Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
Poka – Yoke
Mistake Proof your Marketing
By Business901
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
MARKETING IS A BIG MISTAKE
If you are a successful company, why would you need marketing? What makes you a
complete success in your customer’s eyes? If you did all this, would you need
marketing? Some examples:
1.Sales Price = Always sell at a price customers are willing to pay.
2.Diversity = Make only what customers need.
3.Quality = Make products that will satisfy your customers, always!
4.Delivery = Deliver products at the exact time a customer needs them.
5.Cost = Produce at the lowest possible cost and less than item 1.
If you are doing this, your marketing budget may be able to be virtually eliminated.
Your marketing, if needed would be customer-centric in a fact finding mode that
would give you constant feedback. This would enable you to keep improving or
developing new products in your pipeline. Of course, in a mistake free organization
your improved/new products would be ready the day the customer needed them.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
Henry Ford said: “If you would have asked the customer, he would have just
wanted a faster horse!” As a company we cannot totally rely on our customer
feedback. Many times, they will not have the capacity to know the latest
technology and trends effecting the products or services that they use. What they
do know is their business needs and requirements. So concentrating on where his
business is going is an important function of marketing.
But can we have mistake-free marketing? I think
there is 2-ways to discuss mistake-
free marketing: The strategic side and the
tactical side. The strategic side would be your
marketing messages and the tactical side,
producing these messages. I will spend time on
the strategic side deciding; how to facilitate that
interaction with the customer and also discuss the
tactical side; how to implement a mistake-free
marketing system.
The tool I will use to achieve this is defined by the Lean term,
Poka-Yoke. Poka-Yoke emphasizes the detection and correction of
mistakes. It puts special attention on the one constant threat to
any process: human error. Careful attention is also placed on
every activity in your process and instantaneous feedback tools
are utilized as the key to successful implementation.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
ARE YOU A CUSTOMER-DRIVEN MARKETING COMPANY?
Are you creating inbound marketing materials and strategies that are customer
centric? Or, are you a company that creates outbound material that are forced on
customers and as a result driven from the inside out. The new wave of marketing is
becoming not only more inbound, but the stakes are getting raised higher and
higher to gain a response.
In a competitive market, we can’t wait on a customer to find us though can we? Are
you getting the business with your present marketing tactics? I encourage you
to initiate customer driven marketing, NOW! That is the essence of the diagram that
I have used to show you the different stages. The technology is here and affordable.
A good example is Amazon. Every time you click, you create your own content. You
reinforce it and tweak on every visit. They are also creating an environment with the
Kindle that may determine how we use the Internet in the not too distant future.
They could even possibly win the search engine battle over Google or Microsoft in
providing online content. A complete wireless Internet supports that theory and they
are ahead of the competition. It may very well be the Internet of the future.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
I approach this subject because as we install a component of Lean,
Poka-Yoke into your company, we are raising the stakes and not
accepting general improvement. We are looking initially for
breakthrough strategies and after that continuous improvement. So
ask yourself, and from the strategic side, are you customer driven?
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
START FIXING MARKETING MISTAKES WITH A PROCESS
On the previous blog post, I discussed the Strategic side of the Lean Principle,
Poka-Yoke. In the tactical side, we get away from the big picture side of the
equation and start looking at some of the actual tools we will use to create
Poka-Yoke process. I created a flow chart to guide us through the process but
the chart was not meant to have a direct correlation flowing horizontally. We
may find all the common errors in just one of the Process areas discussed. In
later blog posts, I hope to take the Lead Generation tactics of advertising,
public relations and referrals through a Poka-Yoke process. However, we need
to acquire some general knowledge of the subject.
First, we must identify our processes that we use in developing for example an
Advertising campaign, Trade Show or any type or of Event Launch. Each would
require a different process flow diagram. In Six Sigma, this is the Define stage
of the project. We would develop a team charter, process flow diagram and a
few more items but our goal will be going after low hanging fruit. The goal is to
simplify and mistake proof the process, keeping it simple is the key!
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
Secondly, we will examine areas that we may find errors in our process that would
improve items such as delivery, taking on a job we may not qualify for and/or not
have the proper equipment. In our post, we will break down these errors defining
them further to see if we can control them.
Thirdly, we must get to the root of the problem to ensure that the improvement
method we choose can be applied as a real solution, and not just a bandage. We
typically use a fishbone diagram, to help prompt us to ask why at least five times.
