Sustaining Improvement - The Foundation 

I have been asked on a number of occasions why sustaining improvement has been so difficult. In the words of a recent client "We have tried several times but it just doesn't stick"

My question to the client's management team had to be "So what changes have you made in your behaviours?"

Regardless of the methods used (Six Sigma, Lean or any other form of Continuous Improvement) the key to success rests with the Senior Management Team.

Any improvement strategy as to be driven by top down behaviours that are linked to the organisations values and vision. This means that instead of 'telling' what needs to be done the Senior Team get involved in the planning, showing and doing. They need to be see to be seeking to understand all of the issues that need to be addressed before they can ask for this understanding in their teams,This will involve Active Listening.

Bringing in a consultant cannot fix the problems associated with disengaged behaviours. Don't think for one minute that walking around the business saying "Good morning" will cut it either..... The Senior Team have to be totally committed and involved before they can begin to ask anyone else to be

I have worked with organisations where members of the board have been very knowledgeable about Continuous Improvement, but have made the mistake of telling people rather than showing them.

So how do we make it happen?

And how do we make it stick?

Starting At The Top

The Company Vision is a statement of what the company wants or needs to achieve. The Mission includes the measurables, in other words 'How will we know when we have got there?'. This requires a good understanding of the goals and what success will look like.

The action planning should be carried out in two stages, the first being the action plan for the Senior Team. The second should involve the next tier of management developing their plan with the support of the Senior Team. At this stage, understanding the team must be a priority.

Knowing that change can be stressful is not enough, providing support and development opportunities in terms of Mental Toughness is part of the plan. 

Facilitating Change

All improvement strategies will involve change. With this in mind, the Senior Team should set the reporting structures in place but not rely on these alone. They should be seen to be getting involved in a supporting role, to ensure that all employees feel comfortable discussing the issues in an open and honest way. Showing how this can be done should be a natural behaviour.

In this way all issues and blockages can be faced honestly, without fear and can be discussed openly to find the best ways forward. Facilitating change is a key role of the Senior Team and they should facilitate through actions not just words. In other words - SHOW DON'T TELL

Commmunication

A key element is communication, the most important part is Active Listening.

Even before the planning stage, the Senior Team need to brief the whole business on the detail behind the Vision and obtain feedback that will provide an early insight into some of the challenges that may have to be managed during implementation.

Remember, the well being of all company members is the responsibility of the Senior Team so understanding the people is critical. The detail of an effective support mechanism need to be an integral part of the business objectives, not just for change.

Throughout the planning and action stages of the implementation, constant open communication is important to ensure the plan is kept alive and relevant to everyone.

Developing the team to cope with change, from top to bottom, is a challenge that must be faced before the initiation of change. This is where Mental Toughness assessment can help.

Cascading The Plan

When setting goals for the business each facet of the business needs to be considered. For example, what does each individual's contribution look like and how are they to achieve it? How will they be supported and developed where necessary?

Mental Toughness is a term that encompasses the 4C's:

For more on Mental Toughness and how it can be reliably measured and developed, click here.

Involving each individual requires the Senior Team to address the fundamental question of 'Whats in it for me?' at every level of the business. We all only do anything for purely selfish  reasons, either it suits us or is the right choice for us at that time.

Make It Your Own

There are lots of books covering the subject of Continuous Improvement and, like this article, a lot contain personal perspectives and opinions. It has been my experience, over the last thirty years or so, that the best programmes are those that are truly 'owned' by the organisation - that is to say everyone in that business.

At the end of the day, the responsibility for the success or failure of any change lies with the Senior Team. Effective communication, goal setting, delegation, facilitation, review and having the right people in the right position are all important and are the responsibility of the Senior Team.

Graham Cripps

Applying SPC

Statistical Process Control (SPC) is like many tools used in Continuous Improvement (CI) and Quality Control methodologies in that it is not something that you would use for every process. It is also true to say that we don't just apply it to processes that have variable data, as there are other forms of SPC charts available for use (which we will discuss later in this article).

Dependant upon which industry you are applying SPC in, there may well be industry standards to be considered, for example supply chain control systems. Therefore, in this article, we will make general recommendations on how you might approach the application of SPC.

Selecting Processes For SPC

SPC should not be applied as a scattergun approach but reserved for processes that are:

• Critical (as defined by the FMEA process)
• Producing critical outcomes (as defined by the FMEA process)
• Known to have reliability issues (out of control conditions)
• Critical to customer satisfaction (internal or external)

In all cases, it is better to control process parameters rather than the process outcomes. In other words, if the process parameters that make the outcome reliable are known then why risk making reject parts?

