Common Cause and Special Cause Variation

Suzuki San continues " Dear Friends , This time I am going to delve into a bit of technical aspects of Quality .

We will look into some aspects that affect Quality . When I ask what is Quality , many of you will say that Quality is conforming to specifications or addressing customers requirements , etc....

You will notice that when you manufacture a product or provide a service , a particular item or service may satisfy one customer but not necessarily the other even if its the same product or service . This happens when the product or service delivery varies in its specifications .

So we have learnt earlier that Variation is one of the main enemies of Quality and that if a specification is defined , one must ensure that the specification is met consistently . This factor in manufacturing statistical terms is called as REPEATABILITY . The ability of the process to produce the same result again and again .

When there is variation , the results keep varying and hence will produce poor quality , Yes ?? But in a process some degree of variation will happen as one cannot have a perfect output every time .

Variation is caused due to different factors and fall under two major categories .

One is COMMON CAUSE VARIATION and the other is SPECIAL CAUSE VARIATION .

SPECIAL CAUSE VARIATION :

This variation is an unusual happening arising out of an unusual occurrence . Some examples to make one understand is

1. In a production line , if the tool tip breaks and it damages the component under production , those components will not conform to the desired output and will be rejected . This defective is due to a Special cause .... the breakage of the tool tip .

2. When you are going to office by a bus everyday to reach at 07:30hrs  , and on one particular day an accident happens on way and you are delayed  due to this , your delay is due to a special cause .

3. When you have a new staff taking charge of Telephones and he / she makes numerous mistakes , these are caused due to special causes .

COMMON CAUSE VARIATION:

This variation is very natural and will occur in any process irrespective of its speciality or simplicity . This variation is fully expected and is common and natural .

Examples of Common cause variation is

1. Try putting your signature 10 times on a sheet of paper . You will notice that these signatures are fully yours but will contain certain minor variations between each . This is due to common cause variations .

2. Taking the example above of coming to office every day when you say leave your home by 06:30 hrs sharp , and you reach office between say 07:35 to 07:45 hrs , it can be attributed to common cause variations .

3. When milk bottling company is bottling milk in 2 litre containers , an accurate measure of these cans may reveal that the bottles are filled between 1.97 litres to say 2.07 litres and never perfect to 2 litres . This can be attributed to common cause variations .

Most of the common causes happened due to factors of variation caused by Man , Machine , Method , Material , Mother Nature ( temperature etc..) , Measurement etc...





In the above graph , one will find that if 98% was the desired output , due to common cause variations the readings everyday hover around 98% . However due to a special cause on 23/1 , the output had decreased to 81% . This shows the difference between common and special cause variations . 

Now , I hope you have understood something on what are the causes of variation . What I want you to tell me is that , out of Special Causes and Common cause , which one is very important and why ?

Please send your responses to my good friend KJ on his email id kj@specialised.com.zm

I will explain more in the coming days . Thanks "

In a jiffy , Suzuki San was gone .

Note 1 : Suzuki San , Miss P and her company are characters  developed by KJ and has no relevance to any particular person / processes/situation    . All mention are purely for illustration purpose of the central theme of the case and are personal opinions unless cited and shall have no recourse of consequences to author . Readers can use their practical inputs to alter any of the material that may be published . Readers are invited to express their views on this continuing case study series .

Note 2: Some of the readers have mentioned that they are unable to place their comments . Please click on the "No comments"  link , and make your comments as an ANONYMOUS user if you are not logged into your google account  , though it will be nice if we can have your name details in the comments .If you are still not able to send your comment on the post , please email kj@specialised.com.zm

ON EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS

"Good evening Suzuki San . How are you , its been two weeks since we met " said Miss P , greeting him . 

"Yes , have been a bit tied up , Miss P . I am just rushing for a meeting . I wanted to share with you an email forwarded by my good friend KJ . I am copying you and others on a query from one of KJ's  mentees and the reply he had given . 

