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