Lean Quality Systems

Control, Containment and Continuous Improvement

Focus on Root Cause of Variability

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Impact: Cost/Occurrence

Frequency: Problems/Opportunities0

Special Cause Incidents

High Visibility/Containment Actions

Low Occurrence Variability/Durability

Customer Satisfaction Zone

Product/ProcessRobustness

Customer Satisfaction

Source: J.D. Power & Associates

Quality Systems from Both EndsQuality Systems must work at both ends of the Pareto Chart

1. Problem solving for identified problems2. Filter and correction for thousands of issues

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Quality Loops: Protect the Customer and Feedback for Improvement

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Quality LoopsQuality LoopsZoneZoneWorkstationWorkstation CustomerCustomer

Quality Loop 1

Quality Loop 2

Quality Loop 3

Quality Loop 4

Plant / ProcessPlant / Process

Quality Loop 4

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CustomerCustomer

Loop 4 – The Customer Filter

Objective – Feedback from the customer for immediate and effective resolution of real issues, and to align product and process to customer needs and wants.

Quality Loop 4

• Link feedback into Loops 1, 2 and 3• Always based on sampling• Problems have already “escaped”• Customer won’t always tell you clearly what they want• Trouble aligning data to customer behaviors• Very slow, very costly, but like gold, every ounce should be

fully utilized• Use to design filters in Loops 1, 2, and 3

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Quality Loop 3

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Plant / ProcessPlant / Process

Loop 3 – End-of-Process Loop

Objective, Ideal – Act as a rapid representation of customer response.Objective, Pragmatic – Act as a dynamic filter to protect customer

based on Loop 1 and 2 activity.

Quality Loop 3

• Customer advocate – who will act as customer before the customer does

• Accept feed forward information Loops 1 and 2• Dynamic, not meant to be the permanent solution

• Dynamic checks• Dynamic corrections • Dynamic sampling volumes• Dynamic resources

• The least important Loop to get right if you do the others right; the most important if the other Loops are failing• You can tell the effectiveness of a quality system by how

important Loop 3 is.• Characterized as the quality ‘conscience’ of the organization 8

Quality Loop 2

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ZoneZone

Loop 2 – Zone Control

Objective – To establish a tight filter of quality issues and fast feedback into workstation issues.

Quality Loop 2

• Tough question – isn’t focusing on Loop 1 ideal? • No. Pragmatically, Loop 2 a better one to focus on mastering (you

will never master Loop 1).• 1st Line Supervision can focus on a Zone, but not a

Workstation• Must be fast-flowing information

• Problem found – feed back into Loop 1; feed forward into Loop 3• Zone must pay attention to SQDC – where does quality fall at

the Zone level culturally?• In most organizations, zones focus on D before Q

• What’s found in Loop 2 drives 5 Why Problem Solving?10

Quality Loop 1

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WorkstationWorkstation

Loop 1 – Operating / Workstation

Objective – To prevent defects from reaching the immediate customer, the next step in the process.

Quality Loop 1

• Design the work to prevent errors and find them if possible• Culture – next workstation is customer, do not let quality

problems pass to customer• Error Proofing

• Shutdown = Normal functions stop when defect is predicted or detected.

• Control = Makes errors impossible or make sure defective items cannot be passed on to the next process.

• Warning = Signals when a defect is predicted or detected.• Standardized Work• Andon or other system – feed

forward to Zone withoutrepercussion

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Key System Wide Issues• Information links between loops is vital

• Should be simple and fast• Loop 1 out to Loop 2• Loop 2 back to Loop 1, forward to Loop 3• Loop 3 back to Loop 2• Loop 4 back to Loops 3 and 1

• Escalation• Lean Rule 2, clearly connect customer and supplier• Who escalates issues, under what conditions, to who, how and what

is the response?• What would your quality system look like if the USDA (or

whoever) were external to your process (Loop 4)? Design it with this in mind.

• Roles and responsibilities – saying “everyone is responsible for quality” is vague and leads to confusion and finger pointing. Design the system, then design clear responsibilities around that.

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Non-Product / Service Processes

• Loop 1 – Remains the same; build quality into the process and look at the next step as the customer

• Loop 2 – What is the end of the process? How are they looking at quality based on the whole process, or part of the processes?

• Loop 3 – Blends with Loop 2 depending on complexity of process. Most processes end with internal customers. Purpose is the same.

• Loop 4 – Much harder to measure than product and less frequent; every ounce is gold. • Look for satisfaction and value-add• Go get the data (very little effort is put in for doing this)

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QualityQualityFilterFilter

QualityQualityFilterFilter

Product Product DesignDesign Process Process

RunningRunning

Customer Requirements: Needs, Perceptions & BehaviorsCustomer Requirements: Needs, Perceptions & Behaviors

Robust and Robust and Capable Capable

LoopLoop

In-Control In-Control LoopLoop

Building a Robust and Capable Model for Meeting Customer Requirements

Quality Response Process

Process Process DesignDesign

Contact Me

• Jamie Flinchbaugh, Co-founder and Partner, Lean Learning Center

• Jamie@LeanLearningCenter.com

• www.LeanLearningCenter.com• www.JamieFlinchbaugh.com

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