Quality Improvement Safari

Question 1

What is the key phenomena that we seek to understand in OM?

Answer 1

Why one operation (factory or service) is more productive than another.

Question 2

What are the 4 quality improvement approaches in OM 9?

Answer 2

TQM, Lean, Six Sigma and BPR

Question 3

Set out the chronological evolution of QI tools and principles

Answer 3

Scientific Management (Taylor - 1911): every action of the worker is preplanned and directed by the manager. Studies of time/motion to identify the most efficient way of completing a task. Was succ in improving productivity and impact on industry. Was monotonous and dehumanising.

Control Charts (Shewhart - 1939): Every process displays variation. Orgs monitored quality. Common causes and special causes of variation. The latter was considered not in control and required attention.

Deming Cycle (1950): means of achieving a never ending cycle of learning. PDCA cycles.

Quality Circles (Munchus 1983): The QCs were inspired by Deming. Quality control should be in the 85% of people who did the work and not the 15 % of managers. Design quality into the process. QCs were extremely popular - accounted for the diff in quality b/w American and Jap production. Depended on teams of volunteers. Weren’t able to drive improvements.

Lean/Six Sigma/TQM and BPR - 1990s: JIT and the Toyota production system linked to Lean. Denote a distinct departure from quality control towards a more philosophical approach to principles (rather than tools). Requires a culture change across the organisation. In practice, the spirit tends to be overlooked and orgs balance back towards viewing them as tools rather than as a way of thinking.

Hybrid approaches in late 1990s and 2000s. Companies are raiding the quality tool box. Their approach is one of operations excellence.

Question 4

Principles + Tools = ?

Answer 4

Solutions. Tools need to be adapted to the context and the context will be dependent on the circumstances

Question 5

What are the four essential core properties of successful improvement work?

Answer 5

A) Leadership at all levels. All levels need to be engaged and involved. Involvement needs understanding the spirit and philosophy and empowering staff to think about quality and quality improvements.
B) Must see a pervasive culture that supports all learning throughout the org.
C) Emphasis on the development of effective teams
D) Greater use of information technology for both continuous improvement work and external accountabilities.

Question 6

What are the barriers to QI?

Answer 6

a) Lack of worker involvement
b) Lack of consistent external force or driver for continuous improvement (i.e. the lack of urgency)
c) Inadequate information systems
d) Insufficient senior management leadership and support
e) Problems in adapting the principles/practices to the context
f) Misunderstanding and misuse

Question 7

What is critical to achieving and maintaining competitive advantage?

Answer 7

Quality improvements. Organisations need to continuously realign operations capabilities to match the dynamic requirements of customers or they will fall behind the pack. The red queen effect - the ones to prevail will the ones that adapt the fastest to changing conditions.

Question 8

What is the QI quote of McNary 95

Answer 8

Survival is not compulsory. Improvement is not compulsory. But improvement is necessary for survival - McNary 1995

Question 9

What is important in ensuring highest levels of quality at the lowest possible cost?

Answer 9

Standardisation - leading to standard work or standard operating processes. Standardisation is a core method associated with Lean. If you standardise work - you not only reduce variation but you also improve the quality of the product or service. Use the example of standardisation in certain aspects of medical care as an demonstration of the QI impact of standardisation.

Question 10

SPC is a key tool in which two QI approaches?

Answer 10

Six Sigma and TQM

Question 11

When a process displays special cause variation, it is said to be…

Answer 11

…not in control

Question 12

When a process displays common cause variation, it is said to be…

Answer 12

…in control

Question 13

Who developed the SPC tool and when?

Answer 13

Shewhart 1939.

Question 14

What is the other tool (developed by Shewhart) that is central to the implementation of TQM, Six Sigma and Lean?

Answer 14

PDCA:

Plan - what is the problem you want to address and how might we improve it?

Do - carry out the change

Check - check that the change has delivered the required improvement

Act - standardise the change so that it becomes the way how work is delivered though out the organisation.

Question 15

Draw the PDCA diagram

Answer 15

Draw the diagram

Question 16

What is PDCA?

