1st Midterm
Describe Deming
14 management principles, brought quality back to the U.S. in the 1980's from Japan, Deming's view of a production system
Which is the most comprehensive quality system methodology?
Baltridge - takes in account the entire org. and looks at the org's results. 80% more comprehensive than Lean 6 Sig
Explain why Deming did not believe in accepting 'low bid' for selecting suppliers
Because the lowest priced supplier is not always going to provide the best service for your organization. There are many other important aspects that play a part when selecting suppliers such as delivery schedule, on-time deliveries, flexibility, etc.
Explain the difference between Big Q and little q
Big Q = managing for quality in all organizational processes. Little q = focusing solely on manufacturing quality
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) - describe the keys and the principles underlying BPR
Compress and integrate several jobs into one Create generalists backed up by 'smart' systems Perform steps in logical, natural order Eliminate bottlenecks Standardize Perform the work where it makes the most sense Buy vs. make Make it easier for the customer - provide them with a single point of contact
CTQs
Critical-to-Quality measurements. For a given business opportunity, identify the key dimensions of product characteristics that are critical-to-quality from a customer perspective
Explain the impact of the funnel experiment on management actions
Deming The learning or "rules" of the experiment can be applied to many different types of tampering and common knee-jerk reactions on the part of management, all of which are impediments to effective management and continual improvement, including: Adjusting a process when a part is out of specifications Making changes without the aid of control charts Changing company policy based on the latest attitude survey
Identify the four significant influences that influenced the U.S. quality movement in the 1980's [page 13 - Joe is stuck]
Deming - "If Japan Can... Why Can't We?" Baldrige Award TQM - Total Quality Management Xerox CEO David Kearns - "Leadership Through Quality" initiative (NOTE: Six Sigma didn't appear until the late 90s)
Explain why, according to Deming, 'doing your best' is not good enough
Doing your best is not good enough because you should always be looking for ways to improve what you consider "your best." If your best work is you giving 100%, but you aren't providing 100% quality into the process, then it isn't your best.
Identify and define internal and external customers for a given business application
External: suppliers and buyers further down the production line Internal: other departments within the business, including employees as well as stakeholders Consumers: the people who buy the final product
List and describe the eight contemporary forces identified by ASQ that will influence the future of quality
Global Responsibility, Consumer Awareness, Globalization, Increasing Rate of Change, Workforce of the future, Aging Population, Twenty-first Century Quality, Innovation
Which quality methodology is more comprehensive, Lean 6 Sig or ISO 9000?
ISO 9000
Identify the differences between applications of performance excellence in manufacturing versus services
In manufacturing, performance excellence relies a lot on the standards of the manufacturing process and if the product is meeting conformance expectations. In services, performance excellence relies on the actual service being done. Therefore, the people on the front line who are interacting with the customer are the major influences on service performance excellence
Compare and contrast Deming's views of psychology on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation is a much stronger form of motivation, because if an individual worker feels the inside drive to succeed in their work, results will improve. Examples of this include the workers feeling as if what they are doing is making a difference and having an impact on the overall organization. Extrinsic motivation - like offering more bonuses or higher pay - will only work in the short-term and studies have shown that it is not nearly as powerful as intrinsic motivation. It's more materialistic in nature versus the innateness of intrinsic motivators.
Explain the business case for six sigma. Identify possible benefits of the six sigma management system
It is a metric, method, and management system Six sigma is an organized and systematic method for strategic process improvement and new product development that relies on statistical methods and the scientific method to make dramatic reductions in defect rates as defined by the customer Improvements in quality, cost reduction, productivity, and profitability
Kaizen
Kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics, that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain
Theory of Knowledge
Knowledge is not possible without theory Experience alone does not establish a theory, it only describes Theory shows cause-and-effect relationships that can be used for prediction
Explain to upper management the impact of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and customer engagement on the profit chain
Loyal customers will spend more, are willing to pay higher prices, refer new clients, and are less costly to do business with It costs five times more to find a new customer than to keep an existing one happy Growth in market share is strongly correlated with customer satisfaction Customer engagement is the willingness to become an advocate for the company
Range
Max - Min
Trimmed mean
Not statistically significant since it trims outliers. used in rare circumstances for a specific measure.