KJ wanted to share this in our Kaizen blog and is soliciting everyone's opinion if there are different views and contributions . He was telling me that there is more that can be added to his views , and wants a radical thinking and a different view from you and other readers as well . Hence I am publishing this in the blog .

Since , KJ did not take consent from his mentee to show his name , the same is not shared and the name is hidden . However , one must be more interested in the content and comment . 

I ASK THAT ONE READS FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE MAIL TRAIL TO UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION AND THEN KJ'S RESPONSE . 

ONE CAN SEND THEIR OPINION / CONTRIBUTION BY WRITING A COMMENT ON THE BLOG OR WRITING A MAIL TO KJ ON HIS EMAIL ID . 

HAPPY READING ! 

========================================================

From: Krishnan Jagadheeswaran [mailto:kj@specialised.com.zm]
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2016 23:04 PM
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: Advice on Employee Efficiency

Good evening , xxxxxxxxxxxxx .

Few of the employees are passionate enough to learn and operate themselves . In such cases, empowerment and motivation is vital .

Many of the employees , do not know to be passionate . For such , the job is just a means of survival . Any change to that job could be viewed as a threat . In such cases , one need to emphasis the importance of change management and the need for them to develop themselves to grow .

Unfortunately , we think that growth and development are same , but they are not . In todays dynamic world , the above situation is changing and employees are becoming knowledge workers where No change is not an ideal state , but continuous change seems to be an ideal situation .

As a Leader one needs to understand this and mentor .

On efficiency , we need to understand the difference between efficiency and effectiveness . An employee may arrive prompt at 07:45 hrs and leave at 17:00 hrs and keep working in between producing little result . This means that he has high efficiency but not very effective .

Efficiency can be defined more as for a given input , the best possible output to comply with expectations or utilising lower resources .

Effectiveness is more of a function of the efficiency and is a value of these outcomes to those affected by them .

For example , a Coat manufacturer may manufacture the best quality coat using lower resources exhibiting a high efficiency , but if the size doesn’t fit many , it wont sell because its not effective . ( Ackoff , 1994) .

My opinion could be is to make people more effective so that the value of their output(efficiency) is enhanced . If the question was directed to me , then my response would be that I am more keen driving effectiveness than efficiency .

I can only quote Dr.Deming , who says “ Its not enough to do your best , you must know what to do , and then do your best “

Trust this helps . If you are confused , will explain when we meet .

Thanks

Regards

Krishnan Jagadheeswaran(KJ)

Cell: +260 964 00 77 00

Spread the Kaizen word http://kaizenclubzambia.blogspot.com

From: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Monday, June 27, 2016 23:15 PM
To: Krishnan Jagadheeswaran
Subject: Advice on Employee Efficiency

Dear Mr Jagadheeswaran,

I was wondering if i could pick your thoughts on employee efficiency when creating a lean yet effective model and operations plan.My question is how have you been able to drive employee efficiency ? would that have to come from aligning operations with the passion of employees and their strengths or creating and adopting the keep it simple ideology to operations and tasks in order for employee to be efficient? Kindly advise.

I look forward to your favorable response.

Regards

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Reflections on Excellence

"Good morning , Suzuki San , how have you been "asked Miss P when she noticed him walking through the door .

" I am fine , Miss P , how about you . Today I have want to tell something that is not going to make you happy . I am really surprised why you and many others did not attend the Learning series on WHAT IS QUALITY conducted by my good friend KJ on the 19th May . Those who attended enjoyed the program and it gave a new outlook on the understanding of Quality .

I know what you will tell . That you were busy and though you tried you couldnt make it . I cant accept that Miss P . You must know that these are great opportunities for enhancing your knowledge levels , and all that you are going to spend is just 2 hours purposefully "

Miss P hung her head in shame . "I know Suzuki San , I dont have any reasons , I was trying to complete some work that I had and felt that I was too busy . But I do realise that when we have so much TIME to spend on trivialities and gossip etc... for a purposeful learning , we can always afford time . I will tell my apologies to KJ and ensure that I attend the programs in future without giving any reasons "

Suzuki San continued " I am not surprised by this lame reasoning , Miss P . I will see if I can ask KJ to conduct this program again in the near future . Atleast you go and tell others in the Industry to take advantage of this .

