CHAPTER 19 -CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT METHODS WITH SIX SIGMA, LEAN and LEAN SIX SIGMA

A. Rationale for continual improvement.o Continual improvement is fundamental to success in the global marketplace.

Companies that are just maintaining status quo in such key areas as quality, new product development, the adoption of new technologies, and process performance are like a partner who is sitting still in a race. Competing in the global marketplace is like competing in the Olympics. Last year’s records are sure to be broken this year. Athletes who don’t improve continually are not likely to remain long in the ‘winner’s circle. The same is time of companies that must compete global. In addition, customer needs are not static. They change continually. A typical example is the personal computer.

B. E SSENTIAL IMPROVEMENT ACTIVITIES

o Maintain Communication Communication is essential to continual improvement. This cannot be

overemphasized. Communication with improvement teams and between teams is a must.

o Correct Obvious Problems Often process problems are not obvious and a great deal of study is

required to isolate them and find solutions. This is the typical case and it is why the scientific approach is so important in a total quality setting. However, there will be times when there is a problem with a process that is obvious. In such cases, the problem should be corrected immediately. Spending days studying a problem for which the solution is obvious just so that the scientific approach is used will result in ten-dollar solutions to ten-cent problems.

o Look Upstream Look for causes, not symptoms. This is a difficult point to make with

people who are used to taking a cursory glance at a situation and putting out the fire as quickly as possible without taking time to determine what caused it.

o Document Problems and Progress Take the time to write it down. It is not uncommon for an organization

to continue solving the same problem over and over because nobody took the time to document the problems that have been dealt with and how they were solved. A fundamental rule for any improvement project team is “document, document, document.”

o Monitor Changes Regardless of how well studied a problem is, the solution eventually

put in place may not solve it or may only partially solve it. For this reason, it is important to monitor the performance of a process after changes have been implemented. It is also important to ensure that pride of ownership on the part of those who recommended the changes do not interfere with objective monitoring of the changes.

C. S TRUCTURE FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT

o Involves these three steps: Establish a quality council

The quality council has overall responsibility for continual improvement.

Develop a statements of responsibilities All members of the quality council, as well as employees who

are not currently members, must understand the council's responsibilities.

Responsibilities that should be stated include the following:o Formulating policy as it related to qualityo Setting the benchmark and dimensions (cost of poor

quality)o Establishing the team and project selection processes.o Providing the necessary resources (training, time away

from job duties to serve on a project team)o Implementing the projecto Establishing quality measures for monitoring progress

and undertaking monitor effortso Implementing an appropriate reward and recognition

program

Establish the necessary infrastructure The quality council constitutes the foundation of an

organization's quality effort. However, there is more to the quality infrastructure than just the council.

The remainder of the quality infrastructure consists of subcommittees of the council that are assigned responsibility for specific duties, project improvement teams, quality improvement managers, a quality training program and a structured improvement process.

D. C OMMON IMPROVEMENT STRATEGIES

o Describe the Process The strategy of describing the process is used to make sure that

everyone involved in improving a process has a detailed knowledge of the process. Usually this requires some investigation and study. The steps involved are: establish boundaries for the process; flowchart the process; make a diagram of how the work flows; verily your work; and correct immediately any obvious problems identified.

o Standardize the Process In order to continually improve a process, all people involved in its

operation must be using the same procedures. The steps involved in standardizing a process are: identify the current best known practices and write them down; test the best practices to determine if they are, in fact, the best, and improve them if there is room for improvement; make sure that the newly standardized process is being used by everyone; keep records of process performance, update them continually, and use them to identify ways to improve the process even further on a continual basis.

o Streamline the Process The strategy of streamlining the process is used to take the slack out of

a process. This can be done by reducing inventory, reducing cycle times, and eliminating unnecessary steps. After a process has been streamlined, every step in it has significance, contributes to the desired end, and adds value.

o Reduce Sources of Variation The first step in the strategy of reducing sources of variation is

identifying sources of variation. Such sources can often be traced to differences among people, machines, measurement instruments, material, and sources of material, operating conditions, and times of day.

Differences among people can be attributed to levels of capability, training, education, experience, and motivation. Regardless of the source of variation, after a source has been identified, this information should be used to reduce the amount of variation to the absolute minimum.

o Bring the Process under Statistical Control It is necessary to know only that a control chart is planned, data are

collected and charted, special causes are eliminated, and a plan for continual improvement is developed.

o Improve the Design of the Process There are many different ways to design and layout a process. Most

designs can be improved on. The best way to improve the design of a

process is through an active program of experimentation. In order to produce the best results, an experiment must be properly designed.

E. T HE KAIZEN APPROACH

o Kaizen is the name given by the Japanese to the concept of continual incremental improvement. Kai means change and Zen means good. Kaizen, therefore, means making changes for the better on a continual, never-ending basis. The improvement aspect of Kaizen refers to both people and processes.

o If the Kaizen philosophy is in place, all aspects of an organization should be improving all the time. The underlying value system of Kaizen can be summarized as continual improvement of all things, at all levels. In a total quality setting, quality is defined by the customers.

o Regardless of how customers define quality, it can always be improved and it should be, continually. Kaizen is a broad concept that promotes quality from the all-encompassing Big Q perspective.

Kaizen Implementation Tools.