Answer 16

Plan - Do - Check and Act: means of achieving a never ending cycle of continual improvement of a process or product

Question 17

What is Crosby’s famous quote about quality?

Answer 17

Poor quality costs 20% of all revenue. A cost that can be avoided by using good quality approaches. Crosby pushed for zero defects.

Question 18

What is Deming’s philosophy?

Answer 18

When quality increases, variability (the unpredictability of a process) decreases. He emphasised the need for SPC methods, participation, education and openness.

Question 19

Who developed the concept of TQM?

Answer 19

Feigenbaum developed the concept of TQM. His contribution includes the concept of a hidden plant - i.e. the work performed in correcting mistakes. Emphasised the importance of accountability and he devised the concept of total quality control.

Question 20

What diagram is commonly used in Six Sigma and Lean to diagnose an affect or problem?

Answer 20

Fishbone or Ishikawa Cause and Effect Diagram.

Question 21

What is the philosophy of TQM?

Answer 21

Stresses the total of improvement. Puts quality and improvement at the heart of everything that is done by the operation. All members of the organisation participate in improving processes, products, services and the culture in which they work.

Question 22

What are the three principles of TQM?

Answer 22

The 3 principles are MIC:

a) Meet the needs/expectations of the customer: involve the whole organisation in understanding the central importance of customers to its success
b) Include every person in the organisation: Empowerment is a central principle of TQM. Everyone has to be involved
c) Covering all parts of the organisation: TQM sees customers as internal as well as external. Errors produced internally will eventually affect the external customer. Need to manage the internal customer-supplier relationships.

Question 23

What are the 5 methods of TQM?

Answer 23

1) Kaizen - small step/continuous improvement. Constantly introduce small incremental changes to improve performance. Individuals have a key role in identifying improvements
2) Use scientific methods - places heavy emphasis on use of SPC/cost of quality analysis and fishbone diagrams
3) Examine all costs related to quality, especially failure costs. Main costs of quality are a sum of internal failure costs (costs linked with errors inside the company), external costs of failure (costs linked with loss of customer good will), prevention costs (identifying and preventing potential problems, improving designs, training etc), and appraisal costs (quality checking). Increasing costs of prevention will bring greater reduction in other cost categories.
4) Getting things right first time. Designing in quality rather than inspecting in quality. Shift from reactive to proactive.
5) Systems and procedures that support improvement - for example ISO 9000 series. Global standard requirement for quality management systems.

Question 24

Outline 2 critiques of TQM

Answer 24

1) Change might be so ambitious and involve such fundamental alterations of the social system that the organisation can not accommodate them.
2) Changes may be more window dressing than real. Implementation is easy but the underlying organisation structures and systems remain untouched and continue to generate the same behaviours as before.

Question 25

Who are the 2 main proponents of BPR?

Answer 25

Michael Hammer and James Champy

Question 26

Describe the principles of BPR

Answer 26

The pursuit of breakthrough performance through a radical top down redesign of processes that obliterates all waste.

Question 27

What are Hammer’s four guiding principles of BPR?

Answer 27

1) Strong top-down leadership
2) Information technology enablement
3) Parallel processing
4) Employee empowerment

Question 28

What was Hammer’s central beef against specialisation?

Answer 28

Breeding grounds for tunnel vision as people tend to substitute the narrow goals of their particular dept for the larger goals of the organisation.

Question 29

What are the main critiques of BPR?

Answer 29

Hard to implement in practice due to political, organisation and financial constraints. Tended to take on more evolutionary rather than radical characteristics. Tended to be watered down and blended with softer TQM methods. Tended to lead to staff reductions in order to reap short term savings. Damages the organisation as these staff often leave with tacit knowledge.

Question 30

What does the term “Sigma” indicate?

Answer 30

The distribution or spread about the mean of any process or procedure.

Question 31

Draw a six sigma distribution graph

Answer 31

Draw the 6 sigma graph.

Question 32

What is the % of defect free opportunities expected in 6 sigma?

Answer 32

99.99966% of all opportunities are expected to be free of defects or 3.4 defective features per million opportunities.

Question 33

What are the 6 elements of 6 sigma?

