I have been an employee at Wolfedale Electric for 26 years and watched the company grow in size (people & sales) and mature into a thriving electrical contracting business. With growth came the need for more structure and processes to ensure our electrical projects were completed on time, efficiently, and profitably.
Wolfedale worked with MRSI Consulting Company www.mrsiconsulting.com/ to help pull all of these systems together. MRSI reviewed everything from a job numbering system, to quote procedures, to billing processes for all departments including 24 hour Emergency, Planned Maintenance, Construction Design/Build, Industrial Process and Material Handling. Nothing was left unturned as we worked through how things were done here at Wolfedale.
One of the biggest flaws we found was a process to “turn a project over” from Wolfedale’s sales staff to our operations group. We found that we had a poor way of getting the information that our sales/estimating staff had about a project and getting it into our operations hands. After hours of debate we inked out a flowchart that would allow a smoother transition and a better understanding of what had been sold. The key to the whole process was time. Everyone gets busy and our customers were leaving us less and less time to organize and start our projects. Wolfedale has implemented a process to have all related parties (sales/project management/foreman) attend a meeting before the job starts and all information is to be shared down to the last detail. We have implemented checklists to be completed and incorporated into the appropriate job file for on-going reference.
After starting this process our foremen are more comfortable with the customer deadlines and expectations and our sales and project management staff know our customer will receive what they require.
We are not perfect and have allowed a few jobs slip through the process (no start-up meeting or weak at best) and we have paid for it. It costs Wolfedale time, money and puts us in a tough spot meeting our customers’ needs. Our goal is to continue to close the gap between sales and operations and ultimately improve our customers’ experience.
Jim Graham
Vice President Operations
Dial One Wolfedale Electric
905-564-8999 ext 223
Giving You the Power.
Wolfedale worked with MRSI Consulting Company www.mrsiconsulting.com/ to help pull all of these systems together. MRSI reviewed everything from a job numbering system, to quote procedures, to billing processes for all departments including 24 hour Emergency, Planned Maintenance, Construction Design/Build, Industrial Process and Material Handling. Nothing was left unturned as we worked through how things were done here at Wolfedale.
One of the biggest flaws we found was a process to “turn a project over” from Wolfedale’s sales staff to our operations group. We found that we had a poor way of getting the information that our sales/estimating staff had about a project and getting it into our operations hands. After hours of debate we inked out a flowchart that would allow a smoother transition and a better understanding of what had been sold. The key to the whole process was time. Everyone gets busy and our customers were leaving us less and less time to organize and start our projects. Wolfedale has implemented a process to have all related parties (sales/project management/foreman) attend a meeting before the job starts and all information is to be shared down to the last detail. We have implemented checklists to be completed and incorporated into the appropriate job file for on-going reference.
After starting this process our foremen are more comfortable with the customer deadlines and expectations and our sales and project management staff know our customer will receive what they require.
We are not perfect and have allowed a few jobs slip through the process (no start-up meeting or weak at best) and we have paid for it. It costs Wolfedale time, money and puts us in a tough spot meeting our customers’ needs. Our goal is to continue to close the gap between sales and operations and ultimately improve our customers’ experience.
Jim Graham
Vice President Operations
Dial One Wolfedale Electric
905-564-8999 ext 223
Giving You the Power.
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