For example to produce a 'good' spot weld, the process parameters that can be controlled are:

• Tip condition
• Power (Amps)
• Dwell time
• Tip to anvil pressure
• Substrate condition

Get all of these right and the spot weld is guaranteed!

Planning to implement SPC requires the involvement of the team and ensuring that everyone understands their role and are trained in the requirements for this. The plan also needs to reflect why SPC is to be applied to the process in question.

The plan should include:

• Understanding the process paramters and common cause variation
• Sample size
• Sampling frequency
• Measurement system analysis
• Data collection and analysis responsibilities
• Training requirements (where necessary)
• Timing

When planning to set up SPC on a process, there are a few rules that need to be observed including data source - the data to be collected should be from one source only. In other words avoid collecting data from:

• More than one process
• More than one tool
• More than one mould or cavity
• More than one measuring station

Calculating Control Limits

Control Limits should not be calcuated, in the first instance, until such time as all of the common causes of variation have been experienced, such as:

• Changes of shift
• Normal changes in the environment (internal and external)
• Change of supply of materials (under normal circumstances)
• Cutting tool sharpening (after tool wear)
• Autonomous maintenance
• Change of operator
• Change of person taking the measurement

In any event a minimum of twenty sub-sets of data will need to be collected

Once the control limits have been calculated, thay should not be re-calculated until something has changed, that is to say a special cause has taken place, process re-set, tooling changes or other significant event.

We have have experienced, in some organisations, the recalculation of the control limits after every SPC sheet has been completed, this should not be done unless the completion coincides with a significant event, as above.

Other Control Charts

There are two types of data that can come from a process.

1. Variable Data: something that can be measured (length, volume, mass for example), which has been the focus of this series of articles.

2. Attribute Data: something that can be observed, for example presence of components, marks, blemishes, go / no go conditions.

For variable data there are two charts in common use:

X-bar and R Charts (see here for downloadable version of blank and completed)

X and R Charts (individuals and moving range). These are used where small amounts of data are available or sampling frequency is required to be relatively high.

With attribute data the following charts are available for use:

P-Chart - for inconsistent sample sizes and non-conforming uits

N-Chart - for inconsistent sample sizes and non-conformities (faults)

C-Chart - for constant sample sizes and non-confirmities (faults)

Np-Chart - for constant sample sizes and non-confirming units

For more information about how these charts are appplied, or for assistance in your SPC efforts please contact either myself, Graham Cripps on graham.cripps@resultsresults.co.uk or Julie Camp on julie.camp@resultsresults.co.uk

Answers to Capability Exercise are here!

Learning To See - Simple Thinking

In this article I am going to give a snap shot of the application of simple thinking in a few examples. To gain a better understanding of how this is applied, I will be providing further details in September, via a short 'e-book', of how 'Learning To See' can be applied to Continuous Improvement activities such as problem solving, process management and problem prevention. If this is of interest please take a minute to sign up to the blogs to ensure you are notified of its available.

I have been using this phrase for some time to describe the learned discipline of being able to see things for what they actually are, without cluttering the facts with opinions and assumptions. Its about employing simple thinking.

This approach requires a degree of self-discipline in the first instance. However, it also requires a structured approach to many of the tools and techniques used in the management of business processes and procedures in any business.

There are five methods I use in my approach:

• Clear factual descriptions of problem, function and purpose statements
• Defining the boundaries of all activities
• Use of Visual Management to aid management and control
• Simple thinking
• Future State visioning

I will provide an overview of each of these, using simple examples to demonstrate

Clear Factual Descriptions

I commonly use two examples to explain the meaning, the first being problem solving and the second business development

We have a problem to solve, so the first step is to establish exactly what that problem is - this will be a clear statement detailing 'what is wrong with what'. All too often problems are not solved because we end up focusing on and dealing with the effect (the symptom), which masks the problem.

Business development often becomes just an increased sales effort, whether through increased sales activity, product development or looking to new markets, which in isolation often fails. Having a factual description of the business issue is the first step to creating an action plan that takes into consideration four main areas (SWOT) and provides an informed set of actions that can be directly addressed. This list will inevitably include some 'go find out' actions as well.

The SWOT analysis (you can download a free, editable template via the button at the bottom of this blog) is a detailed review of the business considering all of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (or risks) that can be clearly articulated, using data and real information - in essence  a clear description of where the business is.

Defining The Boundaries

Defining a boundary for any activity is an efficient way of ensuring time is not spent on things that are not part of the target activity. This may seem simple at first but it is all too easy to wander off in other directions, albeit for seemingly good reasons!

