The short answer
Find the two or three families of rework that cost most, then put a cheap control where each one starts, not where it is found. In a business that quotes, makes, delivers and installs, that usually means one specification record from quote to order, a hold point before anything is made or covered, and checks at goods-in rather than at loading.
By Euan Pallister, Operations & Quality Improvement Consultant. Published on .
Start with the records, not the fixes
It is tempting to start with the fix everyone already has in mind: a new system, a new form, another check at the end. Resist it until you know where the money goes. Pull the last 12 months of remakes, return visits and credit notes, group them into families by cause, and put a conservative cost on each family. Our guide to what rework really costs shows how in an afternoon.
You will usually find that a few families cause most of the cost. Those are the only ones to work on first.
Seven fixes that cost little
Each of these targets a place where rework commonly starts in a business that quotes, specifies, buys in, delivers and installs. Use the ones that match your top families.
1. One specification record from quote to purchase order
Specials are often described one way on the quote, another on the drawing and a third on the supplier’s paperwork. Keep one record of what was sold (sizes, finishes, handing, options) and make every later document copy from it, not retype it.
2. A survey method and a hold point before release
Remakes on site are often the most expensive single incidents a business has, and most start before anything is made. Use a written survey checklist, don’t measure before the fixed points exist, and hold every job at one point where a second person checks the drawing against the survey before it is released for manufacture.
3. Price changes before you absorb them
Client changes that are made without a priced variation are margin given away. Set a release point for each area of a job, and treat anything after it as a change that is priced, drawn and signed before it is built.
4. Proper fields for the things that keep failing
If handing, finish, edging or fitting packs keep going wrong, they are probably being carried in free text. Give them their own fields on the order, with set options, so nobody has to interpret a note.
5. Check specials at goods-in, not at loading
Faults found when the van is waiting cost the most to fix. Check special items against the drawing when they arrive, while there is still time to get them replaced before the job is due.
6. One definition of “complete” per delivery
Return visits for missing items often happen because nobody shares the same definition of a complete delivery. Use a one-page delivery note per room or phase, checked at loading and signed on site.
7. A hold point before work is covered
Fire stopping above a ceiling, fixings behind a lining, a frame packed and plastered in: once it is covered, the record of what was checked is the only evidence there will ever be. Nothing gets covered until someone has checked it and signed it off, with a photo.
Contain first, then fix
Some of these take weeks to put in place properly. In the meantime, put a few deliberate checks where your biggest families escape: at goods-in, at dispatch, before more work is made. That is containment. It stops the damage while the real fixes are built, and it shows the team that something is changing.
Then measure. Count the same families the same way every month. Expect logged incidents to rise at first, because problems that used to be fixed on site without a record start being logged. Say so to the board before it happens.
Where to go from here
If you want help reading your records, the free Margin Leak Review takes about an hour. If you’d rather run the full programme with support, the 90-Day Quality Turnaround contains the worst families within weeks and fixes the causes behind them, with your own team.
Quick answers
Do we need new software to reduce rework?
Usually not first. Most rework families can be cut with a checklist, a hold point or a change to the order form. Software helps once you know which controls you need.
Where should we start?
With last year's records. Group incidents into families by cause and cost, and start with the two or three that cost most.
Why does rework keep coming back after we fix it?
Because the fix was applied where the problem was found, not where it started. Correcting a wrong part at loading stops that delivery going wrong; it doesn't stop the next order being keyed wrong.
How quickly can rework come down?
Containment checks can stop the worst families reaching customers within weeks. Fixing the causes behind them typically takes a few months.