The Seven QC Tools, Part 4

By Pascal Dennis

(Experience & Reflection)

In earlier blogs I extolled the power of the "Q7"

Indeed, they're an indispensable part of our problem-solving arsenal.

Caveat: the Q7 are an abstraction that exist in the world of Reflection.

Good problem solving entails moving fluidly between the worlds of Reflection & Experience.

Go See (genchi genbutsu) is central to the latter.

Problem solving begins in the world of Experience.

What is actually happening right now? Go See the defect the moment you hear about it.

Or stand in a circle, as Taiichi Ohno suggested, until you see it in real time.

We then move to the world of Reflection to define What Is Actually Happening & What Should Be Happening.

Problem solving, of course, concludes in the world of Experience - otherwise it's just 'academic'.

This pattern -- experience - reflection - experience is central to practical problem solving and to Lean as a whole.

Lean thinkers are comfortable in both worlds.

My mental image: a person with one hand deeply embedded in the ground, and the other reaching for the sky.

Reflect, by all means, then get your butt to rough & tumble of the factory floor (or farm, lab, design studio, surgery...)

Best,

Pascal



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Protecting The Core Business Is Not Enough
The Seven QC Tools, Part 3
The Seven QC Tools, Part 2
Pascal Dennis and the Enterprise Excellence podcast

The Seven QC Tools, Part 3

By Pascal Dennis

Last time, I talked about the power of run charts and Pareto diagrams.

I've also found scatter charts to be an effective, intuitive tool for making connections between different metrics.

Pretty easy to use. Essentially, you develop a checksheet to gather data for a set of metrics you feel might be connected.

Then you plot the data, one set on the X axis, the other on the Y axis.

You can tell pretty quickly whether the metrics are related.

Of course, correlation does not mean causation.

Because the sun rises when the rooster crows does not mean the rooster caused it!

We must also have a plausible mechanism. An hypothesis, if you will: Why does this metric affect that one?

Here's an example. Some years ago a client company was facing serious safety problems.

They were a heavy equipment manufacturer whose motto was "Safety First".

Their safety problems corroded their relationship with their team members.

We analyzed a dozen critical metrics; we spent days on the factory floors trying to grasp the situation.

The combination of reflection and action was powerful, as always.

We used scatter diagrams to identify the key driver of safety performance - worker involvement.

There was a strong inverse relationship between safety incidents and involvement - and there was a plausible mechanism.

Our hypothesis: If I believe this is my process, my machine, my plant, and if I have the ability to change things for the better, safety incident rates will go down.

We later proved the correlation with a more sophisticated ANOVA analysis, but scatter diagrams got us there.

Best regards,

Pascal



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

The Seven QC Tools, Part 2
Pascal Dennis and the Enterprise Excellence podcast
The Seven QC Tools, Part 1
Reflections on True North

The Seven QC Tools, Part 2

by Pascal Dennis

Hank Williams & the Seven QC Tools

As I mentioned in the first blog in this series, when I was a young, green engineer in the 1980's & early 90's, the Seven QC Tools were everywhere.

I inhaled the works of Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum and other great senseis.

I especially liked complex tools, like scatter diagrams, histograms, and the more advanced types of control charts.

When I joined Toyota Motor Manufacturing I started measuring, calculating and drawing. I polished up complex system manuals that I'd developed at my previous employer.

Much of my early work met with quizzical expressions. "Always so complicated with you, Pascal-san..."

A revered sensei assessed my 2-inch thick system manual thus, "It's quite academic, isn't it?"

Gradually the fog between my ears lifted.

All around me, in this world class factory, was simple visual management, one-page standards, cartoons and the like.

What were the most common measurement tools?

Run charts and Pareto charts -- here, there and everywhere.

Very few control charts or ANOVA analyses.

Each zone seemed to have an iron grasp of its current condition, and hot spots.

Each hot spot triggered intense problem solving using a simple problem solving method.

Finally, it dawned on me that most problems can be solved with run and Pareto charts.

To be fair, a few of my complex analyses produced an good harvest, but that's beside the point.

Simple tools (run & Pareto charts) will get you 90% there. Learn & apply more complex tools for the remaining 10%

Here's a related story from another field.

Hank Williams, the great country singer & song-writer, was once asked, "Mr. Williams, how come you only use three chords?"

"Cause that's all there is, son," Hank replied.

Best,

Pascal



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Pascal Dennis and the Enterprise Excellence podcast
The Seven QC Tools, Part 1
Reflections on True North
Frontiers - Lean & IT

The Seven QC Tools, Part 1

By Pascal Dennis

I used to think the so-called ‘Seven QC Tools’ were second nature to everybody.

Now I realize that our younger friends & colleagues may not have been as fortunate as we (somewhat) wily veterans.

When I graduated engineering school in the 1980's (prehistoric times) Ed Deming, Joe Juran, Philip Crosby and other great quality senseis were everywhere.

I inhaled their books & videos, which emphasized a way of thinking, supported by core tools:

• Run charts,
• Pareto diagrams,
• Checksheets,
• Histograms,
• Scatter diagrams,
• Process flow charts, and
• Control charts.

