Checklist December 21, 2007
Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Lean, Quality, Reviews , add a comment
Check out Annals of Medicine: The Checklist by Atul Gawande in the Dec. 10. 2007 edition of The New Yorker for an insightful exploration of the medical application of one of the most basic of quality tools - the checklist. I was astounded to learn that checklists aren’t a common practice in one of the most complex industries, the emergency room. Setting up a machine, preparing for an audit, readiness reviews, planning a kaizen all have routine lists. Flying a plane, launching a rocket, preparing for battle all have checklists. Gawande describes how in 2001 Peter Pronovost, a critical-care specialist at Johns Hopkins, developed a simple five step checklist for inserting central line IV’s that dramatically reduced the odds of line infections, and the resistance he faced in implementing something so simple and yet so effective.
W. Edwards Deming January 8, 2006
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Pioneer in Quality Philosophy, W. Edwards Deming is widely held to have been one of the leaders who helped create the Total Quality Movement. Deming’s 14 points and his book “Out of the Crisis” are key documents in the development of Quality Systems for Business management. Dr. Deming is best known for his revolution in the quality and economic productions in Japan where from 1950 onward he taught top management and engineers, quality management methods. These teachings are widely credited for dramatically altered the economy of Japan. In recognition of his contributions the Union of Japanese Science and Engineering (JUSE) instituted the annual Deming prizes for achievement in quality and dependability of product.
Continuous Improvement January 5, 2006
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Definition: The management discipline to constantly eliminate waste, improve response time, simplify the design of both products and processes, and thereby improve quality, customer service, and value. Continuous Improvement is a phrase suggesting that a process or product should always get better as knowledge about it and experience with it accumulates over time. It is specifically used in quality systems or management programs such as Total Quality Management, associated with the work of W. Edwards Deming, J, Juran, and Walter A. Shewhart, and is particularly evedent at Toyota.
Lean Enterprise is a management philosophy focusing on reduction of the 7 wastes, or Muda in Japanese (Over-production, Waiting time, Transportation, Over-processing, Inventory, Motion and Scrap) in manufactured products. By eliminating waste, quality is improved, production time is reduced, and cost is reduced. Lean "tools" include constant process analysis (kaizen), "pull" production (by means of kanban), and mistake-proofing (poka yoke). One crucial insight is that most costs are assigned when a product is designed. Often an engineer will specify familiar, safe materials and processes rather than inexpensive, efficient ones. This reduces project risk, that is, the cost to the engineer, while increasing financial risks, and decreasing profits. Good organizations develop and review checklists to review product designs. The key lean manufacturing principles:
- Perfect first-time quality - quest for zero defects, revealing & solving problems at the source
- Waste – eliminating all activities that do not add value & safety nets, maximise use of scarce resources
- Continuous improvement – reducing costs, improving quality, increasing productivity and information sharing
- Pull processing - products are pulled from the consumer end, not pushed from the production end
- Flexibility – producing different mixes or greater diversity of products quickly, without sacrificing efficiency at lower volumes of production
- Availability - when people, machines, product or processes are needed they are there, ready and able. Unplanned downtime, start up delays aren’t tolerated
- Building and maintaining a long term relationship with suppliers through collaborative risk, cost and information sharing arrangements
Lean is basically all about getting the right things, to the right place, at the right time, in the right quantity while minimizing waste and being flexible and open to change. Continuous Improvement is how you get Lean.
Reflections on the Future of Quality January 2, 2006
Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Quality , add a commentCourtesy of Quality Progress, Dave Watkins writes in Reflections on the Future of Quality that:
- The quality management system lags behind evolving concepts of organizational excellence;
- The quality function needs to focus on deliverables and their contribution to value;
- Quality, as a management system objective, is really about excellence and must characterize the enterprise as a whole, not just its products or services.