What is quality? Lean Thinking

Recently my company has been certified in ISO 9001, that Standard that says that a company is as ineffective in its processes, and it is wonderful in the news of internal communication, in some association of quality and hung on the wall, but the Reflection that I pose myself, is, what is quality? What do we mean by quality? Why does a company work so well?

Quality is not a role, quality is not something that is said, quality is not for a day, if you believe that is really wrong, you are going astray.

Quality is a way of life, a culture of work and a philosophy of understanding the operative.

There have been great quality gurus, thanks to them the quality is where it is, but as it says, whenever it is looking for continuous improvement everything has to evolve. We are at a time where innovation at all levels is the key to new successes, new challenges, new failures and undoubtedly new illusions that will make you bigger and wiser.

The quality, apart from the paper that you can have hanging in the department, is something that is breathed, and that the whole company must breathe and know well. Personally, in this sense, I am constantly striving to show the intrinsic benefits of good quality management, that all people know what we work for, what we work for and give merit to the people who deserve it.

What we have ever seen written Lean Thinking, is the reality that is slowly taking root in companies, many of them do not give as much value to a certification as to the fact of doing things right.

Things to , process improvement, people involvement, project implementation, the set of all activities are what creates the core of quality. The core of the company. Quality is NOT expensive, we have to forget that quality is expensive, implementing the different methodologies we have is a wonderful challenge that makes quality an exciting world to live with.

I encourage everyone to make quality and forget certificates.

Make Lean Thinking!

Blueprinting method: Analyze your services and optimize them

Blueprinting is a methodology that is based on analyzing, visualizing and presenting a map of services. It serves to see the evolution of a process or the provision of services through a flow chart.

As a final result we will obtain a diagram where the activities of the process are chronologically represented on a horizontal axis. Depending on the proximity to the client these processes or activities will be at one level or another level within a vertical axis.

 

What do we get with Blueprinting?

We achieve two points of view, within the company (processes) and outside the company (customer experience). Blueprinting focuses on detailing the configuration of a service-based process to achieve an optimal result both inside and outside the company. The philosophy of work is to dismantle the conceptual map of services to achieve continuous improvement through customer satisfaction, as well as increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of processes (associated cost reduction, process waste, etc.).

To achieve success within companies, it is necessary to work under three pillars: developing alternative strategies, focusing on clear objectives and making decisions based on concise data.

From the analysis of the results we develop options to mark a strategy and a posterior evaluation. Always setting some guidelines for action in the face of problems and new challenges, applying competently improvement actions and focusing / sizing efforts.

 

How do you start working with Blueprinting?

1- First, we have to establish the limits of the system, in this case, we are talking about our services and products. In this way we will be able to visualize a dimension of our study, we refer to the E2E (End to End) of the system. Therefore it is important to reflect the essence of the system in sight, then we have to identify what are the key points of this system, these points are our activities or processes.

This first step will unfold all those processes that have an impact both on the operations of our organization and, on the face of the customer, to know what factors are those aspects that will influence the decision of our brand for another one of the competition.

2- All this we have to take it to a graphic representation, for the representation of this process, we will work on a diagram that marks the interactions with the client, with the company, zones of perception, etc. All this we are going to carry out Through the use of a symbology by all recognizable.

In this representation it is necessary to begin to identify in a clear way that internal processes are intimately related to client experience. We must identify how these two routes, one internal and one external, mark the roadmap to generate the start-up of a service with the maximum possible potential.

Obviously to develop this mapping diagram of both processes and client is necessary to set time guidelines, it seems totally obvious but has a non-trivial character that will define the vision of the E2E process and analyze how they impact the processes inside and outside the Organization through the Customer Journey you achieve to reach how much of good or bad is the customer experience. Mides KPIs on both sides and paramétrizas how to improve internally so that it impacts on customer and vice versa.

This methodology may be accompanied by others such as the Servqual Technique or a DMAIC. With this we will uncover “moments of truth“.

3- When deploying our Process diagram and Customer Journey, we have a general life cycle of our system that makes it easier to identify faults. A widely used practice is to identify faults as potential risk areas for customers, these areas must also have a special attention on our part. The areas where failures occur is where we have to start working, it is very important to define in our protocol of action that is important and critical, we should not direct our actions to something that can “wait” to start with actions that have greater priority.

With this we will avoid the occurrence of these failures and even anticipate future failures that may be blocking our services.

4- Once we have identified the failures and we have set a priority or criticality in front of each of them, whether with affection to our clients or in the internal operative, we have to establish a battery of actions in front of these problems. To the extent possible we will work to minimize current errors and prevent futures to reduce impact.

Let’s see them on a real case, to analyze all the steps we have seen. And pursue those aspects that can generate more impact within the organization.

Of course, from this mapping we can integrate KPIs and customer satisfaction indicators that delimit improvement actions on a specific focus to optimize processes and generate value actions towards our final client.

To gain the trust of the client is to offer a service that meets the needs of this and do not have any fuss, we do not like to be surprised with unwanted bills, services or products that do not meet our needs because we feel cheated and will be very difficult That the customer re-believe in us, that is why he marks the end of the process with a face of ambiguity. Since we must remain alert and give a successful service. In the complicated moments we must get our arsenal and get the customer to move as far as possible from that yellow face to pass to a green of satisfaction.

Asset management model

All the companies are of the sector that is, count on commercial, productive, economic objectives, etc., according to the demand of the needs these are covered with internal or external resources. Having said this, and based on the logic of financial profitability, all companies are betting on subcontracting rather than on own resources, as well as on the purchase of services or products, and at this point we see how the supplier market is becoming more specialized.

Made this introduction, by all known, to have a proper asset management is necessary to manage a multitude of suppliers, with their specialties, details, covering the needs but integrating it into a whole.

Goals.

The biggest objective is to sell as much product as possible, with the best quality, satisfying the customer and with the lowest possible cost, thus achieving the highest profitability and possible benefits. From here it branches into production sub-objectives, availability, reliability, maintenance, safety with the least impact on the customer.

Weighting of objectives.

