Week 8 Flashcards
what are flowcharts? (data collection tool)
- A process is a series of activities that take inputs and produce outputs
- Example goals of processes include:
– improving customer satisfaction, improving quality, reducing
waste,
Flowcharts are a visual representation of a process: - Mapping a process allows us to understand it better
- Help to identify areas for improvement in the process
what is a check sheet? (data collection tool)
Check Sheets provide a consistent, effective and economical approach to gathering specific data, organising them for analysis and displaying them for preliminary review
- Historically, Check Sheets were always produced manually, but they can be done on computer software
- Normally very straightforward and easy-to-understand to allow for fast and efficient data collection
* No standard format – designed based on information needed
what is a cause and effect diagram? (data collection tool)
- Once a problem is identified, we need to determine its cause - Cause-and-effect diagrams allow us to identify the relationship between an effect (i.e. the problem) and its cause
- They were developed to help where there are a large number of
sources for problems - Identify categories of factors that may be causing the problem
- Usually used alongside flowcharts and other brainstorming techniques
what is the ‘5 Whys’ technique (data collection tool)?
Ask “Why” 5 times and you’ll get to the root cause of a problem:
1. Define the problem (e.g. Customer X is unhappy)
2. Assemble a cross-functional team of people
3. Ask the team why Customer X is unhappy, capture the responses
4. Ensure all staff are open and honest with their responses
5. Continue to ask why until no more answers can be given
6. Use the answers to identify the problem and the actions that
need to be taken
what is the cost of quality tool (analysing data)?
introduced by Juran (1951), its a method of calculating the cost of the project meeting customer requirements
Quality Costs can be split into 1 of 2 categories:
1. Cost of Conformance
a) Prevention Costs
b) Appraisal Costs
2. Cost of Non-Conformance
a) Internal Failure Costs
b) External Failure Costs
what are cost of conformance costs?
- they are cost of ensuring product/service doesn’t fail, it includes:
1. prevention costs: costs to stop defect eg quality planning, training development
2. appraisal costs: costs of measuring outputs and detecting defects eg quality audits, testing lab
what are the costs of non-conformance?
- costs incurred due to poor quality, cost of fixing broken things, includes:
1. internal failure costs: costs of defective products found by internal control, eg scrap, rework/repair
2. external failure costs: costs of defective products found by the customer eg product recalls, loss of reputation
what are control charts? (analysing data)
- a graphical representation of how the
output from a process changes over time - Output can vary due to, Random Variation which occurs naturally, or Assignable Variation eg machine isn’t configured right
- A process is deemed to be ‘in control’ when the variability is due to random causes
what are histograms? (analysing data)
Histograms are another graphical method of representing data:
- They make it easy to see patterns in the data that would otherwise be difficult to see in an ordinary table, such as:
– The frequency of occurrence
– The variation (“spread”) in the data
– Indicate if there has been a change to the process
- Can also be used to summarise data collected over a period of time and even predict future trends
what is pareto diragrams? (analysing data)
- A Pareto Diagrams is a form of histogram that shows data from the highest to the lowest frequency
- Used to identify and prioritise problem areas
- Pareto Rule = 80% of problems come from 20% of causes
– Pareto diagrams identify the “vital few” causes that are causing the most significant problems, usually displayed as a bar chart
what are scatter diagrams? (analysing data tool)
- Another graphical representation of data, they show if there is correlation (i.e. a relationship) between 2 variables
–The higher the correlation, the less scatter in the
points - Useful follow-up to Cause-and-Effect Diagrams
- No correlation is sometimes a better result than correlation
what is quality function deployment? (design tool)
used to ensure the designed product/service meets needs of customers as it:
- identifies voice of customer
- maps consumer requirements against charactersitic of product
- benchmarks products against competitors
= output from QFD is quality house matrix
what is quality house matrix?
- product planning: maps consumer requirements to product properties
- product design: choose design to fulfill requirements
- process design: choose process to create the product
- production design: creating instructions to build product
= each matrix becomes input for next,. see slides
what is Toguchi’s design of experiments (Design tool)?
Developed by Japanese Statistician who applied statistics to quality problems
- Identified 2 types of factor that can impact quality, control and noise factors
- Design of Experiments aims to design products /
services that are robust and less susceptible to noise factors
what are control and noise factors?
control: ones that can be set and maintained eg site, colour, material
noise: ones that cant be maintained eg owner’s attitudes
= Design of Experiments utilises an “Orthogonal Array” to find the optimum characteristics for a product / service
