Beacon Quality Blog

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.

Read More >

Quality guru Shigeo Shingo once said, “Improvement usually means doing something that we have never done before.” For many in the aerospace industry, the exploration of lean manufacturing principles would qualify not only as something new, but also as something that merits consideration.

Lean manufacturing is a methodology for improving processes with continuous improvement (kaizen) and eliminating waste in the workplace. Many think of lean manufacturing as North America’s answer to the Toyota Production System (TPS), which enabled Toyota to deliver a wider variety of products more efficiently than the traditional mass production techniques of the era.

Read More >

To achieve continuous process improvement, your organization needs a proven method for uncovering the root cause of nonconformances. A root cause analysis (RCA) can incorporate a wide range of quality methods that ultimately help identify what, how, and why an event occurred so that you can take the necessary steps to ensure that it does not repeat. The RCA process includes four basic steps:

• Collecting relevant information about the nonconformance
• Charting the causal factors
• Pinpointing root causes
• Developing and recommending solutions or corrective actions to address the root cause

If your organization has embraced lean manufacturing principles, then you are likely ahead of the curve in producing what is needed, when it is needed. You have learned that lean techniques, when successfully implemented, can help your organization reduce waste and improve process efficiency.

Read More >

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.

Read More >

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:

Read More >

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).

Read More >

To be the best at something requires patience, determination, focus, and constant improvement.  Toyota aimed to be the best when they developed practical methods of applying the lean methodology to manufacturing after World War II. Benefits of lean include:

• Reduced waste and rework
• Reduced costs
• Faster production time
• Faster changeover times
• Improved overall efficiency
• A bigger bottom line

Read More >

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.

Read More >

Going on a Gemba Walk helps you understand what is happening in a given area, how it happens, and why what is supposed to happen is or isn’t.

In general, a Gemba Walk (a “real place” walk; in manufacturing, this is the factory floor) means going to where the action is. Rather than sitting at your desk and using graphs, statistics, and charts to try to improve things, you can proceed to the factory to observe processes and interact with shop personnel.

Read More >