TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES Learning Outcomes• Analyze the differences between tools and

techniques• Discuss the relevant tools and techniques

needed for quality planning, process implementation and monitoring

• Demonstrate the practical usage of these tools and techniques with relevant examples

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES ARE THEY THE SAME?

• Tool: Something regarded as necessary to the carrying out of one's occupation or profession: Words are the tools of our trade.

• Technique:The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

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• Most tools are statistical in nature and helps us to answer the “whys” of our processes, in other words they are helpful in understanding issues in PROCESS PERFORMANCE, they are usually data driven (both qualitative and quantitative).

• Techniques answer the “How's” of issues of PLANINNG TO PROCESS PERFORMANCE

NEVER CONFUSE TOOLS WITH TECHNIQUES!

QUALITY TOOLS The seven (7) Statistical Process Control Tools• Process flow chart • Pareto Diagram• Control charts• Check sheet and Check list• Histogram and Bar charts• Check sheet• Scatter Plots• Cause and Effect diagram** (addition)

PROCESS FLOW CHART/MAP• It is always useful to construct a process flow diagram for

the activities that both services and products go through. A process flow diagram makes it easy to visualise the entire Process (from start to end), identify potential trouble spots and identify areas for improvement.

When to Use a Flowchart• To develop understanding of how a process is done.• To study a process for improvement.• To communicate to others how a process is done.• When better communication is needed between people

involved with the same process.• To document a process.• When planning a project

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• Practical Application You can flow the process involved in your

routine activities from home to work or school, this would help you identify the activities that makes it impossible for you to arrive at work early so that you can put in place preventive measures.

CONDTN.. Commonly Used Symbols in Detailed Flowcharts• One step in the process; the step is written inside the

box. Usually, only one arrow goes out of the box. • Direction of flow from one step or decision to another.

• Decision based on a question. The question is written in the diamond. More than one arrow goes out of the diamond, each one showing the direction the process takes for a given answer to the question. (Often the answers are “ yes” and “ no.”)

• Delay or wait

CONTDN..• Link to another page or another flowchart.

The same symbol on the other page indicates that the flow continues there.

• Input or output

• Document

• Alternate symbols for start and end points

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PARETO DIAGRAM• The Pareto Principle was developed by Alfredo

Pareto (1848-1923) after he had conducted extensive studies into the distribution of wealth. He found that there were a few people with a lot of money and many people with little money. Later on, Joseph Juran coined the phrases ‘‘Vital few and useful many’’. The principle has since been applied to a lot of disciplines including Total Quality Management.

When to use Pareto Analysis• Pareto analysis is a formal technique useful

where many possible courses of action are competing for attention. In essence, the problem-solver estimates the benefit delivered by each action, then selects a number of the most effective actions that deliver a total benefit reasonably close to the maximal possible one.

A PARETO ANALYSIS OF A SELENIUM PROCESS

FISHBONE DIAGRAM• Prof. Kaoru Ishikawa developed this useful tool

in 1943 to investigate either a bad effect or to take action to correct the causes or a good effect and to learn those causes that are responsible. The diagram looks like the bone of a fish. The head of the fish depicts the causes whiles the bones shows the possible effects which can be broken down to further causes. The fish bone diagram is used to investigate the root cause of a problem or root cause analysis of a problem

When to Use a Fishbone Diagram

• When identifying possible causes for a

problem.• Especially when a team’s thinking tends to fall

into ruts (there is no headway in what the root problem is).

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CHECK SHEET• The check sheet is a simple but powerful tool

used to collect data. The purpose of the check sheet is to ensure that data is collected accurately without leaving out the essential elements. The usage of the check sheet depends on the imagination of the one using it. This means there is no one way of designing a check sheet; it can be designed to suit any situation or purpose. Below is an example used to collect data on calls interuptions.

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When to Use a Check Sheet

• When data can be observed and collected repeatedly by the same person or at the same location.

• When collecting data on the frequency or patterns of events, problems, defects, defect location, defect causes, etc.

