Thanks for the follow-up question. My “back room” examples would be monitoring/improving $/sf
statistics, executing capital projects on time/budget, and managing my staffs. Frankly, users weren’t
really interested in those activities; those were my stewardship responsibility. My VP R&D boss used
to say, “I know you’re doing your job when you’re invisible!”
My “front room” statistics were based on meeting user needs. One was turning my labs around quickly
for new equipment or bench layouts to meet new programs or customer needs; my general goal was
one week, which was speedy compared to their past experiences before me. Another was using
“one-stop shopping” for new equipment purchase/install. I teamed engineering/purchasing/safety
etc to do everything so users didn’t get bogged down or into unfamiliar fields. Users really liked that
and we reported openly about performance stats!
A third was overseeing maintenance/repairs with a focus on quality (do it right the first time), function
(user sign-off) and cost which was competitive but third. User satisfaction went from 72% to 97% in
two years for 1,300 in the US, and we posted stats too. (We had different scorecards outside US.) I
put together a case study about this last, and it seemed to be a good communication.
Dr Doug Aldrich, CFM
IFMA Fellow