Each of these objectives is measured differently in each of the companies, and mainly they will have a very different weighting in each one of the companies, since it influences the sector to which they dedicate themselves.

Structure of the service.

In order to meet customer needs, the activities within the company must be clearly differentiated. So let’s see what we have:

• Audit: Measurement and valuation activities of what you are doing.
• Consulting: strategy to follow in the present and future.
• Training: if necessary training in the preparation of new services.
• Engineering: design and calculation of the needs and resources needed to achieve objectives.
• Implementation of models and plans designed in the engineering phase.
• Control: measurement and assessment of what is being done at any time.
• Decisions: actions that must be carried out in the model to adjust in the deviation of the defined objectives.

Business contractors.

Within the pool of contractors that can meet our needs, we must carry out a market study to ascertain the degree of adaptation of the service offered by the companies, negotiate with each one the service that is willing to cover with the greatest balance between necessity Of the process industry company and the service offered by the contractor company.

Economic calculation of the service according to the intensity of the service.

The unit cost of the contractor’s service is calculated by the intensity of the objective to be covered, for example, the intensity of the environmental impact of the nuclear industry will be higher than the intensity of the objective for the wind industry. Thus, for one case it will be more costly economically than for the other, respectively.

Calculation of the cost of investment of implantation of the model.

Until the stationary phase is reached, investment costs are calculated to start the model, which are amortized over the periods of return on investment.

Once the start phase of the Implementation Project of the Asset Management Model is exceeded annually, a number of resources are consumed by contractors and suppliers. These costs are similar each year, adjusted for changes in CPI and changes in special prices.

Study of return on investment and profitability.

The model itself, in its initial phase, measures and assesses the cost of direct and indirect money from the current asset management. The reduction of costs of direct and opportunity costs, increased availability, reliability, safety and reduced impact on the environment has a positive economic impact on the company, which increases its profitability and its benefits.

Speed of implantation of the model.

Due to the economic cycles of companies and the environment, changes in products and services may be difficult or easier to implement the model.

To do this, once the investment and annual costs have been established, different implementation speeds of the model are proposed, ranging from six months to ten years; Depending on the needs and policies of the company.

Conclusion.

Thanks to this model, you can prioritize what services are needed to meet business objectives. Sometimes it is difficult to establish how much of the supplier’s resources will be needed in each situation, but thanks to the structure of the model in phases, the exercise is performed defining, analyzing and assessing the needs at each moment, as well as calculating its Economic cost.

Digital transformation. What are our customers looking for?

We are in an absolute spiral of new technologies, the world evolves to bring people away, to improve communications between people, videoconferences, chats of all kinds, search engines. We are talking about Generation X, Generation Y and some Millenials (which sounds very futuristic) … in short, different people with different attitudes towards companies.

These are the ones that have to adapt their way of contacting the customer to provide a better service and stay on the crest of the wave. Everything happens in the end to digitize its customers, which has been the happy Digital Transformation, that paradigm that will change the world to make it better, that is why companies are passing large, medium, SMEs; Young entrepreneurs who directly generate a digital business with a customer service based on RRSS or digital platforms, we could talk about Entrepreuners for Milenials and that your Community Manager manages order, your claim … sounds cool.

Basically, and from personal experience the customer service leaves a lot to be desired. However, they are companies focused on the sale and if the customer has some problem “that he will manage”. I am not talking about the giant Amazon, where it provides a service of the highest quality and with the investment that can make it can be a benchmark in terms of customer service.
Returning to communication with customers, what do they want ?, simple, that their concerns are heard, as easy as that. And this said not all companies have so easy to afford to adapt to new times, to enter into the paradigm of change, to be digital.
And then, why a company happens to be digital ?, the first step is for your customers to know what exists in the digital world of that company, to be known in that area and to provide a service where the customer understands what he is doing. I explained, those millenials will know perfectly how to perform actions with your company because they are perfectly familiarized with that environment in other companies, but not all of your customers, not so, some (quite possibly a majority need help), that’s where it comes into play The genius of companies, digital processes understandable by all, global digitization. As we improve processes so our customers have to wait less, have exact answers, get what they are looking for, this is exactly the same, global digitization.
And here it is that the real change is created, that digital is not for a few, but for a few, accessibility but with a usability within the reach of the X, Y … Z.

We think of the big one when it comes to developing technology but, exactly for whom? Those millenials are not going to make your ROI in technology investment look green at the end of the year. Let’s think big about the usability of technology, let’s make that technology available to everyone that makes a company really stand out and stand out in its service and Self Service, which began a few years ago, and have written a good stack of books On the world of Self Service, next to the space race is a joke.
By making an analogy to the space race, when a customer puts the first foot on our website, what do you expect to see ?, What do you expect to be able to do? Will you understand what you are doing?, think as a customer, when you call the phone what you hear is “perfect, Sr XX we have successfully processed your management, need to perform another? “, What gives the customer peace of mind is to hear those sweet words -” processed successfully “, the security that he has asked for has been done, who have paid attention to him.

So if we want to transform our customers into more “dinosaurs” and send them into the digital age, we have to go through a process of knowledge and understanding of our customers. Facilitate technology but with common sense, generate usability.

I would define this article in three words: accessible, usable and simple.
That the customer feels clothed, replacing the sound of the other person on the phone for a colder (digital) world is difficult, so the transition must be done in a warm and welcoming. Our customers are the first ones who want to save those unnecessary calls, which as my grandmother said “that this runs and then comes the bill”

Let’s be digital, Yes, and let’s still be universal.

What is IQNet? - What are the IQNet Certificates?

What is IQNet?

IQNet is an international certification entity, formed by more than 30 of the most relevant certification entities of the most important countries.

Some certification entities involved in IQNet are the following: AENOR (Spain), AFNOR (France), AIB (Belgium), ANCE, IMNC (Mexico), APCER (Portugal), CCC, CSIQ (Italy), CQC (China), CQS (Czech Republic), Cro Cert (Crocacia), DQS (Germany), DS (Denmark) , ELOT (Greece), FCAV (Brazil) , FONDONORMA (Venezuela) , HKQAA (Hong Kong), ICONTEC (Colombia), Inspecta (Finland), IRAM (Argentina) , JQA (Japan) , KFQ (Korea) , MSZT (Hungary), Nemko AS (Norway), NSAI (Ireland), PCBC (Poland), Quality Austria (Austria), RR (Russia), SIQ (Slovenia) , SQS (Switzerland), SRAC (Romania) , TSE (Turkey), YUQS (Serbia), AFNOR, ICCS, DQS, NSAI (USA), etc.

