Nov 29 2023
Online forums do not often discuss quality fundamentals like characteristics and tolerances. You find arguments about process capability, but the requirements for process capability are taken as given. Tolerances on characteristics are objectives that production is expected to meet, and deserve an exploration of what they mean and how they are set.
Nov 13 2023
Within the quality profession, a capable process is one with a high C_{p_k}. In the field, it is not quite so simple. My colleague Joerg Muenzing recently shared concerns about the process capability indices:
“Many manufacturers that I know struggle with incapable processes. Intellectually, people understand the concept of capability, but are unable to effectively apply it to an entire process. A single-figure measure for the entire chain would be ideal to better understand and manage it. The challenge is that the chain consists of processes with measurable characteristics, like thickness, substitute characteristics, like leak current to infer dryness, and also visual inspection results like blemishes or scratches.
They know that C_{p_k} < 1 is bad, and scrap shrinks the bottom line, but not much more. At the same time, customers like large Automotive OEMs demand from their suppliers a C_{p_k} > 1.33 for manual and “uncritical” characteristics, and C_{p_k} >1.66 or even >2.00 for critical characteristics.
What would be useful without being ‘too wrong’?”
Let’s take a closer look.
Oct 27 2023
“Today’s manufacturing systems have become more automated, data-driven, and sophisticated than ever before. Visit any modern shop floor and you’ll find a plethora of IT systems, HMIs, PLC data streams, machine controllers, engineering support, and other digital initiatives, all vying to improve manufacturing quality and efficiencies.
That begs these questions: With all this technology, is statistical process control (SPC) still relevant? Is SPC even needed anymore? Some believe manufacturing sophistication trumps SPC technologies that were invented 100 years ago. But is that true? We the authors believe that SPC is indeed relevant today and can be a vitally important aid to manufacturing.”
Source: QualityDigest
Sep 23 2023
Data visualization is not just the art of presenting data to an audience. Upstream from this, you use visualizations in data cleaning to identify defective points, and in exploratory analysis, to identify patterns of interest. Then, you validate these patterns with a more formal analysis. Once confident that you have findings of value to communicate, you worry about making a compelling presentation.
Nick Desbarats and I had a long exchange on LinkedIn prompted by his article Connected Scatterplots Make Me Feel Dumb in Nightingale, the Data Visualization Society journal, on 8/29/2023. What he called Connected Scatterplot is what I call orbit charts, and I have found them helpful, particularly in analysis.
Sep 13 2023
In his latest column in Quality Digest, Mark Graban wrote the following about psychological safety:
“How do leaders cultivate the conditions in which employees feel safe enough to speak up and participate in continuous improvement? Clark argues that leaders need to: 1) model vulnerable acts; and 2) reward vulnerable acts.
For example, leaders must model the key behaviors they want to see, such as admitting that things aren’t perfect. Leaders can also model helpful behaviors by sharing an idea along with the words, “I might not be completely right, so let’s test our idea on a small scale and see.” When leaders model these vulnerable acts, some employees might choose to follow their lead.
When a person chooses to speak up, it isn’t a matter of courage or character; it’s a function of culture. The level of safety that’s felt by an employee is the end result of all of the interactions they’ve had with leaders and colleagues, past and present.”
Source: Graban, M. (2023) Stop Spending Money on Problem-Solving Training, Focus on Psychological Safety Instead Quality Digest
Dec 30 2023
Greatest Hits of 2023
This blog’s greatest hits of 2023:
#greatesthitsof2023, #quality, #VSM, #ValueStreamMap, #deming, #toyota
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By Michel Baudin • Uncategorized • 1 • Tags: Deming, Greatest hits of 2023, Quality, Toyota, Value Stream Map, VSM