anas alam faizli, master of proj mgmt: assignment project quality management, emqm5103

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Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009 ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103 1 MAY SEMESTER 2009 PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT – EMQM5103 ASSIGNMENT LECTURER DR HARIKRISHNAN KANTHEN STUDENT ANAS BIN ALAM FAIZLI

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Page 1: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

1

MAY SEMESTER 2009 PROJECT RISK MANAGEMENT – EMQM5103

ASSIGNMENT

LECTURER

DR HARIKRISHNAN KANTHEN

STUDENT ANAS BIN ALAM FAIZLI

Page 2: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

2

MAY SEMESTER 2009

PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT – EMQM5103 ASSIGNMENT (45%)

PART A (30%): ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1 (6%)

a) What is a key difference between an Affinity Diagram and other tools?

An Affinity Diagram or “KJ” which was named after Kawakita Jiro is a special kind

of brainstorming tool. It is useful when chaos exists, too many ideas,

breakthrough thinking is required and broad issues have to be identified.

It also work and is built from bottom-up, with the basic elements and then

working up, which is different from other tools which is mostly built from top-

down.

Some unique features when building an affinity diagram is affinitized silently go

for gut reactions and handle disagreements simply.

b) Why is an Affinity Diagram called a creative, silent (non-verbal) activity?

Building an Affinity Diagram is a creative rather than a logical process that

encourages participation because everyone's ideas find their way into the

exercise. It concentrates on the right-brain thought (creative) rather than the left

Page 3: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

3

brain thought (logical). There is no discussion when building the diagram. It is

called silent anyway. This has advantages where no single people monopolizing

or trying to control the conversation and encourage unconventional thinking

which is opposed to the semantic battles which are bad.

c) When shouldn't we use the Affinity Diagram?

Affinity diagram will not work if the information or data involved is too little. If that

is the case, then you should be using other decision making tools to identify the

priority items. Majority of the quality intellects agreed that a minimum of fifteen

(15) information should be identified to justify using an affinity diagram. This

however should be taken as a rule of thumb only.

QUESTION 2 (6%)

a) In the meeting, the facilitator focuses the group by describing the four rules of

Brainstorming (which he will help to drive during the meeting, what they are?

1. All ideas or correct. Do not judge other people’s idea. Accept all ideas to

encourage the flow of ideas.

2. Creativity is encouraged by not allowing ideas to be evaluated or discussed

until everyone has run dry

3. Throw out as many ideas as possible, quantity over quality, the more ideas

there is the higher the chances of getting a valuable idea.

4. Any and all ideas are considered legitimate and often the most far-fetched are

the most fertile

5. Change and merge ideas. Expand on other's suggestions, changing,

modifying and mixing existing ideas. This will encourage new ideas.

Page 4: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

4

b) Why does Brainstorming use divergent thinking instead of conventional

thinking that we often use to jump to solutions that are easy to find?

Brainstorming is simply listing all ideas put forth by a group in response to a

given problem or question. In 1939, a team led by advertising executive Alex

Osborn coined the term "brainstorm."

Brainstorming allows the mind of the participant to reach its full potential, pushing

its creative thinking by discussing openly without any fear of failure, no judgment

which encourages the use of divergent thinking which will achieve plenty of ideas.

This differs from the conventional thinking as the list developed from

brainstorming will have both illogical and unconventional ideas and also the good

ideas.

However, a brainstorm cannot help you positively identify causes of problems,

rank ideas in a meaningful order, select important ideas, or check solutions

because it will have everything including the bad ideas.

QUESTION 3 (6%)

a) What is the main limitation that you should keep in mind when working with a

cause and effect diagram?

The cause and effect diagram or affectionately called Ishikawa Diagram has an

important limitation due to the nature of the diagram. As a result of this, it is not

particularly useful for extremely complex problems, when the problem is caused

Page 5: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

5

by a combination of factors or the problems are interrelated. Comes to this it will

be difficult to use the diagram to depict and solve the problem.

b) Primary cause areas in a cause & effect diagram are frequently arranged into

four major categories, what are the recommended categories for

administration and service?

Causes in a C&E diagram are frequently arranged into four major categories.

These categories can be anything, but you will often see:

• Manpower, methods, materials, and machinery (recommended for

manufacturing)

• Equipment, policies, procedures, and people (recommended for

administration and service)

These guidelines can be helpful but should not be used if they limit the diagram.

The categories you use should suit your needs. The titles from the affinity

diagram can also be used to create the cause and effect’s branches.

c) When do we use process map?

