ISO 9001 review
ISO 9001 review is currently being undertaken by ISO/TC176, the umbrella ISO committee for quality management and assurance. The committee draft will be issued in anytime now with drafts for comment published in the second half of 2007 with publication of the revised standard planned for late 2008. The key messages coming out of the process to date are that:
- the current scope and purpose of the standard, the title and the field of application shall remain unchanged from ISO 9001:2000
- given that the current standard was a step change from its predecessor and caused considerable changes to businesses, changes will be limited in this review
- it will remain generic so that it can be applied to all types and sizes of organisation. This one-size-fits-all approach will see the continued growth of sector-specific requirements and schemes
- any changes introduced must provide clear benefits to users
- the quality management principles (as contained in ISO 9000) shall be applied unchanged
- the process model, as shown in ISO 9001:2000 figure 1 below, shall remain unchanged
I’m led to believe that some of the changes are:
- clause 1.2 – clarify the intent of this clause in relation to when exclusions can be made in clause 7 specifically for service organisations
- clause 5 – consider clarification of application of the process approach to top management
- clause 5.4.2 – consider the clarification of quality management system planning in order to meet the quality objectives
- clause 8.2.1 – clarify the requirement for client perception (monitoring versus measurement)
- clause 8.3 – clarify this clause in relation to service organisations
- clause 8.5 – clarify the differences in concepts between corrective action and preventive action
There has been global growth in certification of 18 per cent across 161 countries.
The top five countries for ISO 9001 certification are:
- China (143,823)
- Italy (98,028)
- Japan (53,771)
- Spain (47,445)
- UK (45,612)
with India seeing the largest growth of over 12,000 a year.
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
3 Year Old Solves Rubik’s Cube in 114 seconds
Now this is what I call dedication to problem-solving:
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
8 steps to lean six-sigma culture change
Hmm, I’m not sure I agree with this post:
given that Lean/Six Sigma/Concurrent Design are really just a bag of tools from which a skilled mechanic will draw out one that is appropriate
Or even understand this post (perhaps one of my readers can translate this into English).
But I will agree that of course there are tools which are used in lean and six sigma, but you have to get into the philosophy behind lean and six sigma. Pulling tools out of a bag is great and WILL cause improvements to happen but sustainable long-term change will not occur unless driven by top management, who are committed to culture change.
The other problem with just using tools is you tend to get stuck in the Analysis phase. Too much analysis is a bad thing, for example, “the Economic analysis of leaving the toilet seat down“:
the social norm of leaving the toilet seat down in inefficient in the sense that it does not minimize the total cost of toilet seat operations per household. However, both papers fail to address an important concern: If a female finds the toilet seat in a wrong position then she will most probably yell at the male involved. This yelling inflicts a cost on the male. Based on this omission, women may argue that the analysis in these papers is suspect.
So, follow these eight steps to making culture change a reality:
- Capitalize on Propitious Moments (for example poor financial performance, making sure people actually perceive the need for change)
- Combine Caution with Optimism (create an optimistic outlook on what the change effort will bring)
- Understand Resistance to Culture Change (both at the individual level [fear of the unknown, self-interest, selective attention and retention, habit, dependence, need for security] and at the organizational or group level [threats to power and influence, lack of trust, different perceptions and goals, social disruption, resource limitations, fixed investments, interorganizational agreements]
- Change Many Elements, But Maintain Some Continuity (for example identify the principles that will remain constant) -also consider reorganising the quality function
- Recognize the Importance of Implementation (initial acceptance and enthusiasm are insufficient to carry change forward; a) adoption –> b) implementation –> c) institutionalization)
- Select, Modify, and Create Appropriate Cultural Forms (employing symbols, rituals, languages, stories, myths, metaphors, rites, ceremonies)
- Modify Socialization Tactics (because the primary way that people learn the corporate culture is through the socialization process at the beginning of their employment, if these socialization processes are changed, an organization’s culture will begin to change)
- Find and Cultivate Innovative Leadership (members are unlikely to give up whatever security they derive from existing cultures and follow a leader in new directions unless that leader exudes self-confidence, has strong convictions, a dominant personality, and can preach the new vision with drama and eloquence)
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
Six sigma – it’s so like, yesterday
(Note that this image doesn’t really have anything to do with this post, but I just found it strange that a glass of beer can be larger than a womans head.)
What with Home Depot, 3M, GE all apparently acknowledging the days of six sigma are gone, what are we to do?
So has the Six Sigma moment passed?
“I think it has,” says Babson College management professor Tom Davenport. “Process management is a good thing. But I think it always has to be leavened a bit with a focus on innovation and [customer relationships].”
… the notion of Six Sigma as a corporate cure-all is subsiding.
… the “define, measure, analyze, improve, control” mind-set doesn’t entirely gel with the fuzzy front-end of invention. When an idea starts germinating, Carter says, “you don’t want to overanalyze it,” which can happen in a traditional DMAIC framework.
AAARRGGHHH!! How many more times do will I hear that six sigma and innovation are not compatible. How many more times will someone say six sigma is dead, or ISO 9001 or any other quality management process? If you are tying to build an innovative product, would you rather have a stable, capable process where variation is known and controlled to work as a base to build upon or one which is widely fluctuating all over the place? Come on – this is a total no-brainer! Next it will be lean which is under attack, even though:
Improving productivity in the face of lower production is a huge accomplishment
I wonder if India’s largest automaker is set to start producing the world’s first commercial air-powered vehicle, a very innovative product, uses six sigma? The Air Car
… uses compressed air, as opposed to the gas-and-oxygen explosions of internal-combustion models, to push its engine’s pistons.
