At Gelato, the most serious type of production error is when a customer receives another customer’s order. It is so serious to us that we call it a "Fatal Error" (FE). It could be a memorial portrait that not only doesn’t arrive in time for the funeral but goes to the wrong person; or government personnel ordering holiday cards that are sent to the wrong customer, compromising national security (both of which have happened).
No customer takes this lightly, and if you think about how you would react if your personal memories or content were in the possession of a stranger, you would share the deep disappointment and frustration that our customers express with us if this occurs. Adding to this we have an increasing number of API customers and we know that they will leave our operation if their customers receive an order from one of their competitors. Fatal errors have become a huge business risk for Gelato and all our partners.
Our data from print partners across the planet shows that most fatal errors occur at the packaging station when the operator adds the products and labels to the package. In order to help you eliminate these errors, we would like to share the top drivers and best practices with you.
Package one order at a time: this simple rule, if followed, will eliminate the majority of fatal errors! Needless to say, training & focus are key ingredients to comply with this rule at all times.
Only print one shipping label at a time: this will prevent mislabelling the package.
Keep the packaging station clean and well organized: this is a prerequisite to keeping control of the process. Have only one print job at the packaging station at any time. The other jobs can wait in a basket separated from the packaging station
Never pause when a job is not fully packaged: always complete a job, in full, from start to finish. Only ever pause in between different jobs.
A Fatal Error will result in a temporary reduction of volume. The goal of this partial reduction is to facilitate the investigation and avoid similar errors occurring in consecutive days due to a systemic problem. You will be asked to support with a deep dive into the root causes and clear corrective actions to address within 24 hours of the fatal error.
If you have another FE within 30 days, a larger share of volume will be reduced (up to 100% of volume depending on the circumstances) along with a deep dive. If the root causes are not sufficiently clear and the corrective actions not strong enough to prevent a follow up, more details will be sought before volume can be reinstated. If you have more than 2 fatal errors within a 30 day period or 3 fatal errors within a 90 day period, a deeper conversation will need to be held to assess if the situation is solvable.