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Improving Quality Through Lean Concepts |
Training
The first step in successful Quality at the Source is training. Employees must be trained not only how to do the job, but with QATS they must be trained on what the critical quality points are at the step in the process where they are working. Additionally, they must be taught how to quickly inspect each item for these quality points. Because lean is intended to increase throughput, QATS inspections must be done quickly and then value-added activity can be conducted.
The QATS inspection should be visual and fast, with the employee looking for each quality point quickly and then moving on to the next point. After all quality points have been inspected, any corrective action necessary can then be initiated.
Visual Aids
The second step in creating Quality at the Source is the development of visual aids. The more common types of visual aids are simple tools used to show such things as standards, examples of good and bad, and methods for inspection. These visual aids come in many different forms, and can be as creative as necessary to produce the desired results. To assist with visual inspection, poke-yokes—mistake-proofing devices—can be used to speed up the inspection process.
One point lessons, or short visual presentations on a single point, also are commonly used with QATS as visual aids designed to show what should be inspected and how to perform the inspection. One point lessons are often created on paper or cardstock from 8½ inches by 11 inches up to poster board size. They rely heavily on photos with very little writing. The concept is to use the visual picture to guide the employee through the process.
In many manufacturing settings sample boards showing bad, marginally bad and good pieces may be used to help employees differentiate the various levels of parts being inspected. This can make it easier to identify and remove defects from the process.
Other types of visual aids include photographs, drawings, diagrams, samples of substitute parts, go/no-go gages and simple electronic tests. The concept behind these visual aids is to make it easier for employees to identify defects before value is added.
Documentation
The third step for development of a Quality at the Source initiative is documentation. Employees should not be expected to be able to remember each and every critical quality point throughout the value stream, particularly if there are numerous points at each step. To assist the workforce in remembering which items to inspect—and what to look for—documentation is used to provide reinforcement to the quality issues associated with the process.
This documentation should be simple quality checklists, not full-blown quality manuals, work instructions or standard operating procedures (SOPs). This is not intended to suggest that these other very necessary documents should be eliminated. In fact, each and every one of these documentation tools relies on each other for success. SOPs, which reside in the quality manual, can be used as a starting point from which work instructions can be developed that provide the basic steps associated with a task. Then from these work instructions a simple quality checklist can be created to quickly guide the employee through the quality aspects of the task and into the value-added activities.
Bringing It All Together
As the three components of Quality at the Source come together, the overall success of an organization’s quality system will improve. Not just a lean tool, QATS can provide great impact on any continuous improvement initiative.
Additionally, QATS brings not just the quality team another tool, but all employees receive a way to contribute to the quality movement of the company. Employees gain ownership through this empowerment and the number of quality contributors can then equal the number of employees in the organization. Previous |
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