It’s unlikely Air Car will be sold in the US – the world’s biggest single auto market – especially considering its all-glue construction!
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
Keep it simple!
Metrology is a complex subject, however applying a lean mindset to the whole subject gives us this:
| Condition | Forecast |
| Stone is wet | Rain |
| Stone is dry | Not raining |
| Shadow on ground | Sunny |
| White on top | Snowing |
| Can’t see stone | Foggy |
| Swinging stone | Windy |
| Stone jumping up and down | Earthquake |
| Stone gone | Tornado |
It’s rather like the urban legend:
During the space race back in the 1960’s, NASA was faced with a major problem. The astronaut needed a pen that would write in the vacuum of space. NASA went to work. At a cost of $1.5 million they developed the “Astronaut Pen”. Some of you may remember. It enjoyed minor success on the commercial market.
The Russians were faced with the same dilemma.
They used a pencil.
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
How we’ll never never ever ever beat china on price!
This is why American and European manufacturers will never beat China for price. How much is a human life worth? The Health and Safety Executive would have a coronary hart attack – that’s the same as OSHA to our friends in the colonies. Bloody hell – this is truly mad!!
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
The leadership cult of the black swan
I’ve recently read two books by Nassim Nicholas Taleb who is an ex-trader. The first: Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets, looks at how and why we tend to assume the existence of patterns where there is only randomness, and assume skill where there is nothing but luck. The second is The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
By raising expectations far beyond the capacity of one human to fulfil, hero leaders often end up destroying themselves and wounding their companies. When leaders become celebrities, their firms’ performance starts to decline. Because of a tendency to believe their own press, they attribute success to their own brilliance, blame failure on others, and vastly overestimate their decision-making prowess. Hierarchy doesn’t work, and no one put the reason for this better than General Electric’s Jack Welch, himself an iconic manager who pioneered the use of six sigma. Hierarchy, he said, defines an organisation in which people:
“have their face towards the CEO and their ass towards the customer”
So the more charismatic the executive, the worse the effect. Investors should take note – when a business leader makes the front cover of Fortune: sell like crazy.
Download this free pdf for more information on the Black Swan.
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
Toyotas innovative coal powered car excites consultants
From April onwards due to the fact that Toyota sold more cars and trucks than General Motors (despite ongoing quality problems) all consultants gave a cheer and began to celebrate, throwing caution to the wind and splashing huge wads of money around the crap tables of Vegas. Why? Because they:
sell the no-waste business regimen known as lean manufacturing, a regimen that is popular due almost entirely to Toyota’s success.
Clearly we all know that lean is a just a crazy fad dreamed-up by these despicable consultants as:
a survey by management consulting firm Bain shows that just 19 percent of companies that have tried it are happy with the results
And these consultants just jump between industries in search for bigger and bigger pay-rises:
Those willing to jump from manufacturing companies to hospitals or banks are getting pay raises of 30 percent to 40 percent, compared with 20 percent raises moving from one manufacturing company to another.
Just think if Toyota had created a new hybrid car as well – perhaps profits would have been even higher (see photo above – the coal fired car!). But at least one article eventually concludes what I knew all along, that six sigma and innovation can work together as six sigma is exploitative while innovation is explorative:
smart companies separate the more ambitious efforts at innovation from ongoing efforts at continuous improvement. That allows for different processes, structure, and cultures to emerge within the same company.
these were:
successful 90% of the time
The rules for success were:
- Separate the efforts.
- Appoint an ambidextrous senior manager to oversee both efforts.
- Support both teams appropriately.
Hopefully, this is the start of moving away from the mindset which gives rise to comment like these:
The more you hard-wire a company on total quality management, [the more] it is going to hurt breakthrough innovation
Just remember to strike a balance between effort and documentation in six sigma projects though!
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
Screwed by Sony
While Lean methods know no bounds you always find at least one company who dosen’t quite “get it”. In this case it’s Sony (via boing boing):
“God help you if you need a new screw for your Sony stuff: Sony charges 61 Euros (more than $82) for a replacement “
Perhaps Sony need to review the following presentations?
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
Enter the 4th dimension – pull world
Lean manufacturing is great! It’s all about ping-pong, football tables, EBay and elephants. But God help you if you haven’t already implemented it, flateto analysis would show, especially if you live in Canada where the dollar is strong, that if you didn’t put it in place by 1995, don’t even bother , no matter what Nick Dieltsien says.
Of course, all of this is complete tosh (noun: Chiefly British Informal – nonsense; bosh). In fact, we are apparently:
… are moving from a world where demand can be forecast and resources “pushed” to the right place at the right time to a world where we need to flexibly “pull” resources wherever they reside when they are needed.
Read more about this here (From Push to Pull)
So in “pull world”, where more automation is sure to help, even maintenance activities will be lean and not include the following wastes
- Unproductive work – Efficiently doing work that doesn’t need to be done!
- Delays in motion – Waiting times, delays waiting for parts, machinery, people, etc.
- Unnecessary motion – Unneeded travel, trips to tool stores or workshops, looking for items, moving mobile work stations around without good reason.
- Poor management of inventory – Not able to have the right parts at the right time. A complex area that can cause many of the other areas of waste on this list.
- Rework – Having to repeat tasks, or do additional tasks, as a result of poor workmanship.
- Underutilization of people – Using people to the limits of their qualifications, not to the limits of their abilities!
- Ineffective data management – Collecting data that is of no use, or failure to collect data which is vital.
- Misapplication of machinery – Incorrect operation or deliberate operational strategies leading to maintenance work being done when it needn’t be.
Hmm, will we end-up in pull world? A kind of fourth dimension? I doubt it; but what do you think?
Technorati Tags: six sigma, lean manufacturing
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