Systems and Processes Flashcards
Describe the difference between a system and a process. Describe the components and how they impact the system as a whole.
A system can be defined as a set of interrelated or interacting processes.
A process is a set of interrelated or interacting activities that transform inputs into outputs.
Define the difference between common and special cause variation.
Common cause variation results from how the process is designed to operate and is a natural part of the process.
Special cause variation results from unexpected or unusual occurrences that are not inherent in the process.
Understand
Describe what standardization is in quality systems.
Standardization of processes, policies, and procedures allows smoother flow of product and services across the whole range of suppliers and processes and finally to customer delivery.
Keeping things consistent
What are the DMAIC phases in Six Sigma?
Define a problem or improvement opportunity
Measure the existing process performance
Analyze the process to determine the root causes of poor performance; determine whether the process can be improved or should be redesigned
Improve the process by attacking root causes
Control the improved process to hold the gains
ASQ Notes: 253 III.A.1
What are some lean tools used to reduce waste?
Set-up and cycle-time reduction
Pull systems (kanban)
Continuous improvement (kaizen)
Just-in-time (JIT)
5S
Value stream mapping
Error-proofing (poka-yoke)
What is benchmarking and how does it support best practices?
An evaluation technique in which an organization compares its performance for a specific process with the ‘best practice’ performance of a recognized leader in a comparable process.
This helps identify shortcomings and establishes a baseline or standard against which to measure its progress.
ASQ Notes: 253 III.A.3
What is incremental improvement?
Kaizen focuses on implementing small, gradual changes over a long time period. A team from the work group involved initiates incremental changes.
Incremental improvement involves small, gradual changes over time.
What are the steps for incremental improvement?
- Select the process to be improved
- Organize a team to improve the process
- Define the current process
- Simplify the process
- Develop a plan for collecting data and then collect baseline data
- Assess whether the process is stable
- Assess whether the process is capable
- Identify the root causes preventing the process from meeting the objective
- Develop a plan for implementing a change
- Modify the data collection plan developed in step 5, if necessary
- Test the changed process and collect data
- Assess whether the changed process is stable
- Assess whether the change improved the process
- Determine whether additional process improvements are feasible.
These are the steps for incremental improvement.
What type of situation is incremental improvement suitable for?
Small incremental long-term changes over time
Incremental improvement is suitable for small, gradual changes over a long period.
What is breakthrough improvement?
Breakthrough improvement may encompass totally reengineering an entire organization.
Example: Reengineering a major process in a company to achieve significant improvements in efficiency and effectiveness.
What are the steps for a breakthrough improvement?
- Ensure that a strong, committed leader is supporting the initiative
- Form a high-level, cross-functional steering committee
- Create a macro-level process map for the entire organization
- Select one of the major processes to be reengineered
- Form a cross-functional reengineering team
- Examine customers’ requirements and wants in detail
- Look at and understand the current process from the customer’s perspective
- Brainstorm ways to respond to customers’ needs-think outside the box
- Create breakthrough process redesign
- Test-drive the new process design with a portion of the business and customers
- Collect feedback from customers, employees, management, and stakeholders
- Modify the process redesign as needed and communicate the changes
- Plan a controlled rollout of the process redesign
- Implement the rollout plan
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the redesigned process continuously
Example: Following these steps to completely revamp a company’s core processes for better outcomes.
What type of situation can be used for a breakthrough improvement?
Start from scratch and ignore current processes, make large changes quickly.
Example: When a company decides to completely overhaul its existing processes and systems without considering the current setup, aiming for rapid and significant improvements.
Improvement techniques: Define some improvement opportunity techniques and/ or methodologies.
Brainstorming
PDCA
Affinity Diagram
Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)
Internal Audits
How is Brainstorming used?
The purpose of the tool is to generate a large number of ideas about the issue
Example sentence: Let’s use brainstorming to come up with new solutions.
What is the PDCA cycle and how is the cycle used?
A four step process for quality improvement.
The first step (plan), is to develop a plan to effect improvement.
The second step (do), the plan is carried out, preferably on a small scale.
The third step (check), the effects of the plan are observed.
The last step (act), the results are studied to determine what was learned and what can be predicted.
Example sentence: Implementing the PDCA cycle can help improve our processes.
