I received a very nice response from Sally, the Customer Service Manager
at Heckman.  I appreciated her response and thought I would share it
with you.
Jean

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Miss Jean Shankle
Periodical Librarian
jshankle@pcci.edu
Pensacola Christian College Library
Box 18000
Pensacola, FL 32523

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Jean,
Thank you for taking the time to send this information to us. We did
some major reorganization in our plant over the summer and while we
hoped it would not interfere with production, it did.
During the summer, we were making changes, such as combining the
monograph production area into the periodicals line, we mixed together
two sets of staff who did things differently from each other. It took
some time to get everyone on the same page. This resulted in some
inconsistency in how directions were follows and how materials were
processed. Our next major move was when we made some dramatic changes in
the front end of the production line. This meant moving people,
equipment, and changing procedures all while trying to continue to
produce at our normal levels.
One of the things we did not anticipate was that we would get behind
like we did. We had a lot of new business starting, and we had a very
busy summer, so we got behind and had a hard time catching up. We had to
make some necessary adjustments to our distribution routes, and as a
result, things are back to normal.
These changes were important for several reasons. One of the reasons for
making the changes we made this summer was to improve quality. A
principle of Lean Manufacturing is that quality review is built into the
system. As a result, errors are caught early. This makes everyone
responsible for quality review. However, when Lean is not implemented
completely you have situations where everyone is responsible for
quality, meaning no one is accountable. This summer and fall, while
people got used to their new assignments and duties, sometimes the
quality control was not what it should be. The good news is that our new
front ends system really helps with quality. It is now much easier for
us to know where a mistake occurred and why. This helps us solve quality
problems more quickly and re-train the appropriate people.

Now that the major changes have been made in the production line, we
will be focusing our efforts on reviewing and documenting best practices
for each processing station. This will increase quality and efficiency,
and will eliminate inconsistencies.
We have made a lot of necessary changes at Heckman this summer and fall,
and it has caused some unanticipated problems, but these improvements
will result in better quality and service and will help us control our
costs.
Thank you for sharing your concerns with us, we very much appreciate the
feedback.
Sincerely,
Sally Rhudy
Customer Service Manager
Heckman Incorporated
Phone # 1-800-334-3628 ext. 105
Fax # 1-260-982-1130
Email: sally_rhudy@heckmanbindery.com