July/august 2012 World Class Mail your monthly update on how colleagues are using WCm techniques to improve performance Safety 42 Glasgow mail centre scored 53 points in its first audit since In safe hands... Scott (right) shows CFC operators Muhammad achieving bronze – the Nadeem and Dereck Pettigrew how the team is tracking safety site is aiming for silver It’s now more than two years since the last by March 2013 mail centres have begun World Class Mail major injury in Glasgow mail centre’s culler facer canceller section thanks to their work to eliminate safety risks. Initial work identified 93 different tasks carried out in the area, analysed the potential causes of accidents and created risk prediction cards for every task, detailing the correct ways of working and how to avoid risks. That’s now been extended to cover a staggering 1,218 different movements across the tasks, with every overall task having its own risk prediction card. ‘It’s been a huge piece of work but has made a massive difference to our understanding of risk,’ says Scott Blunn, workplace coach from the Safety pillar. ‘We observed the way people work to identify potential risks. ‘For example, if someone has to lift their hands up to reach something as part of their job, there’s potential for a stretching injury. ‘The risk prediction cards are attached to the relevant machine so everyone who uses the machine can read them. It’s meant looking a lot deeper into the causes of incidents and doing much more to prevent them happening. ‘It’s an ongoing process and we’re now continuously looking at how we can improve safety. People from other WCM sites have now visited Glasgow to see the cards in action.’ 358 delivery offices are now using World Class Mail Wrong way... Louise Bayliss demonstrates what not to do SAFETY Logistics sites using World Class Mail WORLDTW CLASS MAIL Commitment Deployment Communication Evaluation Understanding Standardisation with Visibility Environment People Development Logistics Workplace Organisation Focused I mprovement Involvement Implementation Professional Maintenance RH GU Cost Deployment accidents to prevent them before they happen.’ York Awareness Week was just one of the many initiatives introduced at Swansea to increase safety. Others include boosting awareness of pedestrian walkways in the warehouse, clearly painting the forklift areas and implementing a new procedure to prevent bay doors being left open. ‘Safety awareness is now raised across all staff in the warehouse,’ says Mark. ‘All our results are displayed on safety boards around the work areas to keep people informed. The great thing about WCM is we know we’re safe; now we want to identify why.’ Safety Swansea mail centre held a York Awareness Week to tackle safety concerns over the trolleys. Yorks were not always being used correctly and this could cause accidents, so the WCM Safety pillar team held the event to show people the correct way to use them. ‘The warehouse became a model area for safety,’ says Mark Norris, Safety pillar lead. ‘We’ve got a tremendous safety record here with only three RIDDORs (over-seven-day lost-time accident) since we started recording results in 2009. Now we’re actively looking at potential safety issues and putting in measures to ensure we iron out any behaviours that could cause 16 Quality Control/Customer Satisfaction Right way... Mark shows how to handle a York Autonomous Maintenance How to walk the York Blitzing risk TOTALISERS Measurement Documentation World Class Mail in a nutshell World Class Mail (WCM) is a comprehensive programme for continuous improvement. It’s structured into 10 areas, called pillars, covering all operational activity and, step-by-step, it improves safety, customer service, quality and productivity. It is achieved by involving all our employees in attacking waste and losses caused by sub-standard operational processes and equipment. small problem solved t velopmen People De Solution-led... the team at Mount Pleasant and (inset) the part that made the difference A solution to stoppages developed by engineers at Mount Pleasant mail centre cost just £35 to make but has saved the business more than £4,000. It was developed to attack stoppages caused when letters passed one particular sensor – P07 – on the culler facer canceller (CFC) machine. The solution was the culmination of hard work by staff on several pillars, including Focused Improvement (FI), Professional Maintenance and Autonomous Maintenance. ‘Larger letters were passing through to the next part of the machine, but small letters – such as really small greeting cards – weren’t. So we followed the WCM process to figure out why,’ says Sony Sebastian from the FI pillar. Engineer Steve Parkins says: ‘We developed and fitted a highspeed camera inside the machine to record what was happening. ‘We found that 56 out of 70 minor stops were caused by these small letters. We were getting a couple a day that were stopping the machine.’ They took photos and made sketches of all the inner workings of the machine, to show exactly how each part works to help them understand the issue and develop a solution. Small letters passing through the P07 sensor weren’t supported well enough by the spring lever underneath, so they were falling through. ‘We fitted a stronger spring, brush with success Edinburgh mail centre’s environment display boards have been raising the profile of WCM thanks to a helping hand from local children. Environment pillar lead Marion Macfie says: ‘Our latest audit suggested we could raise the profile of WCM, and the environment pillar in particular, so we decided to involve our local community. ‘We went to two local primary schools to talk to the children there about what we do and then invited them into the mail centre to help paint a mural on the display boards.’ The boards’ bright and colourful images of recycling and environmentally friendly products have had a positive impact on everyone in the mail centre. ‘The children helped to identify simple things we can all do at home and work to protect the environment,’ says Marion. MAIL SHOTS Each month, we’ll bring you the views of employees involved in World Class Mail. How has it changed their job? What’s better under the new system? Matthew Medlicott, Focused Improvement pillar lead at Taunton delivery office, says: ‘The changes we’ve seen here under World Class Mail have made the working environment cleaner, tidier and safer. The biggest safety change has been the removal of drop bag fittings. They’ve been replaced by new wheeled containers, so we can push packets to the frames. Previously, there wasn’t a way of testing the weight of bags before picking them up, so this is far better for us.’ which did reduce the stops, but we wanted to completely eliminate the problem,’ says Beatrice Adindu. ‘Croydon mail centre had already come up with a small, flexible guide fitted to their machine to tackle the same problem, to give small letters support so they pass straight through. We fitted one and it did reduce our jams.’ Steve and his team then developed a damper that works like a shock absorber to keep letters moving over the lever. When Courier dropped in, the team had gone 10 weeks and 131,714 items without a jam, and Steve has written a guide to fitting the new part that’s now on the WCM Good Practice Library. It’s brought a cost benefit of £4,372, previously lost due to the stoppages. Environment Proud… two of the children, Ellie Stewart and Lauren Sime, who helped create the display, with their mums, Helen Stewart and Edinburgh mail centre postwoman Susan Sime Moving on up Opening doors... Maria and Ben World Class Mail is packed with opportunities for progression through the People Development pillar, as Ben Chambers and Maria Sereno found out at South Midlands mail centre. Ben, who is deputy packet manager and Workplace Organisation (WO) late shift pillar lead, started his journey with WCM 19 months ago in the packets operation. ‘WCM opened a lot of doors for me and showed me what was possible,’ says Ben. ‘It gave me the opportunity to see another side to the company, working on things like direct traffic re-engineering (DTRE) and letters projects.’ Maria, deputy manager and Autonomous Maintenance (AM) pillar lead, says: ‘Every day I’m interacting with something and someone new, which I really like, and part of my success is down to having a great team around me.’ Maria arrived at the centre in 2010 as a mech operator, and immediately embarked on workplace coaching to rise through the ranks. She achieved exceptional results in workplace coaching courses and successfully led her team through two audits. People Development pillar lead Rachael Protheroe believes the programme is a perfect fit for people like Ben and Maria who want to progress. ‘Their WCM development has been integral to the mail centre’s progress, especially in the AM and WO pillars,’ she says. ‘They both show great commitment and enthusiasm.’ OVER TO you Got a World Class Mail success story or suggestion you’d like to share? Let us know and you might be featured next time. Email worldclass@abcomm. co.uk or call us on 020 7922 5670
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