Describe how to apply the three levels of quality - organizational level, process level and job/performer level for improving any company
Organizational level = meeting external customer requirements Process level = linking external and internal customer requirements Job/performer level = meeting internal customer requirements.
Deming's Cycle
PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act) DMAIC is based off of this original thought process and is more refined
Psychology
People are motivated intrinsically and extrinsically, intrinsic is the most powerful Fear is demotivating Managers should develop pride and joy in work Deming hated the Carrot-and-Stick management approach and vied motivation solely through compensation as short-sighted, external motivation
Name the majors sources of variation.
People, Machines, Materials, Methods, Measurement, & Environment
Senge's Fifth Discipline
Personal Mastery - deepen personal vision, focus energies, develop patience, etc. Mental Models - Assumptions that influence how we understand the world and take action Building Shared Vision - Bind people together around a common identity. Develop 'pictures of the future' to gain commitment Team Learning - Develop skills of groups to look for the larger picture. Team learning drives org. learning Systems Thinking - How interrelated processes fit together to work in unison. Conceptual framework to make full patterns clearer.
The Deming cycle of PDSA - describe each of the steps in the cycle, how to apply the detailed steps of each in a business application
Plan - (1) define the process, (2) describe it, (3) describe the people, (4) define VOC, (5) determine data req., (6) describe problems/gaps, (7) identify key causes, (8) develop potential solutions, (9) select most promising solution. Do - (1) conduct pilot or experiment, (2) identify key performance indicators Study (check) - (1) examine results of experiment, (2) determine improvements made, (3) identify further experimentation. Act - (1) select best solution, (2) develop implementation plan, (3) develop new procedures to standardize the solution, (4) establish process for monitoring and control.
Rummler-Brache process improvement methodology
Planning, Project Definition, Analyze/Design, Implement, & manage
Describe the importance of quality for the success of a firm. Compare and contrast productivity, cost, and quality
Quality leads to loyalty; it's way cheaper to retain customers than find new Productivity: how efficient your processes are; when managers delegated quality to quantity teams, they instead become occupied working to improve plant productivity (sometimes at quality's expense) Cost: directly related to productivity; each unit has a cost and benefit. Quality generally presents short-term costs for the sake of long-term benefit Quality: difficult to define. Generally relates to meeting a set of standards and indicates a product superior to products lacking 'quality'
five key service dimensions
Reliability → ability to provide what was promised (% serviced cars returned) Assurance → knowledge and courtesy of employees and ability to convey trust Tangibles → physical facilities and appearance of personnel (# customer complaints) Empathy → degree of caring and individual attention (# of customer complaints/week) Responsiveness → willingness to help customers and provide prompt service
Identify common errors in reengineering
Scope is too large - "boiling the ocean" Dissipate energy across many projects Quit too early or settling for minor results Dragging the effort/project out Neglecting people's views and beliefs
Describe the disappointments and criticisms of TQM in the 1990's
Some articles called TQM a passing fad or inherently flawed Many programs failed due to poor quality strategies or poor execution
Variance
Standard deviation squared (s2)
Describe how the standards developed. Identify the standards. Explain how ISO 9000 leads to the three principal benefits
Standards: 21 elements organized into groups: Management Responsibility, Resources Management, Product Realization, Measure,/Analyze/Improve Benefits: (1) Discipline, (2) contains the basis of a quality system, and (3) offers a marketing program. The standards were developed due to the growing need of quality management and a certification that can be agreed upon throughout different industries. The benefits can be achieved from a marketing point of view, simply because there are strict rules you must follow to attain it, it looks good to customers/businesses.
