Express inspection of a manufacturing enterprise (quality, processes, methods)

Client: “Anyone who comes to help us must understand everything about our business.”

Edwards Deming: "Why? People who are competent in a given matter know everything except how to improve it. Improvement requires a new type of knowledge. And people in companies will have to make these improvements by combining new knowledge with what they already have." .

- Edwards Deming. Deadly diseases of management and obstacles to change

We offer an independent expert assessment of the current state of affairs in the field of improving the quality and efficiency of processes in your company.

Russian companies, with very few exceptions, trying to improve quality and productivity while treading water, have not previously taken advantage of the opportunity to see their processes from the perspective that our unique competencies in understanding represent. nature of variability real production processes and effective practice of applying management theory Edwards Deming . And this is not an advertising exaggeration.

The survey is carried out on a “come and see” basis, begins with a visit to the production workshops and can affect all the main departments of the company (design, purchasing, maintenance, production, quality control, sales).

The examination is carried out by: Sergey P. Grigoryev , Scientific Director of the Center for Advanced Quality Management Tools, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Main direction of examination

An express inspection of the Customer's enterprise is carried out with the aim of developing specific measures aimed at improving the key characteristics of the quality of manufactured products and, as a result, increasing productivity in the shortest possible time - without new equipment and without new people¹ . The survey focuses on the work environment, processes, data collection and analysis methods.

¹See one of the examples in the open solution “New machines, robotics and devices are not a panacea!”
and one of the explanations in the article "Right and wrong ways to use tolerance fields?"

The number of items and corresponding key quality characteristics is one of the factors determining the timing of an express survey of an enterprise.

The purpose of the survey is to help start the Edwards Deming chain reaction:

Date

The duration of an in-person visit to the enterprise for an express examination can be from 1 day.

All the express surveys we conducted indicate a natural homogeneity of problems in all areas of the enterprise being surveyed. Often it is enough to select the most problematic area for inspection, which significantly reduces the scope of the inspection, while the depth of studying the essence of the problems of the entire enterprise does not decrease. But shortening the duration of the visit will naturally reduce the volume of specific measures developed to improve quality in some areas that we have not examined.

For example, for the work of a Center expert, a comprehensive study of the situation with the three most problematic (defects, alterations) key quality characteristics of one part for the Customer may be planned within 1 (one) working day at the Customer’s territory.

Report

A report on the results of the survey with proposed measures aimed at improving the quality of products and services will be provided within two weeks.

For reference. Based on the results of our express surveys of manufacturing companies, the size of reports with recommendations in the area of ​​our unique competencies ranges from 30 to 100 pages.

Cost and terms of payment for work

The cost of express inspection of an enterprise is: 75,000.00 rubles/one day of visit , NDS is not appearing. This cost includes work to assess the current state of affairs in the company, analyze the provided data using Shewhart control charts and develop recommendations that will be presented in the report based on the results of the survey. Before the examination begins, 100% prepayment is required.

Travel expenses

For businesses located outside of St. Petersburg, additional payment will be required for flights, transfers from the airport to the hotel and back, and hotel accommodation for the duration of the visit plus two nights.

All documents for accounting are transmitted electronically and signed with a qualified electronic signature of the supplier, issued by the Certification Center of the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

Technical requirements for a work office at the customer’s premises

Separate ventilated office.

Recommended roadmap for cooperation

Some additional survey questions

The critical importance of these issues for increasing the competitiveness of an enterprise is explained in the articles and open solutions our site.