 

The purpose of the IQNet certificates

The IQNet certificates are used by  companies and organizations worldwide to testify that they are certified in a particular standard (as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 or any other).

Here is an example of a IQNet certificate :

How could my company obtain an international IQNet certificate?

The way of working is as follows:

If your company has implemented an ISO 9001:2008 management system standard, then it should be certified by an external certification entity as, for example NSAI in USA, or AENOR in Spain (of course, that depends on the location of your company). By obtaining the certification of this local entity, you can talk with them for obtaining an equivalent international certificate signed by IQNet.

By doing that, you will be able to use the certificate of your local certification entity in your country (from NSAI, AENOR or whatever), and use the international IQNet certificate when you need to do business in other country, or when you want to sign contracts with other international companies.

The main point of this is that a foreign company probably will not know the name of your local certification entity, but they surely will recognize the international IQNet logo.

 

The IQNet seal

The IQNet Certified Management System seal is a logo which the certified companies usually add with the stamp of their local certification entity. These logos are accompanied with the codes of the standards that they have certified .

The most common certified standards are the next ones:

ISO 9001 (Quality) , ISO 14001 / EMAS (Environment) , OHSAS 18001 (Risk Prevention), ISO 2200 / FSSC 22000 / BRC / IFS (Food Security), SA8000 / BSCI / IQNet SR 10 ( Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility), ISO 27001 (Information technology ) , BBP / IBEC (Business Excellence), ISO 22301 , ISO / TS 16949 (Automotive Industry) , IRIS , TL 9000 , ISO 29001 and other international standards.

PDCA Cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act): The Deming cycle and the continuous improvement

The PDCA cycle is the most used methodology to implement a continuous improvement system in a company or organization.

In this article, we are going to explain to you what it represents, how it works and what is the relationship with the PDCA Cycle and some ISO standards, as ISO 9001 for Quality Management Systems, in which is mentioned as a fundamental principle for the quality continuous improvement.

 

What is the PDCA Cycle ?

The name of PDCA comes from the acronym “Plan , Do, Check, Act” (PHVA in Spanish) , and is also known as the cycle of continuous improvement or Deming Cycle (because the name of its author, Edwards Deming). This methodology describes the four essential steps that should be carried out systematically to achieve continuous improvement , defined as a continuous way to improve the quality of our products and processes (decrease failures, increase effectiveness and efficiency, problem solving, avoid potential risks … ) .

The Deming Cycle is composed for four cyclic steps , so that once finished the final stage we have to start again with the first one, and repeat the cycle again. Doing that in a company,  the activities are reevaluated periodically to incorporate new enhancements . The application of this methodology is primarily intended to be used for companies and organizations, but you can also use it in any other situation.

 

How to implement the PDCA cycle in a company?

The four steps in the cycle are as follows:

1. Plan: Locate what can be improved, fix an objective and think about how this objective can be archived. You can create working groups to search potential improvements in the processes and products of your company.  It can help to listen to the ideas of the employees, and find better and new technologies that the company has not used yet.

2. Do: We made the required changes to implement the proposed improvement in our processes. In general, it is recommended to do a pilot project to test the operation before making large-scale changes.

3. Check: Once the changes are implemented, we establish a trial period to verify the developing of the new process. If the improvement does not achieve the initial expectations we will have to modify the process again to obtain the desired objectives.

4. Act: Finally , when the trial period ends, we have to study the results and compare the performance of our processes and activities before and after the improvement. If the results are satisfactory the improvements will be implemented permanently. However, if they are not satisfactory we will have to decide whether to make more changes to adjust the results or to discard them and return to the start point.

Once completed the step 4, you have to return to the first step periodically to implement more new improvements.

 

Example of a PDCA Cycle implementation

Let’s take a simple example: A factory that produces aluminum pieces.

We assume that the company has introduced a continuous improvement system, based on the PDCA cycle in conjunction with other tools (such as Lean, Six Sigma , 5S, FMEA or Kaizen … ). Applying the continuous improvement could happen the following:

1 ) Potential improvements are searched and analyzed, either because there have been detected problems, because the workers have proposed a different way to perform some task, because the market offers more efficient machines that would save costs, etc. .

2) The potential improvements and its impact are studied. We choose the improvements that can work better and we decided to implement them in a small-scale pilot test.

3) Once finished the on the pilot test, it is verified that the changes work correctly and that they archive the desired result. If the changes do not meet expectations, they have to be modified to work as expected.

4) Finally, if the results are satisfactory, the improvements will be implanted on a large scale in the production line of the factory.

Once completed and implanted the improvements, the activities in the factory aluminum pieces will work more efficiently. However, in the future we should reapply the Deming Cycle periodically.

 

Influences of the PDCA cycle of continuous improvement in the ISO standards

Several ISO standards talk about the concept of Continuous Improvement. For example ISO 9001 talks about the continuous improvement in the quality management system, explicitly naming the PDCA Cycle (Plan, Do, Check and Act). According to ISO 9001:2008, all Quality Management Systems certified with this standard must apply the methodology of continuous improvement in a systematic way. Another widespread standard that refers to continuous improvement is ISO 14001 “environmental management systems”. It also refers to the PDCA cycle again as the basis for the implementation of an environmental management system.

Read here the original post: Ciclo PDCA.

Checklists: What is a checklist and how to use it?

What is a checklist?

Checklists, Control Lists or Verification Lists are formats designed to perform repetitive activities, to verify a list of requirements or to collect data in an orderly and systematic manner. They are used to make systematic checks of activities or products ensuring that the worker or inspector does not forget anything important.

The main uses of checklists are:

– Verification of the activities development in which it is important not to forget any step, or where the tasks have to be done with an established order.

– Doing inspections and record the points which have been inspected.

