Generate and evaluate solutions
Eva Chan© 2012 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
DS-624 Quality Management
August, 5 2019
© 2014 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
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© 2012 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
Improve Phase
Brainstorming solutions
- Generate solutions (creative phase)
- Selecy solutions (evaluate phase)
- FMEA
Agenda
© 2014 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
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Roadmap – Improve
Define
Houston, we
have a problem
Measure
How bad is it?
Analyze
Find the
Root Cause
Improve
Fix it- Eliminate
Root Cause
Control
Make it
stay fixed
Generate, evaluate & select
solution
FMEA
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Introduction to Improve
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This roadmap shows the activities and tools of the Improve phase. It is designed to give you a good overview of the main steps in Improve.
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Brainstorm Solutions
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Solutions
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In the Yellow Belt WorkOut, you learned some of these techniques, but this section will serve as a review of those techniques and will also introduce others. Chose what works best for your situation, climate and team.
Brainstorming Process
Generate (Creative)
- Using various techniques to create ideas
- Quantity over quality
- Ensuring all team members interpret ideas the same way
Select (Evaluate)
- Discuss pros & cons for each ideas
The rules of brainstorming are not made to be broken. Adhere to them to keep the free flow of ideas coming.
Note that the worst form of “judgment” happens in people’s own minds (what you can call “self-censorship”). Encourage people to ignore that little voice that tells them: “silly idea” or “they’ll never buy it” and to just blurt out their thoughts.
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Solutions
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What Ideas to Generate?
Ideas should addressed the root causes
Y = f( x1, x2, …)
Brainstorm ideas per each of the significant drivers identified in the Analyze phase.
Creating Innovative Ideas
Brainstorming at its best:
- Generates excitement – engages everyone on the team
- Enables team to collect large amounts of ideas quickly
- Opens the range of possibilities
- Can add FUN to team sessions
Ideas are the raw material of the design effort. The ability to come up with NEW ideas – or to apply old ideas in new ways – can be a major factor in the results you achieve.
All too often, brainstorming is a less-than-inspiring activity. But done well (with a little planning and creativity upfront) it can be both fun and a source of great new ideas!
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Solutions
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Brainstorming Session Planning
Be clear on the objective of any brainstorming meeting
Notify participants in advance
Consider the time of day, day of week to get the most innovative ideas.
Ways to Enhance Brainstorming
Use techniques to transition from “work” focus to creative thinking
Brain teasers
Social time
Jokes and “war stories”
Inspirational messages, movies, etc.
Consider which method(s) works best for the team and the project
Use a more structured method with large or new teams
Use silent brainstorming if the need calls for it
Don’t be afraid to try something new
Allow TIME for critical brainstorming
To allow time for ideas to “percolate”:
- Brainstorm your first-pass ideas
- Narrow to best few
- Take a break, (at least overnight)
- Then… come back fresh and add new ideas or develop existing ones further
Note: With idea generation, quantity is just as important as quality.
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Solutions
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Idea Research (Expanding Your Thinking)
Looking outside your normal environment for inspiration
or practical approaches that can be turned into
solution ideas.
Best Practices/Benchmarking
Research
Future Trends Analysis
All ideas don’t have to come from your heads. Use other businesses and situations to foster ideas new to your business.
Best Practices/Benchmarking
Other companies may have developed new and better ways that you can adopt and adapt. Reading, talking with and even visiting other organizations can be a great source of new perspectives and ideas.
Research
Industry publications, conferences, the Internet, even the nightly news can give you information and points of view that prompt new thinking.
Future Trends Analysis
Before brainstorming, consider holding a discussion about “How will things be in five or ten years?” Look for clues of changing customer habits and needs, new technologies, legislative or regulatory amendments. Bringing in an outside “expert - even from an unrelated field - can help free your thinking for the “new world” of the future.
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Solutions
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Process Design/Redesign Ideas
Reduce or Eliminate:
- Rework
Increase or Improve:
- Customer influence, involvement.
