How to prevent Murphy's Law from Snowballing
Posted on Fri, Mar 12, 2010 @ 03:21 PM
We all have experienced it; whether at work or in our daily lives, when something goes wrong it almost always progressively worsens. It’s known as Murphy’s Law and was said to have evolved from the experiences of US Aerospace engineer Edward Murphy purportedly said, ‘if something can go wrong, it will.’
In the logistics field that ADS Logistics relies heavily on, all of us have experienced the travails and trials that accompany challenging situations. Whether it is a truck being late from the supplier, or a task that seems difficult to finish, no amount of planning can predict worst case scenarios. Even those involved in disaster planning acknowledge that worst case scenarios are difficult to anticipate, especially when they take on a life of their own.
Whether you are a shipper/receiver, customer satisfaction or superintendent, you may have heard the typical excuse from a carrier dispatch, ‘oh, we were only ten minutes late.’ In the field that Roll & Hold Warehousing operates in, time management is critical to our operations, our relationship with our clients and customers and supports our overall branding as a premier logistics provider. I have outlined a scenario below, whereby a ten-minute late delivery became a challenge that took on a life of its own.
1. Carrier arrived ten minutes late with critical material for the customer. Arrival scheduled for 13:30, should be at the customer by 14:20. (This was the anticipation in a ‘normal’ scenario)
2. Arrived 13:40. Driver was new, took ten minutes to back into the truck bay.
3. Driver had a ‘rack and tarp’ like this (for those who are not familiar with this type of trailer, it does take some more time than a trailer with a ‘slider to open). Add five extra minutes.
4. The first pallet is taken off at 14:00 hrs. Then things really got sticky as the propane tank ran out on the forklift. Another 2 min delay while another truck was brought in to take pallets off.
5. Material being received into the computer system until the program crashes (again) in the middle of receiving the bill. A few more minutes as we reboot and sign in again to complete receiving.
6. It’s now 14:10, and we are officially running late. Time to print tags, but the ribbon ran out on the printer and had to be changed. Add another five minutes.
7. Truck finally left the warehouse and arrived twenty-five minutes late at customer because driver was caught in early-afternoon traffic.
Here, a ten minute delay took on a life of its own and became a twenty-five minute delay on the customer end. Murphy’s Law kicked in and a range of scenarios, each inter-related, kept adding time to a situation thought to be ‘controllable.’
Now this may not happen everyday, but always bear in mind that when something does go wrong, or when a carrier is only a few minutes late, it almost never equates to the same time delay on the customer end.
Additionally, if you are caught in this situation, there is no point in trying to play catch up. Most accidents and safety/quality transgressions occur when we try to make up for time lost. There is no substitute for ensuring that that coil is secured, or the pin placement is correct and quality inspection is done correctly. As my boss Ryerson would say, 'better to be late and correct than early and wrong.'
And, if you think you had a rough week, see this.
Article submitted by Sean Bobb- Customer Satisfaction, Roll & Hold Warehousing