Ch2 JAD Breakthrough and Beyond.pdf - Juran Institute

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32 CHAPTER Two THE BASIC TASK OF MANAGEMENT: THE JURAN TRILOGY 33 forces have no skill in, or responsibility for, product or process design or redesign.) As time passes, the chronic level of waste becomes regarded as the norm. ("That's how it is in this business.") Some think of it as a fate that is not susceptible to improvement. With the passage of more time, almost by default, the "norm" eventually becomes designated as the "standard," and the associated costs of poor quality are unknowingly built into the budget! In our example, unless the COp3 does not in effect exceed 22 percent, performance is not regarded as abnormal or bad, or exceeding the budget! The organization has thus desensitized itself from recognizing its major opportunities for bottom-line-boosting improvements. (Dr. Juran would say that the management alarm system has been disconnected.) Furthermore, the cost accounting system usually does not provide managers with complete information about the levels of COp3. So it is not surprising that defects are not addressed and corrected. CONTROL To return to Figure 2.3, when the COp3 sporadically flares up to unusually high levels in some locations, this triggers troubleshooting or quality control. Control consists of measuring actual performance, comparing actual to the standard, and taking action on the (bad) difference. Control employs the feedback loop, which results in corrective action. The elements of the feedback loop (and hence of control) are (I) the control subject, which is the process or product characteristic to be controlled; (2) a sensor, which measures the control subject; and (3) an umpire who receives the measure from the sensor, and then consults (4) the standard (expressed in units of measure). If the standard is not met, the umpire energizes (5) an actuator, who adjusts the process to bring it back into compliance with the standard. The actuator may be a device, a supervisor, or persons doing the work being controlled. Example of Control The thermostat. The thermostat is an example of an automated feedback loop, where all the elements of the feedback Measure Actual Performance FIGURE 2.4 OK Control feedback loop. Regulate Process Not OK Established Standards loop, except establishing the standard, are performed automatically by means of a device or devices. (1) The control subject is ambient air -temperature. (2) The sensor is a thermometer that measures temperature. (3) The standard is whatever temperature at which the thermostat is set. (4) The umpire consists of mechanical contacts. As temperature increases beyond the temperature setting, contact is made, which energizes the (5) actuator (a circuit breaker) and the heat is shut off. When temperature falls below the temperature setting, the contact causes the heat to be turned back on. Control is a form of improvement, in the sense that a bad situation-failing to meet the standard-is made better by re-attaining the current standard, but it is not breakthrough improvement. It is merely removing unwanted change and restoring the process to meet the current standard. (A discussion of control is contained in Chapter 4, "The Control Processes.") Control is carried out by a more or less standard sequence of events: • Evaluate actual performance. • Compare actual performance with the standards. • Act on the (bad) difference. Attaining a better new standard of performance requires breakthrough in the chronic level of performance.
34 CHAPTER Two THE BASIC TASK OF MANAGEMENT: THE JURAN TRILOGY 35 BREAKTHROUGH In contrast to control, which seeks a stable state of conformance to current standards, breakthrough improvement seeks to create unprecedented beneficial change by improving on the standard itself. In our experience, once managers recognize the extent of COp3 (usually by performing a COp3 study), their dissatisfaction with the results of the study usually leads them to make a conscious deliberate decision to make lasting improvements by setting in motion breakthrough improvement. "Breakthrough improvement" is one component of the Juran Trilogy. It refers to meticulously diagnosing the root causes of chronic, mysterious, costly problems with existing products or processes; devising remedial changes that remove or go around the causes; and implementing new controls so the problem cannot return. NOTE: "Going around the causes" refers to the situation when no change to the process or no technology is capable of removing a cause. In this case, it becomes necessary to make the symptoms of the problem "robust" to the cause, that is, unaffected by the cause. Accomplishing this can be challenging, and sometimes may not be possible. Nevertheless, the attempt is made. On Figure 2.3, breakthrough improvement is represented by the dipping curve at the right. The diagram depicts a onetime breakthrough improvement effort that results in a gain in performance that goes on and on, perpetuated by the installation of new controls that prevent performance from returning to its previous not-so-good level. At the start of a breakthrough improvement effort, the desired remedy is not known. It is not even knowable, because the cause(s) of the problem are unknown. The problems that become candidates for breakthrough improvement are the chronic ones. (Sporadic problems are addressed by control.) They are chronic because they are mysterious. No one really knows the cause(s). Many will say they do, but rarely can breakthrough improvement project teams predict either what cause(s) the team will discover, or what remedial improvements will ultimately be designed and put into place. The work of a breakthrough improvement project team can be likened to the work of a detective squad: solve a mystery by assembling evidence that proves who are the guilty parties (what are the causes) and bring this evidence to court (management) for appropriate action. Breakthrough' improvement is carried out by a universal sequence of events, as follows: Breakthrough Improvement • Identify a problem (something wrong with a product, service, or process). • Establish a project. • Analyze symptoms to establish precise knowledge of baseline performance. • Generate and test theories as to what are the causes of the analyzed symptoms. • Identify root causes. • Develop remedial improvements-ehanges to the process that remove or go around the causes. • Establish new controls to prevent recurrence and to hold the new standards. • Deal with resistance to change. • Replicate the result. Practitioners of Six Sigma will recognize this as a fundamental way of expressing the Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control sequence followed in Six Sigma DMAIC Improvement. (Six Sigma and other approaches to breakthrough improvement are described in Chapter 8, "Breakthroughs in Current Performance.") Note that in following this sequence, much attention is paid to understanding thoroughly and in detail how the current "bad" process actually performs. Then, and only then, is an attempt made to understand what causes the process to produce the defects under investigation. When, and only when, evidence has been accumulated to prove what are the root causes, remedial changes to the process that produced the
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