• When collecting data from a production process

CHECK LIST

• This tool contains items are important or relevant to a specific situation. It is usually used under operational conditions to ensure that all the important steps or actions have been taken. The primary purpose is for guiding operations and not for collecting data. It is generally used to ensure that all aspects have been taken into accounts.

CONTROL CHART (PROCESS MANAGEMENT TOOL)

• Control charts are tools used to monitor process to check whether a particular process is in control or out of control. It enables the control of the distribution of variations rather than attempting to control each individual variation. The control chart also shows the capability of the process. It has an upper limit which indicates variations that are out of control, an optimum or desired limit where the process should stay and a lower limit which indicates the underutilisation of the capacity of the process.

CONTDN..• The graph is also used to study how a process

changes over time. Data are plotted in time order. A control chart always has a central line for the average, an upper line for the upper control limit and a lower line for the lower control limit. These lines are determined from historical data. By comparing current data to these lines, you can draw conclusions about whether the process variation is consistent (in control) or is unpredictable (out of control, affected by special causes of variation).

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• Control charts for variable data are used in pairs. The top chart monitors the average, or the centring of the distribution of data from the process. The bottom chart monitors the range, or the width of the distribution. If your data were shots in target practice, the average is where the shots are clustering, and the range is how tightly they are clustered. Control charts for attribute data are used singly.

When to Use a Control Chart

• When controlling ongoing processes by finding and correcting problems as they occur.

• When predicting the expected range of outcomes from a process.

• When determining whether a process is stable (in statistical control).

• When analyzing patterns of process variation from special causes (non-routine events) or common causes (built into the process).

• When determining whether your quality improvement project should aim to prevent specific problems or to make fundamental changes to the process.

A CONTROL CHARTFig 1

Out-of-control signals

• A single point outside the control limits. In Figure 1, point sixteen is above the UCL (upper control limit).

• Two out of three successive points are on the same side of the centreline and farther than 2 σ from it. In Figure 1, point 4 sends that signal.

• Four out of five successive points are on the same side of the centreline and farther than 1 σ from it. In Figure 1, point 11 sends that signal.

• A run of eight in a row are on the same side of the centreline. Or 10 out of 11, 12 out of 14 or 16 out of 20. In Figure 1, point 21 is eighth in a row above the centreline.

• Obvious consistent or persistent patterns that suggest something unusual about your data and your process.

SCATTER PLOT

• The scatter diagram graphs pairs of numerical data, with one variable on each axis, to look for a relationship between them. If the variables are correlated, the points will fall along a line or curve. The better the correlation, the tighter the points will hug the line. In short it is use to determine the correlation or association between two variables say x and y in a process.

When to Use a Scatter Diagram

• When you have paired numerical data.• When your dependent variable may have multiple values

for each value of your independent variable.• When trying to determine whether the two variables are

related, such as… – When trying to identify potential root causes of problems.– After brainstorming causes and effects using a fishbone

diagram, to determine objectively whether a particular cause and effect are related.

– When determining whether two effects that appear to be related both occur with the same cause.

– When testing for autocorrelation before constructing a control chart.

Scatter Diagram Example

• The ZZ-400 manufacturing team suspects a relationship between product purity (percent purity) and the amount of iron (measured in parts per million or ppm). Purity and iron are plotted against each other as a scatter diagram, as shown in the figure below.

• There are 24 data points. Median lines are drawn so that 12 points fall on each side for both percent purity and ppm iron.

• To test for a relationship, they calculate:A = points in upper left + points in lower right = 9 + 9 = 18B = points in upper right + points in lower left = 3 + 3 = 6Q = the smaller of A and B = the smaller of 18 and 6 = 6N = A + B = 18 + 6 = 24

• Then they look up the limit for N on the trend test table. For N = 24, the limit is 6.Q is equal to the limit. Therefore, the pattern could have occurred from random chance, and no relationship is demonstrated.