– Check the correct implementation of standards or procedures.

– Obtain information to analyze where the incidences and non-conformities happen. Help to check the causes of defects.

– Verification of the product specifications.

– Collect data for further analysis.

In short, these lists are usually used to perform routine checks and inspections, and to ensure that the worker doesn’t forget anything during his daily tasks.

The advantage of using checklists is that it enables you to systematize the repetitive activities and controls that we have to do, and later it can be used as a register of the tasks that we have done each day.

 

How to use a checklist?

It is important that your checklists were clearly written, and it may include all information that you can need during the development of you tasks.

Here you have a list with the things that a checklist should include:

– Things that have to be controlled, measured or verified.

– Conformity criteria and potential nonconformities (what is right and what is wrong).

– How often it has to be inspected: frequency of the checking.

– Who does the tasks or the verifications.

– Procedures, specifications and rules that apply in the checked activities.

Also we should include space to write appreciations, in order to let the worker write any observation and to obtain preliminary information about possible reasons that have caused any disagreement.

On the other hand, we also can use the check lists for obtaining data, we can use it to build graphs, histograms or diagrams to control the evolution of a feature or activity. They can be are also used to report daily the status of the operations.

 

Example: How to create a checklist

Here is a sample of checklist:

This checklist example can be used in a production plant to control the components of the product, the defects, incidences and the delays in the production line. Thus, all points would be checked in each inspected product, identifying the product code and serving also as a register, which would be kept and may provide in the future information about what products have been inspected each day and its results.

Original post (in Spanish):  https://pdcahome.blogspot.com/p/check-list-listas-de-chequeo-que-es-un.html

8D: Eight Steps to solve problems

What is 8D? Eight Disciplines of Problem Solving

The 8 disciplines to solve problems is a tool methodology focused in give us eigth generic steps to identify and solve most of the relevant problems that can occur more frequently in companies. 8D proposes eigth sequential steps that we should follow to solve successfully any problem.

This method is also called Troubleshooting 8-D, Global 8D or G8D.

What are the 8 steps?

The steps proposed to the solve a relevant problem in companies are the followings:

1: Create an expert people team. Relevant problems have to be solved by people who know the activities and the know-how of the company, it would be interesting to create a group with the people who have enough experience in the activity which we want to study. These people will have to take care of the responsibility and they have to be able to propose and implement the correct solutions.

2: Define the problem. The next step is to obtain a  detailed description of the problem. For this, you can use other quality tools as The 5 Whys (what, when, who, where and how).

3: Implement provisional containment actions. If the problem is really serious, before implementing the definitive solution (which can take several days), is proposed to implement temporary quick fixes to avoid getting the situation worse.

4: Identify the cause of the incidence. We will have to find out the initial cause of the problem (the source). To get the real cause we can use several specific quality tools that you can find on this page.

5: Determine permanent corrective actions (PCAs). Previously we have implemented provisional actions to prevent a similar problem from arising again, now that we know the source of the incidence, we have to find corrective actions to remove the cause of the problem. This stage can be long, and also is influenced by the resources available of the company.

6: Implement permanent corrective actions. Once defined corrective actions we will have to implement them. We algo have to check that they work properly to ensure that no failure arises again.

7: Prevent similar problems. Now that you know how and where the problem is produced, you can extrapolate these mechanisms to other similar processes, preventing new similar failures.

8: Recognize the team’s work. To finish, it is recommended to compliment or give some reward to the team which have worked to solve the incidence. If this is handled well, it will serve to increase the efficiency of the company and to involve the staff in their tasks.

 

Result: Less incidences and more efficiency in the activities

The use of 8D method allows to improve products, services and processes, and establishes a standard practice to follow. This tool is very useful because it creates a systematic structure that can be used in almost every kind of problem, non-conformity, incidence or failure. As a consequence, we will be able to optimize the performance of the tasks and most of the future failures will be prevented.

Original Post (in Spanish):  https://pdcahome.blogspot.com/p/las-8d-ocho-pasos-para-resolver.html

Quality loss function (Taguchi): How to control the lack of quality in a product

The role of quality loss function, commonly called Taguchi loss function (by its creator Genichi Taguchi, in the second half of the twentieth century), is a calculation tool used in engineering and quality control. This tool is used to evaluate the “quality loss” on a project, product or service with respect to its optimal quality level.

The main goal of ​​ Taguchi’s methodologies are that they are focused on designing and manufacturing products in few time with high quality, avoiding having to use the common “try and fail” method, which is more expensive and slower.

To achieve these improvements, we will have to optimize the product design and the manufacturing processes using engineering quality and statistics.

 

The loss function of Taguchi quality

The loss function gives us a way to calculate the “quality loss” which suffers an analyzed characteristic of our product with respect to the quality goal (the target) that we want to obtain.

 

The loss function is like this:

L = K * (Y – M) ^ 2

L is the result value of the function, generally measured in monetary units.

Y is the target, or ideal value of the analyzed characteristic.

M is the mean of the obtained values ​​ of the analyzed characteristic in the real production.

K is a constant that is responsible for converting (Y – M) ^ 2 into monetary units.

 

Therefore, if for our analyzed characteristic in the product, the value L is zero, this means that the value obtained is our target. If L is greater than zero, then it means that we are moving away from the target.

For example, if the analyzed characteristic (production time, delivery time, cost …) has to be Y = 30unids., but in practice we are measuring that on average it is M = 35unids., and this deviation cost K = 5 $/unit. ^ 2, then the result is L = 5 * (35-30) ^ 2  =>  L = 125 €. It should be noted that the value of L is always greater than or equal to zero, and Y-M grow quadratically, so K must be expressed in the correct units.

 

How to use the loss function in quality control

During the designing and manufacturing of a product all the parameters and the manufacturing process have to be properly controlled. A deviation in some parameters can produce lack of quality, so we have to control them to be in a range where the product is inside the specifications. To have success in this task, is important to define what are the key characteristics, which can produce more lost of quality in the final product, and therefore, they have to be more controlled.

