FIXING THE LEAKS: Patching Little Problems Can Make a Big Difference to Your Company
According to the EPA, 1 trillion gallons of water are
by small, almost imperceptible leaks, like a dripping
lost every year due to household leaks; that’s enough
faucet or a broken sprinkler system. What may seem
water to supply over 11 million homes for an entire
like a small problem, if it gets noticed at all, can lead
year (EPA 2020). Apart from (hopefully) infrequent
to huge increases in cost over time.
plumbing disasters, most of this lost water is caused
Y
ou may be facing a similar situation in your
and procedures. When these events happen, are your
business. Does your organization have
people ready to adapt, or is there time lost due to
inefficiencies, areas of waste, or other problems that
relearning what was done before? Having well-defined
have persisted for too long? Are there projects that
processes for things like conducting inventory can
need your attention but
compensate for personnel
always get pushed aside by
changes, forgetfulness, and
the latest crisis? Too many of us are distracted by short term issues and we neglect those underlying problems, the ones that don’t seem urgent but actually decrease productivity and profits over time. Let’s talk about a few ways you can identify these inefficiencies
...are your people ready to adapt, or is there time lost due to relearning what was done before?
other problems that cost a tremendous amount of time. If you’ve just gone through one of these events or seasonal changes, take the time to sit down with your team, review how it went, and put records in place to ensure smoother transitions
and avoid wasted time,
next time around. “We’ll deal
energy, and resources.
with it next year” is a recipe
TIGHTEN UP PROCEDURE
for repeating the same problems over and over and
Think about the tasks your company does only once
recreating waste.
or twice a year, essential but infrequent functions like
DELEGATE PROPERLY
supply inventories, budget planning, and audits. You
One reason you may not have time for the detail work
might also go through seasonal changes in services or
is that you are not properly delegating. There are many
supply availability that require changes to equipment
reasons why we sometimes hesitate to share the work.
1 6 NORTH AMERIC AN S WE E P E R S EP T EM BER 2020
Vi si t Us
