Continuous Improvement
1. Continuous Improvements of Products and Processes
continuous process improvement (CPI): a never-ending effort to expose and eliminate root causes of problems
employee involvement (EI): let employees involve into all parts of organization and contribute to constructive change
employee engagement: give non-managerial employees the responsibility and power to make decisions regarding their jobs or tasks.
kaizen: continuous improvement
objectives:
improve quality and productivity while eliminating waste
continuous product improvement
continuous process improvement
methodologies
ensuring employee involvement and empowerment
focusing on customer
sustaining continuous improvement
2. Lean for Continuous Improvement
methodologies
involvement and worker empowerment
quality at the source: a producer's responsibility to provide 100% acceptable quality material to the consumer of the material.
supplier partnerships
lean tools and techniques
hoshin planning: breakthrough planning, including strategic planning developed up to four visions, company goals and work plans based on vision statements, periodic audits, etc. (tool: PDCA)
hansei: reflection.
jishuken: voluntary study group.
kaizen events (kaizen blitzes): a rapid improvement of a limited process area.
value stream mapping: understand the flow of materials from supplier to customer. (aim: reduce waste, decrease flow time, effective process flow)
poka-yoke (mistake-proof): mistake-proofing techniques designed in a way to prevent an error from resulting in a product defect. (shigeo shingo)
the five Ss (5S): create a workplace suitable for lean production: sort, simplify, scrub, standardize, sustain.
3. TOC for Continuous Improvement
throughput accounting (TOC accounting)
net profit = (sales revenue - true variable costs) - operating expenses
net profit = throughput - operation expenses
critical chain and TOC
TOC for improving physical distribution
4. Total Quality Management and Other Quality Tools
quality
transcendent quality: what most people think when asked to define quality, but hard to define
product-based quality: relate to grade of products
user-based quality: fitness for use (reliability + durability + maintainability)
manufacturing-based quality: conformance to requirements
value-based quality: degree of excellence at an acceptable price
cost of poor quality
quality cost
costs of quality
external failure costs (most expensive)
internal failure costs
involve: warranty costs, reverse supply chain costs, product recall costs, lost customers, field service cost, etc.
costs of controlling quality
quality control:
measures conformance to standards or requirements, like product specification.
quality insurance: measures conformance to process, policy, procedure.
appraisal costs
prevention costs
involves: cost for inspection, calibration equipment, product testing, quality audits.
involves: education, quality training, supplier certification, preventive maintenance, quality planning, statistical process control, etc.
TQM
objective: ensure the organization's long-term success through customer satisfaction.
core concepts
management champions
performance measurement
involvement and empowerment
focus on customer
continuous process improvement steps
- determine the process to be improved
- gather and compile data on the as-is state
- analyze the data and produce a to-be state
- select the best among alternative
5.implement - sustain the new method
quality function deployment (QFD)
voice of the customer (VOC): actual customer descriptions in functions and features
house of quality (HOQ)
basic seven tools of quality (B7)
check sheet: data-recording device
Pareto charts: show distinct variation from the few compared to the many.
cause-and-effect diagrams: analyze the process dispersion, illustrate main causes and sub cause leading to an effect.
involve: environment, people, materials, measurement, methods, machine
flowcharts: better understand the process
involve:
rectangles: operations
diamonds: decision points
histograms:frequency distribution
statistical process control (SPC) and control charts: monitor and adjust an operation, provide information on the average and range of each set of samples taken over time
scatter diagrams: analyze the relationship btw two variables
root cause analysis (five whys)
benchmarking
5. Six Sigma
objective: to provide high customer satisfaction and to achieve low product return rates by systematically reducing variation in all manufacturing and business processes to no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities.
methodology
DMAIC
define
measure
analyze
improve
control
involve: rework, scrap, downgrades, rein spection, retesting, process losses
common cause (random causes): causes of variation are inherent in a process over time.
assignable cause (special cause): a source of variation in a process that can be isolated.