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TECHNIQUES BENCHMARKING• Benchmarking is a systematic method by

which organisations can measure themselves against the best practices in the industry. “There is no need re-inventing the wheel’’ the saying goes. Benchmarking considers the experiences of others learns from it and uses it.

CONTDN..• Benchmarking is also the process of measuring

products, services, and processes against those of organizations known to be leaders in one or more aspects of their operations. Benchmarking provides necessary insights to help you understand how your organization compares with similar organizations, even if they are in a different business or have a different group of customers.

• Additionally, benchmarking can help you identify areas, systems, or processes for improvements—either incremental (continual) improvements or dramatic (business process reengineering) improvements.

CONTDN.. Benchmarking has been classified into two distinct categories:• Technical benchmarking — Performed by design staff to ascertain the

capabilities of products or services, especially in comparison to the products or services of leading competitors. For example, on a scale of one to four, four being best, how do designers rank the properties of your organization’s products or services? If you cannot obtain hard data, the design efforts may be insufficient, and products or services may be inadequate to be competitive.

• Competitive benchmarking — Compares how well (or poorly) an organization is doing with respect to the leading competition, especially with respect to critically important attributes, functions, or values associated with the organization’s products or services. For example, on a scale of one to four, four being best, how do customers rank your organization’s products or services compared to those of the leading competition? If you cannot obtain hard data, marketing efforts may be misdirected and design efforts misguided.

Excerpted from Jack B. ReVelle’s Quality Essentials: A Reference Guide from A to Z, ASQ Quality Press

Reasons to Benchmark

• It is a method to achieve competitive advantage• It enhances creativity and innovation by constantly

requiring scanning the external environment.• It Prevents waste and reduces cost because

experimentation is avoided• It develops organisations strengths and reduces

their weaknesses.• It can inspire managers and their organisation to

compete

Pitfalls of Benchmarking

• It is always the criticism that if you always copy others how do you innovate on your own to stay ahead of the competition

• It is not helpful if it is used for processes that don’t offer much opportunity for improvement.

• It breaks down if process owners and managers feel threatened or do not accept the findings of the external environmental scan.

FAILURE MODE EFFECT ANALYSISFMEA

• It is analytical technique that recognizes and evaluates the potential failure of a product or a process and its effects. Identify actions that could eliminate or reduce the chance of potential failure. As its name suggest, it would provide the nature in which the failure would occur and its possible effects on a process or product or customer.

CONDTN..• It should be noted the FMEA is a proactive or “before the

events” action requiring a team effort to easily bring about changes in design and production. The FMEA which is done by computer software usually provides a risk priority number that ranks all the possible failures in order of priority or those that must be dealt with immediately.

• Failure modes and effects analysis also documents current knowledge and actions about the risks of failures, for use in continual improvement. FMEA is used during design to prevent failures. Later it’s used for control, before and during ongoing operation of the process. Ideally, FMEA begins during the earliest conceptual stages of design and continues throughout the life of the product or service.

• IT IS A RISK MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUE!

When to Use FMEA

• When a process, product or service is being designed or redesigned, after Quality Function Deployment.

• When an existing process, product or service is being applied in a new way.

• Before developing control plans for a new or modified process.

• When improvement goals are planned for an existing process, product or service.

• When analyzing failures of an existing process, product or service.

• Periodically throughout the life of the process, product or service

Benefits of FMEA

• A systematic review of components failure modes ensure that any failure produces minimal damage to the product or the process

• It determines the effects that any failure will have on other items in the product or process.

• Helps in uncovering oversights, misjudgements, and errors that may have been made

• Provides training for new employees by exposing them to possible failures a process or product is likely to experience

• It also communicates information to other professionals who may have similar problems.

TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE TPM

• Total Productive Maintenance is an organisational maintenance culture or philosophy so that emphasise on keeping the current plant and its equipments at its highest productive level through cooperation of all areas of the organisation. The most important task for managers is break down the traditional barriers between maintenance and productive personnel.