Have you heard of the concept of 3 BOX MODEL by Vijay Govindarajan . "

Miss P innocently asked " No , Suzuki San , is it something related to packaging ?"

Suzuki San who was so tensed up till now , burst out laughing .
"Miss P , you made me laugh now . I was so angry with you when I walked in . This is a MANAGEMENT CONCEPT proposed by a management guru called Vijay Govindarajan .

Prof.Vijay says that most of the Organizations are very myopic ( Senior management ) . They look at handling their current chores and responsibilities as a major task and invariably lost out on the future .

The 3 BOX MODEL is as follows .

BOX 1 - MANAGE THE PRESENT

Prof.Vijay says the present is something you will have to just manage . There may be very little control on what large changes you can achieve to give new directions to what is happening currently .

BOX 2 - SELECTIVELY FORGET THE PAST

Not all things that happened in the past are good or bad . However , certain mistakes and bad happenings need to be forgotten while retaining the ones that will be useful .

I will make an analogy of  driving a car . Just imagine if one keeps looking only at the rear view mirror and driving . Will he/she be able to drive forward . But at the same time do you drive only looking in front . No . We also keep looking at the rear view mirror ocassionally .

So the idea behind this is that , the good things of the past should be a reference only .

BOX 3 - CREATE THE FUTURE

You need to know where you want to be say 10 years from now . And to be WHAT YOU WANT TO BE 10 YEARS FROM NOW , there is no point in starting to act after 10 years , but NOW .

To be what you want to be in 10 years from now , you have to start planning and acting right now .

The moral of this concept is that and what I observed is that , WHAT KJ IS TRYING TO DISSEMINATE IN TERMS OF KNOWLEDGE IS NOT FOR YOU TO MANAGE THE PRESENT , BUT FOR YOU TO PREPARE YOURSELF TO CREATE THE FUTURE " .

So , stop giving stories like you were trying to finish some job , manage the present and all that , Miss P and look at using these opportunities so that you can be in better positions in the future . "

Miss P was almost in tears . "Suzuki San , I now understand fully what you conveyed . Yes , I do want to be a Managing Director in 10 years from , and I now realise that to be that in 10 years , unless I start using these opportunities now , I can never think of nearing such positions . So I am going to do one thing now .

I will selectively forget the past , my habit of saying that I was busy , and will look forward to attending KJ's next Learning series . Thanks a Lot , Suzuki San for this "

Suzuki San smiled . " you see , you got the concept right .

Now , I want tell you something . My other friend Mr.Eric Miller is in Zambia . He is a Management Consultant and a Lean Expert . He has done consultancy in many organisations in the Europe and has also worked as a Professor .

He is currently in Zambia and is volunteering his services for the Kaizen Institute of Zambia . I met him the other day and Eric sent me an article on Reflections of Excellence , which I felt will be immensely useful to all and hence have asked KJ to post it in the blog . Eric wishes to thank the authors Keith Mobley and agency Life Cycle Engineering for this article . Please read them and benefit . If you have any queries on lean , please email Eric on millereric450@gmail.com

Copy paste link or Click on the link details below :

https://www.dropbox.com/s/66cw9iiv4e7wrm4/Reflections-15-Laws-for-Continuous-Improvement%20May%202016.pdf?dl=0

Ok, Miss P , I am running late for a meeting now , Next week I will share about the Gemba program that happened in Sakiza Spinning in  Kitwe by the Kaizen Club of Zambia - Copperbelt Chapter "

Note 1 : Suzuki San , Miss P and her company are characters  developed by KJ and has no relevance to any particular person / processes/situation    . All mention are purely for illustration purpose of the central theme of the case and are personal opinions unless cited and shall have no recourse of consequences to author . Readers can use their practical inputs to alter any of the material that may be published . Readers are invited to express their views on this continuing case study series .

