Lean Six Sigma Academy

If you had one story to “sell” lean or six sigma to over 1,000 employees what would you say?

Well, that’s precisely the situation our friend Gail is facing Down Under. To get the full history of Gail’s story please check out part one of this mini series.

I’ve thought about this question for the better part of two days. It’s an interesting situation to say the least and I’ve actually started and stopped this article several times.

Beyond Storytelling

Rather than explaining how to write a story I’d actually prefer to speak about some other aspects of a lean or six sigma deployment that are, at least to me, far more important than well written prose.

Please don’t take me wrong, I do think communicating before and during a lean or six sigma deployment is very important. So, for storytelling or writing tips I’d recommend Gail study the works of Plato and Hollywood. Both are masters at crafting and telling stories.

The Successful Deployment

Assuming an organization has someone able to write a story the most important question is what should this story be about? Well, here are some of my personal thoughts and I’d love to hear yours.

1. Respect for People.

First of all, no matter where you live or work being respectful of people must become a priority. Does this mean we must all sit around and sing kumbaya all day long? No. Of course not. But it does mean listening to our employees and challenging them to be the best they can be.

2. Results is a Four Letter Word.

Next, while respecting people is very important getting results – real results – from any continuous improvement deployment is mandatory. And in the end, the word results could be summarized with fours letter – cash.

I’ve actually written about this before when I contrasted activity based programs with results based programs. Sadly, most organizations are trapped in activity based program hell. If this is you… please save yourself before it’s too late!

3. Go to Gemba.

The thing that separates the pretenders from the contenders is the willingness of management to get up from their big office and comfy chairs in order to head to the place the actual work is done.

This place, called the gemba, is where real value is added. As such, the leaders of the organization must be there are often as possible.  So, when there is a problem the leadership should go to the gemba to help solve the problem.  And when things are going great, the leadership should go to the gemba to see how to make it last.

And even better yet, whenever a kaizen is occurring the leadership should be right down there on the floor with the employees helping out.

And here’s a tip for Gail. When your leaders are out there helping snap a picture and include that in your story. This normally catches the attention of a few skeptics.

4. Go Slow to Go Fast.

Ah yes, my favorite – go slow to go fast. I’m actually being sarcastic as this is not my favorite part of lean leadership. But it’s something I’m working on and plan to work on forever.

What does go slow to go fast mean? Well, it means to realize that all of our problems won’t be solved overnight. No ridiculous bail out program will solve the big 3’s issues. And no lean or six sigma program will take you from last to first in the next 60 days.

Toyota has been at this for over 50 years and they are far from infallible. But last time I checked no Toyota representative was flying in on private jets asking for their allowance to be increased. Private jets? Are you kidding me? I digress.

5. Be Speedy.

Now this, my good friends, is indeed my favorite leadership aspect! And while it may seem to contradict the previous point of going slow to go fast it really doesn’t. Let me explain.

You see, to be speedy means to make things happen fast. In other words, instead of attempting to improve on time delivery for your entire plant… try to break this project up into 5 or 6 smaller, more manageable pieces.

This is precisely why there are two types of kaizen – system kaizen and point kaizen.

This is the Story

So, I suppose my best advice for Gail is to start focusing on these five aspects of leadership before worrying about writing  the story. After all, the best stories are true stories… so win a few battles before attempting to explain how we plan to win the war.

I’m curious if you have any other advice or thoughts on the matter.  If so, please share.

Here’s how cool blogging is. A week or so ago I got an email from Petri, a lean practitioner in Finland. His question was so good it inspired this post which stirred up some excellent discussion.

Last night we received another comment to this same post from Gail who is learning about lean in Australia! Gail’s question was also excellent and has inspired me to write this article.

Here is Gail’s comment and question(s). Oh, and in case you don’t know what TAFE stands for (I didn’t) here is an explanation.

Hi Ron

I am new to Lean and work for a public TAFE here in Melbourne, Australia. I am extremely interested in how you measure the success of Lean. I am a project leader in charge of implementing Lean Principles. We commenced our journey early this year and I have been given the task of writing an evaluation strategy and evaluating our success to be delivered to our Executive Team.

I was not sure where to start, thanks for your measures it is a good place to start. Do you have any suggestions on how to present this information effectively (e.g. A3 or Graphs)?

Another question. I am in the process of writing an organizational story about Lean. Any suggestions? It will be used to ’sell’ the idea to over 1,000 employees.

All the best from Down Under.

