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Four Principles for Jump-starting Performance Improvement - Understanding Non-conformance
May 18, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: Quality Management, Project Management Best Practices
Four Principles for Jump-starting Performance Improvement - Understanding Non-conformance (#4 in the series Four Principles for Jump-starting Performance Improvement)
By Forrest W. Breyfogle, III
Non-conformance can be traced to two different types of variability. One is special cause, or glitches in the process, such as faulty assembly of a product by an employee. The other is common cause, such as predictable variability of suppliers’ raw materials or a flaw in the design of a product or a system.
In many organizations special cause and common cause issues are treated identically. The business goes into fire-fighting mode whenever a product is not meeting specification. Quite often the blame game comes into active play and the problem is resolved (temporarily) with someone’s reprimand or termination.
Successful organizations distinguish between the two types of non-conformance. Typically they find the vast majority of non-conformance situations require that the system itself must be modified. W. Edwards Deming has estimated that 94% of problems are due to common cause variability and only 6% are due to special cause variability. Successful businesses use IEE to analyze the system up and down the line to eliminate or at least lessen the frequency of common cause non-conformance.
Adapted from “The Integrated Enterprise Excellence System: An Enhanced, Unified Approach to Balanced Scorecards, Strategic Planning, and Business Improvement,” (copyright Bridgeway Books., 2008) by Forrest W. Breyfogle III, CEO of Smarter Solutions, Inc., www.smartersolutions.com
Forrest W. Breyfogle, III, is the founder and CEO of www.smartersolutions.com, an Austin, Texas-based company. He has authored and co-authored 11 books and published over 80 technical resources for well known, worldwide publications on Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma and Lean methods. In 2004, he was the recipient of the American Society for Quality Crosby Medal for his book, “Implementing Six Sigma,” 2nd edition. Breyfogle is an ASQ Fellow and a member of the board of advisors for the University of Texas Center for Performing Excellence.
Smarter Solutions maintains an articles section, which can be found at http://www.smartersolutions.com/articles.php.
Related Articles
- Four Principles for Jump-starting Performance Improvement - Introduction
- Four Principles for Jump-starting Performance Improvement - A Healthy View of Numbers
- Four Principles for Jump-starting Performance Improvement - Anticipating Resistance
- Understanding Authority Levels
- Four Principles for Jump-starting Performance Improvement - Satellite vs. 30,000-foot Metrics
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