ChemRite CoPac kicked off 2012 with a company meeting for all full time employees on Friday, January 6th. The meeting outlined a comprehensive company action plan for the upcoming year. Team members were reminded of ChemRite’s mission statement, “Normalized excellence in contract manufacturing.” The company’s founder and owner, Ron Whitt, explained that in order to live up to our mission statement, ChemRite takes a leadership position in enforcing superior standards throughout our facilities and work processes. He then shared the exciting announcement that starting in January 2012, ChemRite will be operating under a new internal metric system, entitled the “CRCP Key Elements Score Card”.
The CRCP Key Elements Score Card has been designed to measure the monthly performance levels of ChemRite’s four key drivers – Production Efficiency, Quality, Housekeeping and Sales. Each area will be given a monthly performance grade. Most team members are familiar with the grade scale from high school, with percentages above 90% falling into an “A” category, 80-90% a “B” category, and so on. These four grades will accumulate monthly for a total “Key Elements Score”. It is ChemRite’s goal to receive an “A” Key Elements Score each month. In our definition, receiving an “A” grade level of performance validates our claim to be a “World Class” service provider.
It took many months of team planning to develop a company measurement system which focuses on the true drivers of the company and delivers useful information. Because high production efficiency rates are often the most difficult element to achieve for manufacturing companies, ChemRite’s management team began with the Production Score Card. This score card tracks production efficiency daily and compiles month to date and year to date averages. Management reviews this measurement tool daily and also notes factors such as the amount of cases produced vs. planned and how well the company is doing in meeting production capacity. Measuring these important production statistics has helped ChemRite’s team concentrate on areas which may need improvement and has helped them attain an industry leading 92% production efficiency average.
The Quality Score Card measures both internal and customer product rejections. Our quality standards have been designed to ensure consistent and sustained product quality. Rejections of any kind mean that a quality standard has not been followed. Perfection is a lofty target, but it is ChemRite’s goal to catch all product rejections in-house and never have a customer rejection. This being the case, customer rejections are weighted heavily on a demerit scale and will quickly bring the company’s quality score down for the month. All internal and customer rejections are compiled on the Quality Score Card and reviewed by upper management at the end of each month.
Our Housekeeping Score guarantees that ChemRite’s facilities are adhering to federal regulations for manufacturing facilities on a continual basis. Although government audits are performed regularly, ChemRite has taken compliance a step further by performing our own 364 point facility inspection every month. Upper management receives this inspection report and reviews the noted violations. CFR, Aesthetic and Safety violations are recorded and given demerit points which correspond to the infraction. The point total provides the company’s housekeeping score for the month.
The final key element which makes up the CRCP Key Elements Score is our Sales Plan Score Card. As in any company, a solid sales plan is vital for our future success. Achieving our monthly sales goals allows for corporate growth and ongoing economic stability. ChemRite has developed a comprehensive sales plan which outlines how our sales team intends to meet our monthly sales goals. The Sales Plan Score Card measures sales plan performance, which is given a corresponding monthly grade.
Reviewing the scores in each of these areas provides ChemRite’s management team with an unbiased look at the performance of the company as a whole each month. The monthly scores are then posted throughout our facilities so that each ChemRite team member can see the areas where the company did well and areas which may need improvement. The purpose of posting the scores is to help each member of our dedicated team understand how their individual role contributes to our overall success. When we succeed, we succeed as a team.
ChemRite’s leadership is committed to the long term stability of our company so that we can continue to be a world class service provider for all of our valued customers. Strong measurement tools are a vital means of monitoring the results of our current business plan. As Ron often says, “Have a plan, work a plan. If the plan doesn’t work, fix it. But always have a plan.” It is our objective to use the CRCP Key Elements Score Card as a guide for continuing process improvements and monitoring team performance for many years to come.