USING COST OF QUALITY WITH ROOT CAUSE
ANALYSIS AND CORRECTIVE ACTION SYSTEMS
Jim Robison,CQA,CMgr.
ISO 9000 Registered Lead Auditor
QMX/The Harrington Group,Inc.
P.O. Box 291204
Port Orange,FL 32129
E-mail:JimRobison@msn
SUMMARY
Corrective and preventive action is a key element in any quality system. As quality professionals,we are often asked to calculate the cost to find and fix nonconformances. Although this sounds reasonable,we often struggle to keep it simple. This presentation provides an outline approach as to how cost of quality
can be interwoven with root cause analysis and corrective and preventive action systems.
KEY WORDS
corrective action,cost of quality,ISO 9000,root cause analysis
INTRODUCTION
The principles of quality costs can be applied to corrective and preventive actions systems. Often management asks what was (or is) the cost to find the root cause,and fix and prevent reoccurrence of nonconformities. The qual-ity cost principals of internal failure (IF) and external failure (EF) can be applied to costing corrective actions. For simplicity,EF may be defined as a nonconformity found by the paying customer,while an IF is found before the pay-ing customer might detect the noncompliance. This paper defines IF as those nonconformities that never reach the end customer. Appraisal (A) and prevention (P) activities can be defined as those activities to assure requirements are met and activities taken to prevent nonconformity reoccurrence.
Quality systems that are based on ISO 9000 require a documented system for implementing corrective and pre-ventive action. Root cause analysis and corrective action is an important element of an effectiv
e proactive (rather that reactive) quality management system. A proactive system encourages changes to processes in order to prevent costly nonconformities from occurring and recurring.
CORRECTIVE AND PREVENTIVE ACTIONS
Corrective action may be defined as a planned set of activities (or actions) implemented for the purpose of per-manently resolving the problem. Specific corrective actions are taken to correct or improve the condition noted in the event by changing the direct cause or the direct cause and effect. Typically,users may test specific corrective actions by asking “Does the corrective actions eliminate or control the direct cause,and are the results desirable?”Specific corrective actions do not (typically) provide long-term solutions.
Preventive actions are taken to prevent the occurrence or reoccurrence of the condition noted in the event. Users may test specific preventive actions by asking “If these preventive actions were in place,would the event have occurred?”Or by asking “Are there adverse effects caused by the implementing the corrective actions that make them desirable?”
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ASQ’s 54th Annual Quality Congress Proceedings11
A review must be conducted to assess whether the corrective actions that have been implemented are effective and are truly preventing the recurrence of the event. This assures that the outcome of the root cause analysis and cor-rective action process will achieve the desired result. One must test the effectiveness using measures. Quality cost trending for decreases in EF and IF is one such measure.
Using quality costing techniques as part of one’s corrective and preventive action system provides a powerful indicator as to the effectiveness of your quality system. It provides information that management can understand—dollars. It can help prioritize significant corrective actions such as the cost of customer complaints (a major finding) as compared to minor findings such as documentation errors,or insignificant procedural compliance issues. Trending and tracking these costs over time,is a useful method to assess the results of continuous improvement initiatives,cus-tomer satisfaction,and bottom line profitability.
THE 10-STEP APPROACH
How can root cause analysis,cost of quality,and corrective action be used together in one’s quality system? A typical approach may look like this.
1.Identify Opportunities for Improvement
•Look for events (nonconformity):Product failures,process problems,customer complaints,audit finding, product returns,and others.
2.Form Team and Scope Project
•Form a team:Use natural work groups or by select by qualification.
•Identify a specific problem:Write a definitive problem statement.
3.Analyze the Current Process
•Gather data and information,including:
•Date and time of event •Sequence of events
•Personnel involved•Equipment used
•Operational conditions•Quality records collected
•Environmental conditions•Recent changes in process
•Documentation/instructions being used•Status of trained workers
•Verify above data to ensure objectivity.
4.Define Desired Outcomes for Improved Process
•Your goal is to prevent reoccurrence by reducing or eliminating occurrences (events).
5.Identify Root Causes and Proposed Solutions
•Determine causes:Use the Why-Why method and create a cause chain.
•Define causes as direct,contributing,or root cause.
•Direct cause:The cause that directly resulted in an event (first in the cause chain).
•Contributing cause:Contributed to an event but,by itself,would not have caused the event.
•Root cause:Fundamental reason for an event,which if corrected,would prevent recurrence.
•Develop a specific corrective action plan—propose a solution to fix the noncompliance.
•Specific corrective action:Actions taken to correct or improve conditions noted in the event,by changing the direct cause or the direct cause and the effect.
6.Calculate the Cost of Quality (COQ)
•Review standard COQ definitions and “tweak”definitions to fit your use.
•Determine whether noncompliance is an IF or EF.
•Using frequency of event data (previously collected) and calculate the cost per occurrence.
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•Calculate total failure cost:The cost/occurrence ×number of occurrences. (Cost of the C/A.)
•Develop a preventive action plan:Calculate the investment to prevent reoccurrence. (Cost of P/A.)•Preventive Action:Action(s) taken that prevent recurrence of the condition noted.
•Calculate a return on quality (RoQ)—find the ratio of prevention dollars spent to failure dollars saved. 7.Prioritize,Plan,and Test Proposed Solutions
•Use COQ dollars and RoQ for IF and EF to help prioritize which corrective action plan takes priority.
•Review your implementation plan.
•Test your plan on a small scale.
•Drill down to uncover the “hidden company.”
•Re-audit to close corrective actions and determine effectiveness.
8.Refine and Implement Solutions
•Using test results,implement or “tweak”corrective action plans.
•Use audits to help refine preventive action plan.
•Document process.
9.Measure Progress and Hold Gains
•Load data into a COQ tracking system (PC-based software).
•Trend and track.
•Don’t crucify the messenger. The hidden company has always been there.
•Act on fact,not emotion.
•Ensure progress is moving in a positive direction.
•Make part of ISO management review meetings.
10.Acknowledge Team and Communicate Results
•Recognize and reward team and contributors.
•Share the “lessons learned”with other teams.
•Commit to funding other improvement projects.
•Repeat the process.
CONCLUSION
Given that root cause analysis is performed and implemented,your challenge is to assess the effectiveness to pre-vent recurrence. Trending the cost of corrective and preventive actions is a useful management indicator. It provides a powerful tool to help focus priorities and assess the return on qual
ity. It is hoped that all quality professionals imple-ment a quality cost tracking system as part of their corrective and preventive action system. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Rick Harrington provided insights,expertise,and innovative ideas in developing and implementation of cost of quality and corrective action software for tracking quality costs. His ongoing friendship,support,and encouragement for my work in this field is appreciated.
REFERENCES
Campenella,Jack. 1999. Principles of Quality Cost,3d ed. Milwaukee:ASQ Quality Press.
Robison,Jim. 1999. Cost of Quality Implementation Workshop. Orlando,FL.
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