CONTDN..• The philosophy is to dedicate one day for the tuning up

and general maintenance of equipments. The dedicated day is not used for work but for maintenance, and this culture must be bought into as a collective culture. As the name TPM suggest;

• Total: All encompassing by maintenance and productive individuals working together.

• Productive: Production of goods and services that meets or exceeds customers’ expectations

• Maintenance: keeping equipments and plant in as good as or better than the original condition at all times.

Overall Goals of TPM

• Maintaining and improving equipment capacity

• Maintaining equipment for life• Using support from all areas of the operation• Encouraging input from all employees• Using teams for continual improvements

QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT QFD

• In the world of business and industry, every organization has customers. Some have only internal customers, some just external customers, and some have both. When you are working to determine what you need to accomplish to satisfy or even delight your customers, then the technique of choice is quality function deployment or QFD.

CONTDN..• Dr. Mizuno, professor emeritus of the Tokyo Institute of

Technology is credited with initiating the quality function deployment (QFD). The quality function deployment is one of the most important planning methods used to translate customer expectations into product and design characteristics and features. The idea is to incorporate the requirements of customer into product design such that the customer would be delighted.

• It is also known as the house of quality because it is a single framework that incorporates the voice of the customer, the prioritized requirements of customers as in what competitors are doing for other customers and the requirements from the regulatory bodies into a single product or service that is acceptable by all.

strong (3)

Quality Function Deployment

Absolute Weight

Sales PointsFeasibilityEvaluation

attribute weights x relationship strength

1= weak; 10 = strong

1=easy, 10=difficult

(AW x SP) / Feasibility

weak (1)

very strong (9)

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Customer Perceptions

Design Characteristics

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The House of Quality

DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS (DOE)• It is a branch of applied statistics that deals with

planning, conducting, analyzing and interpreting controlled tests to evaluate the factors that control the value of a parameter or group of parameters

• This technique is used to design the process or the products to experiments usually using prototypes to test for the viability of a process or a product. During design of experiments all the noise factors that would impede the product or process are identified (Both controllable and uncontrollable noise factors).

CONTDN..• Controllable noise factors are those that would

make economic sense to control or manage whiles uncontrollable noise factors are those that would economically not be prudent to control. This technique is used to design the process, the product and the work environments to ensure ergonomics.

• A strategically planned and executed experiment may provide a great deal of information about the effect on a response variable due to one or more factors.

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• A well–performed experiment may provide answers to questions such as:

• What are the key factors in a process? • At what settings would the process deliver

acceptable performance? • What are the key, main and interaction effects

in the process? • What settings would bring about less variation

in the output?

JUST IN TIME (JIT)• This is the technique that ensures that organisations

produce outputs at the right quantities, at the right time, and with the right resources. This philosophy is aimed at avoiding inventory and its associated cost. But organisations need not to over emphasis cost to the detriment of resource availability. Thus there is the need to have a fair balance between inventory cost and resource availability.

• The major problems facing JIT in modern times is the issue of traffic. Either in the air, on land or on sea, it is increasingly becoming expensive and more difficult to sustain this practice. Nevertheless a JIT organisation is always lean, competitive and proactive compared to other organisations.

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• In an effectively implemented JIT production system, there is little or no inventory – which includes Work-In-Process (WIP) – and production is tightly coupled to demand.

POLITO’s FIVE (5) MAJOR CONSTRAINTS ON JIT

• Customer-Driven and Economic Conditions: “JIT savings are based on the implicit assumption that additional inventory is always available for quick delivery at the same price as old inventories.” Effective JIT also depends on capital availability, and relative stability of customer demand. In a challenged economic environment, capital is not as readily available to companies and consumers alike, and customer demand wanes.

• Logistics: If transportation fails, so will your supply chain. This can happen not only as a result of economic turmoil, but also due to rising energy costs, labour disruptions like strikes, and catastrophic weather events like hurricanes and floods. The proposed solution is, again, to increase buffer stock.