Coefficient of Variation
Std. Dev./Mean * 100
explain the concept of sub-optimization as it relates to systems thinking. Explain the relationship of 'systems thinking' to total quality
Sub-optimization = when improving one part of the process, makes other parts of the process worse-off, and the entire system/process as a whole does not improve. This is why systems thinking is so important to total quality, because in order to truly improve the quality of a system/something, the whole system needs to be addressed and improved, rather than just focusing on one small part of it.
SIPOC analysis
Suppliers-Inputs-Process-Outputs-Customers. High level process maps - be able to conduct a simple SIPOC process map for a given business application
Project charter
Title, problem statement/business case, project goal, process issues, scope (in and out), relationship map, SIPOC diagram, and CTQ tree. Document of authority and a high-level view of the project
describe the various dimensions of quality - including formal definitions of quality: transcendent quality, product-, user- and value-based quality, fitness for use,
Transcendent - a product that is 'above the competition' - you know quality when you see it Product - quantity of some attribute User - fitness for intended use -> different customers define differently Value-based - comparing cost and benefits available in the total package including pre- and post-purchase services Fitness for use - ^^^ same as user? Manufacturing - conformance to specifications Conformance to specifications - ^^^ same as manufacturing? Customer expectations - "meeting or exceeding customer expectations"
Standard Deviation
Values in the distribution deviate ____ units away from the mean
Variation
Variation at the product level is best when there is less. Mind variation in org. change as well. Many sources of uncontrollable variation exist in any process Excessive variation results in product failures, unhappy customers, and unnecessary costs Statistical methods can be used to identify and quantify variation to help understand it and lead to improvements
Cite the lessons learned from Quality in Practice: From Leadership Through Quality to Lean Six Sigma at Xerox
Xerox lost focus on quality as a key business driver after their boom in the 1990's during the dot com era due to upper-management's short-sightedness.
quality circle
a participatory management technique that enlists the help of employees in solving problems related to their own jobs. Circles are formed of employees working together in an operation who meet at intervals to discuss problems of quality and to devise solutions for improvements.
Stratified Sampling
a probability sampling technique wherein the researcher divides the entire population into different subgroups or strata, then randomly selects the final subjects proportionally from the different strata. Common strata include gender, age, socioeconomic class, etc.
Black belt
a professional who is well versed in the Lean Six Sigma Methodology, who leads improvement projects, typically in a full-time role
Systems Thinking
a set of functions or activities within an organization that work for the aim of the business. The aim of the system is to benefit all stakeholders To manage a system properly, managers must understand the interconnections among the system's components and among the stakeholders involved.
Judgement sampling
a type of nonrandom sample that is selected based on the opinion of an expert. Results obtained from a judgment sample are subject to some degree of bias
Systematic sampling
a type of probability sampling method in which sample members from a larger population are selected according to a random starting point and a fixed, periodic interval
Green belt
a typical worker in the company or group that is familiar and trained with tools of Lean Six Sigma, but only plays a part-time role by filling in in-between their normal work schedule
Describe Ishakawa
advocated the use of simple statistical tools and techniques and getting everyone to participate involving all workers towards a goal
Flowcharts
also called cross-functional maps that identify the sequence of activities or the flow of materials and information in a process. Flowcharts help people involved in the process understand the process more objectively by providing a picture of the steps needed to accomplish a task Compares and contrasts actual versus ideal flow of a process and serves as a training tool Shows unexpected complexity, problem areas, redundancy, and where we can simplify
Poka yoke
an approach for mistake-proofing processes using automatic devices or methods to avoid simple human error Based on prevention and detection ATM card insert, size measures for rollercoaster rides, order display screens, etc.
