Beacon Quality Blog

World-class organizations live and breathe a culture of continuous improvement. When an error occurs, management systems kick in to investigate and prevent the cause. Even when problems do not occur, employees look for ways to reduce waste and improve performance. But how exactly does one create a culture of continuous improvement? A key catalyst is often a management tool called Layered Process Audits (LPAs).

When used properly, layered process audits can foster a culture of quality throughout an organization, thus leading to reduced scrap and rework, fewer customer complaints, and greater productivity. A Harvard Business Review article on sustainable performance makes a clear case for the benefits of total workforce involvement. This creates a culture of shared performance feedback and provides a greater sense of control in how things get done.

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Just hearing the word “audit” can send some people into a frenzy. Whether it is a financial audit, an environmental audit, or even a basic process audit on the shop floor of a manufacturing plant, the person facing an auditor’s questions is likely to feel uncomfortable, if not downright defensive. But what if you could reverse the negative connotations associated with audits and show that the audit process can indeed yield positive consequences such as improved communication among your employees? If your organization is conducting layered process audits (LPAs), then you already have a mechanism in place to enhance consistent, two-way communication in the workforce.

Some of your shop floor employees may rely on their memories when completing important process steps, rather than referring to written procedures—this, of course, can result in deviations to written standards and potential nonconformances. A shop floor operator may feel uncomfortable admitting to a mistake or placing blame on a process that is simply not working. When a process change is implemented, employees must change habits that may be quite ingrained over time. As a result, some employees might slip back into old habits and processes. LPAs help ensure that this doesn’t happen and that work is being performed as intended.

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It all boils down to ensuring quality. Conducting audits helps do this.  

Popular and effective approaches to achieving quality are: conducting process audits and conducting layered process audits (LPAs). We will examine both, pointing out the differences between these two methods and revealing why layered process audits can be more effective and thorough.

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For some organizations one of the first steps in their lean journey is the use of a quality management method known as 5S. This basic, introductory technique helps an organization become familiar and comfortable with the building blocks of continuous improvement by engaging workers in activities that better the workplace and the organization as a whole.  

With its origins in Japan, this method focuses on establishing a quality environment within an organization and ensuring follow through on work standards. The method, which helps foster a culture of continuous improvement, includes the following five elements:

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Does your organization use process failure modes and effects analysis (PFMEA) on a routine basis to identify potential failures in product design, manufacturing or assembly processes? If so, this practice could do double duty by also serving as an effective technique for identifying at-risk processes on which to focus your layered process audits (LPAs).

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Not too long ago, the Harvard Business Review published an article suggesting what companies should do in order to institute a culture of quality. The article is based in large part on a two-year study that CEB, Inc. conducted on the subject. The research and the article promote a number of provocative ideas:

• Social media marketing has made it easy for consumers and customers to compare products and register complaints, which drives companies to emphasise quality more than ever.
• Since the Great Recession in 2008-2009, cycle times have decreased, and output gains have increased faster than employment levels, with employees often struggling to keep up and maintain quality.
• The traditional approach to instituting quality—monetary incentives, sharing best practices, and training—does not alone produce a culture of quality.
• Employees and companies that live quality—in other words, when people are fervent about quality as a personal value, rather than a value ordered from the top down—best create a culture of quality.

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An article in the Harvard Business Review noted that organizations, including OEMs, are "... increasingly relying on their suppliers to reduce costs, improve quality, and develop new processes and products faster than their rivals’ vendors can ... The issue isn’t whether companies should turn arms-length relationships with suppliers into close partnerships, but how." One way that OEMs are working with their tier one suppliers to improve quality is through Layered Process Audits (LPAs).

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When many of us think of a road map we envision an unwieldy, impossible-to-fold item that our parents or grandparents used for navigating the family’s vacation route before the days of GPS. But, according to Webster’s online dictionary, a road map is also a detailed plan to guide progress toward a goal. If your goal is to conduct layered process audits (LPAs) that not only meet customer requirements but also enhance the culture of quality in your organization, then you need a comprehensive road map or checklist to reach your destination.

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You’ve heard it before: What gets measured gets done. Part of planning to reach an objective is measuring what must be improved in order to move forward—in a word, metrics. Metrics give companies a way to define success and a path toward achieving their goals.

Quality Standards

Plant managers and owners strive to ensure that their plants comply with quality standards. One of the best ways to achieve this is to use metrics.

Employing an array of key metrics can help assure that plant personnel identifies details that ultimately make up the objective and meet the standards quality owners and managers require. Having definite measurements, targets, and planned actions (the first three parts of the SMART mnemonic: Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time-Based) helps achieve the high standards managers and owners set while recognizing that goals that are too lofty often can lead to worker discouragement.

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