Overview

If you don't measure it, you don't manage it.

Joseph Juran

If you do measure it, you will manage it, and it will improve. With this in mind, it is critical that the measures selected be the correct ones, and that they be effectively communicated. Thus far we've covered the basics of practices for assuring manufacturing excellence. This done, however, we must make sure we measure those things that are supportive of our corporate objectives, including those measurements that establish our objectives. The following is a case history of one of Beta's divisions that achieved exceptional results by implementing a process for measuring and continuously improving their manufacturing methods. It provides guidance for an active, participative management style for most organizations in assuring continuous improvement.

The new vice-president of manufacturing for Beta's small start-up instrumentation division questioned the plant manager about the quality of the plant's new products. The plant manager assured the vice-president that quality was good, even very good. When asked for the measures of quality, however, the plant manager admitted that their focus was on finished product quality. Because there was a strong commitment to customer satisfaction, and new products tended to get "buried" in the total statistics, the more mature products usually represented the greatest volume. Soon thereafter measurements were intensified on all products, and the vice-president focused on two key measures: (1) for internal purposes first-pass yield; and (2) for external purposes DOAs, or equipment that was "dead on arrival" or failed to meet any critical...