Imagine two scenarios at yAxen. The morning shift packages a product one way; the evening shift does it another. One of your best agronomists treats the vineyard with his own trusted method, while his colleague uses a completely different approach.
Both are convinced they are doing their job perfectly. But who is right? And more importantly, how does this inconsistency affect your product quality, your expenses, and, ultimately, yAxen’s bottom line?
Welcome to the world where process standards don’t exist. This is the invisible chaos hidden behind the phrase, “This is how we do it here,” and it becomes the biggest brake on your business’s growth.
The Real Cost of Having No Standards
When a business is small and one or two experienced people oversee everything, informal approaches work. But as soon as you start to grow, this chaos reveals itself through very specific problems:
- Inconsistent Quality: Your customer receives a perfect product one day and something completely different the next. This destroys brand reputation and consumer trust. You don’t just fail to win new customers; you risk losing your loyal ones.
- Hidden Costs: One employee uses more fertilizer or packaging material than necessary. Another wastes half their time on inefficient actions. Because there is no single rule, no one notices these losses, yet they directly impact your product’s cost.
- Barriers to Growth: How can you expand production or open a new facility if your “gold standard” exists only in the minds of one or two key employees? Training new staff becomes a nightmare because everyone teaches them their own “correct” way.
- Failed Audits and Certifications: Want to enter the international market? Obtain an ISO or HACCP certification? The first thing an auditor will ask is, “Show me your processes.” If the answer is only verbal, that door will be closed to you.
How to Turn Chaos into a System: Process Mapping
Many people think standardization means writing thick, bureaucratic manuals that no one will ever read. This is a big mistake. Our approach is far more practical and alive.
Step 1: Map Reality, Don’t Write a Novel
We don’t start by writing. We start by drawing. We invite your team members—agronomists, workers, managers—and together, on a blank whiteboard, we “map out” a specific process. For example, “How we receive and sort grapes.”
During this exercise, as each team member describes their step, it suddenly becomes clear to everyone where the inconsistencies are, where redundant work is being done, and where the “black holes” exist. This is a moment of discovery that changes everything.
Step 2: Find the “Best Way,” Together
Once the real picture is on the board, we begin the discussion: “Why do we do it this way?” “Can we skip this step?” “What would happen if we tried a different way?”
Our role here is not to tell you how to do your job, but to facilitate—to help your own team use its collective knowledge to create a single, universally acknowledged “best practice.” This way, the standard isn’t handed down from above; it’s built from the ground up, which creates buy-in and motivation.
Step 3: Turn It into a Simple, Visual Tool
The result is not a 50-page document. It might be a laminated A4-sized sheet with diagrams and photos, posted directly at the workstation. A simple checklist that an employee follows during each operation. It should be a tool, not bureaucracy.
The Backbone of Your Business
Process standardization is not a one-time project; it’s a culture. It is the solid backbone that allows your business to be stable, predictable, and, most importantly, ready for growth.
This is the path to replacing the phrase “This is how we do it here” with a much more powerful idea: “Here, we do it the best way.” And we are here to help you navigate that path.