Once identified the key parameters, we proceed to determine their current status, (to analyze if L = K * (Y – M) 2 is zero or is a high value), and later we have to study what are the causes of the quality lack to solve the problems. The next step is to make an interpretation of the results, thus we can make an overall assessment of the quality losses in economic units and implement solutions to minimize these losses as much as possible.

Original post (in Spanish):  https://pdcahome.blogspot.com/p/funcion-de-perdida-taguchi-como-evaluar.html

Kano Analysis: Product development thinking in the customer satisfaction

The Japanese model developed by Noriaki Kano consists on study the features that we are going to add during to our product during its development. The poit is to think in obtain customer satisfaction without adding features that do not add value.

 

The Kano characteristics

Kano proposes to classify the consumer preferences into several categories according to these aspects:

– Attractive factors.

– Linear or normal factors.

– Essential or basic factors.

– Indifferent factors.

– Refusal or contrary factors.

  

Attractive factors: These are the product characteristics or attributes that provide customer satisfaction when they are present, but at the same time they do not cause dissatisfaction when they are not present. Generally they are attributes that customers don’t expect, so when they are present it’s going to produce satisfaction and surprise in the consumer. (For example, in a car, put automatic headlights or other features that aren’t normally included).

Linear or normal factors: These are the characteristics that produce satisfaction when they are present and dissatisfaction when not. They tend to be the main characteristics of the product, which the customer chooses a product or brand. (For example, in a car, they can be the engine power, the consumption…).

Essential, basic or “should be” factors: They are attributes that are assumed to be present, and if they aren’t, it creates dissatisfaction. That is, by adding them you are not going to create any kind of customer satisfaction, but their absence will cause dissatisfaction. They are usually the basic features inherent in the product. (For example, in a car, it have to have seats, wheels, ceiling, lights, air conditioner…).

Indifferent factors: This refers to the attributes that are not perceived as either good or bad, and therefore will not produce any sensation on the customer. Therefore, it can be removed, saving costs and without decrease your sales. (For example, in a car, they are the accessory items that many users do not use ever).

Rejection Factors: Those that when  are present, the customer perceives them as negative. You should avoid them because they increase the cost production and the sales will decrease. (For example, in a car designed for executives, perhaps brightly colored seats or a flashy stickers may not attract to potential consumers because it not fits in with what they are looking for).

Designing the product taking into account the customer expectations

Kano analysis give us a way to study and classify the most relevant product or service attributes, to know what of them are the most suitable for each type of customer.

The purpose of the method is to optimize the specifications of each product, adding only the features necessary to provide the customer satisfaction and removing the irrelevant ones or the features that create us more costs than benefits.

The “basic end” products will have only the essential features (and of course, they will be cheaper), the mid-range products will also include certain linear features. Finally, the luxury products, will have all linear features plus some other attractive features to cause surprise and delight in the customer.

Original post (in Spanish):  https://pdcahome.blogspot.com/p/analisis-de-kano-desarrollo-de.html

SERVQUAL Model: Quality analysis of services

Servqual model developed by Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry in the 80s comes as a facilitator to measure, evaluate and manage quality analysis of services and has also been named as a method of analysis of the deficiencies in service from the process to improve the service provided.

According Servqual gives a quality measure based on a facilitators or service quality indicators, on paper we can find some small change on what to measure and how they act on the client, ie, how to create an experience negative or positive about the product offered. So it is clear that each organization should set its indicators in the sector to engaged and of course the process to which we are referring.

Let us see what are the foundations on which this model is based, and will see your application on any type of industry is easily adaptable.

 

– Perception that the customer has the service:

And certainly if there is no customer there is no business, to the phrase, “customer comes first”, not always indeed but if it is a fundamental pillar to meet the needs of our customer target, this will make the strategy to be followed so that the difference between the service expected by the customer and really offered whatever it more close possible, i.e., to offer a service that conforms to the maximum to what the client expects. Align the ideas of customer and company. 

To achieve that this difference is minimal need to perform the following steps: A study of our customer card, meet expectations, meet the volume of demand and create solid processes by reducing unnecessary steps in the customer service. All this will help provide a fast and accurate service.

– The reliability of service provided:

This concept indicates confidence will put our customers in us, however when a customer gets in touch with us we must try to give solution in the fewest number of possible interactions with the greatest possible agility, providing a high level of quality and that this is consistent. In this way the capacity we have to develop customer loyalty increased and this means to increase the rate of our customers, as clients themselves act as promoters of our brand. Everything focuses on creating credible services for the client.

 

– Quality of care provided:

We note at this point the personalized on our part, customer looking for that familiar treatment received, anyone he likes to call once talking with someone and the next call is referring to the same event is with someone other that very possibly give different indications, this is a very common mistake where we move away from the comfort of the customer zone getting to be a potential decline. However in this whole process with the customer care we give training to our employees, or at least some guidelines where we make clear how it must greet the customer and as assist, standardization of questions and the creation of workflows will help making decisions and of course facilitate the solution of the problem to be solved.

 

– Virtual and physical accessibility:

It is based on the idea you show us close to the customer, who may contact the client quickly, and also we have different sources of communication, the use of social networks, telephone and physical presence. As the customer type is very different we must be prepared for any possible interaction, the use of social media grows rapidly even though not all our customers will be aware or know use with agility, it is important to have a troubleshooting multi-channel service. Also within each communication to be effective and direct.

 

– Quality Assurance and Safety:

As previously mentioned the number of interactions and the quality will be synonymous with differentiation with respect to our competitors, where the customer to see refugee by a problem happened or simply for asking for information is client should see ourselves as a friends to be able to turn without problems and have a sense of security, those intangible so famous are those going to help increase customer loyalty and therefore promote the feeling of belonging to that brand. If to this we add the fact to create surprise on the client by using a gift, valuing his faithfulness, this will become the most powerful weapon to fight in competitive markets.

As seen Servqual model is presented as a strategic component within the organization in which concepts enter service quality, customer needs, communication, accessibility … with these we can analyze how we are working and improve those aspects which are to minimize the gap established between what is expected and what is done. To set this concept which are briefly summarized minimize GAP.