Kaizen Checklist

Kaizen is about continual improvement of people, processes, procedures and any other factors that can affect quality. One of the best ways to identify problems that represent opportunities for improvement is to use a checklist that focuses the attention of employees on those factors that are most likely in need of improvement.

Elements of

Kaizen

Teamwork

Just-In Time

Total Productive

Maintenance

Labor/Managemne

t Cooperation

Customer Focus

Automation Quality Circles

These factors include personnel, work techniques, work methods, work procedures, time, facilities, equipment, systems, software, tools, material, plant layout, production levels, inventory and paradigm.

Kaizen Five Step Plan

Poster bearing the word "Seiri", "Seiton", "Seiso", "Seiketsu", and "Shitsuke".

Step 1 : "Seiri" (Straighten up) This step involves Separating the necessary from the unnecessary and

getting ridof the unnecessary in such areas as tools,work in process, machinery, product, papers and documents

Step 2 : " Seiton" (Put things in order) This step involves putting such things as tools and material in their

proper place and keeping things in order so that employees can always find what they need to do the job without wasting time looking

Step 3 : "Seiso" (Clean up) This step involves keeping the workplace clean so that work can

proceed in an efficient manner, free of the problem that can result when the work site is messy

Step 4 : "Seiketsu" (Personal cleanliness) This step involves employees keeping themselves neat to present an

appearance that promote profesionalism in performing work tasks

Step 5 : " Shitsuke" (Discipline) This steps involves careful adherence work procedures. This requires

personal discipline.

F. S IX SIGMA CONCEPTS

o One of the most innovative developments to emerge out of the total quality movement is the Six Sigma Concepts.

o The purpose of Six Sigma is to improve the performance of processes to the point where the defect rate is 3.4 per million or less.

o It was designed for use in high volume production settings.

o The central core of the Six Sigma concept is a six step protocol for process improvement.

o The six steps are as follows: Identify the product characteristics wanted by customers Classify the characteristics in term of their critically

Determine if the classified characteristics are controlled by part and/or process

Determine the maximum allowable tolerance for each classified characteristics

Change the design of the product, process, or both to achieve a Six Sigma process performance.

o Relationship of Six Sigma to Total Quality

Six Sigma is an extension of total quality management, which has the aim of taking process and product quality to levels where all customer requirements are met.

Six Sigma is a total quality strategy for achieving what all of the other total quality strategies attempt to achieve: superior performance that is improved continually, forever.

G. L EAN OPERATIONS

o Lean was originally developed as a manufacturing concept and as such, was often referred to as lean manufacturing.

o The purpose of adopting Lean as a business improvement method is to produce better products or deliver better services using few resources

o If the concept has a motto, it would be this: doing more with less and doing it better.

o Lean Defined Lean as a concept is based on the Toyota Production System (TPS)

developed at Toyota Motor Corporation by Japanese quality pioneer Taiichi Ohno.

A Lean operation is one in which a better product is developed or a better service is delivered using less of everything required. (i.e human, financial,technological and physical resources.)

Lean is about being flexible enough to get the right things, to the right place, at the right time, in the right amounts.

Lean focus on reducing and ideally, eliminating the following types of waste:

Overproduction waste Inventory waste Motion waste Transportation waste Overprocessing waste Defects waste Waiting waste

Underutilizing waste

Tools and Techniques of Lean Five-S workplace organization Visual workplace system Layout Standardized work (SW) Point of use storage (POUS) Batch size Reduction Quick changeover Paka Yoke Self Inspection Autonomation Pull system/Kanban Cellular and Flow Just In Time (JIT) Total Productive maintenance (TPM) Value stream mapping (VSM) Change Management Teamwork

H. LEAN SIX SIGMA

Lean Six Sigma combines the best of these two concepts by linking the tools that are used in each in a systematic way and in a specified sequence.

Key concepts in Lean Six Sigma are Green Belts, Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Champions and the Lean Six Sigma or DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve and control Roadmap.

In the manufacturing sector, Lean Six Sigma is especially effective for the following types of continual improvement projects: Accuracy in invoicing and yield; Capacity of line and product; Lead time on delivery, production and replenishment and Downtime on equipment and lines

Green Belts, Black Belts, Master Belts and Champions

One of the strengths of Lean Six Sigma is its emphasis on operation of the key personnel who will be responsible for its deployment and ongoing operations

Advocates of Lean Six Sigma take a four pronged approach to deploying the concept: Understand the concept and all of its component elements Training key personnel who will be the organization's Green and

Black Belts

Make sure that the organization's Green and Black Belts are provided the environment needed for success by the key decision makers who serve as Champions of the Lean Six Sigma deployment and

Provide Master Black Belts to support, guide, instruct, mentor and assist the Black belts.

Green Belts are selected personnel in an organization who have completed basic training in the application of FMAIC Roadmap and the various tools associated with it.

Black Belts have completed more advanced training in the application of DMAIC and the associated tools.

Master Black Belts are Black Belts who have shown themselves to be self reliant, self motivated, and excellent problem solvers and who as a result, have been allowed to complete additional training.

Champions, in the long run, represent the most important component in the deployment of Lean Six Sigma. They are the decision makers in an organization who "champion" the cause of effective Lean Six Sigma deployment. When problems arise between a Black Belt and anyone else in the organization, Champions step in to defuse the situation before it throws the Lean Six Sigma deployment off track.

DMAIC Roadmap

The nucleus of Lean Six Sigma: Define Measure Analyze Improve and Control