Visual Management

Visual Management is an integrated approach to supporting communication and information sharing, having visual messages may be part of something bigger.

In the 1980's the company I was working for signed up to a quality poster campaign.This involved lots of posters going up on site with a picture of a lion, bearing the legend "The Customer Is King" or a picture of a lovely, shiny, golden key stating "Quality is the KEY to our business" - so what? If the business processes and activities do not reflect these messages then what is the point?

Visual Management is about prompting the right reaction and should be tied into the business objectives and operating procedures and policies.

Simple Thinking

Clear, unclouded, focused, factual thinking. Recently I undertook an observation at a site, involving two guys who were themselves observing a complex activity. Their observation lasted about an hour and, in all fairness, copious notes were taken by both observers on what they saw, heard and experienced. My observation was of both them and the same activity they were observing.

When the observation session was complete we compared notes, I had a lot less written notes but had picked up on a number of issues that they had missed. So what was the difference? Both of the observers had entered the area  expecting to see certain things, which was part of their preparation and plan for the observation event. I had deliberately avoided being told in advance anything about the activity we were to observe.

The two observers were looking for what they expected to see, whilst I saw everything as I carried no expectations for the session. I had no mental clutter, a clear understanding of what I was going to do and was dealing only with what I saw - the facts.

Future State Visioning

Future State Visioning is an important part of goal setting, having a clear visions is the first step to setting business or personal goals (or objectives). When coaching others to develop their goals I always ask if they use any form of visualisation and, as this is often seen as a bit 'fluffy', the answer is usually no. But if I ask the same people what they will be doing for the weekend, I can get them to describe the detail and even some of the emotions attached to that vision.....

Imagination (or creativity) plays a major part in successful goal setting and achievement. It has been said that the brain cannot differentiate between  a real event and a vividly imagined one and we will all have experienced the emotions that imagination can provoke, both positive and negative. In goal setting we use our imagination to see what success would look like, feel like and even smell like!

I coached a Senior Team at a machine manufacturing company and we were looking at articulating their goal (to double turnover in two years). I asked them to consider all their senses in the context of this, what would the business:

Look like - would they be in the same physical space, what would the shop floor look like (more people, more processes, new products etc)

Smell like - new processes generate new smells, new products need new processes etc

Sound like - would the phone be ringing more, who would they be talking to, manufacturing sounds, process sounds, what new technology sounds would they hear

Feel like - kinasthetic feelings that come from new materials, new technologies and new processes.

The more detail we can imagine about our goal (future state) the more real we can make it and the  more detailed your action plan will be.

It is said there is no such thing as luck in business, I disagree! luck is where opportunity and preparedness meet, therefore we need to be prepared to spot those opportunities. The better we can describe (or imagine) our goal, the more prepared we are to spot those opportunities.

Now you might be thinking what about this simple thinking stuff? For me this fits perfectly. Having a clear vision of a goal is the first step towards attaining that very goal.

Graham Cripps

Active Listening - Needs More Than Your Ears!

Active Listening is something that some people find difficult to grasp. Active listening is about ensuring and confirming understanding

Have you ever asked the question of someone close to you "Are you listening to me?"

I have found that we believe we hear, and we believe we understand, without any reference point other than ourselves.

For example, you ask someone to do something and they say "Okay, I'll do that later, I need to finish this first". There are a few problems here already!

• When is later?
• What will you actually do?
• Is what they are doing more important?
• Do they really know what you want them to do?

When we ask someone to do something we have a mental 'picture' in our head of what that something looks like. Likewise, if you are asked to do something, the person asking has their mental 'picture'.

This 'picture' is more than just a 2D image, it has other facets that we need to consider, such as emotions, beliefs and values.

Active Listening is about making sure your vision of something and the other persons vision are closely aligned, we all know what happens if they are not!

We need to use questioning and observation as part of Active Listening: questioning our understanding by restating what you believe has been said, probing into what the other persons something looks like, observing the body language as we restate to look for physical signs of agreement

As business leaders we should always be striving to understand what the WHOLE picture is all about.

SPC - Understanding Capability

Having capable processes is critical to any improvement initiative. in this article we will look at what capability means and how to measure it.

In previous articles we have looked at process output and how the data can be used to control the process. Having this data available means that you can also calculate capability.

We will look at the prime capability indices:

C_p  - Process potential capability

C_{pk –} Ongoing process capability

First, let us look at what capability is. By definition process capability is a ratio, over time, of how the process meets the specification. However the process must be stable and in control, that is that there are no special causes or variation present.