Process map is used when an organization requires to:

• To establish what is happening, its predictability and reasoning

• To check and ensure that the process is working efficiently

• To understand where waste and inefficiency exists

• To develop new process for reducing or eliminating inefficiency

QUESTION 4 (6%)

a) What does Histogram do?

Histogram is a graphical representative of data that:

• Displays large amounts of data that are difficult to interpret in tabular form

Page 6: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

6

• Data classed is displayed on the x-axis while number of occurrences on y-

axis

• Shows the relative frequency of occurrence of the various data values

• Reveals the centering, variation, and shape of the data

• Illustrates quickly the underlying distribution of the data

• Provides useful information for predicting future performance of the process

• Helps to indicate if there has been a change in the process

An example can be seen on Figure B.5

b) Why would you use Histogram in Quality Improvement Project?

Histogram is used to summarize data from a process that has been collected

over a period of time, and graphically present its frequency distribution in bar

form.

Histogram also allows the visualization of large quantities of data which would be

difficult to understand and analyze. This help identifies and control variation.

It gives quick assessment to data and variation which exist in the process. The

shape also illustrates possible causes of quality problem.

Example is when looking at a manpower loading histogram for a typical

construction project, normally it starts with minimum manpower and then peak

during peak-time and then slows down during mobilization, and then it is normal.

If not, then there is a problem with the loading which can be easily seen with a

histogram.

Page 7: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

7

c) Give examples when you can use Histogram during the following phases of

Quality Improvement Project:

1) Measure phase:

During a measuring phase, a histogram can be used to kicked off or begin the

understanding of the statistical nature of the problem.

2) Analyze phase:

During the analyze phase, a histogram can be used to identify potential Xs

(causes of quality problems) which can be investigated further and then help

eliminates it.

3) Improve phase:

During the improve phase, a histogram will valuably assist to characterize and

confirm the solutions which has been selected for the problem. The variance will

show the improvement.

4) Control phase:

During the control phase, a histogram gives a visual reference to help track and

maintain our improvements. The easiest way is to keep the old histogram as a

baseline and see the changes happened when control implementations are

made.

QUESTION 5 (6%)

a) What are the basic components of control chart?

A control chart is used to notice special causes of variation as soon as they occur.

Page 8: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

8

Control chart has the following three basic components:

1. A centerline, usually the mathematical average of all the samples plotted.

2. Upper and lower statistical control limits that define the constraints of

common cause variations.

3. Performance data plotted over time.

b) What is the main difference between run chart and control chart?

A run chart displays process performance over time. In a run chart, events,

shown on the y axis, are graphed against a time period on the x axis. It focuses

on time patterns and is useful to solve problem which is related to time. For an

example, more defects are made at 2pm compared to any hour of the day which

is most probably because of post lunch effects. This can be found out using a

run chart.

A control chart on the other hand focuses on acceptable limits of the process. A

control chart helps to identify between the special cause (unusual variation) and

the common cause. Unusual variation is something that normally does not

happened. Having been able to monitor this will help in eliminating this variation,

and there are many instances when reducing this variation can saves money and

it is good for the organization.

c) When should we use a check sheet?

A check sheet is a structured, form that can come in a tabular, location or graph

format used to collect data. This is a generic tool which can be used for many

purposes, albeit limited to data collection. It is best used when:

Page 9: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

9

• Data can be observed and collected repeatedly by the same person or at the

same location.

• Data is collected on the frequency or patterns of events, problems, defects,

defect location, defect causes, etc.

• Data is collected from a production process.

• To distinguish between opinion and fact

• To gather data on the frequency of a problem occurring, and the type of

problem occurring.

d) What are the three types of check sheet?

The three (3) types of check sheet are as follows:

1. Tabular Format. This is use to count the frequency of a specific

occurrence or to record a measurement. Depending on the data

required, the data collector simply marks a checkmark on the column

involves as per Figure A.1

Figure A.1 a tabular format check sheet

2. Location Format. This check sheet allows data collector to mark exact

physical location of a defect or an occurrence. Figure A.2 is self explanatory.

Page 10: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

10

Figure A.2 a location check sheet format

3. Graphic Format. It is specifically designed so that the data can be recorded

and displayed at the same time. Using this check sheet format, you can

record raw data by plotting them directly onto a graph-like chart.

