By 
A. “We don’t actually measure DIFOT, it is not a metric that is useful for us”
Q “Why not?”
A “Put it this way, in the 23 years that we have operated here with multiple daily shipments to many customers, we have only ever had 5 partial shipments! If you are in automotive and don’t deliver 100%, in full, on time, in spec, every day, then you are NOT in automotive”
This exchange actually happened a few years back when the SIRF visited the truly excellent tier 1 Denso Croydon facility. The Denso focus was not on a lagging indicator (DIFOT or DIFOTIS ) of a measure of how much customer dissatisfaction they were generating but rather an extreme focus on the leading indicators and systems required to meet or exceed customer demands or expectations on a daily sometimes hourly basis.
This reminds me how much Australian industry has lost with the closure of the local automotive sector. It is nonetheless pleasing that there are companies like MtM automotive components that had the vision to chase export markets ahead of the domestic closure. MtM now supply automatic gear shifts and door checks, exporting products to Mexico, USA, Argentina, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, China, South Africa, Russia & Canada.
Mark Albert , the MtM CEO will share some of his lessons learned from this journey at the SIRF National Forum in Melbourne on August 27th & 28th with his presentation “ So you want to supply internationally”.
One of the extra demands for all exporters is that with a pipeline of product always on the water at any one time, the pain for any potential quality miss is amplified by the delayed feedback from the market . Error proofing processes and systems to ensure 100% quality meeting customer expectations is absolutely paramount in this environment. Designing quality into the product is the only way to survive. SIRF is lucky enough to be visiting the MtM Oakleigh site on the morning of September 11th for a site tour that will focus on MtM‘s excellent error proofing strategy and execution covering such things as DFMEA , PDMEFA , continuous improvement and product control plans. I genuinely believe that you will see things at MtM that will give you some ideas to improve your own processes.
Hope to see you there:
Brian Niven