Making Our Money Greener

Making Our Money Greener
By Don Lester

As consumers we have the power to encourage banks and other financial institutions to be more socially conscious and green. The recent financial collapse has shown that the way banks have been working must be flawed. Now that the banks are "looking in the mirror" so to speak and trying to sort out what went wrong we have the chance to help guide their restructuring. Now is a good time to let them know that we want businesses that care more about the earth and those of us who share it.

This is not as foreign a concept as you may imagine. A recent study discovered that when asked 43% of American bank customers would rather deal with a bank that appears green. Unfortunately for many banks that appearance of green is something they have exploited as a way to forgo an actual social and environmental contribution.

The banks are claiming green by doing something as simple as online statements. Now, it is true that eliminating monthly bank statements could reduce paper demand by about sixteen and a half million trees or forty six thousand acres of trees, but that is a far cry from a true green commitment. It is after all to their benefit to stop the paperwork and save money on paper and labour. But there are other problems here.

We can all agree that preventing deforestation is great for the environment but to absolve the banks of any other environmental responsibility and let them call themselves green strains credibility. Does saving a few trees in North America outweigh funding coal mining or deforestation in the Congo? But there are some real green banks out there setting the standard and developing the working models that provide their customers with amazing interest rates with healthy profits for them during the current economic downturn.

Some of these green banks have actually been in business for over 30 years. Working with a "triple bottom line" model that works on the premise that in addition to bringing profit to the bank and its customers, it must also ensure that the community, and environment profit as well. One way they accomplish this is by supporting such concepts as micro-lending. A concept that has lifted literally millions of people out of poverty to contribute to their local communities and environment.

By also avoiding quarterly earnings reports and over-leveraged debts they have escaped the same problems so many other banks are experiencing. They operate online savings accounts that yield 3.5% while giving their customers a nice feeling, knowing that the money is going to help build a green economy.

We need our banks and financial institutions to set a good example for other large and small businesses that a green business model works. Micro-lending should be the norm, not the exception. Insuring that the business, the environment, and the community all show a profit is a way for all businesses to show their green commitment. With the need to re-evaluate the way our financial systems work on our doorstep, the time has never been better to make this change for a greener and socially responsible business community.

Don has been a consultant for over 20 years and tries to provide valuable information for people in difficult times. As someone who has been there. He supports a website called http://helpinhardtimes.com as a way for people to get their lives back on track and possibly even make the money they need to make it through rough times.

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Process FMEA For the Service Sector

Process FMEA For the Service Sector
By Roger Thorpe

Process failure modes and effects analysis (PFMEA) is usually associated with manufacturing processes. However it can be applied to business processes with great effect. So, what type of processes am I considering?

Any of the following, (and these are only some suggestions):

• Purchasing.


• Supplier selection.


• Payroll.


• Supplier payment.


• Customer service.


• Recruitment.
  
• Sales.


• Logistics.


• Project planning.


• Scheduling of services.


• Design of organisational processes.


• Training.

As you can see the application of the principles are diverse.

How to decide which of your processes would benefit from the application of PFMEA?

If the above are representative of your processes then what you need to identify is which of them are your most problematic processes. Identify which particular single process is the most unreliable one I suggest you start with that. However you may need to bear in mind the importance of the process. It may be necessary to select a process which is more crucial to the business and has dramatic affect when it goes wrong.

What will it do for me?

PFMEA will highlight precisely the aspects, of the process you have selected, that let you down, the various reasons why they happen and draw your attention to all of the consequences of that weakness in your process. Through thorough analysis you will see all of the aspects of your selected process which malfunction and give rise to subsequent problems. Most importantly your PFMEA will highlight which issue is most urgent and the biggest risk to the business.

An example

Training of personnel is a good topic to illustrate how this method can be applied. Your process might be:

1. New employee.


2. Add to training matrix.


3. Carry out induction training.


4. Document training has been completed.


5. Indicate induction training has been completed on training matrix.

Picking number 3 as an example, a failure mode might be induction training not carried out. The effect of this may be that the person could be a risk to themselves or others under certain circumstances. One of the causes of this could be that they are temporary personnel, who are not added to the training matrix, hence there's no visibility of the requirement for the induction training. Further more because they do not appear on the training matrix you have no way of detecting that they haven't had any induction training. Okay this is perhaps extreme, since it is likely that temporary personnel under normal conditions probably do get induction training although it is likely that they still do not appear on the training matrix. So what happens when the person who normally does the induction training is away and the person standing in for them isn't sure what they usually do. This situation would certainly go undetected if the induction training is not carried out.

Summary

PFMEA is an ideal tool to highlight weaknesses in your processes and is particularly suited to long standing processes which people have been living with for a long time. It magnifies core problems thus drawing them to your attention and guiding you as to when you should take action on them.

Roger Thorpe has been an FMEA facilitator and consultant for 13 years, he has experience in the following sectors; automotive, motorsport, industrial, healthcare, rail support, construction and banking. He works with companies utilising his knowledge and their skill to deploy best practice. For more information on how he can help you visit his website: http://www.fmea.org.uk

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