CONTDN...• Organizational Culture & Conditions: Worker-based collective

decision making, trust, and decentralized control are also noted as essential ingredients for JIT. If the people doing the work don’t have the freedom to improve their own processes, the health of the JIT-based supply chain will suffer. Trust across international boundaries is also critical; foreign suppliers or recipients of product may unexpectedly change their policies to reduce risk, especially if credit is an ingredient in the business relationship.

• Intractable Accounting & Finance Practices: After describing some specific roadblocks that disparate financial systems between supply chain partners can present, and calling out limitations based on financial accounting methods themselves, Polito recommends that improvement of processes prior to improvement of measures may help.

CONDNT..• Small Supplier Difficulties: One of the criticisms of JIT is that it

silently offloads costs from larger companies onto the smaller partners, and many small suppliers have implemented “JIT premiums” to offset this effect. Relaxing JIT requirements could have a positive effect on these members of your supply chain, which could also reduce your costs, so examining the pressures on your smaller suppliers is warranted in an economic downturn. There might be hidden opportunities for both sides.

What does this mean for managers? Among other things, increase long lead-time inventories, compare the costs of stock outs with the benefits of not having stock outs, re-examine the risks that your upstream and downstream partners may perceive, and assess the resilience of your smaller suppliers within an economic crisis. You might also think about resetting expectations with your customers regarding how quickly you can deliver.

BRAINSTORMING

• There are many versions of brainstorming, including round-robin brainstorming, wildest-idea brainstorming, double reversal, star bursting and the charette procedure. The basic version described below is sometimes called free-form, freewheeling or unstructured brainstorming.

• Brainstorming is a method for generating a large number of creative ideas in a short period of time

Brainstorming• Purpose - generate a

list of – problems– opportunities– ideas

• Success requires– no criticism– no arguing– no negativism– no evaluation

When to Use Brainstorming

• When a broad range of options is desired.• When creative, original ideas are desired.• When participation of the entire group is

desired

Brainstorming Procedure

• Materials needed: flipchart, marking pens, tape and blank wall space.• Review the rules of brainstorming with the entire group:

– No criticism, no evaluation, no discussion of ideas.– There are no stupid ideas. The wilder the better.– All ideas are recorded.– Piggybacking is encouraged: combining, modifying, expanding others’

ideas.• Review the topic or problem to be discussed. Often it is best phrased as a

“why,” “how,” or “what” question. Make sure everyone understands the subject of the brainstorm.

• Allow a minute or two of silence for everyone to think about the question.• Invite people to call out their ideas. Record all ideas, in words as close as

possible to those used by the contributor. No discussion or evaluation of any kind is permitted.

• Continue to generate and record ideas until several minutes’ silence produces no more

Brainstorming Considerations• Judgment and creativity are two functions that cannot occur

simultaneously. That’s the reason for the rules about no criticism and no evaluation.

• Laughter and groans are criticism. When there is criticism, people begin to evaluate their ideas before stating them. Fewer ideas are generated and creative ideas are lost.

• Evaluation includes positive comments such as “Great idea!” That implies that another idea that did not receive praise was mediocre.

• The more the better. Studies have shown that there is a direct relationship between the total number of ideas and the number of good, creative ideas.

• The crazier the better. Be unconventional in your thinking. Don’t hold back any ideas. Crazy ideas are creative. They often come from a different perspective.

• Crazy ideas often lead to wonderful, unique solutions, through modification or by sparking someone else’s imagination.

CONTDN...• Build on someone else’s idea. • When brainstorming with a large group, someone other than

the facilitator should be the recorder. The facilitator should act as a buffer between the group and the recorder(s), keeping the flow of ideas going and ensuring that no ideas get lost before being recorded.

• The recorder should try not to rephrase ideas. If an idea is not clear, ask for a rephrasing that everyone can understand. If the idea is too long to record, work with the person who suggested the idea to come up with a concise rephrasing. The person suggesting the idea must always approve what is recorded.

• Keep all ideas visible. When ideas overflow to additional flipchart pages, post previous pages around the room so all ideas are still visible to everyone.