 |
Subnavigation |
Home » Resources » Ask the Business Doctor Ask the Business Doctor
Do you have a question for the Business Doctor? Click HerePrevious Questions and AnswersQuestion:"Six Sigma" is the "TQM" of the 2000's. What's the big deal? Is it really different from other methodologies?" Answer:We could also ask what is the difference between Six Sigma, TQM, CQI (Continuous Quality Improvement), QFD (Quality Function Deployment), and the list goes on. Ask anyone who is not a quality specialist or professional and they will say that they are all the same. Ask a group of quality professionals and you will most likely start arguments as to what are the differences between these approaches – especially since most quality professionals have a personal favorite. The short answer is that they are different but complementary. TQM, based on Dr. Deming's 14 Points (see www.asq.org), aims to influence an organization on a system-wide basis, comparable to implementing ISO 9000 or other quality management systems. It is a way of doing business and a cultural philosophy involving the whole organization in an effort to improve quality. Six Sigma should be part of the culture of the organization too. The difference is that Six Sigma utilizes powerful statistical tools requiring specially trained personnel and supported by the organization while TQM should involve everyone. Like other methodologies, Six Sigma and TQM are simply tool sets that are best suited to certain problems. Don't be fooled by the "one-size-fits-all" fanatics who claim that their methodology is the one "true" answer to all your problems. In the final analysis, you want to maximize your business performance and profitability rather than championing one methodology over another. Question:"My company is basically compliant with all the safety regulations yet we still have a very high incident rate. What else should we be doing?" Answer:The problem you are facing is not uncommon. Your incidents are likely to be symptomatic of root causes that may not be related to safety conditions. Assess your organization for unaddressed challenges in the following areas: Management/labor relations: Is the relationship between management and employees strained due to disciplinary actions (perceived as too much, too little, or inequitable), supervisory issues, communication problems, etc.? Employees, believing that they are not being heard, may try alternate courses of action to raise a flag in order to get issues addressed. Employee assistance program: Do you have an effective employee assistance program? Employees may need time off to deal with personal issues such as divorce or financial problems and the emotional challenges that accompany these concerns. In this case, employees could see time off due to a safety incident as providing them with time and finances to deal with these concerns. An effective EAP can help employees to cope while keeping them working. Substance abuse: Are you randomly drug testing your workforce? Are you testing after a safety incident? Substance abuse can affect incident rates because employees need time off to cope with the symptoms of abuse and may see an incident as an alternative to using 'sick-days.' Also, they may be more 'accident-prone' if the drugs are in their system while they are at work. Workplace stress: What's the work environment like? Are unrealistic due dates, little co-operation between work groups, overtime, or maybe even layoffs creating high levels of stress at work? Employees who need a break from this tension may find safety incidents with their associated time off from work to be an appealing alternative to dealing with this daily stress. Other non-safety related business challenges can be demonstrating themselves as safety incidents. Assess your organization holistically to identify the root cause. Question:"I recently had a problem with an AS9100 certification audit. We had prepared for a Rev C audit, since that’s been the standard for more than a year. But our registrar said they could only audit to Rev B because there is no checklist for auditing to Rev C. Do you know what’s going on?" Answer:This is a very unusual situation. You are correct that the AS9100 Rev C (2009) has been the new standard for more than a year. But we are aware of several auditors, like yours, who will not audit to Rev C. We are not sure what the underlying issue is. Usually, when a standard changes like this, there is a real push to get the new standard adopted. We can say this, everything included in AS9100 Rev B (2004) is also in Rev C. So if you implement Rev C in your company, you should be able to pass a Rev B audit and also be prepared at some point in the future for Rev C. Our advice is to discuss the situation up front with your registrar. If they are resistant or difficult, consider finding another registrar. After all, the registrar works for you and you will want a good working relationship in order to get the most out of your audits. Question:"With all the quality standards available, which one should my company pursue?" Answer:When developing a quality system there are choices as to which standard to pursue for certification. ISO 9000, AS 9100, ISO 13485, and Fortunately these standards are all based on the ISO 9000 standard and there is a great deal of commonality and benefit. Developing an ISO 9000 compliant quality system will ensure that processes are well-defined and create the discipline to follow and improve on the system. Activities such as management review, internal auditing, document control and corrective action will be established that will continually improve your business practices. When deciding if a different standard is worth pursuing, review the requirements to understand both the burden and benefits to your business. Depending on the type of product or service, some of the additional requirements can be easily addressed. Others might require a great deal of time with minimal return. Keep in mind that an ISO 9000 compliant system will provide the basic building blocks and different certifications could be built upon this base. Question:"One of my largest costs is healthcare. I’ve got a standard plan that’s going up 23% next year. Any suggestion?” Answer:You're not alone. Almost every business, large or small, has been struggling with escalating costs for employee healthcare. Here are three alternatives:
Question:"Does lean apply in a job shop environment?" Answer:The quick answer is yes, of course it does. Remember, the definition of lean is: "A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste." The eight wastes that need to be eliminated have been identified as: overproduction, waiting, transportation, non-value-added processing, excess inventory, defects, excess motion and underutilized people. If you have a customer and a product you incur many of these wastes. Historically lean has been associated with use in repetitive manufacturing. A job shop is typically a small custom manufacturer with specialized manufacturing processes and skill sets working on multiple small quantity customer orders, handling high variety, low volume orders. The defining difference in implementing lean between a repetitive manufacturer and a job shop is the type of analysis and tools that are used to identify and eliminate the waste that is occurring. The tools often deployed in make-to-order environments are quick setup, small lot production, pull, cross training, TPM, 5S and visual systems. |
|
© 2006-2010 Insyte Consulting | 726 Exchange Street, Suite 812, Buffalo, NY 14210 | 716.636.3626 Contact | Site Map | Accessibility Statement | Privacy Policy |
|
