Tony Rizzo wrote:
> <snip>
>
> The problem is that managers and executives have no practical
> understanding of variation or of methods for managing it.
> <snip to end>
>
> --
> Tony Rizzo
> CEO
> The Product Development Institute, Inc
In my experience you are not talking about the problem but about a
symptom of the underlying problem: Many managers believe variation is
the fault of the operator and that if the operator was doing a proper
job there would be no variation. They also believe thay have too many
other demands on their time to study those foolish notions the quality
folks are spreading around in order to preserve job security because no
one else can understand such nonsense.
Years ago when I was conducting a process improvement/quality control
class for machinists on the machine shop floor, many of the operators
picked up the notions very quickly and were able to reduce or eliminate
special causes of variation in their products over a period of just a
few shifts. However, when the middle manager came on the floor and
watched, he/she would often chide the worker for not adjusting for every
little deviation from the normative spec. Later, when I got a couple of
the middle managers into my classroom course and let them see the effect
of "chasing the bouncing ball" using a Quincux (sp?) they started to get
the idea but said that they were still getting severely gored by upper
management whenever a single unit failed to meet the absolute center
spec.
You have not identified a new problem but one that is generations old.
Solving it requires changes at ALL levels of a company, from the shop
floor to the boardroom. The operators and middle management will get on
board when they see that upper management is truly committed to the
program. The only way to get senior management to learn about variation
is for the CEO and COO of that company to tell them that quality
improvement requires them to "Learn the talk, talk the talk, and finally
walk the talk ... or walk."
Tom Gatliffe
Overpaid Statistician
("Overpaid" because I love my job and am often tactlessly passionate
about it.)
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