A Cut Above Exteriors Case Study

Top-ranked Company Rises to New Heights through TQM

Creating a Culture of Quality

A Cut Above Exteriors, an exterior remodeling company, has been doing top quality work since it was founded by Mark Tiffee in 1995. Listed among the top 500 exterior remodeling companies in the country by Qualified Remodeler magazine every year since 2000, A Cut Above Exteriors is in the top 1% of their industry.

A reputation for quality does not come easily. The top leadership at A Cut Above Exteriors is dedicated to ensuring the company maintains the quality customer service and workmanship that earned their reputation. However, leadership realized that they were always on watch, responsible for seeing and fixing breaks in quality. They found they were usually the ones to put their “finger over the leak in the dam.” It was time to make quality part of the fabric of the company.

A Cut Above Exteriors partnered with Price Associates to incorporate Total Quality Management (TQM) throughout the company. They believed, even though they were considered among the best, they could get better.

Commitment to Improvement
“I knew A Cut Above’s leadership was deeply committed to this process when they sent over one-third of their employees to learn the principles and process of TQM. Four days away from work. That’s commitment,” exclaims Ron Price, CEO of Price Associates.

The hands-on workshop focused on helping the A Cut Above Exteriors team learn the tools of TQM by applying them them to the company's current practices. Using what they learned, the team created plans for improvement.

Embedding Quality
The process focused on three fundamental changes.
•   A new way of defining and measuring quality in relationship to customers
•   A scientific approach to analyzing data and improving processes
•   Working more effectively as one team throughout the company

The initial group took what they had learned and began to implement it in their areas of influence. One primary change was to view problems in terms of processes rather than people. When inefficiency became apparent, teams looked for bottlenecks versus employee behavior.

As more staff began to understand the principles of TQM, they looked at overall processes, across departments, improving the “big picture” rather than working on only a fraction of the process. Departments working together created a cohesive workflow and quality management.

Transformational Results
The changes within A Cut Above were astounding and dynamic.

Improved systems and reduced errors saved time while increasing customer satisfaction and profits. Teams working together reduced the delays of possessive segmentation and allowed for a more fluid workflow again saving time and money.

Ron Price explains, “The impact on the bottom line was huge. For example, by improving the order process, the cost in time and materials was reduced and the time spent on each job was cut by one third.”

Ownership of “the job” sprang up. Employees began to step up and contribute their insight.

Leadership can focus more on the future of the business because the everyday work is being done well and efficiently.

A culture of quality, increased margins, improved customer satisfaction, more jobs in less time, interdepartmental teamwork and a dramatic increase in the bottom line—these are the tremendous rewards reaped by actively embracing TQM within a company already considered to be among the best in the industry.

"One great example of how the TQM work changed our business is in our sales department. The initial analysis showed that 78% of sales orders had errors. We saw this was a problem with our process, not our people. By working on the process, we were able to cut sales order errors down. Within eight months we had eliminated virtually all errors without any disciplinary tactics."
- Mark Tiffee, CEO, A Cut Above Exteriors

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Industry

Exterior remodeling.

Company Profile

Founded in 1995, A Cut Above Exteriors evolved from providing quality siding to a complete exterior remodeling company. A Cut Above Exteriors has been listed as one of the top exterior remodeling companies in the nation by Qualified Remodeler magazine for the past seven years.

Business Challenge

A Cut Above Exteriors has a strong reputation for quality workmanship and customer service. The top leadership in the company wanted to see quality become an intrinsic part of the company culture rather than a supervisory function.

Solution

A Cut Above Exteriors committed to partnering with Price Associates to learn how to implement Total Quality Management (TQM) in every area of the organization.

Results

Departments began to work together as one team
Processes were made more efficient, saving time and money
Problem solving took on a more positive, process-oriented approach
Motivation to perform well began to come from within the company rather than from the top down
More work was done faster
Profits increased significantly

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