Presenting the Information

No matter what type of data you do decide to measure the manner in which it is presented in very important. With this said, there are a plethora of ways you could go about this and a lot of it will depend on the maturity of the organization.

Personally, I am a big fan of line/trend charts. As such, at a minimum, my advice is to ensure the following things are always accounted for when drawing line charts.

• The trend. Somehow we need to determine whether the overall trend is up, down, or sideways. A simple MS Excel line chart can accomplish this. Also, a simple arrow pointing up or down on the graph is useful so anyone can quickly determine if up is good and down is bad or vice versa.
• A measure of central tendency. In addition to the trend it’s important to note either the mean or the median on the graph. This simple line down the middle of the data helps add context to the picture.
• The goal. Finally, at a minimum, the goal or target for this particular performance metric should be noted on the graph.  This helps us determine if we are doing well, not so well, or somewhere in between.

If you only had these three points covered you would be better off than many organizations.

For the Over Achievers

Now, if you really want to blow the doors off of things you can take the next step and put this same data into a control chart which adds control limits to the situation. This provides another level of “context” to the situation.

But be careful… if you do use control charts make sure everyone in the organization understands what they’re looking at. There is nothing more damaging than fancy charts no one understands.

If you’d like to learn more about control charts you may want to check out this series I wrote: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

Other Approaches

In addition to trend charts there are a plethora of other techniques that can be used to present data such as balanced scorecards and/or bowling charts (popular with the hoshin kanri crowd).

Now then… I’m interested, as I’m sure Gail is, in how you present key performance metrics within your organization.  And since I estimate this article will be read by more than 2,500 people within 24 hours of me posting it… if just 5% of you respond with a comment or suggestion we should be able to create quite the learning environment.  So please… don’t be shy!

Next Up

Since I only answered one of Gail’s question we’ll save the other part (how to sell lean within the organization) for part two of this mini series.

Today is my wife’s birthday.  To celebrate we went to dinner at the Cheesecake factory.

“Mana” (what my kids call their Grandma) came over to watch the kids so we were able to just relax and talk.

We, of course, love our kids with all our hearts… but it is nice to go out “on a date” once in awhile.

Awesome Menu, Drinks, and Service

If you’ve never been to the Cheesecake factory you need to go.  The menu is massive, the drink selection amazing, and the food out of this world.  And the cheesecake, well, it’s about as good as it gets.

The service, at least for us, was also great.  Our waiter was nice, quick, and very helpful.  He also made a mistake.  In fact, one could argue he made a huge mistake.  Read on and I’ll explain.

We’re Stuffed, Can we Have a Box?

As I mentioned the portions are huge and we just couldn’t finish our meals.  So, being the great waiter he was, he offered to take our plates and box them up so we could take the left overs home.  Meanwhile we transitioned into dessert mode (we did manage to save a little room).

After doing our very best on our desserts (I got cherry cheesecake and my wife got this cheesecake/chocolate combo thingy) we were ready to pay and be on our way.

Hey, Where’s our Boxes?

Then I realized something… our waiter never brought our boxes back.

When he came for the check I asked him about it.  The poor guy, who you could tell was an excellent waiter, got this panicked look on his face and ran for the back.

A few minutes later he came back… his head was hung low as he explained how he made a mistake and our food was accidentally thrown out.  The guy was truly devastated.

Making it Right

After explaining what happened he insisted on refunding us for our desserts.  He was quite forceful in fact.  My wife and I told him it was OK.  There was no need for a refund.  He wouldn’t stop insisting… but we wouldn’t listen.  We had just had an awesome meal and weren’t interested in a refund.

He finally gave up and thanked us for understanding.  OK, his exact words were, “You guys are so cool.”

Here Comes the Manager

We thought this was the end of the story until the manager of the restaurant came to our table.  She went on to explain how the waiter approached her and explained what had happened.  She also explained how this young man was one of their best waiters and that he felt terrible.  She then started in on the whole refund thing.  She quickly realized we weren’t interested and she gave it a rest.

Real Leadership

Here’s the thing. Not only did this waiter admit to making a mistake - he could have easily blamed someone else - he tried to make it right with a refund.  When that didn’t work out he went to his manager and admitted his mistake!  He didn’t have to do this.  No one would have ever known.  But he did it anyhow.