Figure A.3 a graphic check sheet format

Page 11: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

11

PART B (70%):

Practical Exercise from the course Textbook (Kenneth H. Ross, Project Quality Management, pp 156-159)

Beads R Us is a producer of high-quality beads for commercial use. The

production process is as described in the red bean experiment. Workers produce

beads in lots of fifty by dipping a paddle into a bin of beads and withdrawing fifty

at a time. Some of the beads are red; red beads are defective. If the production

lot is less than fifty, the absent beads count as defects. Recently, management

has become dissatisfied with the number of defects during production.

Beads R Us obtains materials from Bead World, one of three suppliers worldwide.

Materials include defective beads, which must be eliminated prior to delivery to

customers.

A major customer of Beads R Us has informed the management that it will reject

any future delivery that included more than fifteen defective beads in a sample of

fifty to be taken on the receiving dock at the time of delivery.

Beads R Us has engaged your project team on a consulting contract to analyze

its process, identify any shortcomings, and recommends solutions.

Data Collection (refer to pp 157-158)

Page 12: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

12

ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS

Apply your quality knowledge and meet all contractual requirements. Specifically:

a) Analyze the process of bead production at Beads R Us.

b) Identify any shortcomings that indicate inability to meet customer

requirements.

c) Recommend solutions that eliminate any shortcomings.

Recommendations should be presented to Bead R Us as a final report, with

relevant quality tools attached for clarification and justification.

Tips (Refer to pp 158-159)

Page 13: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

13

Quality Improvement Project Client: Beads R Us

Scope of Works: Consulting contract to analyze process, identify shortcomings

and recommend solutions.

Data Collection

Crosby, one of the quality father was quoted as saying that Quality is free

because the cost which is spend on creating a quality environment will eventually

save the organization more money in the long run. Whenever the organization

made mistake, a losses will occur, often this cost will vary from insignificant

amount to major huge losses. This is called the cost of non-conformance.

However, having quality implemented as a quality assurance and quality control

check, this loss can be evaded. It has been proven that the cost of quality (cost

to implement quality) is always less than the cost of non-conformance. This

means that the cost of having quality is actually as Crosby has said is free.

In this report, we will evaluate the bead making process in Beads R Us,

investigate the shortcomings and propose problem solving solutions to improve

the quality in Beads R Us. Prior to analyzing, identifying and recommending

solutions to Beads R Us, data collection is vital. Without collecting the data the

other succeeding process cannot be executed.

The tools that will be used for data collection is a check sheet. A check sheet is

a powerful tool for collecting data. It is used to compile and record data based on

observation and there are few ways to do this either in a tabular, location or

graphical format.

Page 14: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

14

First, we defined the events and data required to be monitored. Five days

duration and six workers have been decided with two inspectors. This imitates

one line of production in Beads R Us. The data collected will be more accurate

rather than having Beads R Us themselves to submit the data based from their

history and samples.

We had then secretly sent six members of our project team to Beads R Us as

new employees to feel the experience with the production process at Beads R Us.

After completing the five days week, they come back with their daily results and

the check sheet as per Figure B.1.

Their performance is as per table below:

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Worker1 IIIIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIII IIIIIII IIIIII IIIII

Worker2 IIIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIII IIIIIIIII I

Worker3 IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIII IIIIIIIII IIIIII IIIIIIIII II

Worker4 IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIII IIIIIIII IIIIIIIII I IIIIIIIII

Worker5 IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIII IIIIIIII

Worker6 IIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII IIIIIIIII I IIIIIIIII I IIIIIIIII III

Figure B.1 Using checksheet to get Results of a Red Bead Experiment

From the check sheet we translated the data collected into table below:

Name Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Total Average

Worker1 17 6 7 6 5 41 8.2

Worker2 8 7 10 8 11 44 8.8

Worker3 9 9 14 16 12 60 12

Worker4 10 16 8 11 9 54 10.8

Page 15: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

15

Worker5 10 10 10 7 8 45 9

Worker6 7 20 11 11 13 62 12.4

Total 61 68 60 59 58 306 61.2

Average 10.2 11.3 10.0 9.8 9.7 10.2

Figure B.2 Results of a Red Bead Experiment

This data will be our basis of discussion. Furthermore this data has been proven

to be independent as Beads R Us is not aware that they are being assessed.

Provided if they have that knowledge, perhaps Beads R Us will try to tamper with

the results. Any employee that is employed with Beads R Us will probably go

through and get this result too. Having six employees provided better variation

and strength to the data that is represented.

