Supply Chain, Operations, & Product Development Consulting
I was sitting in the room and admit I was caught up in the troubleshooting frenzy. I asked, “what have we checked with the applicator?” “Everything,” he responded. “We can’t pinpoint the root cause.” It dawned on me mostly out of confusion, “Do you have a list of what lots this is affecting?” Silence. “No.” Okay. We’ve got a concrete place to start. Let’s get a list of those and see if a pattern shows up. Going forward, here’s what we need to do with tracking complaints against lot numbers…
It happens every time I see a new company, employee, or private coaching client: they open up their ‘working’ spreadsheet — you know, the one that runs everything — and their data is laid out horizontally. I discreetly calm myself down and put my hands behind my back, in my lap, on a notebook…anywhere I can to keep from reaching out and taking the keyboard and mouse away from them. I remind myself it is an easy fix, and the opportunity to change the way a person looks at data forever. They have violated my number one rule of functional Excel: Read more