Value creation processes
are those processes most important to running the business Includes design processes and production/delivery processes
P-value
calculated probability of finding the observed, or more extreme, results when the null hypothesis (H0) of a study is true
Control and run charts
charts that represent data through a period of time They identify process changes and trends over time and show the effects of corrective action Monitor performance through time - showing tends, oscillation, mixtures, and clustering Allows comparison of before and after implementation of a solution Control charts help distinguish special from common cause variation
List Deming's 14 Management Obligations
constancy of purpose, adopt a new philosophy, cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality, end the practice of awarding business on basis of price alone, improve constantly and forever, institute training, teach and institute leadership, drive out fear and create trust, break down barriers between dept's, Eliminate exhortations for the workforce, Eliminate numerical quotas for production, Remove barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship, Encourage education and self-improvement, Take action to accomplish the transformation
Describe Shewhart
created statistical quality control, advocated quality assurance. The original OG
Job enlargement
expanding workers' jobs
Master black belt
experts responsible for the strategic deployment of Six Sigma within an organization. They promote and support improvement activities in all business areas of their organization as well as at suppliers and customers.
Affinity diagrams
explain to upper management how to build an affinity diagram for capturing the Voice of the Customer and customer requirements - apply the Affinity Diagram process to a given business scenario An affinity diagram will help capture the VOC by allowing the gathering of large amounts of language data (ideas, opinions, issues, etc.) and organizing them into groupings based on their natural relationships They also encourage new ideas and patterns of thinking and helps understand a lot of complex, messy information.
Strategic benchmarking
focus on how companies compete and strategies that lead to competitive advantage
Process benchmarking
focus on key work processes
Job enrichment
granting more authority, responsibility, and autonomy to the worker
Pareto diagram
one in which the characteristics observed are ordered from largest frequency to smallest Helps team focus on the vital few versus the trivial many and displays the relative importance of problems in a simple visual format
Support processes
processes that help support the main operations, but don't create value. things such as HR, IT, etc.
Histogram
provide clues about the characteristics of the parent population from which a sample is taken - patterns that would be difficult to see in an ordinary table of numbers become more apparent Shows centering, variation, and shape by illustrating the underlying distribution of the data Helps answer, "is the process capable of meeting requirements?"
Describe Juran
provided Japan with the best quality management practices after WWII, then brought what he taught back to the U.S. but always said that there wasn't a magic way of doing everything - each organization and process is different and management/employees should learn this through experience and implement throughout
Describe Taguchi
quality based on the economic value of being on target, reducing variation, and dispelling the traditional view of conformance to specs. Pioneered new perspective on quality based on economic value of being a target, reducing variation, and dispelling the traditional view of conformance to spec.'s "Loss is incurred by some degree when we deviate from the median, even though we're within the control limits'
Interquartile range (IQR)
range of the middle 50% of a distribution (Q3 - Q1)
Champion
serve as the driving force for the project. They also remove roadblocks and act as the middle-man between the black belts and management. Make sure the project is running smoothly and all parties are productive. Adjust the speed of the deployment as necessary, and take responsibility for implementation.
Scatter diagrams
show a visual image of the relationship between two variables Includes the direction and type of relationship, strength of association, slope or rate of response, and any outliers that may be included Supplies data to test a hypothesis of whether two variables are related - a good follow up to cause-and-effect diagrams
Cause-and-effect diagrams
simple graphical methods for presenting a chain of causes and effects and for sorting out causes and organizing relationships between variables Enables team to focus on the content of a problem versus the history of the problem Focuses the team on causes, not symptoms - makes sort of a fish bone look
Competitive benchmarking
studying products, processes, or business performance of competitors in the same industry to compare pricing, technical quality, features, and other quality or performance characteristics of products and services
Significance level (alpha)
the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis given that it is true. Predetermined and arbitrary. The smaller the alpha value, the more statistically significant your finding is, since it's more precise and will ultimately be more difficult to reach with a p-value
cluster sampling
uses a "natural selection" of people or things and puts them into a variety of different clusters. Then using a program to randomly pick a cluster, then perform an analysis on that cluster.
'willing worker'
workers want to do a good job but are constrained by the inadequacies of the process