Process potential capability is a ratio and calculated by:

This diagram shows the upper and lower specification limits and a process that is centered whereby + / - 3σ falls within these limits. Where 6σ is equal to the specification then the process has a potential capability of 1.0. However, there is a possibility that 0.27% will fall outside specification limits.

In the graphic to the right we have three centered processes, each with a different process spread. From the top the spread is less than the specification, therefore the C_p  will be greater than 1.

The middle example has a spread equal to the specification

The lower process has a spread greater than the specification therefore the C_p  will be less than one (eg not capable).

In many cases the process spread will not be centered about the centre of the specification so we need a method for calculating capability in these circumstances.

This graphic shows that we need to calculate the capability for each half of the process spread, where the process capability is calculated by taking the lesser of C_PKL (capability lower) and C_PKU (capability upper). The calculations for these are:

The following three examples are provided to aid your visualisation of capability for three process outputs.

Here the process is centered so the C_PKL and C_PKU are the same.

In this example the potential C_p is 1.00, or the process spread is equal to the specification limits. However, if we take into consideration the location of the data relative to the specification, the C_pk is 0.00

In this final example we can see that the process spread is below the specification limit. C_p is still 1.00 but the C_pk is minus 1.00

There is a capability exercise available for download at the end of this article, which will provide an opportunity for you to practice using four examples (the answers will be provided for you to check against with article 7, be sure to watch out for this later this week!).

Recommended Target C_pk Values

There are some practical considerations when looking at process capability. These are due to:

• The data used in the examples above is based on averages of sub-groups of data (averages, X-bar)
• Allowing for process shift due to common causes of variation
• Allowances for measurement accuracies
• Allowing for the 0.23% probability of producing outside the + / - 3σ

There are some industry standards established and these should be established in all cases. However, as a rule of thumb, we can recommend that for initial capability the C_pk  should be between 1.60 and 1.80. For ongoing capability, the C_pk  value should be between 1.40 and 1.60.

FMEA FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions)

"When do I carry out an FMEA?"

FMEA is a predictive risk assessment tool and looks at the probablility of failure of a design or process.

As Machinery FMEA and System FMEA are also based upon  Design FMEA, you can assume the followingcomments apply accordingly.

For Design FMEA (DFMEA), the FMEA should be carried out prior to setting up the process and already have the output from the DFMEA. The FMEA concentrates on the probablity of failure of the process to perform in terms of the process purpose or outcome and requires the following information:

• Design specification
• Design verification test planning
• Reliability test data

For a Process FMEA (PFMEA), the FMEA should be carried out prior to settng up the process and already have the output from the DFMEA. The FMEA concentrates on the probability of failure of the process to perform in terms of the process purpose or outcome and requires the following information:

• Critical charateristics of the design
• Process capability (if known)
• Machinery FMEA if available

"How do I ensure that our FMEA efforts are well managed?"

For FMEA to be a useful tool for any business it must be an integrated part of the business process. Therefore this process, like any other, requires management support.

In order to have a framework for managing FMEA's someone that has a vested interest in the outcome of the FMEA and in a management role would be tasked with assessing each stage of the process to ensure all process steps have been completed successfully.

There are a whole set of assessing questions that are asked at the end of each stage of the FMEA process. These questions are designed to assist the team and the manager to focus upon each stage of the FMEA process to ensure full completion.

The following is a small selection of the questions but a full copy can be accessed by selecting the button at the end of this article.

These assessing questions are those followinng the review of existing design controls of a DFMEA:

• Have all the failure modes within the scope of this DFMEA been considered?
• Have all the controls been realistically onsidered and entered onto the FMEA record?
• Have the design verification specifications been used as part of the controls review?
• Have all outstanding questions on the question log been answered?
• Are there any new questions to be added to the log?
• Has the DFMEA been communicated to all involved / interested parties?

"What is an FMEA Application Workshop?"

There are a lot of training courses, including the ones we offer, that tell you how to carry out an FMEA. However, the most effective way of learning is doing.

Our application workshops are run over two to four days and are a mixture of "show and tell" on your own design and process, not a case study. 

The purpose of the workshop is not to fully complete an FMEA but to provide the ooportunuty for the attendees to be able to practice all steps on a design or process they are familiar with and have an outcome that can be taken away and completed with the new knowledge and experience. 

This approach provides a feeling of relevance for the attendees and the opportunity to practice in a facilitated environment.

We also offer a review service, during the Workshop process,  whereby one of our experienced practitioners will review one or more of your FMEA's and provide constructive fedback on the content. We have found this to be a valuable addition to the Workshop format, providing guidance and support for our clients.

To find out more about our FMEA Application Workshops please click the button below.

