Delivering Project Quality (2021 Update)

In many ways, project management is quality management. To provide products or services

that are of a consistently high quality, you’ll need a project management methodology that
focuses on continuous process improvement initiatives and adherence to applicable industry
standards.
In this course, you'll explore industry standards and process methodologies like Lean, Six
Sigma, Kanban, ISO 9000, and the International Organization for Standardization. You'll also
learn about using tools like value stream mapping and quality metric for project quality and
process improvement.
Table of Contents
1. Delivering Project Quality (2021 Update)
2. Quality Management
3. Quality Control
4. The Quality Cycle
5. Lean Methodology for Quality Improvement
6. Principles of Lean
7. Six Sigma for Quality Improvement
8. Quality Management and Continuous Improvement
9. The Kanban Pull System
10.Value Stream Mapping and Quality
11.Key Principles of ISO 9000
Delivering Project Quality (2021 Update)
[Video description begins] Topic title: Delivering Project Quality (2021 Update).
Your host for the session is Barbara Waters. [Video description ends]

Project Quality includes the way activities are performed behind the scenes, the
resulting deliverables, and the continuous cycle between them. In this course,
you’ll recognize quality methodologies, tools, and standards that support project
quality. This includes ISO 9000, Lean, Six Sigma, Kanban, and Value stream
mapping.
Quality Management
[Video description begins] Topic title: Quality Management. Your host for the
session is Barbara Waters. [Video description ends]

It is very common for the terms, manage quality and control quality to be used
interchangeably in everyday life. But in project management they are very
different things. Managing quality has to do with our processes and procedures
and the way that we perform project work. On the other hand, controlling quality
has to do with the deliverables or the product service or result we are creating
and whether that deliverable meets requirements.
Let's think about managing quality using the example of a restaurant. The
processes and procedures that we follow are often not observable by the
customer. They're happening behind the scenes. Are the employees storing the
food properly? Practicing hand washing procedures and preparing and assembling
the food consistently? These are all quality management related questions.
Notice we haven't asked about how the food looks or tastes. Those will be
questions for controlling quality. When we review our processes to ensure that
they are efficient and appropriate, and when we verify that we are all following
procedures, we are performing an audit.

Audits are used to assess our actions, and they are an important tool for
managing quality. Managing quality is somewhat related to prevention and
reducing the cost of quality. Managing quality includes taking the time to do
things right, training our employees and documenting our processes. In cost of
quality, all of these are conformance activities that fall under prevention costs.
These costs should be considered an investment that will pay off through fewer
defects and non-conformance incidents that can be much more expensive.

Let's go behind the scenes in a restaurant to identify the activities for managing
quality. Employees arrive for the start of their shifts. Perhaps they spend 10
minutes with the manager who reviews some of the important processes and
procedures with everyone to ensure that they are followed. This would be a
training investment. As employees are working in the kitchen, they periodically
confirm that food storage temperatures are correct. They also follow a visual card
that shows how food is to be assembled on the plate before being served to the
customer. These are examples of documenting processes.

At the end of a shift, employees break down all of the equipment for a thorough
cleaning and they routinely service the ovens. This would be an investment in
equipment. Finally, there is an understanding among the staff that steps will not
be skipped to save time or money and that the continued investment in
prevention is a cost that is well worth it. As we conduct audits and assess our
quality management processes, we may not discover problems or mistakes. Are
there still opportunities to improve? Absolutely, we can always take steps to
improve our processes using continuous improvement. While performing project
work, we should always be questioning the activities that don't add value and
work to remove or reduce those activities.
Excessive wait time between handoffs of project deliverables, repeatedly walking
long distances between workstations and under-utilizing employee skills can all be
considered wasteful. Focusing on the value added activities and eliminating
wasteful activities will result in more efficient processes. It is often the employees
who perform the actual work rather than management who can spot the
opportunities for improvement, because they know their jobs better than anyone.
In our restaurant kitchen example, the chef notices that she's been throwing
away a lot of produce at the end of each day. She modifies her standing order to
reduce the quantity of produce so less is wasted.

