February 18, 2010 by pqsystems
What is known as “point mentality” is a knee-jerk response to what appears to be a problem. We may learn this when we take our child’s temperature and find that it’s high; we are inclined to do something right away—give ibuprofen, orange juice, and bed rest—rather than waiting to see if this is a “trend.”
In fact, sometimes we can’t wait to evaluate patterns in data, but need to respond immediately to a situation. Emergencies require response. But most of the time, we will save time, energy, and other resources by examining data over a period of time and making decisions based on trends or other patterns in the operation of the system itself. The fact that a child fails one third-grade spelling test does not mean that he or she will be a failure in life—or even in spelling.
Every system has variation; some of this is due to the system itself, known as common cause variation; some of it is due to singular incidents or special situations; this is special cause variation. W. Edwards Deming estimated that 94% of problems (or possibilities for improvement) lie with the system as common-cause variation; 6% are special causes. [Out of the Crisis, 315]
Describing variability over a period of time helps one to understand how the system is working, and to predict how it will continue to work in the future. The alternative is a constant tampering with the system, responding to every whim it may have.
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February 10, 2010 by matthewsavage
Like you, I have heard about the myriad of problems Toyota has been having lately. I heard about the sticking accelerator, the brake problem on the Prius, and a vehicle recall that will top 8 million. USA Today listed this as “Toyota’s quality fiasco” http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-02-05-toyota-recall-friday_N.htm. Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda has stated “Let me assure everyone that we will redouble our commitment to quality as the lifeline of our company” http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/toyota_recall. As I read this, I wondered, is it really a quality problem?
No doubt Toyota has a problem, but was the accelerator problem caused by poor quality? You might recall that one solution to the accelerator problem was related to the floor mat. The floor mat would be modified so that the potential for it to cause the accelerator to stick would be minimized. So what is the root cause of this problem? Were the fibers used in the floor mat faulty? Were the floor mats sized incorrectly? Did the materials supplier produce defective materials? There are many possibilities.
Toyota is known for their precise specifications. So let’s assume that the floor mats, brake pedals, brake lines, etc. were manufactured to a tight tolerance and functioned as they were designed. If this is the case, isn’t the problem related to the design rather than the quality of the parts produced? If root cause analysis identifies that the problem is with the design, then the media should call it “Toyota’s design fiasco.”
Of course at the end of the day, what really matters is that all automotive manufacturers learn from Toyota’s problems and take steps to prevent an issue such as this from occurring again.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on “Toyota’s quality fiasco.”
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January 11, 2010 by alisonnelson
We’ve just wrapped up the latest edition of Quality eLine, our monthly e-newsletter that gives you industry news, case studies, and product tips you can use to enrich your software use. Here is what you’ll see in this month’s issue:
- Losing the blame with cause-and-effect charts
- Quality Quiz: Another quiz from Professor Cleary—and last month’s winners!
- Data in everyday life: Record cold temperatures
- Six Sigma and more: Celebrating Russell Ackoff
We’ll be sending the newsletter out tomorrow morning, so if you’re not a subscriber yet, subscribe now to receive your free copy.
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December 7, 2009 by alisonnelson
We’ve just wrapped up the latest edition of Quality eLine, our monthly e-newsletter that gives you industry news, case studies, and product tips you can use to enrich your software use. Here is what you’ll see in this month’s issue:
- An improved improvement chart: Minding the straight and narrow
- Quality Quiz: Another quiz from Professor Cleary—and last month’s winners!
- Data in everyday life: Christmas trees
We’ll be sending the newsletter out tomorrow morning, so if you’re not a subscriber yet, subscribe now to receive your free copy.
We’ll be sending it out later today, so if you’re not a subscriber yet, subscribe now to
receive your free copy.
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December 3, 2009 by stevedaum
A customer recently asked one of our support representatives the following questions: What is the difference between a run chart and a control chart? And when should I use one vs. the other? These are great questions because they allow us to highlight some of the benefits of control charts.
When you create any chart, you are typically trying to answer a question. For example, you might be asking, “Has my process improved?” or, “Has my process gotten worse?” You might be asking, “How is the process running today compared to yesterday?” Before you decide on using a run chart or a control chart, consider the type of question you want to answer.
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December 1, 2009 by michaelcleary
If you’re headed to Orlando, Florida next week (Monday, December 7th-Wednesday, December 9th) for the 21st Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care, watch for me in the PQ Systems booth #801 in the exhibit area. I look forward to greeting you myself, showing you some of our newest products, and hearing about what you’re up to with your CQI efforts. I’ll also have demos of our process behavior charting software available.
Seeing familiar faces and making new friends in the quality world are highlights of the conference experience for me. See you there!
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November 10, 2009 by alisonnelson
We’ve just wrapped up the latest edition of Quality eLine, our monthly e-newsletter that gives you industry news, case studies, and product tips you can use to enrich your software use. Here is what you’ll see in this month’s issue:
- Minding your g’s and t’s: Charting rare events effectively
- Quality Quiz: Another quiz from Professor Cleary—and last month’s winners!
- Data in everyday life: States that produce the most turkeys
- Six Sigma and more: David Schwinn advises us to lighten up
We’ll be sending it out later today, so if you’re not a subscriber yet, subscribe now to receive your free copy.
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October 22, 2009 by matthewsavage
If you have worked with count charts with large denominators, you have probably seen control limits that seem too narrow to be of much value. The p-chart is one of the attributes charts with this flaw.
A p-chart counts two things: 1) the number of non-conforming items (the numerator) and 2) the number of items inspected (the denominator). If you look at the glass half-full rather than half-empty, you might count the number of conforming items (rather than non-conforming). In either case, when the denominator is large, a problem may be present.
Consider the following chart which shows a p-chart from a plastic shopping bag manufacturer.
This chart measures the percent of plastic bags that failed a particular test. The bag manufacturer averages about 20,000 bags inspected in each sample and about 600 failures. As you can tell by looking at this chart, the limits seem too tight to be useful. The control limits are considered to be overly-dispersed.
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October 12, 2009 by alisonnelson
We’ve just wrapped up the latest edition of Quality eLine, our monthly e-newsletter that gives you industry news, case studies, and product tips you can use to enrich your software use. Here is what you’ll see in this month’s issue:
- Little netbook takes on big job for auto supplier
- Quality Quiz: Another quiz from Professor Cleary—and last month’s winners!
- Data in everyday life: Which age group received the most flu shots last year?
- Six Sigma and more: David Schwinn’s thoughts on Ted Kennedy’s death
We’ll be sending it out later today, so if you’re not a subscriber yet, subscribe now to receive your free copy.
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October 9, 2009 by alisonnelson
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