- Sequential processing
- Batch work
- Moves and handoffs
- Approvals/inspections
- Delays or bottlenecks
- Employee skills/knowledge
- Parallel processing
- Non-stop processing
- Appreciation/accountability for entire job
- Clear line of sight from process to process
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Solutions
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Evaluate Solutions
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Solutions
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This section has expanded on the Yellow Belt WorkOut but also has some same options presented in that class.
Evaluating & Selecting Solutions
Tools to use in this stage of the projects are:
Impact and Effort matrix
Weighted Criteria matrix
Pilot solutions
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Solutions
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Tools for Selecting Solutions
Impact & Effort Matrix
Weighted Criteria Matrix
- Very simple
- Good to screen many solutions
- Does not differentiate between criteria
- Differentiates between different criteria
- Weights different criteria
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Solutions
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Impact & Effort Matrix
Put together a matrix:
- Impact (Benefits) on the left y-axis
- Effort (Costs) along the bottom x-axis
A qualitative method for screening many solutions
Low Effort High
Low Impact High
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Best Solutions
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Solutions
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Conduct a monetary cost benefit analysis for the best solutions
Weighted Criteria Matrix
Choosing a solution can be easy. One choice may show clear advantages over others and be a “consensus pick” by the team and Champion.
Easy or challenging, however, working through a formal decision analysis can contribute to your overall success by helping you to:
Build a strong case for the solution by showing clearly why your choice is best and that you considered other possibilities
Consider all key aspects of the solution: benefits, costs, logistics, risks, etc.
Prepare for implementation by locating any weaknesses in the solution early
Because the choice of a solution is more “final” than choosing a problem to work on (we can always go back to the list of problems) a weighted matrix is a useful approach in this step.
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Solutions
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Weighted Criteria Matrix – Steps
1. Identify selection criteria
- What factors/features are key to success?
- Include a mix of criteria
3. Evaluate each Solution Statement
- Include comment about alternatives compared to criteria
- Compare and select best for each criterion; give a “10”
- Score other solutions relative to the best
2. Weight criteria
- Use 10–1 scale (10 is “most important”)
4. Multiply score by weight; total weighted scores
- Check “winner” for potential problems before final choice
Choosing a solution can be easy. One choice may show clear advantages over others and be a “consensus pick” by the team and Champion.
Easy or challenging, however, working through a formal decision analysis can contribute to your overall success by helping you to:
Build a strong case for the solution by showing clearly why your choice is best and that you considered other possibilities
Consider all key aspects of the solution: benefits, costs, logistics, risks, etc.
Prepare for implementation by locating any weaknesses in the solution early
Because the choice of a solution is more “final” than choosing a problem to work on (we can always go back to the list of problems) a weighted matrix is a useful approach in this step.
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Solutions
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Pop Quiz
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Error Proofing
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A systematic and disciplined approach to anticipate and mitigate failure of system, process or design.
Identify and characterize risk
Severity of a failure mode and its causes
Likelihood of the causes
Ability to detect causes and failure modes
Measurement of error sources
Identifies ways a system, process or design can fail and prevent failure modes from happening.
Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
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Error Proofing
IIL-LSSGB
A systematic and disciplined approach to anticipate and mitigate failure of system, process or design.
Identify and characterize risk
Severity of a failure mode and its causes
Likelihood of the causes
Ability to detect causes and failure modes
Measurement of error sources
Identifies ways a system, process or design can fail and prevent failure modes from happening.
Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
A tool to reduce or eliminate the likelihood and/or impact of a failure mode.
- Identify key process steps
Measure
Analyze
Improve
Control
- For analysis of cause
- To evaluate proposed changes
- To identify key control actions
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
6_EP-*
Error Proofing
IIL-LSSGB
A systematic and disciplined approach to anticipate and mitigate failure of system, process or design.