1. What are you doing to bridge the gap between business units such as product design, purchasing, actual production, quality control, and sales?
2. What numerical goals and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators, KPIs) do you use to evaluate the performance of the company's main divisions (design, purchasing, production, sales) and the employees in them? Do you understand that by using them in the reward system, you destroy teamwork. Everyone presents or tries to present themselves in a favorable light for their own survival. The organization as a whole is losing.
3. How do you evaluate the work of employees within departments (functions)? Do you understand how to identify employees working within and outside the system with better or worse performance? If the answer is yes, what conclusions do you draw? Can you demonstrate data to support this understanding? Without knowledge about nature of variability and using Shewhart control charts you will not be able to answer this question. See the open solution for an explanation of the importance of this issue: A critical look at the use of KPIs in the personnel motivation system. Or how management deprives itself of the most important information for managing the company and destroys teamwork
4. Do you understand how to distinguish people who have achieved stability from those whose indicators are unstable, and what to do about it? Can you demonstrate data to support this analysis and conclusions? Without the use of Shewhart control charts, you will not be able to answer this question. See the explanation of the importance of this issue in the open decision indicated in Clause 3.
5. Are your production processes in a statistically controlled state? How do you know this? What data do you have? Can you demonstrate Shewhart control charts to confirm the statistical status of the most important processes?
6. Do you understand the difference between processes that are in a statistically uncontrollable (unpredictable) state and processes that are in a statistically controlled (stable) state? What's the difference?
7. Do you use the so-called “Permission Sheet” to pass defective parts to the next process? The essence of this method is to give defective products, depending on the degree of defectiveness, for example, the status of products of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd quality classes. All involved departments sign the “Permission Sheet” for each defective part, each of which must sign that this defect is not a defect at all.
8. Do you understand that tolerance boundaries (specifications) are not boundaries of action in relation to processes and people in them? It is pointless to analyze every case of defective products, since they can be a natural consequence of the “output” of a stable process. Can you confirm this understanding? See the article for an explanation of the importance of this issue: The nature of variability (variations, changeability) is the basis of statistical thinking that is different from thinking in terms of tolerances .
9. How do you help workers do their jobs better while minimizing losses from errors of the first and second kind ? Or do you think that the quality of the product produced by a worker is his personal area of ​​responsibility?
10. Do the supplier processes understand the requirements of the consumer processes for their products? In other words, are they aware of problems with their products at subsequent stages of production? How is this work done with external suppliers?
11. Do you evaluate the individual measurement system of all machine operators (stability, drift, error) that they use to control their process and which is especially important for the initial sorting of products into good and bad? Without the use of Shewhart control charts, you will not be able to answer this question.
12. Do you understand that operational adjustment of the process makes sense only for unstable processes, and adjustment of stable processes by operators leads to even greater variability (a greater spread of data around the average value), which deprives workers of understanding “what is happening”? See Donald Wheeler's article for an explanation: Correct and incorrect ways to use tolerance fields .
13. Do you keep records of measurements of key quality characteristics of semi-finished products and products? If so, how do you analyze these records? Can you demonstrate? And if you don't keep such records, how do you implement quality improvement without measurement?
14. How will you understand that the cause of defects was specific causes (signals) that need to be identified and eliminated at the shop level, and not general causes (noise), which are systemic (external to the process) problems that can only be solved with the participation of management enterprises? In other words, are you allowing workers to do their jobs in a meaningful way? How? Without the use of Shewhart control charts, you will not be able to answer this question.
15. Do you ensure traceability of materials at every stage of production processes to the final product? How?
16. When setting numerical goals, do you take into account the variability of your processes? Are these processes in a statistically stable (predictable) state? Do you understand the pointlessness of setting a specific numerical goal for stable and especially unstable (unpredictable) processes? Can you demonstrate this understanding? Without the use of Shewhart control charts, you will not be able to answer this question.
17. What methods do you use to increase the satisfaction of your company's workforce? Do you think people at work take pride in their work?
18. What methods do you use to significantly reduce or completely eliminate defects in manufactured products and, as a result, significantly increase productivity? What evidence shows the effectiveness of this work?
19. How do you understand the definition of world-class quality: “Fine tuning to target (nominal) with minimal variance”?
20. How do you monitor compliance with the approved production technology, especially if your workers are paid piecework? See article: Quality or quantity? Piece work or time work? What instead?
21. How do you separate products into conforming and non-conforming before shipment to the buyer? Do you consider the evaluation of your measurement system (stability, measurement system error, consistency, bias) when doing this? Do you know these parameters of the receiving party's measuring system? Why do you think this is important?
22. Are your suppliers pursuing new product development and technology improvements that positively impact the quality of your inputs and finished products? Are you involved in this process? Can you demonstrate data to support these improvements?
23. Are your suppliers' production processes stable? How do you know this? What data do you have? Without the use of Shewhart control charts, you will not be able to answer this question.
24. Are you working on developing accurate operational definitions defects so that you and your customers/suppliers have the same understanding of what a defect is? Do you check whether these definitions work with them in a consistent manner? How is this work carried out with internal suppliers and consumers? Do all your inspectors have the same understanding of what a defect is? What about the operators?
25. Do you continue to use ineffective application rules" selective quality control tables "in terms of attributing the results of incoming sampling inspection to the entire supplier's batch? Why?
26. Do you use a control plan to minimize the average total cost of control and losses from passing defective incoming materials? all or nothing "? If not, why? If yes, how?
27. Does your procurement department strive to obtain contracts for the purchase of raw materials and materials at the lowest prices? Do you keep records of the full cost of using such materials? If the answer is yes, can you demonstrate data that supports such accounting and analysis?
28. Do you have more than one supplier for similar materials and components that you regularly buy? How does this affect your production? What about partnerships with suppliers?
29. Is your design department aware of the statistical state of manufacturing processes (stable or unpredictable) and the amount of variability in the quality characteristics of the actual parts produced in-house or supplied by suppliers? What data do designers have about this? Can you demonstrate Shewhart control charts for key quality characteristics of such parts? In other words, the design department understands what and to what extent it neglects when creating digital models (digital twins) , because of which people in production will face problems in producing suitable parts and when assembling components, and the company as a whole will suffer economic losses that depend on this? Without the use of Shewhart control charts, you will not be able to answer this question.

If you need to keep real data secret, you can pre-encrypt it, which will not affect the conclusions.

The information presented on this page is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or public offer. Prices, terms and availability of products or services are subject to change without notice. For detailed information about prices, conditions and ordering, please contact us.