Understanding the data

The check sheet could only be used as a tool to collect data. Further analyzing

tools are required to understand the data which will bring more understanding to

the problem. Now, we wanted to see how the six workers do using graphs which

are one of Ishikawa’s basic tools. The graph will assist us to organize,

summarize and display the data. It is still the same data; there was no variation

or changes made to the number. The same data is transferred to a graphical

form to illustrate and give faster understanding of the data. Using the graphs,

defect trending can be seen and can also be compared with other sources of

data. We can see the difference performance made by the six workers

throughout the five working days period.

Page 16: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

16

Figure B.3 Bar graph showing the results of the bead experiment

Figure B.4 Line graph showing the results of the red bead experiments

From this two graphs, it can be seen that on different days, there will be different

worker having the highest or lowest defect and it varies from one day to another.

There is no significant worker that is producing defects which is showing

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Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

17

irregularities. However it is not fair also to blame a worker with high defect on a

day when on another day he could have performed with the lowest number of

defects. A good example is to refer to worker 6 where he registered 20 defects

on Tuesday but only have 7 defects on Monday. He did not improve from

Monday to Tuesday but instead was getting worse on his second day. Refer to

figure B.4.

Figure B.5 A cummulative line graph showing the red beads experiment

To study the performance of the six workers, a cummulative line graph has been

prepared. Their performance from Monday is summed up and is carried

throughout to Friday. We can see their performance from Figure B.5.

Adding up all the cummulative red beads defect by day from Monday to Friday,

we will be able to see how Worker 6 have the highest number of defects followed

by worker 4, worker 3, worker 5, worker 2 and finally worker 1 registering the

lowest number of defects. The variation from the best worker and the highest

worker is 19 beads which is an average of 4 beads a day. There is still a room of

Page 18: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

18

improvement if all workers performed like worker 1 the number of average

defects will surely go down and improve the quality benchmark all together.

Histograms Histogram is a type of bar graph that deals with data that exist in a continous

range from a low number to a high number. From the histogram we can see the

distribution of the defects. The steps taken to develop the histogram is select

measures, collect data, prepare frequency table (as figure below), design the

histogram, draw and interpret the data.

Range Frequency

1 to 5 1

6 to 10 18

11 to 15 7

16 to 20 4

Figure B.6 Frequency distribution of the red beads experiment

Page 19: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

19

The class width that is chosen for this histogram is five. From this histogram, a

glance can tell that the worker registered the highest count of 6 to 10 defects in a

day with 18 frequencies of occurence. If we can minimize the number of defects

that is outside this normal range, the number of average defects will go below 10

improving against the current average of 10.2

Scatter Diagrams

Figure B.7 Scatter Diagram showing the defect distribution throughout the week

Scatter diagram is used to identify the relationship between two existing variables,

and in this case – the worker and the days worked which is Monday to Friday.

However looking at the scatter diagram above there is no apparent relationship

between the two. What can be suggested is that relatively worker 1, 6 and 4 was

doing great every day except for one day. Worker 2, 3 and 5 on another hand

does not offer big variance between the days worked.

Page 20: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

20

The data shows that the worker’s variation is within acceptable results and that

the problems are not coming from the worker. This is true as per Dr. Deming

which was quoted as saying that 94 percent of the problems come from the

system rather than the worker.

There are no significant variants between the workers performance themselves.

Their performance goes up and down from Monday to Friday and there is no

signal that shows if they continue to work for another five days, they can improve

and the number of defects will go down.

In the following topic, the report will try to map out the process of bead making in

Beads R Us and try to find ways and measures that can improve it.

Understanding the Process Flowchart A flowchart identifies the sequence of events in a process. It shows how the

process flows from the start to the end.

A flowchart enables an organization to find ways to improve the process. The

beads making process in Beads R Us is a straight forward process. The worker

dip the paddle until it is fully covered with the coating, and then it shakes the

paddle until all the beads rolled off. After that two inspectors and one chief

inspector will count the number of the defect and collect the defect data.

Refer Figure B.8 to see the flowchart for the production of the beads

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Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

21

Figure B.8 Flowchart showing the Red Beads Process

The management seems to believe that the problem lies on the worker but with

such a straight forward process it seems hard to see if the worker can produce a

resulting improvement. Prof Robert Merton stated that "a false definition of the

situation will invoke new behavior which will make the false perception comes

true" which is true in this case.

