TPS Archives – Michel Baudin's Blog

Oct 30 2020

Who Uses Statistical Design Of Experiments In Manufacturing?

Next to SPC, Design of Experiments (DOE) is the most common topic in discussions of Statistical Quality. Outside of niches like semiconductors or pharmaceuticals, however, there is little evidence of use, particularly in production.

At many companies, management pays lip service to DOE and even pays for training in it. You must “Design experiments” if you pursue continuous improvement.

In manufacturing, DOE is intended to help engineers improve processes and design products. It is a rich but stable body of knowledge. The latest major innovation was Taguchi methods 40 years ago. Since then, Statistics has been subsumed under Data Science and new developments have shifted in emphasis from experimentation to Data Mining.

Experimentation in science and engineering predates DOE by centuries. Mastering DOE is a multi-year commitment that few manufacturing professionals have been willing to make. Furthermore, its effective use requires DOE know-how to be combined with domain knowledge.

Six Sigma originally attempted to train cadres of engineers called “Black Belts” in a subset to DOE. They then served as internal consultants to other engineers within electronics manufacturing. Six Sigma, however, soon lost this focus.

By Michel Baudin • Technology • 19 • Tags: DOE, Experiment, Experimental Design, Fisher, Lean, Statistical Design of Experiments, Taguchi, TPS

Sep 26 2020

More about Toyota and SPC

The post on Does Toyota Use SPC? elicited many comments on LinkedIn. Some suggested that it was scoping SPC too narrowly when contrasting it with Toyota’s approach. In fact, SPC as referenced in the post is the body of knowledge described in the American literature on quality and taught in professional courses.

As to why Toyota is not using SPC, the answer is simple: SPC is about process capability and the quality problems Toyota addresses in 2020 are not due to lack of process capability. In industries that lack process capability, modern data science outguns the old SPC toolkit but that is a different discussion. The most vital question raised in the comments was why we have been not learning Toyota’s approach to quality. In the past 30 years, American industry has learned “Lean Six Sigma” instead.

The comments also enriched the public sources of information cited in the post with corroboration by current and former employees of Toyota.

By Michel Baudin • Data science • 13 • Tags: ASQ, JUSE, SPC, Toyota, TPS

Sep 21 2020

Does Toyota Use SPC?

As part of a discussion started by Lance Richardson on LinkedIn, I stated as a fact that SPC was not part of the Toyota Production System (TPS), which prompted several contradictors to tell me I didn’t know what I was talking about. The “evidence” they provided, however, does not refute my statement. It confirms it instead.

By Michel Baudin • Data science • 10 • Tags: JKK, SPC, TPS

Jun 17 2019

Is TPS Both a Dessert Topping and a Floor Wax?

“TPS can be applied to any setting, as long as you can define your customer and product…” – Darren Migita MD– Seattle Children’s

Quoted by Jun Nakamuro on LinkedIn from a podcast.

Michel Baudin‘s comments: To be fair, Dr. Migita is a pediatrician with 20 years of experience. His podcast is about adapting TPS to health care, not to “any setting.” It is an interview, a format that can trip up anybody.

What I find remarkable throughout is that Migita does not hide behind the word “Lean.” He explicitly refers to Toyota and Taiichi Ohno and vigorously asserts that you can borrow ideas for car making to improve patient care.

This opening sentence in Jun Nakamuro’s quote, however, makes TPS sound like Shimmer, the product once advertised on Saturday Night Live as “both a dessert topping and a floor wax.” It almost kept me from listening further.

By Michel Baudin • Blog clippings • 0 • Tags: Health care, Lean, Semiconductor Manufacturing, software development, TPS

Mar 31 2019

Industry 4.0 versus Manufacturing Improvement (Part 1)

There is a lesson that manufacturing leaders seem determined to learn the hard way: flooding factories with new technology does not improve their performance.

Roger Smith learned it at GM in the 1980s. Elon Musk, for all his other achievements, admitted by tweet to making the same mistake at Tesla last year.

To really improve manufacturing performance, you start with, as Crispin Vincenti-Brown put it, with “what happens when the guy picks up the wrench.” You work with that person to make the work easier, faster, safer, and less prone to deviations and errors. In doing this, you apply, as needed, technology you can afford that operators can work with.

This is hard work but it pays off. It is a key lesson learned from Toyota, TPS, and many companies that implemented it under the “Lean” label. But it’s an eat-your-vegetables message. The lure of a technological shortcut is irresistible.

By Michel Baudin • Information Technology • 17 • Tags: Digital Transformation, Industry 4.0, Lean, TPS

Oct 12 2018

For Lean Production to Work, a Company Needs to Be All In | Ellen Rosen | The New York Times

“For a company in Chesterfield, Mo., it involved something as seemingly simple as attaching a trash can to an employee’s chair. For one in St. Louis, it meant leaving the cover off an electronic temperature controller. For others it’s meant gathering employees from the chief executive on down for what’s known as Kaizen events — based on the Japanese word for continuing improvement. What do these seemingly unconnected efforts have in common? They are approaches to what is known as lean manufacturing — or, more recently, lean production — aimed at streamlining production processes, enhancing employee engagement and increasing profits.”

Source: The New York Times(10/11/2018)

Michel Baudin‘s comments: Thanks to Kevin Hop for drawing my attention to this article. Like him, I do read The New York Times regularly and usually appreciate the quality of its reporting. This article, however, does not measure up. It reflects the conventional wisdom on Lean manufacturing which, if anything, explains why so many implementations fail.

By Michel Baudin • Press clippings • 1 • Tags: Cellular manufacturing, industrial engineering, Lean, Manufacturing engineering, process engineering, Production Engineering, Toyota, TPS

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Who Uses Statistical Design Of Experiments In Manufacturing?

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More about Toyota and SPC

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Does Toyota Use SPC?

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Is TPS Both a Dessert Topping and a Floor Wax?

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Industry 4.0 versus Manufacturing Improvement (Part 1)

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For Lean Production to Work, a Company Needs to Be All In | Ellen Rosen | The New York Times

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Who Uses Statistical Design Of Experiments In Manufacturing?

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More about Toyota and SPC

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Does Toyota Use SPC?

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Is TPS Both a Dessert Topping and a Floor Wax?

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Industry 4.0 versus Manufacturing Improvement (Part 1)

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