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Basic Problem Solving
Basic Problem Solving
Basic Problem Solving
Useful, focused problem solving skills are a vital part all solid
organizations, and a must for your career success. However, many
organizations are content to continue to deal with the same issues over,
and over« and over. You get the picture. These companies are
, the bottom line!
How your organization deals with this issue determines ultimately how
successful it will be. Use of the tips, methods and structure described here
will assist both you and your company to greater levels of success.
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If your team has determined that the issue at hand is simple and requires
only a simple fix, the 5 step approach is the method for you. |
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The monthly quality reports (defines where the issue is located) contain
more than 2 errors on average, greater than the 0 errors expected
(defines the internal requirement) |
On-Time Delivery has averaged 92%, less than the target of 98.5%
(again, this defines the failure to meet the requirement).
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The last 10 production runs (defines when the issue occurs) show the
widget measured an average of 41cm (the issue), which exceeds
thecustomer requirement of 38cm +/- 2cm.|
The past 2 months (when) the quality reports contain more than 2 errors
on average, greater than the 0 errors expected. |
On-Time Delivery to Customer X (where the issue occurs) has been only
92% for the last 4 months, less than the required 98.5%.
These better examples give your teams the detail necessary to investigate
the issue, and define where your team should focus its resources. For
example, there¶s no need to search beyond the last 10 production runs in
the widget investigation. The team¶s preliminary findings indicate that the
issue does not exist prior to those runs.
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On-time delivery is composed of several other measurable processes, all
of which contribute in varying degrees to your organization¶s ability to
deliver to the customer per their requirements. Engineering time, internal
rejects, material rejected at incoming inspection, and processing time are
just a few of the many categories that combine to make your company
able to deliver on time.
This is how divide and conquer works! You start with the overall problem,
and then see if you can break it down into smaller parts. After all, trying
to correct On-time Delivery as a problem would be very difficult.
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The team conducts some research into the six factors they identified as
contributing to poor delivery. The second investigation showed that
Engineering Time and Shipping Errors were not important factors for poor
delivery. The team also realized that Supplier Quality was not an issue.
The team would concentrate their efforts on Supplier Delivery, Processing
Time, and Internally Rejected Material.
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Using a decision matrix, the team determined the best allocation of
resources would be to improve the Process Speed, and reduce Process
Errors (as shown).A decision matrix is a tool for prioritizing efforts. In this
case, the team compared cost to benefit in the matrix and arrived at the
two factors that would most likely improve On-Time Delivery.
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(For more information, read the Problem Statement
Page.
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- devise multiple (at least 2, probably no more than 5)
strategies for determining what went wrong. In other words, where and
what do you need to investigate to help determine the cause. Do not focus
on remedies or solutions at this point. Focus upon where your team needs
to allocate its resources.
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+,-./0- From your list of possible strategies in step 2,
determine what could happen if you proceed using the different strategies.
Choose the strategy that seems the best fit for the problem.
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chosen in step 3 to determine if your team found the
cause. If you did, then you¶re nearly done.
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has accomplished its goal, then you¶re done! Otherwise, continue to
research the problem and go back to step 2 to try other strategies.
One of the most common tools for improvement is the Deming (or
Shewhart) Cycle. This method is also known as Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA)
or Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) and it is well suited for many improvement
projects. Originally known as PDCA, it was revised to PDSA in the early
1990¶s to reflect misunderstandings of the intent of learning process.
The above picture shows how the Deming Cycle operates. The Plan stage
is where it all begins. Prior to implementing a change you must
understand both the nature of your current problem how your
process failed to meet a customer requirement. You and/or your problem
solving team determine:
Once you have this plan, it¶s time to move to the DO stage. |
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]ust as it implies, the Study stage is where you¶ll perform analysis of the
data you collected during the Do stage. Considerations include: |
By how much?
Was the process more difficult to use with the new methods?
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The answers from the Study stage define your tasks for the Act stage. For
example, if the process didn¶t improve, there¶s no point in asking
additional questions during the Study stage. But action can be tak en-
action be taken! The problem hasn¶t been solved. The action you¶d
take is to eliminate the change you implemented in the Do stage and
return to the Plan stage to consider new options to implement. |
If the process did improve, you¶d want to know if there was enough
improvement. More simply, if the improvement was to speed up the
process, is the process now fast enough to meet requirements? If not,
consider additional methods to tweak the process so that you do meet
improvement objectives. Again, you¶re back at the Plan stage. |
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That¶s right« you¶re not done yet. You want to
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that the change is still in place, and still effective. A review of the process
and measure should give you this information. Watch the process to view
for yourself that the process operators are performing the process using
the improvements you¶ve implemented. Analyze the metrics to ensure
effectiveness of your Deming Cycle improvements.
Not long ago, a preliminary step (D0) was added to the 8 disciplines of
problem solving structure. This step is primarily used to determine if your
organization needs to utilize this more robust 8D structure or will the 5
step approach suffice. Conditions such as type and depth of issue,
available metrics, commitment to determining the root cause, and
customers affected should be considered as part of D0.
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Determine the impact of the customer¶s issue within your organization.
Identify all possible suspect material and segregate that material for
further review. List the date codes, lot numbers, etc. that are considered
suspect. Determine a method that clearly shows the customer that all
product shipped from this date was inspected and known to be acceptable.
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Pareto Charts- this prioritization tool assists with decision making and
resource planning by showing exact counts of the types of issues
measured.
Also in the D4 step, your team determines the ³escape point,´ that is,
where in your process did this issue fail to get identified. As you follow the
process backwards, you identify the location within your system that the
root cause should have been identified but wasn¶t.
The team must be able to verify that they have indeed identified b oth the
root cause and the escape point, and be able to take action upon the root
cause. Returning to the process, the team should be able to make the
issue come and go at will, indicating verification of root cause.
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After verifying the root cause, the team assembles to generate potential
PCAs. The team will consider topics such as: customer satisfaction, cost,
elimination of the root cause, and others when attempting to choose the
best PCA from the list of potential PCAs.
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- $ Regularly follow up on the process measures, again
to ensure effectiveness and prevent backsliding.
Update all documentation in your QMS. Mistake-
proof the process if possible. Identify any potential
areas where the same issue could occur and
implement the same or similar PCA in those areas.
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