Discovery Process Tool

Discovery Process Tool

Request for Discovery Assessment©
*Available for Utah manufacturers only

Company Information

Company Name:		#Employees:
Address:
City:		Zip:
Contact:		Title:
Phone:		Fax:
Business Desc:		SIC:

Survey

1. If you could solve ONE problem or address ONE issue immediately, what would that be?

2. If you could accomplish TWO major objectives within the next 12 months, what would those be?

3. Is your cash flow and profitability adequate to cover payroll, expenses, growth of the company (advertising, additional raw materials, new equipment, etc.), and provide an adequate return to the owners/investors?

4. If you make no significant changes within the near future, what are the 3 most probable things your competitors could do that would negatively impact your business?

Reduce Costs

Advertise More

Hire One of Our Key Employees

Target Our Customers

Improve Delivery

Improve Quality

New Products, Product Features, or Services

Improve Customer Satisfaction

Other:

5. What is the single measurement that, if changed, would make the most impact on the company?

Note: Be sure this metric is specific, controllable, and not the result of other metrics. For example, appropriate answers might be; lead time, sales leads, leads converted to sales, reject rate, machine utilization, etc. Inapproprate answers include; profit, sales, quality, etc.

6. Are you meeting sales demand for your products/services? Specifically… (Check all that apply)

a) We have excess production capacity (not enough sales).

b) Our sales are not as profitable as we need them to be.

c) We are turning away business or working overtime in order to keep up with demand.

If you checked box (6a) or (6b) -- not enough sales or non-profitable sales …

What are you currently doing to increase sales or sales profitability? Is this working?

If you checked box (6c) -- working OT, not enough capacity …

Is your inability to keep up with sales due to … (Check all that apply)

Production bottlenecks

Inadequate cash flow

Poor deliveries or parts shortages

Quality problems (detail in Question 7)

Labor shortages

General production inefficiencies

Scheduling problems

Don't know

Other:

7. What are the 3 most significant quality-related problems in the company?

8. Do you have a formal quality system in place? (Check all that apply)

We are ISO 9000 or equivalent certified	We have been certified by a major customer
We are ISO 9000 or equivalent compliant	We conform to Good Manufacturing Practices
We conform to Baldrige requirements	We have some other formal system in place
We have a Six Sigma system in place	No, we do not have a formal quality system

9. Do you have specific business risks with regard to any of the following?
Key Customers
Key Suppliers
Key Employee
Technology
Key process/equipment
Labor or unions (strikes, etc.)
Regulatory issues (EPA, OSHA, etc.)
Legal / ligitation issues
Other Risks:

10. What is the most significant change the company has experienced in the past 3 years?

11. What are the values for your following key business measurements?
Measurement/Metric	Today	1 Yr Ago
a) Order Lead Time (cycle time) (Days)
b) Takt Time (Hours)
c) Work-In-Process (WIP) Inventory (% of Sales)
d) On-Time Delivery (% orders shipped on time)
e) Annual Employee Turnover Cost ($)
f) Monthly Scrap and Rework Costs ($)
g) Average Machine Changeover Time (min)

12. Can you think of any important issue(s) not covered above, of which resolution would make a significant impact on your business?