1. Gap between what the customer expects and what the company believes that expected

2. Gap between what the company thinks and what the service provides

3. Gap between service planned and that really lends

4. Gap between what has been delivered to the customer and what has been reported

5. Gap between customer expectations and what has been

 

Then with this entire idea of minimizing the gap, do we face the challenge of developing the modelling of Servqual?, the first step is to create a good base of indicators reliable and efficient, from here to develop initiatives to create a service more effective surveys, development of effective and close communication by different routes. And prolong the time metrics that help measure both quality of service and customer satisfaction.

PCDA Home Group.

Original post (in Spanish): https://pdcahome.blogspot.com/2013/07/modelo-servqual-analisis-de-la-calidad.html

FMEA (Failure Mode Effects Analysis): How to analyze potential failures in a design

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA or AMFE in Spanish) is one of the most common tools in Quality Engineering to detect and solve potential failures in the development of a new product or service. In this article we are going to explain the concept of FMEA and then, we will see how to use it with an example.

 

What is FMEA?

Failure Mode Effects Analysis is a methodology that is applied during the design of new or improved products, services or processes. Its purpose is to study the potential future failures or potential problems (“failure modes”) of our product and then classify them according to their importance.

From there, we will get a list with the most relevant “failure modes”, so we will know what are the aspects that we should solve first, because they are more annoying (or dangerous) for the customer, more difficult to detect or more frequent. We will also know which ones are the less relevant, these ones are the less important and we should not be worried about them, because they have very little negative impact or because they are easy to detect by the machines or control quality inspectors before taking the product to the market.

There are several types of FMEA analysis. It depends on if it applies to a product / service or to a process, but basically they are very similar. In addition, this analysis can be applied in a new product development and also in improvements, modifications or processes optimization.

 

How to create a FMEA? 

The steps to create and use a FMEA analysis are these ones:

 

1) List all potential failure modes

The first step is to create a working group of 4 or 5 people who have knowledge about the product / service / process that is being developed. Ideally, the group should be multidisciplinary and it should include several different profiles, as designers, engineers, technicians and even clients and customers and users. This is going to help to get a broad vision and obtain different points of view.

Once we have made our working group, we have to list all “failure modes” of the design: the failures that could have the final product (they can be functional, safety or esthetic defect and any kind of potential problem). To do this it is recommended to separate the product into its pieces and see how they could fail. You also have to think about what is the expected use of the product: Is it for experts or for novel users? Is it going to be used in critical situations? What if the customer uses it without reading the instructions? If it breaks could someone get hurt?

 

2) Set the priority of each failure mode

Once finished the previous step, we will have a long list with the potential failure modes of our product. These should be included in a table.

Now, it’s time to sort them by importance, so we will give to each failure mode the next three values:

S:  Severity (extent of the problem perceived by the user).

P:  Probability of happening.

D: detection probability (probability of NOT detecting the problem before using the product).

For each failure mode we will assign a value of P, S and D between 1 and 10. For example, on a TV, the “failure mode = power cable break” could have S = 7 (a high value, because the TV would be useless and it can also be a risk of electrocution for the customer), P = 2 (a low value, because it is very improbable) and D = 1 (a very low value because the probability of NOT detecting that the cable is broken during the quality test is very low).

Once estimated P, S and D, we have to multiply them to get the RPN (Risk Priority Number), which will give us a value between 1 and 1000.

RPN = S * P * D

This value will tell us the importance of each failure mode.

 

3) Prioritize the failure modes and propose solutions

Once calculated the Risk Priority Number for all failure modes, we order them. The higher RPN are the more important ones, so these are the failure modes than we should solve before (for example, you can find solutions for all failure modes higher than 600).

If we determine that a particular failure mode is unaffordable (RPN too high), we have three ways to reduce their risk:

• Acting for that if it happens, it will be less severe (and then decrease its S value).

• Acting to make it happen less frequently (and then decrease its P value).

• Acting for that if it happens, we will detect it before delivering the product to the customer (and then decrease its D value).

With this, we can compare the “initial RPN” (before applying FMEA method) with its “final RPN” (RPN we have obtained after acting to reduce the risk of the failure mode).

The objective of FMEA analysis is to have controlled all possible failures, having acted to reduce the most important risks.

 

An FMEA example

We are going to apply the Failure Mode Effects Analysis to design a lamp. The steps to develop the analysis are as follows:

 

1) Enumerate all failure modes

Our experts’ team has agreed that the potential failures of our lamp are:

• That its painting has defects (aesthetic failure).

• The switch breaks, so the bulb does not light (functional failure).

• The lamp structure breaks (functional failure).

• The glass that protects the bulb breaks (aesthetic failure).

• The wires break (functional and safety failure).

• The lamp may fall down and breaks the bulb (functional failure).

• The switch could be not visible and the user does not know how to light the lamp (it’s not a failure, but we can consider it as a failure because this kind of things happens frequently).

 

2) Establish the priority list

Now we assign to each failure mode the S value (severity), P (probability of happening) and D (detection probability). We then calculate the RPN (Risk Priority Number):

• That its painting has defects: S = 1 (bit serious for the user / user does not care too much), D = 8 (common failure, more than 2% of cases), D = 2 (easy to detect, we can see if the paint is well applied before selling the lamp).

• The switch breaks so the bulb does not light: S = 9 (severe for the user, as it will be dissatisfied), D = 2 (rare, in 0.2% of cases), D = 3 (easily detectable by testing it before selling the lamp).

• Broken wires: S = 10 (very severe, risk of damage and the lamp stops working). D = 1 (very rare, less than 0.05%% of cases), D = 8 (hard to detect, as it is a mistake that can happen months after selling the product for various reasons).

• etc…

 

3) Find solutions for the most important failure modes

Once calculated the RPN (1 to 1000) for all failure modes, we study the higher values:

In the example, the RPN is very low because one or two of the variables have been too low:

• Broken wires: RPN = 80. It is the most important failure mode. We could take actions to reduce S using better wires and P could decrease with more strict quality tests.

• The switch breaks so the bulb does not light: RPN = 54. To reduce RPN we can reduce S using a more robust switch that gives us less failures.

