.
Such communication doesn’t make tough decisions pleasant, but at least it helps people understand the business “whys” and possibly the ways in which they can contribute to a solution.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140