Note 2: Some of the readers have mentioned that they are unable to place their comments . Please click on the "No comments"  link , and make your comments and if you do not have any prior registration , you can choose anonymous and feel free to give details or not , though it will be nice if we can have your name details in the comments .

Balanced Score Card

Miss P greets Suzuki San as he walks in slowly . He wishes back in a more softer and apologetic tone . Miss P says " Suzuki San , if you have been fully out of action for the past 6 months , there should be some real reason for that , so be cheerful and give us some update " .

Suzuki San continues with a dull face . " No Miss P , I should have been in touch and should have updated the blog regularly . However , I must say that I have had a strenuous period last six months and have been traveling heavily " His face turned bright suddenly " Atleast from now onwards I have taken an oath that the blog will be updated every week . I have a few more friends who have agreed to contribute to the blog as well

Now for this week , I want to just present you with a concept called as Balanced Score Card .  Do you know what is a Balanced Score card "

Miss P shook her head " I recall the phrase somewhere , is it related to some balancing of performance or efficiency , sorry Suzuki san , I just dont know " she was already blinking .

Suzuki San laughed and said " Ah , now you are just trying to use the literal meaning of the phrase and come up with your own balanced score card concept Miss P "

He continued " Balanced Score card is a beautiful concept developed by two Harvard School professors in the name of Robert Kaplan and David Norton . The concept shot to fame in the 1990's . The concept is more used by the Top management of organizations to give a direction to their Organisational Strategy .

Most of the times , you will find that a Top management in any organisation are worried only about the Financial returns and nothing else generally  matters to them . However, the balanced score card concept envelopes other perspectives that are very closely related to the Financial performance . "

Miss P said " Ok , then sorry for my ignorance , I never thought it was so much . But Suzuki San , Can you tell me what are the perspectives associated with this , If I can think of something , I can say a company's processes are very much linked "

Suzuki San jumped in joy " Exactly , you got the concept right , the other perspectives that are associated with the Financial perspective are the customer perspective , (Internal) Process perspective and Innovation and Learning Perspective .

You see Miss P , there is no doubt that Financial perspective is very important and the most critical measure of an organisation's success . But only focusing on Finances will not help an organisation excel .

To achieve excellent financial results , the organisation will have to focus on its customers, so we need to have a perspective from Customer point of view .

To achieve Customer service excellence , we need to have robust internal processes and so Internal process is a perspective we need to look at .

To achieve excellent processes and conform to those , we need human resource who have the ability to innovate and learn and improve continuously ( this is where Kaizen comes ) and so we need to have an innovation and learning perspective .

You will also see from the above that each of these perspectives are linked to each other . You cant have a perspective that has an independent function , do you understand Miss P "

"Very much , Suzuki San , Thanks a lot . Is that all , but how will you measure these perspectives " Miss P asked very innocently .

" That is where the whole concept of Balanced Score card comes , Miss P . Each Perspective , according to the authors will have around three -  four objectives . Each of these objectives will have clearly defined measures and targets , tactics and initiatives "

Miss P exclaimed " Suzuki San , you forgot to add one more perspective . The Information overload perspective " and laughed .

Suzuki San got the point and smiled " Yes I know this is too much in one lecture . I dont know if you were aware that my good friend KJ of Specialised Systems had conducted two sessions on Balanced Score card in the month of February and March  at the Kaizen Institute of Zambia . He had explained the concept through a presentation . You are aware Miss P , that KJ is an International Balanced Scorecard Certified Professional .

What i will do Miss P , is to provide you with a link for that presentation so that you can download .

The link is given below (PLEASE COPY AND PASTE IN NEW BROWSER WINDOW)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3z7e6qrs3p733s5/BSC-Presentation%20by%20Adnan%20Alshiha.pdf?dl=0



I have already discussed with KJ and he is pleased to provide the link . Please note that he wishes to convey that the presentation was not made by him but by one Adnan Alshiha and he obtained this from internet . KJ says of all the presentations , this one is very useful and elaborate .