This will enable us to discover the root of the problem. Only then ask, how do we
fix it and put the solution into practice Only at the time, do we determine how to
create the basic improvements for our desired outcomes and create a roadmap to
start and more importantly maintain the value stream created.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
CAN YOUR MARKETING MISTAKES BE ELIMINATED?
These are two basic paths that we could assume in our path to perfection. You
can look at the fact that people will always make mistakes and therefore we must
accept defects. We set up final inspection or checklist or just wait and see if the
customer notices it. Or we can take the attitude that all mistakes can be
eliminated by proper training and prevention. I prefer the latter.
Mistakes happen for many reasons, but almost all can be prevented if we take
the time to identify when and why they happen. Let’s take the time to define
some terms before we start. A mini-project charter per say. Mistakes(errors) are
any non-conformity(deviation) passed to the next stage or worse yet, does not
meet the customers expectation. A defect is the result of these mistakes.
Many companies will wait for the final product to sample for
mistakes and a certain percentage of rejects is acceptable. Other
will do 100% inspection. But from a marketing standpoint, use
direct mail as an example, how do you do that? The production of
the direct mail piece itself may be measurable but the can you
Poka-yoke the response? What response rate is acceptable or what
you would call defective or broken? We will tackle this conversation
in future posts but for now, let’s find out some suggestions on how
to error proof a process.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
The basic functions of Poka-yoke
control are stop doing it(shutdown),
control(make adjustments) and
warning(red flags occurring). Maybe,
more important, is the two terms,
prediction and Detection. Prediction
states that something is about to
occur and Detection is something has
occurred. The closer the source to the
mistake that it is discovered the less
costly is the problem. The whole point
of Poka-yoke is to instill the process
detection, this will drive better
feedback which generates the proper
actions. This is a continuous process
that once installed continues on and
on.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
Common Red Flag Conditions: These are quick places to look to assist you in
finding the reason for the defect. You could maybe determine these to be your
first “WHY” in your search for the root cause. The only thing I would warn you is
not to jump to a conclusion. Insert a few these into your fishbone and go
through the steps. Use at a brainstorming session to get those ideas flowing.
1. Frequent changes to a job 6. Long cycle times
2. Complex processes 7. Infrequent jobs
3. Lack of Standards 8. High output
4. Lack of measurement systems 9. Environmental conditions
5. Lack of training 10. Attitude ( Motivation)
Handling Mistakes: Use this diagram as a reminder on what not to do with a
mistake.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
The Fishbone Diagram is a graphical
compilation used to identify and explore the
possible causes which lead to a given
mistake. The ultimate aim is to work down
through the causes to identify basic root
causes of a problem. Related Blog Post.
Easy to do Hard to do
High Payoff High Payoff
Grab the
Low
Organize your mistakes(errors) and Hanging
group them according to the matrix. Fruit
This will simplify the selection process
on what mistake to tackle first. Easy to do Hard to do
Low Payoff Low Payoff
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
Finishing the Poka-Yoke Job
We have found the root cause but how do we
correct it? The correction may seem easy at this
point but how do we know it is just not a band-
aid. My preference is to go back to the Fishbone
diagram and use the same method we use in
discovering the root cause to discover the best
solution. I also use the matrix to visualize and
confirm the final choice. One of the important
things you now must do is to consider the
control device you will use to monitor the
progress. In manufacturing we consider limit
switches, stop/no go gauges. However, in
service industries it can be much more difficult.
In event planning though it could be something
like an ineffective advertisement. You could
build into it milestones that if it not achieved
that certain positive or negative consequences
occur.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
Another example may be in developing advertisement copy; you may have
certain acceptance criteria that are built into the process. It could be time
sensitive, for example. You must remember even what seems like the best
solution, if is uncontrollable will not lead to good results. You may want to
consider another alternative and a result is that the perceived best action
may change or become clearer as you improve.
The method
1. Start with the Root Cause of the mistake. Brainstorm ways to eliminate the
mistake(Fishbone).
2. Note on each idea how you will handle the mistake: Don’t Accept, Don’t
Make, Don’t Pass On.
3. Consider the cost and time of solving the problem
4. Place in matrix on Easy/Hard to do, Big/Low Payoff.
5. Review the controls to use.
6. Make your choice.
7. Proceed and monitor.
Business901 Product Marketing Lean Marketing
Joseph T. Dager
Ph: 260-438-0411
Fax: 260-818-2022
Email: jtdager@business901.com
Web/Blog: http://www.business901.com
Twitter: @business901