It’s small life lessons like these that remind me what real leadership is.  You see leadership has nothing to do with your job title or salary.  Instead, authentic leadership is all about doing your best at whatever God has called you to do.  And then when you make a mistake, which are inevitable, real leaders stand up and take responsibility and do everything in their power to make it right.  Just like this young man demonstrated tonight.

The End of the Story

Once we had paid and collected our dessert boxes we were on our way to the door.  We were just about there when we heard someone yelling, “Sir!”  We turned around and guess who it was?  Yep, the waiter.  He was holding a bag and had a smile as big as Texas on his face.

He went on to say how he found our boxes.  It ends up someone else boxed them for him and put them behind some things so he couldn’t find them.  Well he found them just in time.  His last words were, “See, I knew I was a good waiter.”

Indeed he is.  Indeed he is.

As promised a few posts ago, I’d like to explain exactly how to go about completing a measurement systems analysis (MSA).

If the sound of this makes you want to yawn… well… stop it! It’s Monday and time to get focused (and some coffee). :-)  Seriously, this one tool has greatly benefited me over the years and I know it will you too.

The two pre-cursor articles to this one explained one such example of a variation story and how a simple MSA helped save millions of dollars in 60 minutes.

Now then, tonight I want to begin by explaining what a measurement system analysis is as well as two types of MSA that will serve you very well once you’ve mastered them.

MSA Defined (Job Interview Proof)

Right, so if you’re ever on a job interview and get asked to explain what an MSA is you would probably do well to rattle off something like this:

A Measurement System Analysis, abbreviated MSA, is a specially designed experiment that seeks to identify the components of variation in the measurement.

That would be the Wikipedia definition and I guess it sounds pretty nice… and chances are the guy interviewing won’t have a clue himself… so, yeah, this would be a great answer!

MSA Defined (Ron’s Take)

But listen, I’m a simple man. So rather than getting all text book like allow me to offer my explanation of what a MSA is. You see, anytime we measure something (e.g. the weight of a part) we’re actually dealing with two types of variation.

1. The variation within the parts/process we’re studying (P)
2. The variation within the measurement system itself (M)

In other words, the total variation we’re experiencing (T) can be explained by a formula that looks something like this: T = P + M.

In a perfect world the variation due to M (measurement system) would be zero meaning all we need to do is attack and defeat the variation within the process (P) and then ride off victorious.

Sadly, many times there is so much variation with the actual measurement system we have no earthly clue how much variation is due to the actual process.  Even worse, we may try and try and try to improve the process only to find out the problem wasn’t even the process… it was the dang measurement system!

And this is precisely why measurement systems analysis is so important. We must identify how much of the total variation is due to the process and how much is due to the actual measurement system.

Types of MSA

There are different types of MSA out there and the one you choose has a lot to do with the data you’re dealing with.

• When dealing with variable data (data we can measure like weight, distance, etc.) a Gage R&R study will serve you well. This stands for Gage Repeatability & Reproducibility.
• When dealing with attribute data (pass/fail, good/bad, etc.) an Attribute Gage study will do the trick nicely.

Up Next

Now that we know what a MSA is as well as two popular types of analysis it’s time to learn how to conduct the actual studies… and that’s precisely what we’ll discuss in the very near future!

If you have any experience, good or bad, with measurement systems analysis please share in the comments section below.  Also, if you have a specific question on the topic please share that as well.

Given the state of the economy finding and keeping new jobs isn’t always easy. Further, finding a recruiter (aka headhunter) you can trust isn’t always easy.

Well, luckily, I met my friend Frank Laux several years ago at church. Frank is an amazing person that has mentored me and helped me grow in ways words cannot explain. I’ve actually written about Frank before when we made 700 peanut butter sandwiches for the poor (Frank leads this volunteer effort at our parish).  In short, I trust Frank completely.

Professionally, as you probably guessed, Frank is an executive recruiter. So from time to time (probably monthly-ish) I’ll throw up a post highlighting some of the positions I feel may be a match for readers of LSS Academy. If you have any interest in the jobs all you need to do is email Frank directly with your resume in MS Word format.

Anyhow, here are two searches Frank is currently working on.

World Class Manufacturing Performance Improvement Leader

Based in Mexico City – Position will pay $105-$120K + bonus

ABOUT THE JOB

Based in Mexico City, Mexico. Looking for someone who is a Six Sigma Black Belt practitioner, not just a strategist. Want a degreed engineer, chemist, or business degree from almost any manufacturing background who can sell Six Sigma Projects and implement the changes. Will have a world of people to Matrix Manage on Projects, but no direct reports.

