Applying the Disciplines to a Nike Factory StoreEssay Preview: Applying the Disciplines to a Nike Factory StoreReport this essay6 Sigma:Applying the Disciplines to a Nike Factory StorePresent SituationApplying 6 Sigma Principles1) Defining the ProblemAs a member of the sales staff at the Nike Factory Store in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin, one of my main responsibilities is to cut down on the amount of shrink that occurs during the month. At times we, as a staff, are given conflicting messages about either giving outstanding and proactive customer service, or keeping our attention focused on suspicious characters or actions. This presents a problem for members of the staff, and does not allow us to fully service the paying customers.
2) Defining the ProblemWhen it comes to the problem, each of you has your own needs as you navigate their lives. As a member, you have to focus on your personal needs, your financial concerns, the budget, etc. You need to make sure that the business provides sufficient financial support for you, your family, and your business. You also have to plan out your day to day priorities. What you are doing (including your daily routine) and what you don’t is crucial in making sure that all of your clients feel that they’re treated fairly by the Nike staff. Your focus, and the way you present yourself can help you become more effective at dealing with the issue to those who want to benefit from your business, at their end as well as to others. The second thing to consider is creating a structure for the staff to follow, so that they stay involved. Staff will know what to do, and they will be able to communicate the benefits to those who are most impacted by a problem. Don’t get us wrong, you are not alone in your concern for your employees. But if your organization is struggling under the stress of a new employee or a new company, or you know something else is going on, you need additional guidance as to how to treat those who might be impacted by a particularly complex issue. You also need more people, and more resources, to work together to effectively deal with the issue. This is important since you are both accountable and responsive. The staff should be able to communicate clearly and openly with you, and they need a solid and effective communication system to allow them to have a sense of where you stand in how long they need to be with you. As a member of the sales team, we are responsible for communicating with you before we make our final decisions. We also have another responsibility that happens when we use our time together to address a specific situation: to get the most customer feedback and to give them the confidence to ask questions. I think that’s essential to having the most customer feedback in our product. To be truly engaged in addressing issues right away, your feedback will do the following: • Tell you when the problem is identified and to what extent they are fixed. • Tell you how to address and then respond to the problem. • Give you opportunities to share your thoughts and concerns to help alleviate the issue or address it as best you can. You do not know that in order to fix a problem, the solution needs to be immediate. To address a problem, all three must be on board. In order to fix a problem early, you must be prepared to solve it in time. • Tell you when and how to initiate or slow down action.• • Explain the situation so that it will solve itself. What happens when your team reacts quickly to something so complex? How do you get this answer to the problem? One
2) Defining the ProblemWhen it comes to the problem, each of you has your own needs as you navigate their lives. As a member, you have to focus on your personal needs, your financial concerns, the budget, etc. You need to make sure that the business provides sufficient financial support for you, your family, and your business. You also have to plan out your day to day priorities. What you are doing (including your daily routine) and what you don’t is crucial in making sure that all of your clients feel that they’re treated fairly by the Nike staff. Your focus, and the way you present yourself can help you become more effective at dealing with the issue to those who want to benefit from your business, at their end as well as to others. The second thing to consider is creating a structure for the staff to follow, so that they stay involved. Staff will know what to do, and they will be able to communicate the benefits to those who are most impacted by a problem. Don’t get us wrong, you are not alone in your concern for your employees. But if your organization is struggling under the stress of a new employee or a new company, or you know something else is going on, you need additional guidance as to how to treat those who might be impacted by a particularly complex issue. You also need more people, and more resources, to work together to effectively deal with the issue. This is important since you are both accountable and responsive. The staff should be able to communicate clearly and openly with you, and they need a solid and effective communication system to allow them to have a sense of where you stand in how long they need to be with you. As a member of the sales team, we are responsible for communicating with you before we make our final decisions. We also have another responsibility that happens when we use our time together to address a specific situation: to get the most customer feedback and to give them the confidence to ask questions. I think that’s essential to having the most customer feedback in our product. To be truly engaged in addressing issues right away, your feedback will do the following: • Tell you when the problem is identified and to what extent they are fixed. • Tell you how to address and then respond to the problem. • Give you opportunities to share your thoughts and concerns to help alleviate the issue or address it as best you can. You do not know that in order to fix a problem, the solution needs to be immediate. To address a problem, all three must be on board. In order to fix a problem early, you must be prepared to solve it in time. • Tell you when and how to initiate or slow down action.• • Explain the situation so that it will solve itself. What happens when your team reacts quickly to something so complex? How do you get this answer to the problem? One
The heart of the problem here is the inability of the staff to commit fully to either helping customers, or watching potential shoplifters. The store is presently being considered for the installation of theft deterrent devices. This would allow the staff to worry only about helping customers, and not about tracking down missing items.
2) MeasureAt least once a year, an inventory is taken of the products on hand, in the system, and missing. This process is done by hand and allows for a margin of error of about 1 in every hundred items counted. This would be operating at one of the lowest Sigma levels, and costing the store a great deal. Shrink is kept track of on a manual level by filling out paperwork each time an item is known to have been taken. This number is held against the monthly sales to get an overall shrink percentage.
Eliminating the higher percentage of shrink would consist of possibly adding more sales staff to lessen the opportunity for possible theft, as well as improve customer service. Applying the principles of 6 Sigma would allow the store to lose less than one percent of product. Changes over the past year have dropped shrink from around .1 percent down to .005 percent. Management has taken steps to correct the problem, without the knowledge of 6 Sigma.
Present SituationApplying 6 Sigma Principles3) AnalyzeOne of the more prominent issues regarding theft levels is the level of commitment by the sales associates. Many of the employees at Nike are either young college students or high school students that are just there to collect a check. The part-time employees have no real incentive to take their job seriously.
While an overall wage increase may not be feasible, it could possibly provide a better pool of candidates of whom to start with. Along with a possible wage increase, making the processes easier and defining roles for how theft issues should be handled would not only make the staff more willing, but would make the process in general more efficient.
4) ImproveThe level of training that one receives is adequate, but only relative to the level of commitment most employees have. The current process of logging stolen items by hand does not make much sense if they can