• Painting defects: RPN = 16. It’s not an important failure mode, so we do not need to take any action.

Finally, we have to define the goal we want to achieve in each failure mode after the improvement actions (we can establish a goal value for the Risk Priority Number). For example, we could establish that the failure modes that affect the safety, RPN should be less than 50 of 1000 and for those which do not affect to the  safety , RPN have to be less than 70 of 1000.

Original post https://pdcahome.blogspot.com/2013/02/amfe-analisis-modal-de-fallos-y-efectos.html

Control Chart: Charts for monitoring and adjusting industrial processes

The Control Charts are used to track the development of the production processes and identify failures and other anomalous circumstances.

In sum, the objective of this analysis is to control processes to ensure they are working properly. If the majority of the points shown on the graph are inside the limits, it’s considered that the process is working fine. But if one or more points are outside of the limits or don’t follow a statistical Gaussian distribution, it is considered that the process is out of control and we will have to search for the cause of the malfunctions.

 

1. How to use a control chart

The graph shows the results of the developing of a repetitive process (normally, in industrial factories). The obtained results can be a continuous value (eg, the measures of a piece) or can also be a discrete value (eg, if the piece is ok or not). In the case of being continuous values, the graph should include a horizontal line with the average value and two lines more with the control limits, upper and lower.

The control limits are placed so that a fixed percentage of the points are inside them. These limits are calculated to include either 75% or 95% of the data:

– Limits which include 75% of the data: In this case, a process which works properly must show 75% of the values ​​inside the upper and lower limits, 12.5% ​​of the values ​​above the upper limit and another 12.5% ​​below the lower limit. If a point is outside these limits is considered normal, but if there are several points above or below the limits probably represent an unusual situation, and it could indicate that the process is out of control.

– Limits which include 95% of the data: In this case only 2.5% of the values ​​should be above or below the limits. In this situation if a data goes out of bounds mean that there has been an unusual circumstance in the process.

 

This type of control charts are used  to detect if the process is working properly, or if it is in a abnormal situation. When a graph shows a “situation out of control”, you may start an investigation to identify the causes and take actions to correct the problem.

The values ​​shown in the graph should be random and follow a normal statistical distribution, being centered in the midpoint line and having a variability that can be the result of two factors:

– Common situation: The variation which is inherent to the process, and therefore you can not avoid.

– Special situation: When it causes an excessive variation, and should be corrected.

 

2. When the process is malfunctioning?

We say that a process is out of control, and therefore should be corrected in the following situations:

– If there is a point beyond the limits of 95%.

– When more than three points are a row outside the boundaries of 75%.

– When increasing or decreasing trends are appreciated in more than 4 points in a row.

– When more than 6 consecutive points are above or below of the average line of the graph (in this case, the process should need to be recalibrated).

– When it is seen that the values ​​follow a pattern (they should be random).

 

3. How to draw a control chart?

Normally, in the continuous processes, the machines include their own software to give us the graphs and the control diagrams as they are performing its tasks. But if we do not have this technology, we can also perform a control chart manually using a spreadsheet in order to understand better the current situation of the development of the process.

Create a control chart requires the following steps:

1) Choose the feature to study. It must measure the data that we want to study: the length of a piece, the temperature of a machine, etc.

2) Take the data. We collect the values ​​over a period of  enough time to enable us to obtain a representative view of the process development.

3) Insert the data in the spreadsheet, and calculate the center line (the average of the value of the data) and the upper and lower limits.

4) Represent the data in a graph, and consider if the development of the process is the proper.

5) Repeat the study from time to time to verify that the operation remains correct.

 

Original post: https://pdcahome.blogspot.com/p/diagramas-de-control-graficos-para.html

POKA YOKE - A method to create a Safe Design

What is Poka Yoke?

Poka-Yoke is a methodology created in Japan which means “fool-proof”. Its purpose is to prevent or avoid mistakes that can be caused by humans or by machines during their activities. Poka Yoke can be also implemented to facilitate errors detection.

If we focus in manufacturing operations, which can be assemblies or other simple but repetitive activities, the risk of error can be very high regardless the complexity of the tasks. PokaYoke System helps to minimize that risk with simple measures like create an easier design or paint the different pieces to make the activities easier.

Poka-Yoke can be designed to handle errors (control function) or to warn them (warning function):

1 – Control function:

In this case, Poka-Yoke is designed to prevent potential mistakes. To do this, it uses different shapes or colours to differentiate the correct assembling of each piece of our product.

2 – Warning function:

In this case, we assume that an error could happen. We have to design a system which reacts when an error happens, therefore it would warn the operator about the failure. For example, you can use light or pressure sensors, alarms, etc.

 

How to implement a Pokayoke system:

Some types of design methods can be…

– A design that permits plug the pieces only in the correct way: If you try to fit the pieces in a wrong way, it won’t fit.

– Color codes: For example in the computers jacks/plugs, each jack has a different colour.

– Arrows and other indications such as “A-> <-A” to indicate where each piece have to be fitted and what is its orientation.

The advantages of using a Poka Yoke system are the followings:

– It minimizes or avoids the risk of errors and nonconformities.

– The operator can focus on the operations that add more value, rather than wasting his time to prevent errors, to check or to correct them.

– Implement a Poka-Yoke system means improving the quality acting on the errors source, rather than on doing quality controls after finishing the product, which are more expensive and inefficient.

– It’s easy to implement and cheap.

Poka-Yoke’s mission is to support the workers during their activities. In the case when the device is part of the operation of a machine, we will be talking about another similar concept: “jidoka”.

Original post (in Spanish):  https://pdcahome.blogspot.com/p/poka-yoke-diseno-prueba-de-errores.html

Quality Function Deployment (QFD): What is QFD and how to use it

The Quality Function Deployment, also called The House of Quality,  is a methodology used in design and quality engineering to create products that suit the desires and needs of the client/customer of them. Thus, with QFD we will be able to calculate what features should be added to the design of our product or service. Also, we will know what are the unnecessary features that add an  extra cost to the product without being appreciated by the customer and give us a vision about how is our product placed in the market, in order to choose which are the priority areas to improve.

