| |
Suggestion
Program Goldmine
by Jim Collison
Your employees
are a gold mine of free money -- if you are willing to mine their
brains for new ideas in an employee involvement and suggestion program.
Imagine how
much new money you can free up --or generate for your business or
organization --if you'll ask for, encourage, welcome, and reward
new employee ideas.
An example:
Marshall Hospital,
in Placerville, CA, got ideas worth nearly $300,000 in savings from
just 12 employees!
Suggestion
Program Saves in Hospital
Dennis Bietz,
manager of the intensive care unit at Marshall and coordinator of
the employee suggestion program, explained that Marshall Hospital
had a suggestion program for several years, "but we're pushing cost saving
ideas now because we have to." Some of the ideas:
- Nurses have
to use protocols of care (nursing care plans) for each patient.
The hospital was having all this paperwork printed outside. The
simple idea - copy the paperwork in-house. Savings: $50,000 a
year!
- Attorneys
and others ask for copies of patient records. In the past, this
copying was outsourced. Again, a simple idea. Do the copying in-house.
Savings: Another $20,000 a year.
- "We
were giving away free coffee in the cafeteria to the staff, to
visitors," Bietz said. "It was a tradition. But someone
suggested switching to charging for the coffee. We didn't want
to do it, but we were spending $40,000 a year giving away coffee."
They switched, and are saving the money.
Suggestion
Program Saves off Texas Coast
Another example:
Dixie Carriers, at its Houston, TX, location, saved hundreds of
thousands of dollars a year with ideas from employees. The Houston
location had 250 employees operating
52 towboats. That's four or five employees on a boat. Though separated
into small units, these employees still came up with ideas to save
money and improve the operation. Cathy Hooper, quality/office supervisor,
gave some examples.
- Hooper told
how cargo is loaded through big, giant hoses. The cargo (chemicals,
gasolines, liquid) flows through the hoses. "Some of the
liquid would remain inside the hose, dry, and then polymerize
into a hard coating," she said. "We had to get them
cleaned out. It was very expensive." A mechanic came up with
the idea. Put dry ice into the tubes. It prevents the polymerizing.
Savings: $250,000 a year or more.
- The procedures
and duties for the captain on a boat are in a manual. The idea
-organize these procedures and duties in daily, weekly, monthly,
quarterly sheets. Said Hooper, "Now, every duty is right
in front of them. It helps them in documenting the duties being
done, helps the boat crew learn duties better."
What Marshall
Hospital employees and Dixie Carriers employees have done with their
brains...your employees can do with their brains, too. |
