Beyond the box: converters thrive in the marketplace by finding creative and competitive ways to rethink the traditional box

Paperboard Packaging, Jan, 2004 by Peter Fretty

When using MVT, the goal is to test as many possible formulas as possible to make the best use of existing capital. QualPro's typical approach is to assume that the key aspects in need of change are not known.

"A lot of organizations believe that they know the key things that need correction and occasionally they do but in most instances the key changes are not known," says MVT expert and process improvement consultant Kerry Stone. "If they really knew, they would have changed them and had the problem fixed internally."

The most typical result is that firms will narrow a problem down to two or three things that they test to death and never get to a solution. The reason for this is because there is a fourth or fifth element that is not considered, explains Stone.

"We have an opposite approach to process improvement," he says. While mining existing knowledge and expertise, QualPro tries to get as many things as it can that are practical, feasible and cost-effective to consider.

Through this succession of large screening procedures, the company refines experimentation and assesses ideas that are relevant. "We can extract what makes a difference," he says. "MVT is a way to create knowledge, not just optimize existing knowledge."

This is key to success, especially since statistics show that 25 percent of all ideas do not help. In fact, 22 percent make things worse and roughly 50 percent do not do anything. "All of these ideas are usually suggested as things that should help," Stone says.

The most common misconception is that it cannot be done. "This is understandable because the entire process appears overwhelming, especially when people first look at the combinations that are proposed," Stone says. "People need to get out from under the belief that while it can work in another business or industry, it will not work in their operations."