Diagnosis of operations - Status report
To keep the momentum and focus on the major objectives and priorities of your business
Several situations require that you take a break , even a brief one, to take a step back and assess the current situation in order to make the necessary observations and which allow you to become aware of your starting point or the path traveled or yet to see concretely the road which remains to be covered before reaching your goal .
Audits , inspections , customer visits , incidents , claims , massive food recalls , experienced crisis , etc. are all elements that deserve that you think abou it even if it is only to identify what went well and what went wrong, to learn and improve, etc.
The diagnosis of operations: step by step
A diagnosis of operations is essential when moving to new premises, reorganizing into existing premises, installing new equipment in a common space or adjacent to other operations.
1st step: draw up a portrait or an overview of the situation :
It is important to describe and document the current situation of your establishment/plant when it is operating in normal, usual mode without major problems. This is your background level, your standard, your reference .
Why do that?
Well to avoid asking yourself after a change , an incident or a crisis , etc ...?
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How did we work it out before ?
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How did this or that operation was achieved without slips/deviations?
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What was exactly in that room and how was it organized?
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To trust your memory which can play tricks on you
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To rely entirely on opinions and/or perceptions
You already have a lot of documents about the way you operate that can be used to describe the actual situation. The catch is that the devil is in the details or lies in the fact that certain ways of doing, functioning or operating are still undocumented or in the minds of only a few key people. If these key people are no longer there or absent, you lose some of the information that can be important, even critical, in some cases.
It is more than certain that you cannot promote the continuous improvement of your organization without documenting the changes as they occur and being able to go back as needed to correct or improve an operation or process .
The basic elements
The basic tips are therefore:
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To have easy access to all your documents, process diagrams, photos and diagrams of production lines in order to detect any change , installation , reorganization of space or equipment that would be inappropriate or that could affect your operations
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Make sure that everything you do is documented , archived and easily available at all times, even in the event of a crisir/disaster
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Make sure you don't leave anything that would depend only on one person
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Make sure that nothing you do is a legend or an opinion that has not been at least documented and ideally verified and validated (yes, believe me that happens even in the best companies., small, large and very large)
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Maximize the use of IT resources. The modern ones contain all the necessary tools to protect you; Make the most of it.
Carry out the diagnosis
2nd step: diagnosis of operations :
With your situation well documented and available ; it becomes easier to assess any situation that is out of the ordinary and compare it with your reference document . This is the essence of the diagnosis of operations .
The diagnosis of operations calls for teamwork first and foremost.
For all unusual situations such as: major non-conformities following audits or inspections or customer visits with partial or total stoppage of operations, major incidents, disasters, massive recalls of food, experienced crisis ; this will involve evaluating each situation and determining and verifying the following points :
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How were activities conducted before the situation arose?
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Did you operate during this situation ?
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What part of the operations is affected ?
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If only one part of the operations is affected, is it possible that similar situations also happen for other operations?
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What has changed in the last weeks or months before the situation?
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Do you have a clear idea of what happened and what led to this situation ?
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Has this situation revealed that important elements of your operations or your way of doing things , all sectors combined, are not or are poorly documented ?
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Organize brainstorming sessions with staff, not just the management team as the floor of the employees are the front line to provide information or valuable comments
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Document everything in a report
The benefits you can derive from it
The sequell? Diagnosis of operations can be used:
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To demonstrate your due diligence in disputes or conflicts with the regulatory authority or customers
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To Document the situation precisely for a gap analysis
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To be used as basic document for the design, application and validation of corrective measures following an audit , inspection or customer visit
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To train your employees so that they remain vigilant and up to date on the new situation
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To Avoid repeating the same mistakes
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To develop more efficient working methods
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To help you as a tool for making decisions that will be based on concrete, rigorous and documented process
We are able to help and support you during the establishment of a diagnosis of operations or of a situation report . This will allow you to better document what you are doing and the changes you make over time to your processes and operations that are not always noticeable . It will also help to improve your level of regulatory and normative compliance as well as compliance with your customers ' requirements while minimizing the recurrence of non-compliances which can make your relations with the regulatory authority and customers quite difficult. This will also strengthen your approach and bring more rigor to it.