Page 22: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

22

Analyzing Project Process Causes and Effect Diagrams As the name implores it is a tool to see what causes the problem and what the

effects of it are. You will be able to see graphically below and will understand

why it is sometimes called a “fishbone” diagram because of its shape and

sometimes is called “an Ishikawa diagram” honoring its developer Dr Kaoru

Ishikawa. This is used to identify, explore and show all possible causes of a

problem.

The cause and effect diagram was created using the four common categories for

manufacturing industry, i.e – methods, manpower, materials and machinery.

Causes which are relevant to a certain categories will be grouped with its

categories, i.e – bad communication is grouped under Methods.

Figure B.9 Cause and Effect diagram illustrating the Red Bead Results

Page 23: Anas Alam Faizli, Master of Proj Mgmt: Assignment Project Quality Management, EMQM5103

Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

23

The six willing workers at Beads R Us share the details of the causes and root

problems of the defects which if addressed will improve the defect rate at Beads

R Us. This are the shortcomings identified for Beads R Us.

Causes of problems: 1. Training is not good. New hires are not given any training. Beads R Us did

not take any responsibility to train the new hires at all. They are just placed at

the production line and are expected to follow their colleagues.

2. Communication is not good. Workers are not allowed to talk to each other.

The management feels that it is a waste of good money if the worker is talking

instead of working.

3. Management is not good. All credits are taken by the manager, instead if

something goes wrong all the blame goes to the employees.

4. Leadership is not good. Management are never seen on the floor shop,

they seldom come only to threaten punishment in hoping to push production.

5. Working environment is not good. Production floor is full with threatening

posters and the workers do not understand the message and how to

implement the slogans.

6. Quotas are unreasonable. The numbers assigned by the management as

target is not realistic and is unachievable. The management again threaten

workers with punishment.

7. Rewards are inconsistent and inequitable. Awards can be given to a

worker when there is a better or equivalent performing worker and is not

consistent. The same worker can end up with a reward and is being

punished the next day.

However the problem is not with the worker but is with the process, supported

more with the list below:

1. There was no evidence that any worker was better than another.

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Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

24

2. Managers must not rush to blame employees.

3. Penalties bring negativity to the employees.

4. There is no need for two inspectors as they are merely counting the obvious

defects and is not helping the process

5. A clear instruction is required

6. Intimidation creates fear which does nothing to improve a process.

7. Praise will encourage a person to perform the process as they have learned

to perform it. It will not improve a process.

8. Banners and slogan used is threatening and is not helping the process

9. Incentives will not improve a process and have a short effect on employee

morale.

10. The process has natural variation. Every day the result is different.

11. The process has to be able to adapt to customer’s requirement.

Having understood the causes of the problems which are not the worker but the process and the system, the next step is to solve the problem. Even if the

management decided to change the entire fleet of its workers, Beads R Us will

find that the defect rate will still be the same as it has been proven by the quality

tools during the understanding data and process step.

Solving Problems Brainstorming A brainstorming is a quality tools used to solve problems. The six willing workers

and the project team including the inspectors gathered and throw out all the

ideas. There are few rules in brainstorming which is needed to be followed in

order to ensure divergent thinking is achieved and creativity is ensured. There

are no wrong ideas and all ideas are welcomed. No judgment shall be made to

any ideas. The team goes on and lists the ideas as below:

1. Listen to employees

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Name: Anas Alam Faizli Student ID No. CGS 00385017 Centre of Graduate Studies MPM Intake: January 2009

ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

25

2. Establish procedures and guidelines

3. Improve management skills

4. Make reward fair

5. Develop training plan

6. Inspectors are not required. The workers already know how to check defect

beads.

7. Remove the reward and punishment system

8. Improve the process of beads making – new machine or coating materials

9. Institute training on the job versus monitoring how colleague works

10. Adopt and institute leadership from the management by example

11. Drive out fear from the workers

12. Break down barriers between staff areas - management

13. Eliminate slogans and unachievable targets for the work force.

14. Eliminate numerical quotas for the work force and numerical goals for

management.

15. Institute a vigorous program of education and self improvement for everyone.

16. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation.

17. Change the chief executive officer of Beads R Us

18. Move to another factory closer to the majority of the workers

19. Change industry to another manufacturing line with less defects

Affinity Diagrams The list that has been developed by the brainstorming now needs to be

categorized and put into better purposes. This is where an affinity diagram came

into the picture. It will make more sense of the brainstorming results. Refer the

affinity diagram below which is the final product of the steps involves in the

affinity process. The affinity has categorized all the solutions to eliminate

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ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

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shortcomings into three categories, i.e – leadership/management, technical

performance and training.

