There are three prime areas of business that every successful company, no matter the industry, looks to excel. The safety and well-being of those that keep the gears turning, the profits being earned through the work being performed, and the production of both a quality product and business. In a year and season where health, safety, and profit have been a big question mark for most, Bay Cities has excelled in managing all three – while keeping a keen focus on maintaining the quality of both their products and performance.
Just as you would not jump into the driver’s seat of a car without first knowing your destination, Bay Cities understands that knowing where you are going in a process is of equal importance. With the help and guidance of each department’s manager, our Quality team has spent the past few months updating, what we call, our process maps. These diagrams can be in either a single or multiple swim lane layout and allows our team members to visibly walk through a process. Step by step, department by department, each process is mapped out in such a way as to communicate each responsible party’s role in making that process successful. Using links that redirect to SharePoint where necessary files, forms, examples, and web addresses are easily available, our process maps are designed with clear communication, simple clarification, and almost effortless accessibility in mind. We want our team members to not only understand how each process works, but to be able to function fluidly within those processes. All while having the resources required to complete the job successfully, just a click away.
At the core of our process map creation and development are our Standard Operating Procedures, or our SOPs. These SOPs are the backbone of process and policy establishment here at Bay Cities and serve as a reliable foundation for our process maps. The creation and continued development of our SOPs is essential to the growth, development, and success of our business. It is the responsibility of our Quality team to ensure that our processes and procedures stay up-to-date and ever evolving when the need arises. What works today may not work tomorrow. When we can recognize that, evaluate and establish a corrective action, update the process accordingly, and train those impacted by our improvements, we are able to reap the benefits of added value through every step of the process. It is through that understanding that Bay Cities annually evaluates their SOPs. Ensuring that their fit, form, and function, work as safely, accurately, and efficiently as possible, while keeping all areas of our business accountable for knowing and understanding what it is that they do, why it is they do it, and how it is to be done correctly.
While we continue to grow and develop the way we run our business, we keep our eyes focused on the task at hand. All while keeping our minds focused on the process built to successfully sustain it and looking for ways to take a good thing and make it great.