"How do I use RPN to prioritise actions to be taken?"

In its simplest form, the RPN figure is used to rank priority of actions to be taken by considering the highest RPN number first. It has long been recognised that this method does not discriminate between the severities of the effects of failure.

There are two available methods (RPN and SOD)and we would recommend the following method.

Known as S-O-D (Severity - Occurrence - Detection) it involves looking at the severity ratings of 10 first. To prioritise these, take S x D (product of severity and detection) to prioritise within this group. If the two are the same, then use the RPN number within that sub-group.

Then repeat for severities of 9 etc. See the following example: 

Interpreting An SPC X-bar And R Chart

In the last few articles we have looked at the basics behind SPC and the completion of an SPC chart. Now we have a completed chart we will look at how to interpret it. Firstly, however, we need to lay a few more foundations.

Types Of Distribution

We will cover the most common types, which are Gaussian, Bimodal and Skewed distributions. We will also consider the other descriptors, being the location (mean, mode and median) as well as spread.

Skewed Distribution - this is where the data is skewed to one side. the mode (highest occurring data point), the mean (or average) and median (middle number) do not coincide.

Bimodal - here we have a distribution that typically contains two of something (two processes, two tools or cavities, two measuring stations). As will be seen later, this can be misleading when trying to interpret the SPC chart. It is important to ensure that data is collected from one source only.

Gaussian - a distribution that is equally dispersed about the mean value. The mean, mode and median values are the same. In SPC we use this form of distribution by taking several samples (the sub-group), as this will tend any distribution towards a Gaussian curve. This enables probability to be assessed. 

The problem with some processes is that they do not behave in a way that presents the data in a normal (Gaussian) distribution. As mentioned in previous articles, we use sub-groups of data, which have the tendency to present the data in a normalised format.

Control Limits

Control limits are calculated based upon what the process is generating. As previously mentioned, control limits should only be calculated when the process is devoid of special causes of variation, and when all the normal causes of variation have been included. This includes but is not limited to:

• Changes of shift
• Normal changes in the environment (internal and external)
• Change of supply of materials (under normal circumstances)
• Autonomous maintenance
• A minimum of twenty data sub-sets

This applies to both control limits for range (R) and for averages (X-bar) of sub-sets.

Interpreting The Sample X-bar And R Chart

As part of the last SPC article you will have given access to a sample chart (if you have not yet downloaded this you can find it here). We will be referring to this chart during the remainder of this article so having it to hand will be useful.

The sample chart has been produced based on data from a machining operation, producing a small shaft.

The 7 Point Rule

Well, not really a rule, more of a recommendation. However, in the article titled 'Probability And SPC', we discussed what we can expect from a process under normal conditions.

The possible outcomes could be any one of the following eight:

• All above the mean
• All below the mean
• All within the +/- 1 σ
• All within the +/- 2 σ
• In one half of the distribution
• All going up
• All going down
• In the outer 1/3 area

The 7 Point Rule suggests that under normal circumstances we would expect that each sub-set of data would not  have more than seven successive points that are in one of the eight possible outcomes.

This is based upon the probability of this occuring of 1 / 128 or 2⁷. 

In other words, each data set has two possible outcomes, either a repeat of one of the above possible outcomes or any other outcome.

For example, if the last data set was in the +/- 1 σ area, you would not expect to see a further six based upon the probablity theory.

The Range Plot

In this example we can see there are no seven points that could be considered to be 'out of control' conditions.

Out of control conditions are those situations that are brought about due to a change. A special cause of variation is present.

The X-bar Plot

Again this is taken from the chart previously provided

At first sight all would appear to be good. However, there are a number of successive points within the +/- 1 σ area, this would need further investigation.

In this example, the control limits have been calculated based upon the first set of twenty sub-sets of data, so 'Whats the problem?' you may ask.

We have seen a lot of instances where the individual data values have not been plotted as part of the SPC chart.

Not plotting this information, as in this case, can lead to misinterpretation of the X-bar plot.

Here we can see that there are two distinct distributions of the individual data points, in other words a bimodal distribution. As previously stated, this cannot be used in an X-bar and R chart, as it will be masked by the process of calculating the mean values of each sub-set of data.

The investigation would need to centre on what has caused this bimodal distribution (special cause)

This example clearly shows the need for plotting of the individuals

Summary

Reviewing the example X-bar and R chart shows how powerful this tool can be for reviewing the control of processes.

We have used an example of a manufacturing machining process but SPC is just as applicable to many other processes, not just manufacturing. In fact, any process from which data can be gathered can be controlled using SPC.