Seems every generation needs to learn the fundamentals for itself.

In that spirit, in blogs to come I'll describe these core tools & how they can help.

In the interim, I highly recommend The Memory Jogger II, by my friend & colleague, Michael Brassard.

Best regards,

Pascal



In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Reflections on True North
Frontiers - Lean & IT
Getting the Right Things Done in a Digital World
On Big Data

The Seven QC Tools, Part 4

By Pascal Dennis

(Experience & Reflection)

In earlier blogs I extolled the power of the "Q7"

Indeed, they're an indispensable part of our problem-solving arsenal.

Caveat: the Q7 are an abstraction that exist in the world of Reflection.

Good problem solving entails moving fluidly between the worlds of Reflection & Experience.

Go See (genchi genbutsu) is central to the latter.

Problem solving begins in the world of Experience.

What is actually happening right now? Go See the defect the moment you hear about it.

Or stand in a circle, as Taiichi Ohno suggested, until you see it in real time.

We then move to the world of Reflection to define What Is Actually Happening & What Should Be Happening.

Problem solving, of course, concludes in the world of Experience - otherwise it's just 'academic'.

This pattern -- experience - reflection - experience is central to practical problem solving and to Lean as a whole.

Lean thinkers are comfortable in both worlds.

My mental image: a person with one hand deeply embedded in the ground, and the other reaching for the sky.

Reflect, by all means, then get your butt to rough & tumble of the factory floor (or farm, lab, design studio, surgery...)

Best,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

The Seven QC Tools, Part 3

By Pascal Dennis

Last time, I talked about the power of run charts and Pareto diagrams. (also see Hank Williams & the Seven QC Tools)

I've also found scatter charts to be an effective, intuitive tool for making connections between different metrics.

Pretty easy to use. Essentially, you develop a checksheet to gather data for a set of metrics you feel might be connected.

Then you plot the data, one set on the X axis, the other on the Y axis.

You can tell pretty quickly whether the metrics are related.

Of course, correlation does not mean causation.

Because the sun rises when the rooster crows does not mean the rooster caused it!

We must also have a plausible mechanism. An hypothesis, if you will: Why does this metric affect that one?

Here's an example. Some years ago a client company was facing serious safety problems.

They were a heavy equipment manufacturer whose motto was "Safety First".

Their safety problems corroded their relationship with their team members.

We analyzed a dozen critical metrics; we spent days on the factory floors trying to grasp the situation.

The combination of reflection and action was powerful, as always.

We used scatter diagrams to identify the key driver of safety performance - worker involvement.

There was a strong inverse relationship between safety incidents and involvement - and there was a plausible mechanism.

Our hypothesis: If I believe this is my process, my machine, my plant, and if I have the ability to change things for the better, safety incident rates will go down.

We later proved the correlation with a more sophisticated ANOVA analysis, but scatter diagrams got us there.

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

The Seven QC Tools, Part 2

by Pascal Dennis

Hank Williams & the Seven QC Tools

As I mentioned in the first blog in this series, when I was a young, green engineer in the 1980's & early 90's, the Seven QC Tools were everywhere.

I inhaled the works of Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum and other great senseis.

I especially liked complex tools, like scatter diagrams, histograms, and the more advanced types of control charts.

When I joined Toyota Motor Manufacturing I started measuring, calculating and drawing. I polished up complex system manuals that I'd developed at my previous employer.

Much of my early work met with quizzical expressions. "Always so complicated with you, Pascal-san..."

A revered sensei assessed my 2-inch thick system manual thus, "It's quite academic, isn't it?"

Gradually the fog between my ears lifted.

All around me, in this world class factory, was simple visual management, one-page standards, cartoons and the like.

What were the most common measurement tools?

Run charts and Pareto charts -- here, there and everywhere.

Very few control charts or ANOVA analyses.

Each zone seemed to have an iron grasp of its current condition, and hot spots.

Each hot spot triggered intense problem solving using a simple problem solving method.

Finally, it dawned on me that most problems can be solved with run and Pareto charts.

To be fair, a few of my complex analyses produced an good harvest, but that's beside the point.

Simple tools (run & Pareto charts) will get you 90% there. Learn & apply more complex tools for the remaining 10%

Here's a related story from another field.

Hank Williams, the great country singer & song-writer, was once asked, "Mr. Williams, how come you only use three chords?"

"Cause that's all there is, son," Hank replied.

Best,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

The Seven QC Tools, Part 1

By Pascal Dennis

I used to think the so-called ‘Seven QC Tools’ were second nature to everybody.

Now I realize that our younger friends & colleagues may not have been as fortunate as we (somewhat) wily veterans.

When I graduated engineering school in the 1980's (prehistoric times) Ed Deming, Joe Juran, Philip Crosby and other great quality senseis were everywhere.

I inhaled their books & videos, which emphasized a way of thinking, supported by core tools:

• Run charts,
• Pareto diagrams,
• Checksheets,
• Histograms,
• Scatter diagrams,
• Process flow charts, and
• Control charts.

Seems every generation needs to learn the fundamentals for itself.