This is a fortune 100 company who needs someone to work at multiple manufacturing sites in Mexico. Evaluating systems and procedures within the Supply Chain, Manufacturing, and Business/Customers in solving strategic business problems. Someone who has dealt with Quality, On Time Service, Order Fulfillment, Sales and Operations Plan, and possibly plant process issues.

Will be looking at the bigger picture problems, step change projects, doing things more effective to enhance the Divisional and Regional goals, not just a plant level. Heavy Cross Functional team activities between the company and the customers. Will travel 40% in the region to elevate performances. Will work on Key Success components for the business unit.

Company is a leader in their field and looking for a business executive to come out of this role.

SKILLS / QUALIFICATIONS

• Black Belt Certification and MBA are pluses. Have had good luck with Mechanical Engineers in this role, but open on the degree, looking for results.
• Great promotability and visibility in this position. The company sells itself well.
• Need to be a great communicator and executor of Black Belt Projects.

FOR IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION – APPLY NOW

BEST WAY TO APPLY

If qualified and interested, EMAIL YOUR RESUME IN A WORD ATTACHMENT to: info@searchssp.com.

Attention Frank Laux.  No calls, please.

Supply Chain Manager / Inventory Management – DFW Area – Experience with Oracle 11i preferred - Up to $100K+

LOOKING FOR A SUPPLY CHAIN LEADER – INVENTORY MGT Background required.

Our client is a leader in the consumer products industry.

ABOUT THE JOB

In this role, you will be responsible for managing raw material, component, and finished good inventories to ensure maximum customer order fulfillment rates and minimum inventory investments. You will minimize premium freight fees related to expediting materials, support the sales forecast and production schedules with timely, high-quality, best value raw materials, components and finished goods. In addition, you will manage, train, and/or develop 3-5 Buyer/Analysts.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Analyze latest sales forecast reports to determine material and product requirements for net independent and dependent demand.

Apply concept of best value, price, quality, delivery, communications, and supplier support to vendor selection and purchasing decisions. Perform supplier cost and service benchmark comparisons for supplier selection, consolidation, and cost reduction opportunities, and subsequently execute against these opportunities.

Manage communications and relationships with all suppliers providing raw materials, components, and finished goods.  Manage inventory levels to maximize customer service and inventory turns. Manage excess and obsolete inventory to minimize or eliminate.

Perform analysis and make recommendations on inventory levels, costs, forecasts, suppliers, and product consolidations.  Expedite orders as required per the forecast or actual sales changes to balance inventory levels in support of targeted inventory levels.

Maintain accurate system parameters, such as costs, lead-times, order quantities, and order multiples.  Resolve product quality, quantity, and damage issues reported by receiving, warehousing, production, and quality control.

SKILLS / QUALIFICATIONS

• Minimum of 10 years related inventory management experience; excellent oral, written, and interpersonal skills are a must; proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Access is required, plus a strong working knowledge of Oracle. Bachelor degree is required.
• Experience in inventory management, analyzing and interpreting purchasing and inventory data, and effective communications.
• Excellent knowledge of inventory management principles, purchasing best-practices, and negotiation techniques.
• Good organizational skills; analytical skills; problem solving skills; multi-tasking; flexible and able to manage multiple projects.
• Microsoft Access database development and management. A working knowledge of Oracle purchasing and inventory management modules

COMPENSATION

Excellent package includes a base of $90-100 plus a bonus, 401K plan, outstanding medical and other benefits.

FOR IMMEDIATE CONSIDERATION – APPLY NOW

BEST WAY TO APPLY

If qualified and interested, EMAIL YOUR RESUME IN A WORD ATTACHMENT to: info@searchssp.com.

Attention Frank Laux.  No calls, please.

I recently received the following question from Petri, a reader of LSS Academy.

The issue I wanted to contact you about was if LSSA has ever done work on measuring lean success? I am not sure if there are any tools which are used in this area, or if “Lean companies” have i.e. key KPI’s which are used to track this?

I know that there are auditing systems which measure the level of how far 5S is implemented etc, but I am interested in broader measures.

I find the topic of KPI’s with most successful companies fascinating, and was wondering if there is reference material one could learn from?

Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Best regards,
Petri
Finland

This is a great question and one I wanted to put some thought into. I am a believer that you must measure it to improve it. With this said, here are some of my personal thoughts on the matter.

The Wrong Measurements

First of all, I believe many companies get caught measuring the wrong things.

