Step 2 Understand your processes

While you may think you already know your current processes, the only way to make sure is to walk the process in the way described in section 5.3 above. Mapping a process involves creating a very simple flow chart. This is best done with a pad of paper, a pencil - and a smile. Start at the point where a customer order comes into the company. This could be with a salesman in the field, over a phone, through the fax or via a computer. Write down the name of this step and draw a box around it. Ask whoever picks this order up what happens next. Very probably it gets reviewed, logged in or put on someone s desk. Any of these options is a step. Write this down on your pad of paper below the first step. Draw 

During your expedition following the process through the company ask the people who undertake each step how long it takes to work on a single, typical order. You need to find out the activity time - the hme they spend physically working on it, not the time it spends on their desk or next to their machine. 

When you have mapped the whole process, compare the total lead time (the P-time) with the time in which your customers are demanding you respond to them (their D-time). How well do you do If the P-time is greater than the D-time you have a challenge. 

Now add up the activity times for all of the steps in the process. How does this compare with the overall lead time (the P-hme) It is likely to be considerably smaller. How does it compare with the D-time Possibly it is also smaller. If so, you have a real opportunity to improve your responsiveness and get your lead time within that demanded by the customer through applying the ideas listed above, and without the need for extensive investment in technological solutions. 

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Isolated facts, physiological mechanisms, drug names and actions can sometimes be remembered for only a comparatively short time. However, this process of memorizing and understanding facts represents only the first step in your learning. 

Do not copy the process straight from your textbook. Writing the steps in your own words promotes a more thorough understanding of the process. 

Describe any necessary equipment and define special terms. In some process essays, you will need to indicate what equipment, ingredients, or tools are required. Such information is often provided in a paragraph following the thesis, before the process itself is described in other cases, the explanation of proper equipment is presented as the need arises in each step of the process. As the writer, you must decide which method is best for your subject. The same is true for any terms that need defining. Don t lose your reader by using terms only you, the specialist, can comprehend. Always remember that you re trying to tell people about a process they don t understand. 

Most reactions involve electron transfer and thus are redox reactions. You have learned to identify which element is reduced and which is oxidized when you are given the equation for a redox reaction. You might wonder why one element accepts electrons from another and whether you can predict which element will be oxidized and which will be reduced. Learning to make those predictions is the next step in your study of electron-transfer processes in compounds and will help you understand how redox reactions in batteries produce electricity. 

What A matrix diagram is a method used to arrange data to help the user understand important relationships. The diagram displays the relationship between two groupings (e.g., steps in a process and departments, customer needs and features offered with your service, vendors and selection criteria). 

Although these two aspects are completely different, instructors will typically gauge your understanding of the principles by testing your ability to solve problems. So you must master both aspects of the course. The principles are in your lecture notes, but you must discover how to solve problems. Most students have a difficult time with this task. In this book, we explore some step-by-step processes for analyzing problems. There is a very simple habit that you must form immediately learn to ask the right questions. 

Your friend is having trouble understanding how a rate-determining step in a reaction mechanism determines the rate of the overall reaction. Invent a new analogy to explain the idea to your friend, using a process from everyday life that involves slow and fast steps. 

Step 1 Where are you now To begin the process, it is necessary to understand the issues and how the existing regulations affect your company and its current business. 

Step 4 Evaluate and repeat process—You will want to check on the success of your program, and Chapter 4 details how your SMS will do that. Of course, you will want to repeat this process on a periodic basis and ensure that your leading indicators are still valid. A very mature SMS will understand that you need to do this when material changes occur in your business but also on a periodic timeline to ensure that unforeseen conditions haven t changed that you did not pick up on. 

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