Sunday, November 11, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Marine Surveyor
Marine surveyors have been around
almost since the beginning of boats. Only within the last few hundred years
have marine surveyors been identified as a well established profession with
professional organizations and ethics code governing surveyor behavior.
The independence of
surveyor insures that the surveyor provides an unbiased third-party opinion to
the company who requests his services, and these can be: surveying of materials
and components prior to be used onboard of vessels, supervising the
construction/ repair of vessels, investigations or consultancy related to any
issue connected to ship building. Marine surveyors are highly trained experts
that survey ships to make sure they meet local and global standards.
There are many different methods available to become a marine surveyor; however there is no established set of guidelines used, nationally or internationally, to determine the certification of marine surveyors. At present time, any certification available for marine surveyors is only available via independent organizations with no nationally recognized accreditation. There is no set international regulatory commission or group that sets rates and educational standards for marine surveyors. There are several independent survey organizations that are specific to the classification of survey.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Key Peformance Indicators ( KPI )
Key Performance Indicators are quantifiable measurements, agreed to beforehand, that reflect the critical success factors of an organization. They will differ depending on the organization.
- A business may have as one of its Key Performance Indicators the percentage of its income that comes from return customers.
- A school may focus its Key Performance Indicators on graduation rates of its students.
- A Customer Service Department may have as one of its Key Performance Indicators, in line with overall company KPIs, percentage of customer calls answered in the first minute.
- A Key Performance Indicator for a social service organization might be number of clients assisted during the year.
Whatever Key Performance Indicators are selected, they must reflect the organization's goals, they must be key to its success,and they must be quantifiable (measurable). Key Performance Indicators usually are long-term considerations. The definition of what they are and how they are measured do not change often. The goals for a particular Key Performance Indicator may change as the organization's goals change, or as it gets closer to achieving a goal.
Key Performance Indicators Reflect The Organizational Goals
An organization that has as one of its goals "to be the most profitable company in our industry" will have Key Performance Indicators that measure profit and related fiscal measures. "Pre-tax Profit" and "Shareholder Equity" will be among them. However, "Percent of Profit Contributed to Community Causes" probably will not be one of its Key Performance Indicators. On the other hand, a school is not concerned with making a profit, so its Key Performance Indicators will be different. KPIs like "Graduation Rate" and "Success In Finding Employment After Graduation", though different, accurately reflect the schools mission and goals.Key Performance Indicators Must Be Quantifiable
If a Key Performance Indicator is going to be of any value, there must be a way to accurately define and measure it. "Generate More Repeat Customers" is useless as a KPI without some way to distinguish between new and repeat customers. "Be The Most Popular Company" won't work as a KPI because there is no way to measure the company's popularity or compare it to others.
It is also important to define the Key Performance Indicators and stay with the same definition from year to year. For a KPI of "Increase Sales", you need to address considerations like whether to measure by units sold or by dollar value of sales. Will returns be deducted from sales in the month of the sale or the month of the return? Will sales be recorded for the KPI at list price or at the actual sales price?
You also need to set targets for each Key Performance Indicator. A company goal to be the employer of choice might include a KPI of "Turnover Rate". After the Key Performance Indicator has been defined as "the number of voluntary resignations and terminations for performance, divided by the total number of employees at the beginning of the period" and a way to measure it has been set up by collecting the information in an HRIS, the target has to be established. "Reduce turnover by five percent per year" is a clear target that everyone will understand and be able to take specific action to accomplish.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach to long–term success through customer satisfaction.
In a TQM effort, all members of an organization participate in improving processes, products, services and the culture in which they work.
The methods for implementing this approach come from the teachings of such quality leaders as Philip B. Crosby, W. Edwards Deming, Armand V. Feigenbaum, Kaoru Ishikawa and Joseph M. Juran.
A core concept in implementing TQM is Deming’s 14 points, a set of management practices to help companies increase their quality and productivity:
1. Create constancy of purpose for improving products and services.
2. Adopt the new philosophy.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.
4. End the practice of awarding business on price alone; instead, minimize total cost by working with a single supplier.
5. Improve constantly and forever every process for planning, production and service.
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Adopt and institute leadership.
8. Drive out fear.
9. Break down barriers between staff areas.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the workforce.
11. Eliminate numerical quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for management.
12. Remove barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship, and eliminate the annual rating or merit system.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement for everyone.
14. Put everybody in the company to work accomplishing the transformation.
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