As Katherine mentioned in her recap of the last Stone Industry Education event, Eric Tryon had great suggestions for growing your business. The importance of tracking and communicating some basic metrics came up again and again – and Moraware can help! Let’s look at one of the areas that Eric pointed to as a silent killer: reworks.
Eric started by emphasizing the formidable cost of a rework. He explained that in order to get an accurate number, you should consider every person who touches the job.
Here’s a great example of costly a rework can be. If the installers arrive at a jobsite and can’t complete the install because a piece doesn’t fit, consider all the people involved:
- The installer calls somebody at the office, and they spend time discussing what to do. (time $, mileage $)
- Perhaps the there was a templating error, so you send somebody back to redo it. (time $, mileage $)
- Your inventory manager orders new material. (time $, material $, rush shipping $)
- You rush the job through the shop. (time $, overtime $)
- Installers go back to install. (time $, mileage $)
- You pay to get rid of the faulty top. (dumpster $)
- You’re NOT bringing in money because your install crew is busy re-installing. (opportunity cost $)
- You get a bad review and lose a potential sale. (lost jobs $)
Ouch! He made a compelling case for reducing your reworks! But there’s good news. We can help you get a handle on your reworks, so you make more money!
Re-think your process
We’ve learned a lot from working with so many successful fabricators. They’ve allowed me to pick their brains and take snapshots of their systems, so we can use best practice to help you rethink your process.
Check out this article on Managing re-works & tracking errors.
First, the article shows one way to send a job (or a portion of a job) back through your process to be reworked. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it includes an error tracking form that you can use to start tracking the details about the number and cost of the errors, as well as information that might help you determine the source of the error.
Re-ward and re-trace!
Powerful information! If you get serious about tracking your reworks, you can make those numbers visible to your team and find creative ways to reward people when those numbers go down.
In addition, by identifying the source of the errors, you might see a common issue that can be addressed. Maybe one of your templaters needs more training or perhaps you need a better way to get the right gray quartz backsplash on the right truck.
Want more help managing your reworks and tracking errors? We can help!