In that spirit, in blogs to come I'll describe these core tools & how they can help.

In the interim, I highly recommend The Memory Jogger II, by my friend & colleague, Michael Brassard.

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Go See & the Seven QC Tools

by Pascal Dennis

(Experience & Reflection)

In earlier blogs I extolled the power of the "Q7"

Indeed, they're an indispensable part of our problem-solving arsenal.

Caveat: the Q7 are an abstraction that exist in the world of Reflection.

Good problem solving entails moving fluidly between the worlds of Reflection & Experience.

Go See (genchi genbutsu) is central to the latter.

Problem solving begins in the world of Experience.

What is actually happening right now? Go See the defect the moment you hear about it.

Or stand in a circle, as Taiichi Ohno suggested, until you see it in real time.

We then move to the world of Reflection to define What Is Actually Happening & What Should Be Happening.

Problem solving, of course, concludes in the world of Experience - otherwise it's just 'academic'.

This pattern -- experience - reflection - experience is central to practical problem solving and to Lean as a whole.

Lean thinkers are comfortable in both worlds.

My mental image: a person with one hand deeply embedded in the ground, and the other reaching for the sky.

Reflect, by all means, then get your butt to rough & tumble of the factory floor (or farm, lab, design studio, surgery...)

Best,

Pascal

The Seven QC Tools - Part 3

By Pascal Dennis

Scatter Charts

Thought I'd share some more thoughts on the "Q7".

I've found scatter charts to be an effective, intuitive tool for making connections between different metrics.

Pretty easy to use. Essentially, you develop a checksheet to gather data for a set of metrics you feel might be connected.

Then you plot the data, one set on the X axis, the other on the Y axis.

You can tell pretty quickly whether the metrics are related.

Of course, correlation does not mean causation.

Because the sun rises when the rooster crows does not mean the rooster caused it!

We must also have a plausible mechanism. An hypothesis, if you will: Why does this metric affect that one?

Here's an example. Some years ago a client company was facing serious safety problems.

They were a heavy equipment manufacturer whose motto was "Safety First".

Their safety problems corroded their relationship with their team members.

We analyzed a dozen critical metrics; we spent days on the factory floors trying to grasp the situation.

The combination of reflection and action was powerful, as always.

We used scatter diagrams to identify the key driver of safety performance - worker involvement.

There was a strong inverse relationship between safety incidents and involvement - and there was a plausible mechanism.

Our hypothesis: If I believe this is my process, my machine, my plant, and if I have the ability to change things for the better, safety incident rates will go down.

We later proved the correlation with a more sophisticated ANOVA analysis, but scatter diagrams got us there.

Best regards,

Pascal

Hank Williams & the Seven QC Tools

by Pascal Dennis

As I mentioned in the first blog in this series, when I was a young, green engineer in the 1980's & early 90's, the Seven QC Tools were everywhere.

I inhaled the works of Deming, Juran, Feigenbaum and other great senseis.

I especially liked complex tools, like scatter diagrams, histograms, and the more advanced types of control charts.

When I joined Toyota Motor Manufacturing I started measuring, calculating and drawing. I polished up complex system manuals that I'd developed at my previous employer.

Much of my early work met with quizzical expressions. "Always so complicated with you, Pascal-san..."

A revered sensei assessed my 2-inch thick system manual thus, "It's quite academic, isn't it?"

Gradually the fog between my ears lifted.

All around me, in this world class factory, was simple visual management, one-page standards, cartoons and the like.

What were the most common measurement tools?

Run charts and Pareto charts -- here, there and everywhere.

Very few control charts or ANOVA analyses.

Each zone seemed to have an iron grasp of its current condition, and hot spots.

Each hot spot triggered intense problem solving using a simple problem solving method.

Finally, it dawned on me that most problems can be solved with run and Pareto charts.

To be fair, a few of my complex analyses produced an good harvest, but that's beside the point.

Simple tools (run & Pareto charts) will get you 90% there. Learn & apply more complex tools for the remaining 10%

Here's a related story from another field.

Hank Williams, the great country singer & song-writer, was once asked, "Mr. Williams, how come you only use three chords?"

"Cause that's all there is, son," Hank replied.

Best,

Pascal

The Seven QC Tools Revisited

By Pascal Dennis

Thanks for your kind responses to our recent blog on The Seven QC Tools.

I'd assumed that these were second nature to everybody.

Now I realize that our younger friends & colleagues may not have been as fortunate as we (somewhat) wily veterans.

When I graduated engineering school in the 1980's (prehistoric times) Ed Deming, Joe Juran, Philip Crosby and other great quality senseis were everywhere.

I inhaled their books & videos, which emphasized a way of thinking, supported by core tools:

• Run charts,
• Pareto diagrams,
• Checksheets,
• Histograms,
• Scatter diagrams,
• Process flow charts, and
• Control charts.

Seems every generation needs to learn the fundamentals for itself.

In that spirit, in blogs to come I'll describe these core tools & how they can help.

In the interim, I highly recommend The Memory Jogger II, by my friend & colleague, Michael Brassard.

Best regards,

Pascal