CvdB

las siete nuevas herramientas de la TQM

Definición: Durante los primeros años de la década de los 70, la TQC (control de calidad total) fue amplificandose como TQM (gestión de calidad total). Sus técnicas intentaron imponerse tambien en áreas de servicios y administrativas. Nyatanni les dió forma y sirvió de líder en la propagación de siete nuevas herramientas, muy adecuadas para mejorar el planeamiento empresarial.

The data clearly showed that as process complexity increased, the rate of continuous improvement declined (the half-life became larger). Furthermore, organizational complexity was far more important than technical complexity in slowing the rate of improvement. In fact, it had nearly three times the effect that increased technical complexity produced. Since the observed rate of improvement slows with increasing complexity, we are led to the obvious question of whether there exists a complexity level above which improvement fails and the half-life becomes infinite.

The Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (J.U.S.E.) embarked on a process for developing a set of tools that would be more useful in solving increasingly complex problems. The results of these efforts were first published in 1977. They proved to be very successful.

Unlike the usual analytic tools that deal with a series of numbers, the seven management tools deal with language-based data. They are tools for fact processing, rather than numerical data processing. A typical piece of language data9 is a statement of a fact, for example: "25 percent of the policy committee meetings in 1995 started more than 15 minutes late." Because of their dependence on language, a shared understanding and use of the science of semantics is a prerequisite.

The Type II processes are moderately complex and have static interactions. They are the current frontier of T.Q.M. and the seven management tools.

We are beginning to understand a new T.Q.M. tool set, the seven management tools. They appear effective for dealing with the Type II medium-complexity cross-functional problems that are omnipresent in the middle of our organizations

Type I processes that are independent and static are the proven world of Q.C. circles. This leads us to the final version of our complexity map. The top circle represents the complex interactive and dynamic processes that occupy much of the time of top management. These are the processes that are often counterintuitive in their behavior. Should they be the realm of individual intuitive managers who rely on mental models? Or can teams of people address these issues? What tools should they use?

Type III problems. These are highly complex, interactive and dynamic and seem to create the greatest amount of pain both inside and outside of our organizations. The T.Q.M. mandate to "manage by fact," interpreted literally, gives short shrift to innovation and insight as a legitimate problem-solving method. People who repeatedly make good decisions in highly complex situations based on their experience or gut feelings have significant contributions to make. Even if they cannot explain the workings of their mental models of a situation, it does not mean that those models are incorrect. Often they are better than the descriptions that we force to fit into our analytical frameworks. Holistic problem-solving finds the right balance between data collection and analysis and the undescribed mental models of effective problem solvers. Our ability to form mental models of complex situations, however, has not kept pace with the rate of increase in complexity.

These Type III processes currently lie outside of the boundary of T.Q.M.

It is time that we re-examine simulation modeling as a tool to be added to the T.Q.M. tool set in order to move the boundary of its applicability up the complexity diagonal. I say re-examine because simulation modeling of complex, interactive, dynamic systems was introduced by Jay Forrester of M.I.T. in the early 1950's.15 Mr. Forrester recognized the role of feedback loops in determining the dynamic behavior of complex systems.

LA RECETA DE LOS CINCO POR QUÉS ENCADENADOS--As an example, consider the order-fulfillment process. One of its defects is late shipment to customers. Why 1: Why were 30 percent of our shipments made late to our customers? Because 1: Because 20 percent of the late lines were held up by the credit department. Why 2: Why were lines held up by the credit department? Because 2: Because for 25 percent of those held up, the customers exceeded their credit limits. Why 3: Why did these customers exceed their credit limits? Because 3: Because 80 percent of the time when they placed the order, they didn't know that the order would put them over their credit limits. Why 4: Why didn't they know that the order put them over their credit limits? Because 4: Because 98 percent of the time we didn't know that the order would put them over their credit limits, so we couldn't tell them. Why 5: Why didn't we know that the order would put them over their credit limits? Because 5: Because the order-entry screen does not show current available credit for each customer. By the time a team answers the fifth "why," both the root cause and corrective action become very clear. Fifth "why" solutions usually involve straightforward reversal of the root cause. In this example, adding "available credit" to the order-entry screen was a simple cure for this part of the problem. You may have calculated from this example that the solution improved on-time delivery by only 1 percent. To make a major dent on these kinds of problems, you need to have many teams working on the many elements of the problem. Hence, the use of the term "mass movement" to describe Q.C. circle activities. This process, often illustrated with successive Pareto diagrams, used to be referred to as "peeling the onion." Others call it "drill down." It is also related to the solution to the proverbial question "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer: "One bite at a time." Because each bite may represent a fraction of a percent of the total problem, many teams must be gnawing away at all of the parts of the problem. At Analog Devices, we mobilized more than 50 teams throughout the corporation to work on improving the order-fulfillment process. In the period 1986-1990, they succeeded in reducing late shipments from more than 30 percent to less than 3 percent. Occasionally, by accident or intent, a genius comes along and solves a problem at the first or second "why" level.

20.abr.1999

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Glosario de Carlos von der Becke.

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