Response Plan

Quick reference

• 00:05 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:06 I saved one aspect of the control plan for its own special module, and
• 00:10 that's because it is so important to the success of the project.
• 00:14 That's the response plan.
• 00:16 And just to be clear, this is a subset of the overall process control plan.
• 00:21 I will start by considering the control strategy
• 00:24 based upon your process performance.
• 00:27 There are four different strategies you could pursue,
• 00:30 these strategies are based upon the typical performance of your process.
• 00:34 It could be in statistical control, meaning there are no special cause
• 00:38 variation, only comic cause, or it could also be out of statistical control,
• 00:43 meaning that there is the presence of special cause variation.
• 00:47 Second, your process may have been producing conforming parts, or
• 00:52 it may have been creating some errors and defects.
• 00:55 Now, it should be no surprise that our goal is to have
• 00:58 a process that is statistical control and always producing conforming items.
• 01:03 This is the ideal state, we should try to design a solution that gets there and
• 01:08 then put in place a control plan to stay there.
• 01:11 Sometimes the process is in control, but there are some non-conforming results.
• 01:17 This is a process capability issue.
• 01:20 The, Specification limits are tighter than what the process is able to consistently
• 01:24 achieve.
• 01:25 We call this threshold performance because we are on the threshold of being able to
• 01:30 get to the ideal state.
• 01:31 From a control strategy standpoint, we want to be maintaining control and
• 01:36 constantly monitoring for
• 01:37 those instances when the results are not conforming so they can be reworked.
• 01:42 This is also a candidate for a further Lean Six Sigma project.
• 01:46 The third strategy is for the case when the process is out of control and
• 01:51 producing parts that are non-conforming.
• 01:53 In this case, the process is broken and typically everyone knows that there
• 01:58 are ongoing problems and chaos as evident at times.
• 02:02 You should not be in this state at the end of a Lean Six Sigma project,
• 02:06 although this is often the case at the beginning of a project.
• 02:09 If your team is still in this condition, your project is not over yet.
• 02:15 The fourth condition is actually the most dangerous one.
• 02:18 The process is not in control, but it has been producing conforming results lately,
• 02:24 that means that some special cause is overriding the normal
• 02:27 process performance and making sure that the result is acceptable.
• 02:32 This condition can lead to a false sense of security and also,
• 02:36 it's difficult to create a control plan for this condition because the process
• 02:40 does not have the inherent ability to control what's happening.
• 02:44 It is the special cause that's overriding everything in the process, and
• 02:49 as soon as that special cause changes, the results will likely be disastrous.
• 02:54 So with the strategy in mind,
• 02:56 now let's look at how the response plan fits with the control plan.
• 02:59 For starters, the response plan lets the process operators know which inputs and
• 03:04 outputs are critical and which are not.
• 03:06 Based upon the type of response and nature of the response,
• 03:10 the operators will have a sense of what is most important.
• 03:13 When a defect is detected, and that could be an output defect or an input defect,
• 03:18 the response plan tells the operator and the managers what to do.
• 03:23 First, what to do with respect to notifying the customers of the process and
• 03:28 second, what is to be done within the process, both are important.
• 03:32 In some cases, the response plan will prescribe a response even
• 03:37 though a defect is not occurred yet.
• 03:39 This normally happens when a process is starting to degrade, for instance,
• 03:44 a run-chart on an input may indicate the presence of a new special cause variation
• 03:49 with a shift in the input values.
• 03:51 The magnitude of the shift may not be enough to create a defective output, but
• 03:55 the fact that a special cause variation has been detected is an indication of
• 03:59 the process degradation.
• 04:01 And the response plan will likely give directions to the operator as to what they
• 04:05 should do.
• 04:06 Sometimes the process is directed to do something that is not part of the standard
• 04:10 process.
• 04:11 There's a custom order or a special case that must be run.
• 04:14 The response plan provides directions to the operator as to how they should
• 04:19 respond to the special request on unusual situation.
• 04:22 It isn't that it's necessarily a bad problem, it's just different
• 04:27 from the normal process and therefore requires special attention.
• 04:31 So let's review different types of responses.
• 04:34 There are a number of factors that should be considered when determining what
• 04:39 an appropriate response would be to a situation.
• 04:42 These factors include the characteristic of the process and the process parameters,
• 04:47 the magnitude of the out-of-control or unusual situation, and the breadth and
• 04:52 depth of information that is needed to respond to the situation.
• 04:56 One type of response is to increase the monitoring of the parameter in question.
• 05:00 In this case, the process is continued but with extra oversight,
• 05:04 there may be increased testing or increased frequency of sampling.
• 05:08 This is often done when alarm limits are hit on a parameter,
• 05:12 the output is not yet out of specification, but it's getting close.
• 05:16 Another response is the manual override, this is often used with automated
• 05:21 equipment that has identified a possible defect or error.
• 05:25 An operator inspector or manager reviews the defect and
• 05:28 determines if it's a valid defect or if the item can be continued in the process.
• 05:33 I often find this approach is used when a process has to handle custom orders or
• 05:38 custom items.
• 05:39 There is no way for the automation to know all the possible options in a custom job,
• 05:44 so the automation flags it as a possible error and someone must respond to it and
• 05:48 make a determination.
• 05:50 The third one is probably the easiest one to understand, stop, correct and resume.
• 05:56 This is often the response used for setup errors or manual assembly errors.
• 06:01 This is the approach used for
• 06:02 items that would be discussed in a troubleshooting guide for the operator.
• 06:06 When they have a specific type of problem, they should stop,
• 06:09 take a specific corrective action and then they can resume the process.
• 06:13 It can be a great approach but it requires a process designers to have already
• 06:18 identified the possible defect, it doesn't work for brand new problems.
• 06:22 The fourth response could be considered a variation on the third response, again,
• 06:28 the operator stops work, but now they begin to follow a specific procedure.
• 06:32 This is normally used if the problem or
• 06:35 error is not a quick fix that can be easily corrected and the process resume.
• 06:39 This is often used with items that are very expensive or
• 06:42 that are a sensitive item with respect to external stakeholders.
• 06:46 In those cases, we normally don't want to throw anything away and start over,
• 06:51 so there are special instructions for what to do in those special situations.
• 06:56 The fifth response approach is a fallback approach,
• 06:59 when you've not been able to prepare one or the other four.
• 07:03 The operators responses to stop and ask for help, bring in an expert and
• 07:07 let them determine what is happening.
• 07:10 I recommend this response for new process introduction on critical processes until
• 07:14 the process can become stable.
• 07:16 When there is a problem,
• 07:18 I want to subject matter experts to be leading the investigation.
• 07:22 Most response plans will have a combination of these approaches and
• 07:25 I usually provide the response with monitoring information.
• 07:28 So the operators don't need to be referencing multiple procedures or
• 07:32 documents.
• 07:33 A clear response plan will make it much easier for the process manager and
• 07:37 the operators to deal with the inevitable problems that will come up.
• 07:42 Don't neglect this.

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