In another example, one line cook notices that he must walk around the other line
cook, every time he needs a certain ingredient that they both use. They decide it
would be better to place that ingredient in between them. Reducing the need for
extra movement in the kitchen. The dishwasher notices that there's some residual
food on the plates that requires washing them twice. By adding a pre-wash step
that takes only five minutes, the dishwasher can save 30 minutes by washing the
dishes only once. Continuous improvement does not have to be dramatic and
immediate. Improvements can be incrementally introduced into a process little by
little until a process is sufficiently improved. And I should mention that any of the
changes we make, as minor as they may seem, must go through change control to
ensure that the changes result in a benefit to the project as a whole.
Quality Control
[Video description begins] Topic title: Quality Control. Your host for the session is
Barbara Waters. [Video description ends]

Quality control has to do with the deliverables or the product, service or result we
are creating and whether that deliverable meets requirements. This is different
than quality management, which has to do with our processes and procedures
and the way that we perform project work. Let's think about quality control using
the example of a restaurant. This has to do with the deliverables and the
customer experience. Is the restaurant clean and inviting? Does the food taste
good and does it arrive in a reasonable amount of time? If I go to this restaurant
again tomorrow, will the food look and taste the same? What do the restaurant
reviews say about this establishment? These end user experiences occur when
the customer actually uses the deliverable.

Quality control is how we measure the deliverable against the requirements, to

make sure customer expectations are being met. When a customer finds a
problem with a deliverable, this is considered an external failure cost in cost of
quality. These costs are the most expensive in terms of money and reputation.
Wouldn't it be better if we could perform quality testing before we place a
deliverable in the hands of the customer? We can do this by performing our own
appraisals and testing.

Have you ever heard of a mystery shopper? That is a person who acts like a
patron of a restaurant or a retail store and then reports back to management.
They may be reporting on wait times, the manners and attentiveness of the wait
staff, the quality of the food, the cleanliness of the restrooms and more. A
mystery shopper is an investment in appraisal costs. They can provide valuable
feedback on items that need attention before they become non-conformance
issues in the hands of actual customers.

A health inspector is also part of the appraisal costs. The health inspector ensures
that the restaurant is conforming to quality requirements. If not, the inspector
can actually suspend the operation until quality is conforming again. As part of
the appraisal cost, the chef may also decide to taste every tenth plate of risotto to
make sure the rice is tender, but not sticky and that it is seasoned correctly. If the
chef notices a trend where the risotto is becoming too salty, she can advise the
staff to realign their processes to correct the issue.

If the chef decides to throw away a pot of risotto and start over, this is a bit more
expensive since it involves waste and rework. This is considered non-conformance
and an internal failure. However, this all happens behind the scenes and so the
worst type of failure, where the failure is in the hands of a customer, is avoided.
As we perform quality control, we may determine that changes are needed. Any
changes, as minor as they may seem, must go through change control to ensure
that the changes result in a benefit to the project as a whole.
The Quality Cycle
[Video description begins] Topic title: The Quality Cycle. Your host for the session
is Barbara Waters. [Video description ends]

There is a strong relationship between quality management and quality control.

The actions we take and the processes we follow have a direct effect on the
deliverables. In a restaurant, this means that proper food storage, hand washing
and following processes and procedures should result in an acceptable
deliverable. The food should look and taste good. The health standards are met
and customers should expect consistency from visit to visit. It should all work out,
right?

In spite of our best efforts to invest in good processes and to invest in quality
management, sometimes there is a breakdown. Something has gone wrong with
our deliverable and we have to figure out why. Let's say that a customer has just
brought to our attention that their silverware is spotted and dirty. Of course, we
are embarrassed and we make every attempt to satisfy them by removing the
charge for the meal and asking them to give us another chance in the future. The
fact that this defect made it into the hands of our customer is nonconformance
and an external failure cost. We must act quickly to bring our quality back into
conformance where we prevent these types of defects.

Where do we begin? The best thing to do is perform a root cause analysis. What
caused the silverware to be spotted and dirty? What quality control tool can we
use to perform a root cause analysis? If you said Ishikawa or Fishbone diagram or
a cause and effect diagram, you were correct. We need to determine what caused
the defect of spots on the dishes. Is it a training issue?

Perhaps we have a new dish washer who wasn't properly trained and doesn't
know the dishes should be pre-washed before they're run through the dish
washer. Another possibility is that our equipment is breaking down. Perhaps the
dishwasher is not heating up to the proper temperature for sanitizing the dishes.
Did someone substitute our normal dishwashing detergent with something
different?

Using the root cause analysis will help us to identify and resolve the cause of the
problem. In a worst case scenario, what if our restaurant was experiencing serious
quality breakdowns in a number of different areas? This may seem hopeless, but
in fact, there is a very effective quality control tool that we can use. It will allow us
to identify and resolve a few key causes for most of these defects.

A Pareto diagram will allow us to identify the various causes of our defects. And
address those which will have the most impact on reducing defects. According to
the Pareto principle, 80% of the defects should come from only about 20% of the
causes. What does this mean? Let's say that we have one new employee who is
not properly trained. That employee could have an impact on many of our
processes. And therefore, the lack of training could be causing multiple defects. In
addition to this poorly trained employee, we may realize that we aren't doing a
great job documenting our processes. So not all employees are performing the
processes consistently. Again, this is a personnel related cause.

Finally, perhaps we discover that a recent change in vendor has resulted in a

lower quality of food ingredients. The poor quality raw materials we're using are
resulting in a poor quality deliverable. We must make a change in this area. While
it may appear that everything in our restaurant is going wrong, if we can identify
just 20% of the causes we should be able to reduce 80% of the defects. That
would be time well spent and it will have a great impact on the quality of our
deliverable. The goal of a process improvement plan is to constantly move the
cost of quality from the expensive, high exposure, non-conformance area to the
less expensive, behind the scenes conformance area.

By identifying the relationship between quality control and quality management,

we can identify root causes of our defects, implement changes and improvements
to our processes, and reduce the number of defects and the overall cost of
quality. Of course, all of these process improvements must go through change
control to ensure that any changes benefit the project as a whole. We should note
that all of the examples we have discussed to this point have been defects due to
a special cause. In other words, there was a reason or a cause for the defect. And
once we address the cause, we were able to eliminate the defect.

However, every process has normal variation where even the smallest number of
defects will occur. There will always be a few samples that fall outside the
acceptable tolerances. This normal variation is known as common cause and no
amount of investment or attention will prevent it. If you ever had two jelly beans
stuck together or flipped a coin only to have it land on its edge rather than on
either side, you have probably witnessed common cause. When no cause of a
defect can be found, it is helpful to know that common cause and normal
variation may be the culprit. A project manager should be able to determine the
type of cause after a root cause analysis has been performed.
Lean Methodology for Quality Improvement
[Topic title: Lean Methodology for Quality Improvement. Your host for the session
is Barbara Waters.]

Lean was originally developed in Japan for manufacturing and production but is
now widely used in many organizations. Rather than optimizing individual areas
through single improvement initiatives, the focus is on continually optimizing the
flow of goods and services throughout the various departments and ultimately to
the customer. Activities that add no value are eliminated. This includes waste as
well as the reduction of lead time from when a customer orders a product until it is
received.
Lean is a methodology that is used to improve the efficiency of processes and
quality of products and services through the elimination of waste. The
concentration is on the customer and their perspective of value in all aspects of the
process that deliver customer value.
Let's go through a quick overview of the four main stages of lean. Stage 1
identifies an opportunity where waste can be eliminated. In stage 2, we analyze the
current processes and design a new solution. In stage 3, we implement the design
for changes in the specific areas of the selected process. In stage 4, we
continuously review the results.
[Stage 1: Identification of Opportunity.] The first stage of the lean methodology
includes the analysis and review of a potential opportunity that can benefit from
improvements. Often, the improvement can be made by additional training of
employees as to how processes should be done. Since value is highly dependent on
the value perceived by the customer, communication may be required to ensure
that this is clearly understood. Even though this understanding is critical to identify
an opportunity, it should also be used to continually validate the costumer's
definition of value. Based on which aspects of the process the customer sees the
most value in and is willing to pay for, opportunities for improvement are selected
for further study.
[Stage 2: Solution Design.] As part of developing the solution design, an
opportunity for improvement that was selected is analyzed by observing the
process from beginning to end. In this example, the master schedule is
communicated to multiple processes [such as Develop Mail Piece, Compile
Names, Verify Credit and Address.] that are all involved in developing and
preparing to distribute a piece of mail. Individual activities are identified and the
time spent on each is recorded, as shown in days on this diagram. By
understanding all the steps, we can start to identify those that don't add value and
that the customer is unwilling to pay for. Those should be the ones that are selected
for possible elimination or reduction of effort.
[Stage 3: Solution Implementation.] In stage 3, we start looking at the
implementation of a solution. We've probably identified a number of potential
areas, but we need to determine which solution should be addressed first.
Identifying and prioritizing potential solutions that can be easily implemented and
also provide benefits can be done by determining the impact and implementation
effort required. These are often referred to as low-hanging fruit.
The goal of continuous improvement is to obtain near perfection. Employees who
have been directly involved in the improvements, including suggesting and acting
on those, are now ready to take ownership of their process. Using lessons learned,
team members will continue to generate and act on new ideas for improvement.
They will also be aware of additional areas that can be further improved in the
areas where they are involved. Being initially involved, they continue to find
additional ways to eliminate waste and areas where change will have an impact.
Having bought into this new way of doing things, they'll monitor the results to
determine if the improvements that have been made will be sustained.
Principles of Lean
[Topic title: Principles of Lean. Your host for the session is Barbara Waters.]

There are five laws that apply to both Six Sigma and Lean. And help increase the
flow of work while reducing waste and improving customer satisfaction.
The law of the market is the law upon which all other laws are derived. This states
that the customer is critical to quality and the highest priority. Without customers,
you have no business. All parts of the organization should ensure that customers
are continually satisfied.
The law of flexibility states, the time that it takes to perform a process is
proportional to the flexibility and ability of an organization to make changes. The
more receptive an organization is to changes and processes, the shorter the time
required for that change to be implemented.
The law of focus, states that 20% of activities cause 80% of the problems or delays
and is related to the Pareto principal. By identifying where delays originate, more
impact can be realized when that delay is then eliminated.
The law of velocity states that the velocity of any process is inversely proportional
to the amount of work in progress, or WIP. This is often referred to as Little's law.
The higher the number of unfinished tasks, the slower the process, and therefore
the longer the lead time.
And the law of complexity states that processes that are complex, add more non-
value and cost, rather than poor quality or processes that are performed slowly.
Complex products create more waste, as well as excess costs and work required.
This law is one of the important concepts that supports the values of Lean by
keeping products or services as simple as possible by removing all activities that
don't provide value.
There are four key concepts that highlight the Lean way of thinking with each
concept building on the previous one. Value must be defined by the customer, in
terms of expectations and perceptions, and what they're willing to pay for. Each
part of a process should be understood and those that create the value, identified
and optimized. It is important to have good communication with the customer, to
understand whether their needs are being satisfied, and to be able to change as their
needs change.
Understanding the value stream includes all activities and processes that are
involved in creating value for the customer, from taking a customer's order to its
delivery. This includes the identification of waste or non-value steps, as well as
those that provide value. This includes the suppliers, other areas of the
organization, as well as the customer, in addition to the internal processes. We
need to understand how to reduce or eliminate waste, and deliver the end result to
the customer in a shorter time. Even though I've referred to customer orders, this
concept can be applied to fulfilling requests for internal, as well as external
customers.
We want to move to where the customer demand creates the pull, or initiation of a
process, rather than relying on historical information or a market forecast. The
amount of wait time is reduced or eliminated as the successor activities are not
started until the predecessor has been completed. Stock on hand is reduced,
because we're not creating extra product just in case. But rather, just enough
product based on the need or an order that has been received.
The final concept, which is built on the results of all the others, is to strive for
perfection, which is the ideal product or service required by our customer by
continually improving our products and processes. This includes continual review
of the value stream, as well as the review of lessons learned from completed
efforts. And understand and apply those results to identify additional areas of
improvement. We need to understand what value we provide to our customers and
understand their changing needs. By continually reviewing and optimizing our
processes, we are better equipped to adapt to changes.
Six Sigma for Quality Improvement
[Topic title: Six Sigma for Quality Improvement. Your host for the session is
Barbara Waters.]

Six Sigma is a methodology based on Demming's plan, do, check, act cycle that
was originally introduced by Motorola in 1986. The Six Sigma methodology is
composed of five phases, define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. This is
often referred to by using the acronym DMAIC. This method is used extensively in
manufacturing and service industries to improve existing processes. But can also
be used to improve business processes of all types. The method comes from
statistics and uses a metric for measuring quality control. The metric chosen is
based on the concept that by measuring the defects per million opportunities,
processes can be analyzed, controlled and improved.
Defects per million opportunities, or DPMO, is shown by a bell curve graph and
used to compare the relative performance of a process against a mean. [The bell
curve displays. The x-axis represents the plus and minus standard deviations from
the mean. There is a lower specification limit and an upper specification
limit.] Using Six Sigma and standard deviations, we compare performance to
upper or lower specification limits shown on control charts. The bottom of the
chart shows the plus or minus standard deviations from the mean. To achieve a
level of Six Sigma or be 6 standard deviations from the mean, our process would
be operating at a 99.9997% defect free level, or only 3.4 defects per million. For
most control charts, two additional limits are identified. Upper and lower control
limits, which are set at a plus or minus 3 standard deviation.
Again, DEMAIC is the acronym for the five phases in the Six Sigma
process. [Define] The first is to define the scope of the study from the costumer's
point of view. [Measure] The second phase chooses the metric to be used to
measure and evaluate the current process. [Analyze] The third phase analyzes the
data and verifies existing defects, including the cause and effects of those defects.
Special focus is on identifying the root cause of defects. [Improve] Using various
techniques, improvements are identified and tested to see if they will reduce or
eliminate mistakes and improve the overall results in the improve
phase. [Control] The final phase implements control systems to monitor results.
When changes have been thoroughly tested, procedures are established to ensure
the improvements can be sustained.
One of the key concepts in Six Sigma refers to the transfer function. [that is, Y =
f(X)] The basic idea of this function is that output, or Y's, are depending on the
value of x or a function of x. If we consider the x's to represent inputs, then the
quality and value of the Y, or the output, depends on the quality of the inputs, or x.
Six Sigma uses this function to relate the inputs of a process to the outputs of a
process within an organization. Each process has a measurable output that becomes
the input for the next process.
The leverage principle enables teams to focus on continuous improvements by
improving outputs, by analyzing and making changes to inputs. A key aspect to
understand is that there are multiple inputs for our process, but some are more
important than others. Some inputs affect the output more than others, including
significant functional goals that directly influence an organization's key objectives
that matter relating to customer value. It is important to understand which activities
will help achieve those results.
The vital few versus trivial many is based on the Pareto principle, where 20% of
the inputs account for 80% of the influence on outputs. Once identified, we can use
a structured approach to analyze cause and effect relationships.
Other improvement tools used by Six Sigma methods to improve quality include
statistical process control tools, which help monitor the behavior of a process. The
most successful SPC tool is the control chart. These charts are often used to record
data and identify the occurrence of an unusual event. Variance and defect reduction
tools, including the seven quality management tools, are helpful in analyzing and
improving processes as part of a total quality management approach. These relate
to the analyze and improve phases of DMAIC.
Quality circles were first introduced in the 1960s and are normally made up of a
group of workers doing the same or similar work. They meet regularly to improve
work processes and conditions by identifying, analyzing, and solving work related
problems.
In summary, the key characteristics of the Six Sigma methodology include, it is
used in service and manufacturing industries. It's a five phase improvement
methodology that follows the DMAIC methodology, and it uses the transfer
function to relate the inputs to the outputs.
Quality Management and Continuous Improvement
[Topic title: Quality Management and Continuous Improvement. Your host for the
session is Barbara Waters.]

Companies need to demonstrate their commitment to continuous improvement to

create a competitive advantage. All stakeholders of an organization or project,
from operational team members to upper management, must be fully engaged and
committed to quality, improving processes, products and services in their
respective areas. These activities will result in quality being improved in all aspects
of the process. The portion of lessons learned, which addressed areas of previous
project failures, often identified lack of continuous improvement efforts throughout
the project and product life cycle.
The plan, do, check, act cycle is a key component of quality management and
continuous improvement. The plan section identifies an opportunity and plans for
change. For project efforts, this includes the development of a quality management
plan. The do portion refers to the actions where the change is implemented. The
check component is an iterative process of reviewing through quality control and
quality management. Assuring that the quality meets the requirements and whether
the change made a difference. During act, if the change was successful, changes
are made to refinement of quality standards and additional planning. And the
implementation is applied to a broader audience. If the change did not result in an
improvement, then the cycle needs to be repeated.
During the planning phase, you identify an opportunity and refer to previously
developed lessons learned as an input to the development of various project plans.
Including the project quality management plan. During the act phase, additional
lessons learned are captured and documented based on the results of the entire
project just completed. The results captured should include not only
recommendations for things that were successful but also identification of areas
where problems were encountered. The variances between the previous lessons
learned and those captured as part of this new effort should be compared. Part of
this analysis should be to see if previous problems were still encountered and
whether adjustments were able to be made to mitigate or remove the problem.
These combined lessons learned are then made available for future efforts and
support continuous quality improvement.
The lessons learned process includes defining objectives and determining when
lessons learned will be captured, who would be involved, and the amount and type
of information to collect. Information can be captured from as many sources as
time and budget will allow. Once captured, the data must be analyzed and verified.
Additional information may be needed to put items into the proper context. The
preliminary findings should be shared and reviewed with relevant stakeholders to
provide additional feedback, including areas of agreements as well as
recommended revisions. They should also be incorporated into the current project
as part of continuous improvement, allowing the organization to immediately
benefit from their value.
Since a key objective of capturing lessons learned is to make this information
available, the result should be easily found. Because of the volume and usage, this
storage is often maintained in a repository or electronic database known as a
knowledge or information base. Lessons learned focus on past results and become
part of the organizational process assets. They should be incorporated into the
current project as well as used in the future as similar efforts are being planned.
Best practices provide foresight into how best to do things in the future by
providing a procedure or method that, over time, has proven itself to be better than
any other procedure used today for similar efforts. As best practices are used by the
entire organization, they become a major component of organizational learning for
the organization. Through that organizational learning, an organization is able to
continually improve both its results on project efforts as well as its overall
customer satisfaction.
In summary, there are two key quality management practices that result in
continuous improvement. Using a development model that follows the plan, do,
check, act cycle, and collecting and using lessons learned in planning future
projects.
The Kanban Pull System
[Topic title: The Kanban Pull System. Your host for the session is Barbara
Waters.]

Kanban is a Japanese word for signal developed by an industrial engineer at

Toyota as a way to improve and maintain a high level of production in the 1940s. It
is primarily used in manufacturing to signal when to pull materials into the value
stream. By pulling in materials and producing components only when needed,
overproduction and excess inventory is eliminated. The overall result of this lean
approach eliminates waste in the system and focuses on high value, high-quality
work. It also provides control over inventory by reducing stock on hand to just
what is needed. And reduces the amount of time between when an item is produced
and when it is needed for the next process.
Kanban-pull is a method to control the flow of production through the factory
based on a customer's demand. In a pull system, work items are pulled into the
queue upon request. In this very high level example, a request by the customer
pulls or signals production to start the product processes to deliver the results to
satisfy the request. It identifies what to pull, how much to pull, and where to pull
from. As production reduces the supply of material for its needs, a pull or kanban
supplier request is generated to request additional materials from the supplier.
A previous process only makes what is needed to replenish what was used or to
maintain an agreed upon level, equalizing production quantity and avoiding
fluctuations and eliminating waste. These maps can be used as part of a kaizen
event to fine-tune the process.
There are many ways that Kanban can benefit an organization. Clear and precise
manual and visual methods through the use of Kanban cards can be used to control
and easily adapt processes. Kanban increases simplicity and agility by reducing
unnecessary inventory and work to produce products that haven't been requested
yet. Costs can be reduced by preventing excess production. By removing potential
defects from items sitting in inventory, as well as not allowing defects to move
forward, the overall quality of the product can be improved. Inventory is reduced
as limits on overcapacity levels per process are determined. And production of
inventory for just in case is replaced by just-in-time production. Waste is
minimized in terms of overproduction, unnecessary inventory, and the necessity
for additional floor space. Productivity is increased as control is able to be
maintained for the production line by synchronizing all the steps. Just-in-time flow
consists of two essential elements. The ability to manage flow and the ability to
control inventory. Continuous improvement is accelerated by the promoting and
sustaining of analysis efforts, which are striving to always improve the current
process. And finally, communication of the need of what is to be done reduces
shortages and requirements for expediting requests that were overlooked. All of
these together help provide the high value that is expected and often demanded by
the customer.
Value Stream Mapping and Quality
[Topic title: Value Stream Mapping and Quality. Your host for the session is
Barbara Waters.]

Value stream is a key component of lean, which identifies value, not just
efficiencies. It is the entire set of activities and resources that provide a product or
service to the customer. When waste occurs, the flow of the value is disrupted and
quality is decreased. The entire value stream is shown on a value stream map
documenting each individual step or activity, starting with the customer order and
completing when the order has been fulfilled. Value stream mapping not only
shows the activities that provide the value, but also identifies where waste is
present and quality improvements can be made. Even though value stream
mapping is usually focused on optimizing entire processes, it can also be applied to
smaller individual processes to improve quality.
This example shows both the flow of material and information from suppliers to
customers based on a daily schedule. A weekly schedule is received from the
customer from which the production manager creates daily production schedules
that are provided to the fabrication, painting and inspection departments. Through
the development of a value stream map, each of the three functions have been
analyzed. And the number of operators, as well as the cycle time, has been
recorded. The analysis of this current map can be used to determine where
efficiencies can be achieved through modification to activities as well as reduction
or elimination of waste or non-value added processes.
The first step is to determine which full process or single activity should be
analyzed. This depends on the types of problems or inefficiencies that need to be
addressed. The second step creates a current state map including all the activities
currently being done from the beginning of the process to the completion.
Including gathering any data of time required to perform activities, including wait
times between activities. This will help identify areas of waste and possible causes.
A process map based on improvements, called a future state map, is then created to
show how the system might look with waste removed and where potential
improvements might be introduced. The final step is to develop a plan that would
include the implementation steps required to change any existing activity or
process to reduce waste and improve the overall value.
Let's use an example to illustrate the steps. In step one, the project manager selects
the procurement process because problems continue to occur in the acquisition of
materials during her projects. She then creates a current state map of the
procurement process. It includes the duration of the steps in the process and
resources who are performing the activities. This also includes wait time between
activities, such as waiting for purchase orders to be approved. In her future state
map, she has removed activities or steps that do not contribute value to the overall
process. As well as shortening activity durations and wait times, especially where
requests sit in an inbox while the approver is out. She also identifies backups who
can also approve those requests. Once the new process has been documented, it
should be presented and reviewed by the appropriate stakeholders. And a plan
created, including steps to make the necessary changes, as well as implementing
new project management and purchasing procedures.
So in summary, value stream mapping allows you to identify obstacles or wastes
that are disrupting process flow. Value stream maps show all the steps or activities
involved in producing output, and you can use them to show areas where process
improvements will create value.
Key Principles of ISO 9000
[Topic title: Key Principles of ISO 9000. Your host for the session is Barbara
Waters.]

ISO refers to the International Organization for Standardization. An independent,

non-governmental organization with 162 member countries, covering all aspects of
technology and business. ISO provides standards for requirements, specifications,
and guidelines that can be used consistently to help ensure that materials, products
and services meet their intended purposes. The standard also ensures that products
and services are reliable, safe and maintain high quality.
The ISO management system standards help an organization identify and
document what procedures need to be followed. The adherence to these procedures
is audited on a regular basis to ensure that the organization is meeting its
objectives. Through these activities, an organization is able to fulfill the emphasis
of ISO, of, say what you do and do what you say.
The first principle of ISO is to maintain a focus on the customer. An organization
depends on customers. And, therefore, the needs of the customer should be
continually reviewed and understood. On a recent project, even though the
customer did not identify as a requirement on the statement of work the importance
of integrating and consolidating information from current system applications that
was the main purpose of initiating the new project. Once that need was understood,
specific requirements could be identified to integrate and consolidate that current
information. In addition to just meeting that specific requirement, we were actually
able to exceed initial expectations by being able to re-engineer some current
processes that were the result of limitations imposed by the previous systems,
organizational silos and technology.
The ISO leadership principle advances a consistent understanding of purpose and
direction of the organization. In a changing environment, people must be fully
engaged in accepting and achieving new objectives, which often include new
processes and maybe even new job roles. This involvement should encourage
consideration of all stakeholder needs, both internal and external to the
organization, rather than being driven by a small number where additional input is
not solicited or included. Organizational change is inevitable, but it is much easier
if the new vision and purpose is clearly defined and communicated. Through these
changes, it is still important to maintain shared values, fairness, trust and ethical
role models within the entire organization.
ISO 9000 focuses on how desired results may be achieved when activities and the
related resources are managed as a process. This often includes reviewing the
interfaces of key activities within and between various functional units of the
organization. To achieve the results, it is important to focus on the resources and
methods that would be necessary to improve the key activities. Measuring and
evaluating risks and the impacts of activities on stakeholders and then making
changes where necessary will lead to the continuous improvement necessary to
meet the new desired result. Continually improving the overall performance of the
organization should always be recognized as a key objective.
The culture of the organization should reflect the importance of making continual
improvements. And an objective regarding this should be established for every
individual in the organization. Continual improvement target should be set and
measures put in place to track the progress toward those targets. Improvements that
are made should be recognized and acknowledged. These not only reflect the
importance to the organization, but also recognize those responsible.
In all organizations, relationships must be established with external suppliers and
partners. For these relationships to be truly beneficial to all, clear and open
communication should be established, including the sharing of information and
potential future directions. By working closely together in a relationship that is
mutually beneficial, the ability to create value for both can be achieved. One of the
benefits of working with partners is being able to pool expertise and resources.
Most companies are not able to retain all the needed technical expertise in-house,
especially with changing technical environments. Through partners, this specific
knowledge can be obtained. When a close relationship is established between an
organization and its suppliers, a mutual relationship is beneficial and enhances the
ability of all partners to create value.
So in summary, the principles of the ISO 9000 standard focus on strong supplier
relationships, continuous improvement, processes, leadership and the customer.