How we work
Euan comes in, looks at the work, and helps change it
He starts on the floor rather than in the boardroom, because that is where you can watch a handing error, a wrong fixing or a missing part travel from an order to a customer. He works alongside the people who have to live with the change, not around them.
What he brings is an independent view across the whole operation, an understanding of how its parts affect each other, and a habit of thinking several steps ahead. The stages below describe the order the work usually takes. They are not a timetable: the scope, what to tackle first, how much of his time is involved and when you review it are agreed with you before anything starts.
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First
Observe
Go and look.
Watch the work happen, and talk to the people doing it.
Euan walks the floor, the goods-in bay, the office where quoting and ordering is done, and follows a job through. He interviews the people involved and reads whatever records exist. Most of what matters is not written down, so he asks the people who remember it.
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Next
Trace
Follow the work through.
Trace goods and information from order to site.
Each recurring problem gets traced to where it starts and where it should have been caught. These are usually two different places, often two different departments. This step tends to change what everyone thought the problem was.
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Then
Prioritise
Decide what to tackle first.
A short, ranked list, agreed with you.
Not everything can be fixed at once, and some fixes cost more than the problem. Euan sets out what he has found, what it appears to be costing and what he would tackle first. You decide the order.
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And then
Fix and hold
Help get it underway.
Changes made with your team, not handed over in a report.
Euan works alongside the people who have to live with the change, helps mobilise the resources it needs, and stays involved long enough to see whether it held. Where a problem needs expertise beyond our own, we say so and bring in a specialist.
What makes this different
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Euan starts with the actual work, not the org chart
He walks the floor, follows a job through, reads whatever records exist and talks to the people doing the job and the office team.
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He has done the jobs
Production and finishing, running an assembly team, specification of access equipment and ironmongery, fire-protection surveys and remediation. He knows what a goods-in bay, a shop floor and a supplier argument look like, because he has stood in all three.
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He thinks about what happens next
A change in one part of a business shows up somewhere else, often weeks later and in another department. Working out where is most of the skill, and it is why he follows the whole path rather than studying one stage of it.
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No blame
“Operator error”, “supplier fault” and “more training” are not accepted as causes. Your team tells us the truth because nobody is being hunted.
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Lean by design
A business this size can't carry extra paperwork, so each check we add has to save more than it costs to run.
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Proof before closure
A fix isn't done until the numbers show it worked. A new procedure on its own doesn't count.
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There is an agreed point to stop
When the scope is agreed, so is the point at which you stand back and decide whether to carry on. That takes the risk out of saying yes. Work is charged on a day rate, so what you commit to is what you have agreed, not a package.
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We say when something is beyond us
Where manufacturing complexity needs expertise we do not have, we say so and bring in a specialist. Operational flow is our strongest territory, and we would rather be clear about its edges than improvise past them.
Two points, not one
Most repeat errors have two causes: the point where the error is made, and the point where it should have been caught but wasn't. We find both, and fix both with your team.
Where software fits
We use AI and our own quality platform, Doctilla, to speed up the analysis and keep progress visible. You never need to buy software to work with us.
What this looks like in a real business
The method is the same on every engagement; the work is not. Here is the shape of it, so you know what you are agreeing to before the first conversation.
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We spend time where the work happens
Generally on the floor, in the warehouse, at the desk where the quoting is done, or with the supplier in question. We talk to the people doing the job, not only the managers describing it, and we follow real examples through the business rather than reading the process document. The process document is usually what is supposed to happen.
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We get the numbers before proposing anything
How often does this happen, what does it cost when it does, and where does it start? Until those are answered, any proposed fix is a guess. This is the part most businesses have never done, and it is usually the part that changes what everyone thought the problem was.
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We change the process with your team, not for them
The people who do the work are the ones who know why the workaround exists. Changes are made with them, tested on real jobs, and adjusted when the first version is wrong, because it usually is.
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We measure before and after, and report it
The measure is agreed at the start, against where the business actually is now. Progress is reported regularly, and nothing is closed as fixed until the data says it worked, not until everyone is tired of talking about it.
What it requires from you
An engagement works when the business can provide:
- Access to the people doing the work, and permission for them to speak plainly.
- Whatever records exist: error logs, complaints, remedial visits, credit notes, scrap reports.
- A decision-maker who can agree a change without a committee.
- Willingness to find that the stated problem is not the real one.
- Support for the people who have to adopt the change afterwards.
What it does not require is a specification, a business case, or an existing quality function. An engagement starts with a description of what is going wrong.
Questions about the method
Do you blame our people?
No. Most repeat errors are caused by a process that lets the error happen and then lets it through. We fix the process, not the person.
How do you measure success?
Before and after, against a measure agreed with you at the start so the two figures are comparable. We report regularly and close nothing until the data says the change held.
What if it is not working?
You and Euan agree when you will stand back and review it before any work starts, so there is a point at which you decide whether to carry on. If the numbers are not moving, you can stop there.
Will this add admin for my team?
No. Any check we add has to save more than it costs to run, and it goes into the paperwork your team already uses.
See how this would start in your business.
Bring one problem that keeps coming back to the free two-hour workshop. If you want help beyond that, the scope is agreed with you and the work is charged on a day rate.
Free. Two hours. No obligation.