Answer 33

1) Customer driven objectives
2) Use of statistical evidence
3) Structured improvement cycle
4) Structured training and organisation of improvement
5) Process capability and control
6) Process improvement - continuous or wider scope

Question 34

What is the DMAIC cycle in 6 sigma?

Answer 34

D - define (identify the problem/define the requirements/set the goal)
M - Meaure (gather data/refine the problem/measure inputs and outputs)
A - Analyse (develop problem hypothesis, identify root causes and validate hypothesis)
I - Improve (develop improvement ideas/test/establish solution and measure results)
C - Control (establish performance standards/deal with problems)

Question 35

What are the three Criticisms of Six Sigma

Answer 35

1) Nothing new or innovative here. Still talking about SPC but packaged in a way that enables management consultants to sell into companies.
2) Uses gimmicky martial arts language for training
3) Expensive because of the certification and training costs associated with Six Sigma training.

Question 36

Draw the Toyota Production System diagram

Answer 36

Draw diagram.

Question 37

What is “Lean”?

Answer 37

It is an explicit and relentless focus on the elimination of waste (defined as anything that doesn’t add value from the perspective of the customer).

Question 38

What 5 things does Lean mean in terms of the flow of products and services?

Answer 38

It means the flow of products and services always delivers:

A) Exactly what the customer wants (perfect quality)
B) In exact quantities (neither too much not too little
C) Exactly when needed (not too early or too late)
D) Exactly where required (not to the wrong location)
E) At the lowest possible cost

Question 39

What is best way to understand Lean?

Answer 39

Contrast with traditional linear approaches to manufacturing (high capacity utilisation, more prod at each stage, extra prod goes into inventory, high inventory means less chances of problems being exposed, more stoppages). Lean has lower utilisation but stores less inventory so problems are exposed earlier and resolved.

Question 40

What is the TIMWOOD assessment of waste in Lean?

Answer 40

T - Transport
I - Inventory (excess stock)
M - Motion (unnecessary movement)
W - Waiting (inventory)
O - Over processing (duplication of info)
O - Over production (requesting unnecessary info)
D - Defects and rework

Question 41

What are the 5 principles of LEAN?

Answer 41

Womack and Jones 2003 outline the 5 principles of Lean:

1) Specify value from the perspective of the customer
2) Identify the value stream for each product and challenge all the wasted steps
3) Make value flow continuously without interruptions
4) Let the customer pull value from the producer
5) Pursue perfection

Question 42

How does Lean implementation typically start?

Answer 42

A) Few projects approach (small scale projects to build implementation over time).
B) Rapid improvement event (RIE) or Keizer event (usually lasts 3 to 5 days). A small team assembled to address a pre-defined problem. Team has to have someone accountable for changes and someone with the authority to implement the change. Develops an A3 business case which brings all the info about the problem/process alongside a set of improvement goals and anticipated outcomes.
C) Gemba or waste walk: the group observes all stages of the process under focus and learn to see all the different activities that form part of this process. Refer to TIMWOOD.
D) Map the process using post it notes.

Question 43

Name the different categories of tools identified by Bicheno 2008

Answer 43

Tools for identifying value (Kano model and Pareto analysis)
Tools that prepare for flow (Takt time, 5Ss, Standard work, Total productive maintenance, Small Machines, Demand Management)
Tools for mapping and analysis (Value stream mapping, Process Maps, Spagetti Diagrams)
Tools for ensuring quality ( Visual management)
Tools for QI (Fishbone, PDCA, Root causes).

Question 44

What are the 7 shared elements of process improvement approaches (i.e. TQM, BPR, Six Sigma and Lean)?

Answer 44

1) A process perspective (all)
2) Customer centric (all)
3) Uses data to understand processes (all)
4) Reduce variation (all)
5) Identify and eliminate waste (all)
6) Perfection is goal (TQM, Lean, Six Sigma)
7) Scientific method and cyclical processes (PDCA and DMAIC)

Question 45

What is the Sandcone model of improvement?

Answer 45

Sandcone model (developed by Ferdows 90) is a model of improvement that places quality at the core of improvement. Then dependability. Then speed. Then flexibility. Finally ends with cost.