Identify and characterize risk
Severity of a failure mode and its causes
Likelihood of the causes
Ability to detect causes and failure modes
Measurement of error sources
Identifies ways a system, process or design can fail and prevent failure modes from happening.
FMEA Definitions
Failure Mode | Way in which a process could fail |
Effect | Impact on customers – internal and external – |
Cause | Underlying phenomena that instigate or create failure modes |
Severity (SEV) | Significance of impact of effect to internal or external customers. A number between 1 (best) and 10 (worst) assigned to signify severity |
Occurrence (OCC) | Likelihood of the cause of the failure mode to occur. A number between 1 (rare) and 10 (certain) assigned to signify occurrence. |
Detection (DET) | Ability of current system to detect the cause or failure mode . A number between 1 (best) to 10 (worst) to signify detectability. |
Risk Priority Number (RPN) | A numerical calculation of the relative risk of a particular failure mode. RPN = SEVxOCCxDET. This number is then used to place priority on which items need additional quality planning or controls in place. |
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Error Proofing
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Failure Mode – the way in which a specific process input fails – if not detected and either corrected or removed, will cause an effect to occur. Can be associated with a defect or a process input variable that goes outside of specification.
Effect – impact on customer requirements. Generally external customer focus, but can also include downstream processes.
Calculating RPN
- Identify potential “failure modes”
- Describe effect
- Describe causes and their likelihood
- Describe existing detection controls
- .Rate each: Severity, Occurrence & Detectability
- Calculate the risk-priority number (RPN).
- List process steps
- Focus prevention on highest
priority areas
Calculating Risk Priority Number (RPN)
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Calculating RPN
Calculating
Risk Priority
Number (RPN)
Calculating Risk Priority Number (RPN)
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FMEA Priorities
Order of priority for managing identified risks:
- Prevent – what can be done to prevent this from happening?
- Identify earlier – is there a way to determine that this condition exists before it becomes a problem?
- Mitigate – now that it is happening, what can be done to reduce the impact?
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Error Proofing
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© 2012 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
Exercise 8:
Generate solutions for 3 root causes – 10 pts
Exercises 8 & 9
Exercise 9:
Evaluate solutions generated – 10 pts
© 2012 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
Step 1: Type root cause number 1 here
Step 2: Brainstorm 3 potential solutions to root cause number 1
Solution 1: Type solution 1 here
Solution 2: Type solution 2 here
Solution 3: Type solution 3 here
Step 3: Evaluate solutions using the Impact & Effort matrix. Use numbered circles and place in the appropriate quadrant.
Exercises 8 & 9
Low Effort High
Low Impact High
1
2
3
© 2012 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
Step 1: Type root cause number 2 here
Step 2: Brainstorm 3 potential solutions to root cause number 2
Solution 1: Type solution 1 here
Solution 2: Type solution 2 here
Solution 3: Type solution 3 here
Step 3: Evaluate solutions using the Impact & Effort matrix. Use numbered circles and place in the appropriate quadrant.
Exercises 8 & 9
Low Effort High
Low Impact High
1
2
3
© 2012 International Institute for Learning, Inc.
Step 1: Type root cause number 3 here
Step 2: Brainstorm 3 potential solutions to root cause number 3
Solution 1: Type solution 1 here
Solution 2: Type solution 2 here
Solution 3: Type solution 3 here
Step 3: Evaluate solutions using the Impact & Effort matrix. Use numbered circles and place in the appropriate quadrant.
Exercises 8 & 9
Low Effort High
Low Impact High
1
2
3
Quiz #7
Lean Six Sigma Green Belt
6_EP-*
Error Proofing
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A systematic and disciplined approach to anticipate and mitigate failure of system, process or design.
Identify and characterize risk
Severity of a failure mode and its causes
Likelihood of the causes
Ability to detect causes and failure modes
Measurement of error sources
Identifies ways a system, process or design can fail and prevent failure modes from happening.