Archive for the ‘Process’ Category

Texting while driving or “distracted driving” is getting a lot of press lately. California’s had its share of serious texting incidents, including last year’s Metrolink commuter train crash, and several recent car crashes attributed to distracted drivers.

As a result of impairment that’s shown by some studies to be worse than DUI, 10 states, including California, have banned texting while driving, while another 8 have laws that will be enacted between now and January 1st. Further, there is a movement in process to pass federal legislation banning texting while driving. Over the last 2 days, there was a Distracted Driver Summit in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the U.S. D.O.T. (Department of Transportation), featuring several U.S. Senators, including Senator Charles Schumer of NY, an outspoken advocate on the subject.

So, while all of this is going on, you may be thinking that texting while driving isn’t relevant to business, but that would not be correct. What would happen if a salesperson or another employee is involved in a texting accident while driving on company business? Would you be liable if company policies and procedures didn’t ban texting while driving? It’s already cost companies tens of millions of dollars (read here) and with today’s rapidly evolving and ever-changing technology, it’s important that policies and procedures are up to date with these changes in order to mitigate company risk.

Are your policies are procedures up to date? Need help getting your process documentation or company policies in place or aligned? If you do or you’re not sure where to start, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

This is a great question that requires that critical process parameters are actually controlled, or at least measured and monitored. There are many tools that can be used to tell if a process is in control, but it starts with measuring those parameters that are important to the process. It may seem obvious that anything that really is critical would be measured and monitored, but I continue to be amazed by stories of companies not keeping track of the variables that are critical to their products and their own success, which often can translate into significant financial losses.

I recently read an article which referenced a fermentation problem in the wine industry, with potential losses of several hundred thousand dollars. Utilizing the Six Sigma tool of DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), the root cause of the problem was determined to be fermentation tank temperatures out of specification.

In this particular example it turns out that tank temperatures were not being monitored, with costly consequences. In a case like this, there are solutions that can be deployed, increasing in sophistication, and cost.

1)    Measure the temperature, at the source. Typically, this would be done with a thermocouple or temperature sensor.

2)    Monitor the temperature. This typically would entail having someone check the temperature on a periodic basis, and hopefully recording the results. Alternatively, depending on the type of controller used, an alarm can be triggered if a high or low limit is reached. In today’s world, this can also result in an email or phone call automatically being made by the controller in order to generate a response.

3)    An open loop control system. Most typically, this type of system will allow a setpoint to be set, but there’s no feedback as to what the temperature actually is.

4)    A closed loop system. This is typically a system using a PID controller, which not only has a setpoint, but can drive the temperature to that setpoint. This is the most sophisticated type of control, and will typically be the most costly solution.

Which approach to take will depend on the degree of risk that you’re willing to assume and the potential adverse consequences if those critical parameters drift out of spec. The most expensive solution is not always the most cost effective, but can be depending on what those adverse consequences are. However, the entire process starts with some basic questions and analysis.

Is your process in control? If not, or you’re not even measuring critical parameters or know where to start, give us a call or send us an email. We’re here to help you succeed.

When people talk about reducing operator errors, the scope of what they’re talking or thinking about can run the gamut from training, to fool-proofing (a.k.a. poka-yoke) a set-up or changeover, to fully automating a process or an assembly line, or even building a new plant.

However, I find it shocking that companies would consider the most capital intensive solutions when they should be starting with the basics. I recently saw an example of this at a company where training was talked of in terms of taking months and only a couple of people were “qualified” in certain operations. It didn’t really seem like a very complicated process, though many steps were involved. When I asked to take a look at their written procedures, they said, “what procedures?” It turns out that they had no written documentation for a fairly lengthy process, in which several steps were critical to preventing waste and potentially ruining product.

In a process which involved 75-100 steps or more, there was no written documentation, and training consisted of memorizing the entire process, start to finish, and in exactly the right sequence to boot. No wonder training took months and so few operators were qualified!

What was needed in this case was starting with the basics. Let’s develop some basic procedures, writing down the process steps and making sure they’re in the right sequence. Once this was done, a training process which took months can now be done in a matter of days, and serves as a great tool for cross-training and ensuring that there’s consistency in the process.

Need help developing your own procedures or wondering where to start? Give us a call or send us an email to kick start development of your own process or quality documentation efforts today.