Product Description
DVD Library 1 Improvement and Cost Reduction
Barking Phones. A true, humorous story to illustrate how unexpected the root cause of a problem can be. In this segment, a homeowner calls the local phone company to report a problem with her line. The phone never rings . . . but the dog barks each and every time there’s an incoming call. Why? That’s what the phone company had to diagnose!
Blitz Teams. Why does quality have to take so long? Well, it doesn’t. St. Joseph’s Hospital in New Jersey has created an innovative way to make quality happen fast. A special process allows quality improvements to be implemented in weeks . . . not months. And these super-fast results can be attained in any type of organization.
Catheter Complications. For years, the complication rate for catheter insertions at this metropolitan hospital was unacceptably high. A team began to ask “who, what, why, and where” might be causing this chronic problem? When the team discovered the primary reason for these complications, they couldn't believe the simplicity of the remedy.
Class Conflicts. A high school in Connecticut applied teamwork and a structured quality improvement process to solve a chronic and frustrating class scheduling problem.
DIAL-A-MATTRESS. By incorporating new technology into the redesign of its distribution and inventory process, DIAL-A-MATTRESS has reduced the cycle time for shipping mattresses from its warehouse. Customers ordering a mattress by phone can expect home delivery within two hours. The company turns inventory 60 times a year, a tenfold increase compared to the industry average.
Fading Towel Logos. A housekeeping team at a Ritz Carlton hotel identified and solved a colorful problem that saves the hotel chain an estimated $1 million a year.
Finding Files in the Hartford Courts. Unhappy customers and intense media scrutiny motivated this Connecticut Superior Court System to undertake a project to improve its ability to find files. The team discovered that files were missing or unavailable 25 percent of the time. A flow chart analysis pointed to the primary cause of the problem. As a result of the team’s efforts, the number of missing files was reduced by 80 percent.
Fire Fighting or Prevention. The difference between trouble-shooting teams and quality improvement teams is dramatized when we jump aboard a fire truck to compare fire-fighting squads and fire prevention squads.
Folding Towels. By systematically dissecting the problem, a quality improvement team at a Ritz Carlton hotel discovered the true, root cause of a housekeeping activity that had been costing the hotel $30,000 of wasted staff time each and every year.
Good Dog. In this segment, a quality improvement team at the Canine Enforcement Division of the United States Customs Service embarks on a project to increase the graduation rate of dogs entering the force. By discovering the major reason why dogs flunked out of training, the team has dramatically increased the number of graduating dogs.
Hospital I-Vs. At this hospital, over $100,000 of medication was poured down the drain every year. A team used a flow diagram analysis to reveal the hidden reason and save the hospital $87,000 a year.
How to Eat an Elephant. Elephant-sized quality problems are too big and complex to digest all at once. This segment dramatizes the need to carve up big projects into achievable, bite-sized portions.
Meals Over Bosnia. The U.S. Air Force used teamwork and creativity to cut costs dramatically and improve the delivery of food supplies to war torn eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Retiring Budget Cars. A quality improvement team at Budget Rent-A-Car in Dallas discovered why it had been taking so long to get “retired” cars to the auction block. The resulting remedy saved the Dallas operation over $110,000 a year in vehicle depreciation and savings on interest and transportation costs.
School Lunches. The students at a Connecticut high school used quality methodology and classic analytical tools to improve the quality of school lunches, turning their chronically unprofitable cafeteria into a delicious money maker.
Shell Brazil. A quality team at Shell uncovered an unexpected opportunity to save over $100,000 a year when it analyzed the reasons for delays in the shipment of its products.
Shure. Shure makes great microphones, but they were simply taking much too long to get to market. In this segment, a cross-functional team re-engineered the new product development process, decreasing the total number of steps by 70% and reducing time-to-market from five years to about 14 months. All of this helped move Shure from fifth to second in market share.
Stuck on Quality. A U.S. Air Force quality improvement team used creativity, ingenuity, and a stuffed toy to perform a routine maintenance procedure in 30 seconds, a cat-like plunge from the 30 minutes or more it used to take.
The Case of the Missing Linen. At this hospital in Massachusetts, a quality improvement team systematically tracked down the shocking reason why the hospital had been spending over $200,000 a year to replace lost linen.
The Jefferson Memorial. By asking “why, why, why?” the National Parks Service solves a chronic problem and discovers the true (and surprising) reason why this National Monument was deteriorating.