Figure B.10 Affinity Diagram: Final product for the Red Bead Experiment

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ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

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Nominal Group Technique and Multivoting What good if there are too many solutions and problem solving measures

needed to be undertaken but we do not which is the priority? Nominal group

technique and multivoting does just that. It was introduced in 1971 at the

University of Wisconsin. In short, the technique is that everyone in the team

voted for prioritization of the problems and then it is calculated and the list will be

ranked based on priority. The project team casted their vote and came out with

the results below:

   Priorities  Total 

Improve the process – new machine  / new coatings  4,4,4,1,1  14 Improve Leadership   2,2,3,2,1,1  11 Eliminate numerical quotas for workers/mgmt   4,4,2,1  11 Improve management skills   4,3,2  9 Establish procedures and guidelines   3,3,2  8 Put everybody working together   3,2,2  7 Develop training plan   3,2,1  7 Inspectors not required   4,1,1  6 Remove reward and punishment system   1,1,1,3,3  5 Adopt and institute leadership   2,1,1,1  5 Break down barriers between staff   1,1,1  3 Eliminate slogans and unachievable target   1  1 Institute training on the job   1  1 Institute education and improvement  program   1  1 Drive out fear from the workers   1  1 

Figure B.11 Nominal Group Technique and MultiVoting for Red Bead Experiment

From the Red Bead experiment, the project team has analyzed, identify the

shortcomings and proposed solution. Figure B.11 listed the solutions that can be

taken in a priority order. The top ten of the proposed solution is further

elaborated below:

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ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

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1. Improve the process – new machine / new coatings type

The graphical charts which were earlier represented proved that the workers

plays minimal role and is helpless in effecting the number of red beads (defects).

According to Dr Deming, common causes are controlled by the management

(85%) and the causes (15%) are controlled by the workers. The management

needs to change the system and the process to enable the workers to work

efficiently.

2. Improve leadership It is a relative complaint that the leadership in Beads R Us needs further

improvement. With a clear guideline from the management the workers will be

able to focus and this will also institute the feeling of belonging to the company

and thus increase productivity.

3. Eliminate numerical quota for workers and management Comments and appraisal which is not beneficial to the worker should be stopped.

Furthermore the quotas that are set by the top management are not and have

never been achieved in Beads R Us. A target should follow S.M.A.R.T concept

which are Spesific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and is Time Based.

4. Improve Management Skills

The management is the one who setup the system and the process. The

management has to themselves find a method and ways to reduce the number of

defect producing the beads. Solely blaming the workers will just not work. A

good management skill will allow the management to capitalize a joint effort with

the workers to get the most optimum results.

5. Ebstablish procedures and guidelines A good set of procedures will serve as a guideline and instill quality assurance in

Beads R Us. Having this the training and quality inspection or monitoring could

also be done according to the process and system in a more efficient manner.

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ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

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6. Put everybody working together. The management should be able to solicit the employee’s input. In order to

achieve this spirit of team work is required. Top management has to find a way

to get everybody working together toward a common vision and objective

7. Develop training plan A training plan will assist the employees to train new hires and provide the

accommodating facilities to ensure continuous training in Beads R Us. This will

also invite participation from the workers as it will be seen as a further benefit

from Beads R Us.

8. Inspectors not required

Having two inspectors to count the number of red beads does not seem to serve

any purpose. The workers can count it themselves. Instead of having a quality

control Beads R Us ends up pacifying the workers and demoralizing the workers.

9. Institute training on the job. Good charts and process map at manufacturing floor can assist the supervisors

to educate the employees on the go. Everybody can become a supervisor and

teacher. Employees with the experience will be able to off hands show the way

to new hires or even existing hires every day. Every day is a learning process for

everybody and the working place will feel more fun and motivate the workers.

10. Drive out fear. Management has to stop punishing and threatening the workers for the red

beads defects whereas the blame should be placed on the process and the

system. The intimidation does not do anything and has no significant result.

The quality tool that was used in this report was pivotal to ensure the

understanding of the existing system in Beads R Us. This has enabled fact

based analysis and decisions that will ensure the delivery of quality products and

services in Beads R Us.

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ASSIGNMENT – EMQM5103

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REFERENCE

1. Kenneth H. Rose, PMP (2005) Project Quality Management: Why,

What and How, J. Ross Publishing, Inc 2. Mary Welton (1986) The Deming Management Method

3. Philip B Crosby (1984) Quality Without Tears, McGraw-Hill Book Company