There is a truth in business today that suggests that engineering and technology have far outstripped management capability. That management is about ten years behind. With the rate of change that we are experiencing that is not hard to accept. Many of us continue to operate within the confines of old thinking when we have a wonderful array of new tools to help us in our jobs. This is particular true in these days where we are driven to be the lowest cost provider of the highest value parts and services. How can we change the cost structure of the operations when we continue to think and operate in the same old way?

Over the years we have had industrial engineering; then continuous quality improvement; then activity based management; and more recently six sigma. All of these approaches are the same in that they are driving toward the elimination of non value added activities from processes and systems and seeking more effective methods to employ. This is all well and good but we may be guilty of following the fads and ignoring what is right in front of us.

How many preprinted forms do you use in the parts and service departments? Do you have an inventory of these forms? And how many parts are there on each of these forms? There is money here to be saved. Take just the invoice. Why do you need more than one copy to mail to the customer? Well really why do you need more than that? If you must have another copy at some point in the future you could easily print another one from your computer history files. So why do you need more than one copy to mail to the customers?

Go beyond that, many of you have paper invoice files in your dealerships. This is a numerically maintained file of all of the invoices that you have generated. Why do you do this? The cost of the filing cabinets; the people to file the documents; the space all add up to non value added costs. So why do we continue to operate with multi part invoice forms and maintain paper files? Because we have always done it that way is one answer that I receive. Remember my definition of insanity? Continuing to do what we have always done yet expecting different results. That is insanity. But there is more, much more. We have customer packing slip files in the parts department. We have workorder files by machine model and serial number in the service department. We have forms and files all over the place. We don't need any of them. We have this information in our computers.

Oh I know there is the usual bugaboo of the customer signature that we must maintain on file for customer pickups. Have you ever heard of a signature pad? That is the device that you use in the grocery store when you pay by credit card. You sign on a LCD pad and your signature is recorded electronically on the records. Are there other areas of concern that would overpower the benefits of reducing the number of parts on your forms to one, and eliminating the need to maintain paper files? I believe that if you think this through rationally you will not find any solid reason as to why we continue to use the multi part forms and the paper files. And if that is true there is a lot of cost that you can eliminate in your processes by looking to the technology that is commonly available. Of course, you have to ensure that you aren't required to maintain paper files by law. If that is the case you will have to comply. But electronic signatures are allowed legally as a replacement to paper documents now across the country.

So check the laws and then start a process review that challenges the number of parts of each form and the need to maintain paper files. You will be one big step closer to the paperless office. You will also have wrought out a considerable expense from the operations. That is a good thing. The files are not value added so why do we want to maintain them at any cost at all? Don't forget a piece of paper should perform a specific function. It should improve customer service; improve communication; improve process effectiveness. If it doesn't do any of those three things why should we do it? That is the question, now all we need is your answer.

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