Archive

VI. APPETIZERS

"Our minds are like our stomachs; they are whetted by the change of their food, and variety supplies both with fresh appetites."

-Marcus Fabius Quintilian

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Whetting your appetite:
A new way of kneading our dough

• Under Franchise Fund, money will be in the hands of the customers. The customers will have direct access to their checkbooks and can more easily plan their budgets accordingly. This will allow the cooks to do their own shopping to get the best deals in planning their meals. Our goal is to establish a solid reputation for providing quality products at reasonable and competitive prices. We want our customers to feel like they get 4-Star service and a fast food bill. Wouldn't you go back again and again?
• Field customers will become more cost-conscious and will buy only what they need. As the result of this:
• Demands will be reduced
• Returns will be expedited
• Field inventory will be reduced
• For non-cataloged orders, customers will enter a not-to-exceed dollar amount. If price exceeds this amount, customers will be contacted for authorization to proceed with their order at the price quoted.
• Customers will be billed for services rendered. This will be accomplished by the development of Universal Service Agreements (USAs) to cover the cost of the services. USAs will usually be a contract between the Logistics Center and Headquarters, Regional Offices, or other customers requiring the services, and administered through the issuance of Service Orders (SOs).
• Customers may receive credit for excess assets being offered to the Logistics Center.
• The FAALC will implement a Failure Under Warranty policy, which guarantees all products shipped from the FAALC's Logistics Support Facility (including items repaired by the FAALC).

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Tomato Bread

Spread bread lightly with margarine or butter, sprinkle on garlic salt. Cover bread with thinly sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle on cheese and broil or bake at 350° until edges of bread are brown and tomato is soft.

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The Iron Chef

The FAA Logistics Center wanted to measure its new organization against the PQA criteria through the eyes of a panel of experts, and was rewarded with the Presidents Quality Award Program-Merit Award. We are not yet ready to dethrone the Iron Chef, but we will continue to improve our dishes until we win the PQA.

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Seven Layer Dip

Layer the refried beans, guacamole, sour cream and picante sauce in a rectangular Pyrex dish. Sprinkle mixture with the grated cheese, covering it thoroughly. Add the tomatoes and black olives (as many as you prefer). Serve dip chilled with corn tortilla chips.

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Broccoli: Good for the HIP

If you think being healthy means eliminating your favorite foods from your lifestyle - think again. Similarly, the FAALC's Health Investment Program helps maximize employees careers, physical fitness, and personal lives in the same way that preparing your favorite meal in a certain way increases the nutritional value of your favorite foods, and it still tastes delicious.

Good health is like a delicious meal. It is the result of good ingredients that are carefully selected and properly prepared. The fact is, some ways of cooking dramatically increase the nutritional value of foods, while others greatly reduce it. Just like the effects of too much stress can start showing up in the workplace in big and small ways: lessened productivity, interpersonal conflict, tardiness and absenteeism, lengthy personal calls, and, in extreme cases, workplace violence. HIP offers a training program, seminars, briefings, and information related to lifestyle choices, diet, organizational stresses, and good health. By offering incentives to attract employee participation and progression, employees can balance change. By selecting foods that provide a greater nutritional yield when paired with other foods, you can make the most of your favorite foods.

Scientific Facts:

• Freezing broccoli nearly doubles its calcium content, because the processing reduces broccoli's mass and concentrates its minerals.
• Exercising for 30 minutes a day is more beneficial than 30 minutes @ 5 minute intervals during the day.

"I don't like to eat snail. I prefer fast food."

-Strange de Jim

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Workforce 21

So, now you know how it got its name, but you still don't know what "it" is. Workforce 21 is an initiative to develop a comprehensive strategy for the FAALC that will address workforce issues, such as, employee training and development, rewards and recognition, career progression, and employee satisfaction, to name a few.

The FAALC Corporate Board wants to have a world-class workforce management program, worthy of our "world-class employees," that will ensure our success into the next millennium. To work toward this goal, the Corporate Board has chartered the Workforce 21 Planning Team. This team will conduct research to see what world-class companies and other government organizations are doing in the area of workforce management. The team will then compare these practices to FAALC practices, and identify the differences, or gaps.

When this planning team completes its identification of the gaps between the FAALC workforce management practices and world-class practices, the next step will be to develop a comprehensive plan to implement changes to close these gaps. This task will probably be assigned to another group to complete the plan by July 2000.

Workforce 21 will not stop any other teams or groups currently working to address workforce issues. They will identify all the current initiatives and incorporate them in the comprehensive plan, so we will have a complete picture of all the efforts to address workforce issues.

"We all have hometown appetites. Every other person is a bundle of longing for the simplicities of good taste once enjoyed on the farm or in the hometown they left behind."

-Clementine Paddleford

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The Learning Organization and Knowledge Management

In 1990 Peter M. Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, says a learning organization is "An organization with an ingrained philosophy for anticipating, reacting and responding to change, complexity and uncertainty." Simply put, it is more than just "knowing what you know, and sharing it" it is about continuous experimentation with new processes, structures, approaches, etc., and feedback that provides insight and understanding which is used to generate more experimentation and "learning." Recently the term Knowledge Management is being used to describe the mechanism that helps to "ingrain" learning. The Logistics Center has accepted knowledge management as our next challenge. We have established a Knowledge Management Team to begin designing a knowledge management strategy that will facilitate our ability to mature as a Learning Organization. Stay tuned as we "learn more..."

"Let the stoics say what they please, we do not eat for the good of living, but because the meat is savory and the appetite is keen."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Shrimp Cocktail Surprise

Mix 5 tablespoons of ketchup with 1/2 cup orange juice and shake into liquid content. Mix all remaining ingredients.

Chill, serve in bowl, and wait for a surprise taste.

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Planning for the Future

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Corporate Knowledge

A team has been formed and tasked with creating a corporate knowledge repository for the Logistics Center. Part of the team's job will involve gathering lists of databases-both electronic and paper files, but much of our corporate knowledge is walking around in the heads of Logistics Center employees. How to capture this knowledge and share it in a meaningful way is indeed a challenge.

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Universal Service Agreements

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