For example, some feel like they can measure the success of their continuous improvement initiative by tracking the number of people trained or certified.

Please don’t get me wrong, I think it’s good to measure these things. But to think that the number of people trained or certified equates to guaranteed success is a gigantic fallacy.

In fact, this type of behavior is the definition of an activity based program.

It’s about one thing: Results

The opposite of activity based programs are results driven programs whereby things like quick wins and bottom line impact rule the day.

But how can one go about measuring this? Is there a magic scorecard we can all download? Unfortunately, at least as far as I know, the answer is no.

With this said, here are some ideas I have for excellent indicators of the health and vitality of a lean or six sigma initiative.

1. Number of improvement initiatives complete (higher is better)

I’d track this monthly and count any documented (even a one page summary) improvement as an initiative.

2. Average time to complete improvement initiatives (lower is better)

I’d also track this monthly. I despise long, drawn out projects that take ages to complete. If an improvement initiative cannot be done is less than 4 months I say it’s over scoped.

Further, the reason I am such an advocate of kaizen events is the speed at which they are done. When done properly, these quick events become contagious and begin to spread throughout an organization like wild fire.

3. Number of improvement suggestions submitted (higher is better)

Tracked monthly, this metric simply allows an organization to measure how motivated the work force is to make improvements.

4. Number of improvement suggestions implemented (higher is better)

The reason most suggestion box initiatives fail is simple. The employees submit ideas and never hear back from management so they stop suggesting things! So, in order to combat this, management should make it clear how many suggestions – as well as what the suggestion was – were implemented. And for the suggestions that were not implemented a clear and honest explanation with the employee should occur.

5. Sales per Employee (higher is better)

In the end, finishing projects and offering suggestions are great… but if you are in a for profit business one thing is clear – cash is king.

We lean and six sigma bloggers can wax poetic about respecting people and all the rest of it… but if an organization is not profitable the doors will be shut… simple as that.

With this said, my favorite productivity metric is sales per employee. Of course some will think I’m advocating cutting heads in order to drive this metric up. I’m not. I am, however, interested in making sure all employees understand whether the business is making money and whether things are trending up or down.

What metrics do you use?

These are just a few ideas I have for how to measure the success of a lean of six sigma initiative. I’m sure I’ve missed a plethora of metrics so if you know of any I missed please share in the comments section below.

I have the honor of hosting the 46th edition of the management improvement carnival.  So without further delay here are some of my favorite articles from the past few weeks.

• Kevin Meyer, of Evolving Excellence fame, recently traveled to Japan and was kind enough to write up some amazing summaries of what he saw and experienced.  The company tour reports are here: Toyota, Saishunkan, TOTO, and an electronics company.
• My friend, Mark Graban, broke one of his personal blogging rules and wrote while he was mad.  You can check it out by reading This WSJ Article (as do Many Organizations) Misses the Point of 5S.
• I’m never quite sure how he gets these ideas… but Jon Miller managed to tie leadership and mountain goats together in 7 Leadership Lessons from a Mountain Goat.  Great stuff!
• John Hunter offered up some interesting data showing that the US is still doing OK when it comes to manufacturing in Global Manufacturing Data 2007.
• A blog I’ve recently started to follow and quite enjoy is The Lean Thinker.  Be sure to check out A3 by PowerPoint for an example of what I mean.
• If you are interested in being more productive I have a must read article for you, and I really mean it’s a must read.  So be sure to check out The Ultimate Productivity Toolbox for Creative People.
• Finally, I leave you with one of the best marketing minds on the blogosphere as Seth Godin tells us about Reacting, Responding & Initiating.

Last night I told you the story of a measurement system analysis gone bad. Tonight, as promised, I’ll explain exactly what the issue was and how we solved it in around 60 minutes.

The Part in Question

The plastic component in question measured approximately 4” by 2”. I’ve made a rough sketch of what it looked like (see picture).

The component was actually completely black in color but I’ve made it gray in order to point out some key characteristics.

Towards the corners of the part were two key features.

First, points “A” were a rounded black protrusion-like piece of plastic that stood up about 1/16 of an inch in three corners of the piece.

This is what the camera looked at when taking the actual measurements. The camera would first “zero itself” and then it would measure the distance of the three black protrusions from one other. From this the machine would calculate the X and Y dimensions of the part.

Next, points “B” were drilled out circles that were used the hold the part into the final product during assembly. These circles were ignored during the measurement process.