Barking Phones. A true, humorous story to illustrate how unexpected the root cause of a problem can be. In this segment, a homeowner calls the local phone company to report a problem with her line. The phone never rings . . . but the dog barks each and every time there’s an incoming call. Why? That’s what the phone company had to diagnose!
Blitz Teams. Why does quality have to take so long? Well, it doesn’t. St. Joseph’s Hospital in New Jersey has created an innovative way to make quality happen fast. A special process allows quality improvements to be implemented in weeks . . . not months. And these super-fast results can be attained in any type of organization.
Catheter Complications. For years, the complication rate for catheter insertions at this metropolitan hospital was unacceptably high. A team began to ask “who, what, why, and where” might be causing this chronic problem? When the team discovered the primary reason for these complications, they couldn't believe the simplicity of the remedy.
Class Conflicts. A high school in Connecticut applied teamwork and a structured quality improvement process to solve a chronic and frustrating class scheduling problem.
DIAL-A-MATTRESS. By incorporating new technology into the redesign of its distribution and inventory process, DIAL-A-MATTRESS has reduced the cycle time for shipping mattresses from its warehouse. Customers ordering a mattress by phone can expect home delivery within two hours. The company turns inventory 60 times a year, a tenfold increase compared to the industry average.
Fading Towel Logos. A housekeeping team at a Ritz Carlton hotel identified and solved a colorful problem that saves the hotel chain an estimated $1 million a year.
Finding Files in the Hartford Courts. Unhappy customers and intense media scrutiny motivated this Connecticut Superior Court System to undertake a project to improve its ability to find files. The team discovered that files were missing or unavailable 25 percent of the time. A flow chart analysis pointed to the primary cause of the problem. As a result of the team’s efforts, the number of missing files was reduced by 80 percent.
Fire Fighting or Prevention. The difference between trouble-shooting teams and quality improvement teams is dramatized when we jump aboard a fire truck to compare fire-fighting squads and fire prevention squads.
Folding Towels. By systematically dissecting the problem, a quality improvement team at a Ritz Carlton hotel discovered the true, root cause of a housekeeping activity that had been costing the hotel $30,000 of wasted staff time each and every year.
Good Dog. In this segment, a quality improvement team at the Canine Enforcement Division of the United States Customs Service embarks on a project to increase the graduation rate of dogs entering the force. By discovering the major reason why dogs flunked out of training, the team has dramatically increased the number of graduating dogs.
Hospital I-Vs. At this hospital, over $100,000 of medication was poured down the drain every year. A team used a flow diagram analysis to reveal the hidden reason and save the hospital $87,000 a year.
How to Eat an Elephant. Elephant-sized quality problems are too big and complex to digest all at once. This segment dramatizes the need to carve up big projects into achievable, bite-sized portions.
Meals Over Bosnia. The U.S. Air Force used teamwork and creativity to cut costs dramatically and improve the delivery of food supplies to war torn eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Retiring Budget Cars. A quality improvement team at Budget Rent-A-Car in Dallas discovered why it had been taking so long to get “retired” cars to the auction block. The resulting remedy saved the Dallas operation over $110,000 a year in vehicle depreciation and savings on interest and transportation costs.
School Lunches. The students at a Connecticut high school used quality methodology and classic analytical tools to improve the quality of school lunches, turning their chronically unprofitable cafeteria into a delicious money maker.
Shell Brazil. A quality team at Shell uncovered an unexpected opportunity to save over $100,000 a year when it analyzed the reasons for delays in the shipment of its products.
Shure. Shure makes great microphones, but they were simply taking much too long to get to market. In this segment, a cross-functional team re-engineered the new product development process, decreasing the total number of steps by 70% and reducing time-to-market from five years to about 14 months. All of this helped move Shure from fifth to second in market share.
Stuck on Quality. A U.S. Air Force quality improvement team used creativity, ingenuity, and a stuffed toy to perform a routine maintenance procedure in 30 seconds, a cat-like plunge from the 30 minutes or more it used to take.
The Case of the Missing Linen. At this hospital in Massachusetts, a quality improvement team systematically tracked down the shocking reason why the hospital had been spending over $200,000 a year to replace lost linen.
The Jefferson Memorial. By asking “why, why, why?” the National Parks Service solves a chronic problem and discovers the true (and surprising) reason why this National Monument was deteriorating.
(800) 338-7726