I am loading it in the blog that myself and KJ are maintaining . So whoever wishes to know more about the balanced score card can download and SHOULD THERE BE ANY QUERIES OR DOUBTS , DO NOT HESITATE TO SEND A MAIL TO MY FRIEND KJ ON

kj@specialised.com.zm

Now , its time already and I will see you next week positively ".

Miss P was so moved by this bumper bonanza of knowledge . "Suzuki San , words cant express my thankfulness . I will certainly go through and come back to you with any doubts and will write to KJ as well . Please convey my wishes to him . Thanks "

Note 1 : Suzuki San , Miss P and her company are characters  developed by KJ and has no relevance to any particular person / processes/situation    . All mention are purely for illustration purpose of the central theme of the case and are personal opinions unless cited and shall have no recourse of consequences to author . Readers can use their practical inputs to alter any of the material that may be published . Readers are invited to express their views on this continuing case study series .

Note 2: Some of the readers have mentioned that they are unable to place their comments . Please click on the "No comments"  link , and make your comments and if you do not have any prior registration , you can choose anonymous and feel free to give details or not , though it will be nice if we can have your name details in the comments .

Learning Series 2 : CUSTOMER SERVICE GAP ANALYSIS

Good morning , Suzuki San

Suzuki San turned around and found Miss P standing . "Miss P , what a surprise , how come you are in Lusaka "

Miss P says " Sorry to barge in Suzuki San , I couldn't get through on your phone , I am here to participate for the Annual Kaizen Conference on the 3rd and 4th November . I need to make some intense preparation on our Kaizen activities and have brought all information .  I heard KJ is organising a Learning session on 22nd Oct to explain on the Seven QC tools , and I wanted to attend that as well . I want to know something about Pareto analysis and a few other tools "

"Oh , I see. You are welcome to Lusaka , Miss P . I also heard of the meeting . It is unfortunate that we are not able to have these sessions in the Copperbelt , and I hope , we will start something there soon . By the way , do you know that KJ's second Learning series on Customer Service Gap Analysis was a huge success . The participants very intently learnt about the various service gaps that affect Customer satisfaction and went back with a wealth of knowledge . See these pictures  ,Miss P "

Miss P exclaims , "Wow , Suzuki San I would have loved to participate in these learning series . I also am wondering why so many companies in Lusaka are not able to send their staff for these programs . It would be a great opportunity to understand concepts and then bridge to practice "

Suzuki San sighed " Yes , rightly said , Knowledge will never let one down , It is always positive and we are pushing hard for the Top management of Lusaka Industry to understand that , and develop their staff to learn more and more .  One goodness about all this is that , one need not feel that they have missed out on anything . All that they have to do is to mail KJ to conduct another session , and knowing KJ  he will certainly help out .

Miss P , I am looking at the Kaizen Conference with great enthusiasm  . I really dont know how many of the participants are going to come with presentations that are beyond 5S , but we have to gradually move beyond that and start using the 7QC tools and real projects . "

"Understood , Suzuki San . Thanks for your time , Will update you after attending KJ's learning series on Thursday ."

"Where is it being held , by the way Miss P "

"I think owing to paucity of time to arrange with KIZ , KJ plans to have it in his organisation only , Specialised Systems Limited on Mwembeshi road , Light industrial area . Will you be coming , Suzuki San "

"Let me see , Miss P , I have to check on my diary and will certainly come if time permits. Best wishes "


Note 1 : Suzuki San , Miss P and her company are characters  developed by KJ and has no relevance to any particular person / processes/situation    . All mention are purely for illustration purpose of the central theme of the case and are personal opinions unless cited and shall have no recourse of consequences to author . Readers can use their practical inputs to alter any of the material that may be published . Readers are invited to express their views on this continuing case study series .

Note 2: Some of the readers have mentioned that they are unable to place their comments . Please click on the "No comments"  link , and make your comments and if you do not have any prior registration , you can choose anonymous and feel free to give details or not , though it will be nice if we can have your name details in the comments .