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The team can use the PDCA cycle to implement the pilot recommendation pro- jects. Plan: You can Plan your improvements; Do: Implement your improvements, usually on a pilot scale; Check: Verify that the improvement improved the process based on your metrics; and Act: If the improvements made a positive difference, implement them on a broader scale, if not, refine the improvements and try again.
You may go through the PDCA cycle several times.
Train and Execute
The team should develop detailed procedures, as necessary to ensure consistency of the new process. They should develop and rollout training. The train the trainer concept is sometimes used to reduce the resources needed to train. A core group of people are trained on the new process and then they train others in the organiza- tion, and become subject matter experts. The process owners should be included in the change process, and changes should be communicated to appropriate stakehold- ers. The team can use the future state process map as a training guide. They should assess the effectiveness of the training as part of the control plan in the next phase.
change for rollout of the pilot recommendations on a broader scale. The team needs to keep all of the stakeholders in the loop by developing and implementing a com- munication plan. We will collect data after we improve the process, for the same CTS’ and metrics identified in the Measure Phase. We will then assess whether the changes implemented made a “statistically” significant difference, using:
• Hypothesis testing OR
• Design of Experiments
Report Scorecard Data and Create Process Control Plan
In this step, the team should demonstrate the impact of the project’s metrics, and create or revise the Process Control Plan. The Plan helps to deploy the Six Sigma approach across large areas and to coach groups through the major quality processes.
The purpose of the Control Plan is to maintain the gains. If a conscious plan and effort is not made to ensure that people continue to use the new process, the gains can slip, and when push comes to shove, and people get pressured and busy, they can very easily slip back to their old ways and old processes. The control plan can include:
• Deploying new policies, and removing out-dated policies
• Implement new standards
• Modify procedures
• Modify quality appraisal and audit criteria
• Update prices and contract bid models
• Change information systems
• Revise budgets
• Revise forecasts
• Modify training.
Fig. 2.36 Control phase activities and tools/deliverables
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Useful tools that can be used to derive the information to create a control plan include:
• Project planning for creating the control plan
• Brainstorming
• Failure Mode and Effects Analysis
• SPC
• Process Map
• Training
• Procedures
• Mistake Proofing
• Statistics, graphical tools, sampling, FMEA, process capability, DPPM/DPMO.
A control plan format is provided in Fig. 2.37.
For each major process step on the future process map, the control plan should identify how you will control the process step (control mechanism); how you will meas- ure the process step; how critical it is to ensure control for that step; actions to be taken if problems occur; and who is responsible for monitoring control for each process step.
Mistake Proofing
Mistake proofing is a tool that helps to prevent errors in your process. Errors are inadvertent, unintentional, accidental mistakes made by people because of the human sensitivity designed into our products and processes.
Mistake proofing, also called Poka Yoke, is the activity of awareness, detection, and prevention of errors which adversely affect our customers, our people and result in Waste.
Some of the underlying mistake proofing concepts are:
• You should have to think to do it wrong, instead of right.
• Easy to perform inspection at the source.
• Reduces the need for rework and prevents further work (and cost) on a process step that is already defective.
• Simplifies prevention and repair of defects by placing responsibility on the responsible worker.
Fig. 2.37 Control plan Control Phase
Statistical Process Control (SPC) Charts
Statistical Process Control Charts are an effective tool to monitor and control the process, and ensure that the process is not out of control. SPC control charts are a graphical tool for monitoring the activity of an ongoing process. The most commonly used control charts are also referred to as Shewhart control charts, because Walter A. Shewhart first proposed the general theory in the 1920s at AT&T Western Electric. Figure 2.38 identifies the most commonly used control charts.
The following steps can be used to implement control charts:
1. Determine the type of chart, quality characteristic, sample size and frequency, data collection mechanism
2. Select the rules for out of control conditions 3. Collect the data (10 to 25 subgroups) 4. Order data based on time order
5. Calculate the trial control limits, create charts (Minitab) 6. Identify out of control conditions
7. Remove points where you can assign causes 8. Recompute the control limits.
Apply P-D-C-A Process
Applying the PDCA to help people continually improve the process. There is the need to focus on:
• What are we trying to accomplish?
• How will we know that change is an improvement?
• What change can we make that will result in improvement?
• If the process is performing to plan, then standardize the activities, if not, then study why not and develop a new plan for improvement.
• Focus on the next most important root cause and implement additional improvements.
Fig. 2.38 Commonly used control charts
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Identify Replication Opportunities
In this step, it is important to identify opportunities where you can replicate the same process in the organization. This will leverage the improvement effort across the organization, and potentially save additional money for the company.
Identifying replication opportunities can help to support organizational learning.
Develop Future Plans
The purpose of developing future plans is to recognize the time and effort that went into the LSS project by reflecting on the lessons learned and incorporating these into future projects. Some important questions are:
• Have you identified lessons learned?
• Have you identified the next opportunity for improvement?
• Have you shared the learnings with others?
• Have you documented the new procedures?
• Has everyone been trained that needs to be?
• Take time to celebrate.
Dashboards and scorecards can be used to assess where you need to focus improvement efforts in the future. Also, the cause and effect analysis can be used to identify the next root cause to focus improvements on.