07: Quality Management & Problem Solving Methods

Question 1

What is quality?

Answer 1

• lots of properties: performance, features, reliability... + many others!

Key points:

• Quality has many meanings.
• It is all encompassing.
• Quality should be defined from a customer perspective.
• A product should be fit for purpose and conform to specification.

Question 2

7 (+1) Levels & evolution of quality methods in POM:

Answer 2

I.qC.qA.Tqm.Ss(E).I.Ls

1. inspections -> retrospective
2. Quality Control -> catch problems as they arise
3. Quality Assurance -> proactive emphasis on operations improvement
4. Total Quality Management -> like QA but strating from design
5. Six Sigma & EFQM -> more advanced methods
   * (European Foundation for Quality Mgmt)*
6. ISO 9001 -> certification (standardisation & signalling, but w cost of some bureaucracy)
7. LeanSigma = mix of lean & SixSigma (???!!!)

Question 3

SixSigma framework

• inventor(s)
• description
• best application field
• problem solving method
• evolution

Answer 3

• Motorola, then early adopter GE
• Using statistics for mass production
• Suitable for huge volumes of discrete products
• With goal to keep all products within defined sigmas of bell-shaped distribution
• Team approach
• With certification “belts”, loved by consultancies
• problem solving with DMAIC
• going to LeanSigma… bullshit, according to Prof Netland: there is a conflict bw human-based & engineering approach

Question 4

problem solving methods: 4 (+ 4)

Answer 4

• 5 Why’s
• PDCA / PDSA
• DMAIC
• 8D

 TRIZ
 FMEA
 Design thinking
 Systems engineering

Question 5

The 5 why’s problem solving method:

• method
• pro
• con

Answer 5

• ask why 5 times in a seq
• +simple
• -works only for some problems and w experienced interrogator

Question 6

PDSA / PDCA

• meaning
• origin
• diff
• basis

Answer 6

• Plan Do Study/Check Act
• PDSA:
  Edwards Deming’s PDSA Cycle for Learning and Improvement (1993)
• became PDCA in Japan
• based on scientific method

Question 7

DMAIC =

essence in 5 steps:

related to:

best suitable for:

Answer 7

DeMAnImpCont

• define
• measure
• analyse
• improve
• control
• There are many variants, but they are mostly equivalent: scientifical methods.
• Related to SixSigmas
• Works well for many problems, except complex ones, where you need eg Systems Engineering.

Question 8

8D problem solving method:

• meaning
• from whom
• for whom
• how
• similar to what

Answer 8

• 8 disciplines… focused on team
• From Ford
• For engineers
• It establishes a permanent corrective action based on statistical analysis of the problem and on the origin of the problem by determining the root causes.
• 8D follows the logic of the PDCA cycle.

Question 9

relationship bw PDCA, DMAIC & 8D:

Answer 9

basically equivalent applications of the scientific method

Question 10

problem solving approaches: 4

Answer 10

• A3
• QRQC
• Projects
• Kaizen blitz workshops

Question 11

A3 approach

what

what for

Answer 11

• write all on an A3 sheet, best with storytelling & visuals
• it is a problem solution delivery method

Question 12

Kaizen blitz in 3 features

Answer 12

• 1 to 5-day workshop
• total focus on defined process
• aims to achieve radical improvement, using many tools & quick experimentation cycles

Question 13

Quick Response Quality Control approach def=

Answer 13

fix problems immediately at root cause, removing it quickly, with help of visual tools

Question 14

Ishikawa’s 7 (problem solving) tools of quality control

+ overarching goal

Answer 14

+ statistical tools made simple for use by the avg person!

1. Flowcharts or Process Maps
2. Checksheet
3. Visual data representations: Graphs, Histograms
4. Ishikawa / Fishbone / Cause & Effect diagrams
5. Pareto charts or diagrams
6. Scatterplots
7. Statistical Process Control (charts)