Opinion is dangerous. Opinion leads to non value add activities. It leads to waste and wasteful activity. It leaves the facility vulnerable to quality problems putting the people and process at risk of an un-managed event.
I was visiting a plant this week that was struggling to consistently meet its quality spec. When we talked about their investigation process it became obvious that opinion not data was driving their decision making.
Opinion from operations, opinion from quality, opinion from maintenance, opinion from management.
Everyone had an opinion, the problem is, no one had data.
So what was decided?
They decided to address the problem by adding a step to the process.
Adding a final stage that was meant to address the thing that was causing the part to fail its quality check.
Now sometimes in the complete absence of data, you are left with only one option, your very best guess.
Everyone shares their opinion, you look for what sounds the most reasonable, has the most consensus and you implement.
Unfortunately, guesses stack upon one another.
They build over time and they create a culture of opinion instead of a culture of data and continual improvement.
World class companies drive opinion based decision making out of their plant.
They focus on building the systems necessary to identify, collect and interpret the metrics and analytics necessary to make decisions based on KPI’s not opinion.
True Data driven decision making is tough, it requires discipline, robust systems and relentless interpretation of the data, but it’s the only way to drive continual improvement and the systematic elimination of waste and wasteful activity.
If opinion and things like time based PM’s drives your culture and your activity, the good news is there’s a step change opportunity available to improve both your OEE and your profitability.
The bad news is it requires a change in culture which can be a daunting task.
If culture change is what you’re after, if you’re frustrated that opinion is driving costs and activity at your plant, then message me and we can start a conversation on how we can help shift the culture at your facility.