World Class Process Variability Assessment
Is there a sustainable way to improve efficiency, reduce the cost per part and meet ever toughening compliance standards in today’s manufacturing environment? Is continual improvement even possible in a world where you are being asked to do more with less and its getting tougher and tougher to attract and keep the best talent?
The race to World Class Manufacturing standards is a relentless push to reduce the cost per part.
That can come from producing more parts through increased efficiency's, higher yields or faster throughput's. Or it can come from reducing the Total Process Cost, by eliminating waste and wasteful activity.
Today’s plant manager who is looking to thrive and survive in this competitive landscape needs to do both. The question is how, especially in an economy where production is hitting record levels and low unemployment rates makes it tough to keep and attract good qualifies employees. As the work force ages, plants that have not been able to successfully turn their wisdom into repeatable work instructions are deeply challenged and in danger of repeating past “lessons.”
So what needs to happen to keep up with and lead the race to world class standards? Whats the greatest enemy of 100% quality, 100% on-time at the lowest cost possible? Well to quote the famous words of jack Welch, it’s process variability. Process variability is what results in missed quality targets, missed deliveries and wasted resources. Variability is the enemy of reaching World Class Efficiency.
Variability comes in many shapes and sizes and when its unidentified, it can rob your plant of the time and resources it needs to achieve your goals.
Variability can exist in the unidentified process KPI’s that are not being measured and maintained, or it can result from the difference in skill level in your workers. It can be the difference in how your day shift runs their equipment vs the night shift, it can be the difference between a highly proceduralized PM vs one that requires an experienced tech who relies on the learning from past mistakes to get the job done right.
Our Process Variability Assessment identifies whether KPI Variability is a root cause to excessive costs and negatively impacted performance.
By Measuring the KPI's that impact process performance, cost and risk
We can determine if your process is stuck in one of the 6 states that's keeping you from World Class.
Un-managed Process Variability
impacts performance, wastes resources and puts your people and process at risk
A Lean-6-Sigma approach
Reducing process variability with a focus on the systematic elimination of waste is how a sustainable Lean-6-sigma process gets delivered.
Non-core processes are wasteful and put your people and process at risk. The World Class Process Audit is designed to see if your processes are operating at World Class Levels or not.
"EVERYTHING that a business does, is a process, EVERYTHING. It can be measured, it can be compared, it can be quantified, and it can be improved." W Edward Deming. Our World Class Process Variability Assessment determines which of the 7 process states your plant's non-core processes currently exist in. By 1st identifying the state, we can develop the steps necessary to bring it to world class so that its supporting not limiting your primary focus.
7 Process States
Unidentified
Processes that are silently hurting productivity, stealing resources and generating waste and wasteful activity.
Incomplete
Some KPI's have been identified, there are systems in place and data is used to drive corrective actions, problem is that many of the KPI's have not yet been identified or integrated into the process
Anecdotal
Processes that are based on past experience vs data, they are "managed" based on tribal knowledge.
Broken
The KPI's are known, the systems are in place, however the system is not robust, aspects of the control loop are just not happening on a consistent basis leading to unexpected events and waste.
Contained
When time based Preventative Measures are used to keep a process in control, very wasteful with no real opportunity to improve over time.
Ancient
Beautiful and robust, however ancient systems have not kept up with innovation and change. Ancient processes are very sustainable however offer a step change in improvement by introducing more innovative and efficient approaches.
World Class
To be world class, a process needs to be delivering 100% quality, 100% on-time at the lowest cost possible. A forever moving target, world class is an ideal that manufacturers need to be working towards relentlessly. To be world class you need to combine the expertise necessary to identify all the KPI's that impact performance, risk and cost, you need the robust systems in place to ensure that all aspects of the management process are occurring and changing based on data and that you have focused data driven execution to be able to minimize and manage process variability. The path to world class is endless, however its critical that you identify the processes that are holding you back from your plants true potential.
If you would like more information about our World Class Performance Audit, please fill out the form below: