Continuous Improvement

Quality level

Check Do

Act Plan

Time
 Learning Objectives

 Lead a Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) process

improvement initiative.
 Use quality tools for analysis and problem
solving.
 Compare and contrast the corporate programs for
quality improvement.
 Quality and Productivity
Improvement Process
 Foundations of Continuous Improvement
- Customer Satisfaction
- Management by Facts
- Respect for People
 Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle
 Problem Solving (10 steps)
 Quality Tools

 Check Sheet
 Run Chart
 Histogram
 Pareto Chart
 Flowchart
 Cause-and-Effect Diagram
 Scatter Diagram
 Control Chart
 Check Sheet

Month Lost Departure Mechanical Overbooked Other

Luggage Delay
January 1 2 3 3 1
February 3 3 0 1 0
March 2 5 3 2 3
April 5 4 4 0 2
May4 7 2 3 0
June 3 8 1 1 1
July 6 6 3 0 2
August 7 9 0 3 0
September 4 7 3 0 2
October 3 11 2 3 0
November 2 10 1 0 0
December 4 12 2 0 1

Total 44 84 24 16 12
 Run Chart

14

12

10
Departure Delays

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Months
 Histogram of Lost Luggage

3.5

2.5
Frequency

1.5

0.5

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Occurrences per Month

 Cause-and-Effect Chart for Flight
Departure Delay (Fishbone Chart)
Equipment Personnel

Gate agents cannot process passengers quickly enough

Too few agents
Aircraft late to gate Agents undertrained
Late arrival Agents undermotivated
Gate occupied Agents arrive at gate late
Other Mechanical failures Late cabin cleaners
Late pushback tug Late or unavailable cabin crews
Weather
Air traffic Late or unavailable cockpit crews
Delayed
Flight
Poor announcement of departures Departure
Weight and balance sheet late
Delayed checkin procedure
Late baggage to aircraft Confused seat selection
Late fuel Passengers bypass checkin counter
Late food service Checking oversize baggage
Issuance of boarding pass

Acceptance of late passengers

Cutoff too close to departure time
Desire to protect late passengers
Material Desire to help company’s income
Poor gate locations

Procedure
 Pareto Analysis of Flight
Departure Delay Causes
Cause Percentage of Incidents Cumulative Percentage

Late passengers 53.3 53.3

Waiting for pushback 15.0 68.3

Waiting for fuel 11.3 79.6

Late weight and 8.7 88.3

balance sheet
 Flowchart
Passenger
Arrives

Ticket No Wait for

For Flight Appropriate
Flight

Yes

Check Yes Excess

Luggage Carry-on

No

Issue
Boarding Pass

Passenger
Boards Airplane
 Scatter Diagram

12

10

8
Departure Delays

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Late Passengers
 Control Chart of Departure Delays
100
Percentage of flights on

expected
90
Lower Control Limit
time

80

70

60
1998 199
9

p (1  p p (1  p
UCL  p  3 LCL  p  3
n n
 Corporate Programs for Quality
Improvement
 Marriott Personnel Programs
 Zero Defects (Crosby)
 Deming’s 14 Point Program
 Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award
 ISO 9000
 Six-Sigma
 Mega Bytes Restaurant

1. How is the Seven-Step Method (SSM) different

from Deming’s PDCA cycle?
2. Prepare a cause-and-effect or fishbone diagram
for a problem such as “Why customers have long
waits for coffee.” Use Figure 6.30 as a guide.
3. How would you resolve the difficulties that study
teams have experienced when applying the
SSM?
 The Seven-Step Method

 Step 1: Define the project

 Step 2: Study the current situation
 Step 3: Analyze the potential causes
 Step 4: Implement a solution
 Step 5: Check the results
 Step 6: Standardize the improvement
 Step 7: Establish future plans