30 Minutes of Brainstorming

After we failed the MSA we all sat around a table and talked about what the issue could be. We felt sure that the actual measurement system was probably OK and that the problem had more to do with the measuring process itself.

So we started throwing out ideas… everything from the fixtures we used to the way the operator loaded the parts was discussed.

Then someone wondered if looking at the black protrusions was the best approach. This person’s theory was that the camera may be struggling to distinguish the difference between the black protrusion and the black frame.

After a few more minutes of pondering the idea of using the circles right next to the black protrusions was tossed out there.

The supplier’s engineer was skeptical. He didn’t think it would work. But after some old fashioned Texas hog wrestling (a figure of speech, no actual wrestling occurred) everyone agreed to give it a shot.

30 Minutes of Trystorming

Using the same 15 pieces and the same operators and a modified computer program we re-did the MSA in about 30 minutes. The difference this time was we used the drilled out circles instead of the black protrusions.

Once we had the data we re-did the analysis in our statistical software package. The result? We passed the MSA with flying colors.

Problem Solved

And that was that. Some simple experimentation coupled with both brainstorming and then trystorming solved a problem that had been plaguing this company for the better part of a year.  The best thing was we started in the morning and were done by lunch time.

We were also able to proceed with our DOE and optimize the injection molding process. Soon, the quality problems we were experiencing from this supplier completely vanished.  It was truly a win/win situation.

The key learning for me was that continuous improvement doesn’t have to take a long time. Problems can, and in my opinion should, be attacked and solved quickly.

It’s Time to Learn How to Conduct an MSA

Now then, in light of this story I thought it may be beneficial for me to explain exactly how to go about doing a measurement systems analysis. And that’s precisely what we’ll do over the next few posts.

So stay tuned and please forward this post to anyone who may benefit from this type of information by clicking the “Share This” button below.  From there you can email the article.

My friend Kevin Meyer is on the Gemba Research Japanese Kaikaku Experience this week.  He just posted his first article that summarizes his thoughts about one of Toyota’s top plants - the Kyushu operation.

I also had the good fortune of making this trip with Gemba Research last year.  Here are the articles I wrote.

• I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane! 
• JKE Day 1: Toyota and Harmony
• JKE Update: Information Overload
• JKE Update: One Million Spark Plugs per Day
• JKE Upate: Reflection and 122 degree sand

Kevin has a way with words so you will definitely want to follow his posts.  Here is the first article and if you want to subscribe to Kevin’s blog to make sure you don’t miss the rest simply click here.

If you test or inspect (visual or automatic) a product of any kind I’m very confident I can show you how to save your company thousands, if not millions, of dollars (or Euros, Pounds, etc.).

How you ask? Three words. Measurement Systems Analysis, or MSA for short. But first a true story.

Back in the Day

In a past life I was working with a supplier that provided my former company with some critical plastic components for the product we produced. I’m purposely being vague to protect the innocent!

Anyhow, we were having some problems with the aforementioned critical components so I went to the supplier to see if I could help.

After some investigation and discussion we decided to run a design of experiment (DOE) on the injection molding process that produced these parts.

A Simple Question

Being the good six sigma guy I try to be, the first thing I asked the engineer I was working with was if they had ever done a measurement systems analysis of the optical inspection machine used to measure the actual dimensions of the parts.

He went on to explain how this very expensive inspection machine had just recently been calibrated to the “gold standard.” I wasn’t quite sure what the gold standard was… nor did I care how calibrated it was.

I asked him again, “Have you ever done an MSA.” He was growing frustrated with me and finally admitted… no, they had never done an MSA.

Let’s do it!

Happy to finally hear this I asked him to collect 15 of the parts we were planning to measure.

About 8 minutes later he had the 15 parts.

We grabbed a couple of operators and proceeded to conduct a variable data measurement systems analysis. It took us about 30 minutes to complete the entire study.

I threw the data into some statistical software and did the analysis.

Houston, we have a problem

Guess what? We failed the test. And I don’t mean fail like we did sort of bad. I mean fail like this fancy optical inspection machine that had recently been calibrated to the gold standard couldn’t tell the difference between a good part and bad part if its life depended on it. Good thing it wasn’t alive!

In other words, this supplier had no earthly clue what the *true* dimensions of these components were.  Not good.

The Rest of the Story

Tomorrow night I’ll explain exactly how we solved the problem in less than 60 minutes. By the way, the cost of poor quality of this particular problem was resulting in millions of dollars of damage each year.