In summary, the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) help us when we have to design a new product:

– QFD gives us an objective point of view about what our future customers are looking for in a product and the requirements it must have.

– QFD gives us a prioritization about what features are most important to add, and which ones are not necessary.

– QFD tell us about the situation of how is our current product against similar others, and what are the areas of improvement to be more competitive (and sell more, of course).

In this post we will explain the steps to apply this methodology.

You also have an example of a QFD in the end of the post to download it.

Generally, QFD has this shape:

To do this, you have to follow the order indicated in the drawing. To explain it step by step, we will take an example of a fictional company that wants to launch a new digital camera:

 

1. “WHAT” List

The WHAT List includes the aspects that our clients and customers expects from our product. At this point you have to put as many things as you can, in order to not forget any aspect. Later, we will  discard the WHAT points less relevant.

For example, for a digital camera we could write those WHAT points:

The camera should have…

a good battery

a hight quality lens

flash light

it has to be able to record video

a big internal memory

a large LED display

a easy to use software

a compact design

a pretty design

a ergonomic shape

it has to take photos quickly

bluetooth

it has to be able to synchronize with the computer

resistant to shocks

it has to be able to expand it with a memory card

it should come with a cover

2. WHAT Analysis

Now, the first thing to do is to order the WHAT points by its importance. In order to do it, you can create a quest or survey of potential users /clients/customers, which rate the importance of each aspect from 1 to 5 (1 = not important, 5 = very important).

These results of importance have to be written in one column (column 1) in an Excel and they will be used later.

The next columns to fill are those about what is the current status of our product for each WHAT (column 3) and how are the other companies (columns 4 and 5), filling them with values ​​between 1 and 5 for each WHAT,  (1 = very bad situation and 5 = very good situation). For example, if our product does not have Flash, you will receive a 1 in that box, and if you have very good flash will be a 5. (See the example below).

Once that it’s done and based on the importance of each WHAT, you have to put an objective or goal between 1 and 5, which will we placed in the next column (6).

Now we calculate the improvement ratio (column 8) by dividing the current status of each WHAT with your goal (column 8 = column 7 / column 3).

The following to fill is the column of the marketing “sales pitch” (column 9). Here, you will get a value between 1 and 1.5 if the mentioned WHAT is a good sales pitch (1 = bad, 1.5 = good pitch). With this, we have included in our design not only the customer preferences (that are in column 1) but also ours preferences as a company.

The next task is to calculate the absolute weight in the next column, as the multiplication between the importance (column 1), the improvement ratio (column 8) and the sales pitch (column 9). We can also take the relative weight in percentage and absolute weight of each WHAT divided by the sum of the absolute weights.

Once we know what are the most important aspects to improve, we can look the weight of each WHAT and we can implement only those who have more weight, discarding others less important.

3. HOW List

After considering what has to have our product, the next step is to define the technical requirements to obtain it.  So we will create a HOW List with the features that must have our product.

For example, for the digital camera:

for a good battery -> Battery capacity (mAh) and amount of shots per charge (photos / charge)

for a hight quality lens -> quality (1 … 10)

for flash light -> flash light included (0 = no, 1 = yes) and luminosity (lux)

for be able to record video -> (0 = no, 1 = yes)

for a big internal memory -> Internal memory capacity (MB)

for a large LED display -> Screen Size (inches) and Screen Resolution (dpi)

for a easy to use software -> accessibility (1 … 10)

for a compact design -> volume (cm ^ 3)

for a pretty design -> design (1 … 10)

for a ergonomic shape -> ergonomics (1 … 10)

for taking photos quickly -> speed in taking photos (fps)

bluetooth -> (0 = no, 1 = yes)

for be able to synchronize with the computer -> compatibility with Windows/Linux/Mac (0 = no, 1 = yes)

for be resistant to shocks -> strength (1 … 10)

fo be able to expand it with a memory card -> (0 = no, 1 = yes)

come with a cover -> cover included (0 = no, 1 = yes)

Note that beside each feature is included its measuring scale.

 

4. Relationship between the HOW points

This is the famous triangle (or roof) that is above the QFD shape, by which this method is also called the House of Quality.

This triangular matrix relates the HOW points between themselves. The relationships can be positive, negative or zero (eg: flash have much negative impact on the battery). This part of the QFD is optional and it’s not usual to put it unless the interactions are very strong.

 

5. Relationship between WHAT and HOW points

This matrix is ​​in center of the QFD and serves to link the WHAT ant the HOW aspects. With this, we will translate the abstract aspects of the list of measurable characteristics “WHAT” to the HOW list.

To do this we will classy from 1 to 9 the relationship between each WHAT and each HOW. For example, “to have a good battery” and “battery capacity (mAh)” have a 9 because they are closely linked, but has a 1 with “strength (1 … 10)” because they have no relationship.

Note: It is crucial to verify that all major WHAT are connected with one or more HOW, since otherwise we would have issues not contemplated.

Once completed this, the aspect of our QFD will be like this (click on the image to enlarge it):

6. HOW analysis

It only remains to fill in the last part of our QFD, which calculates the technical objectives we need to finally obtain the specifications required by our product:

Here we have first fixed the desired orientation of each HOW (more value = better or more value = worst). For example, in a digital camera, more internal memory is better, but more weight is worse.

The following is to calculate the absolute and relative weight of each HOW. For each HOW is calculated: absolute Weight = Sum (Value of each  relationship between WHAT and HOW * Relative Weight associated with the WHAT). From here we will get the order of importance of each of the technical aspects.

Finally, we fill what are the technical aspects of our product and the technical aspects of the other companies product, and we will set what are the characteristics that will be implemented in our product taking into account the relevance of each feature weight, and also, taking into account the situation of the other companies in each of the characteristics.

The end result will be as follows:

 

Conclusion

With QFD analysis we have achieved the next goals:

– To prioritize what our customers want.

– To know what are the essentials you should put in your product and what are the superfluous aspects that you can remove without losing sells.

– To have a vision about your situation in the market, and to compare yourself with other companies and products.

– To know which technical features are the most important in the product, and which are superfluous and can be eliminated.

– To set objectives for the technical features that should be in the future.