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Chapter 4
Defining andDocumenting a
Process
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Chapter 4
Defining and Documenting a Process
You will understand how to:
y Define and document a process in an analytic studyy Discuss the concept of feedback in a process
y Discuss the construction and use of a flowchart forcommunication and process improvement
y Discuss the importance of operational definitions indefining and documenting a process
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Empowerment Revisited
Empowerment provides an employee with:y The opportunity to define and document processes,
y The opportunity to learn about processes through training and
development,
y The opportunity to improve and innovate best practice methods
that make up processes
y The latitude to use her own judgment to make decisions within
the context of best practice methods
y An environment of trust in which superiors will not react
negatively to the latitude taken by people making decisions
within the context of best practice methods.
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The operational definition of empowerment
has two parts:y In the first part, employees are empowered
to develop and document best practice
methods using the SDSA Cycle.
y In the second part, employees are
empowered to improve or innovate best
practice methods using the PDSA cycle.
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Analytic Studies Revisited
yAnalytic studies are statistical investigations that
lead to action on a dynamic process.
y They are the vehicle for using the SDSA cycle in
the context of the first level of empowerment todefine and document a process.
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y
Process Basicsy Aprocess is the transformation of inputs into
outputs.
Personnel/Services
Equipment
Materials/GoodsEnvironment
Transformation of
inputs, value
(time, place form)
is added orcreated
Personnel/Services
Equipment
Materials/Goods
MethodsEnvironment
Inputs Process Outputs
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y Process Basics
y
Processes exist in all aspects of organizations, andour understanding of them is crucial.
yAdministration, sales, service, human resources,
training, maintenance, paper flows,
interdepartmental communication, and vendor
relations are all processes.
y These processes can all be studied, documented,
defined, improved, and innovated.
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y The Feedback Loop
yA feedback loop relates information about outputsback to the input stage and/or process stage.
y This information can be studied to help identifypotential improvements and innovations to aprocess.
y
A major purpose of analytic studies is to provide theinformation (flowing through feedback loops)needed to take action with respect to a process.
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y Introductiony Considering the following questions will help you
define and document a process:y Who owns the process? Who's responsible for the
process's improvement?
y What are the boundaries of the process?
y What is the flow of the process?
y What are the process's objectives? What measurementsare being taken on the process with respect to itsobjectives?
y Are process data valid?
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y Who Owns the Process? Every process must have an owner (an individual or
team) who is responsible for the process. Process owners may have responsibilities
extending beyond their departments, called cross-functional responsibilities; they must be highenough in the organization to influence theresources necessary to take action on a cross-functional process.
A process owner is the coach and counsel of herprocess in an organization.
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y What Are the Boundaries of the Process?
y Boundaries must be established for processes.y These boundaries make it easier to establish
process ownership and highlight the process's key
interfaces with other (customer/vendor) processes.
y Process inter
faces frequently are the source ofprocess problems, which result from a failure to
understand downstream requirements.
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y What Is the Flow of the Process?y A flowchart is a pictorial summary of the flows and
decisions that comprise a process.y
It is used for defining and documenting the process.y A flowchart can help a manager, designer, analyst, or
anyone else understand, define, document, study,improve, or innovate a process.
Start Design of trial prototype
specifications
Evaluation
of
prototype
Bad
Trial of
production units
Good
Overall
evaluation or
trial production
units
Bad
GoodProduction
design
accepted
Stop
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y What Is the Flow of the Process?
y
Constructive Opportunities to Change a Process.When using a flowchart, changing a process is
facilitated by:
y Finding the sections of the process that are weak (for
example, parts of the process that generate a high defect
rate),y Determining the parts of the process that are within the
process owner's control, and
y Isolating the elements in the process that affect
customers.
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y What Is the Flow of the Process?y If these three conditions exist simultaneously, an
excellent opportunity to constructively modify aprocess has been found. Further, processimprovements have a greater chance of success ifthey are non-political (or have the appropriate
political support) and do not require capitalinvestment (or have the necessary financialresources).
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y What Are the Process's Objectives?yA key responsibility of a process owner is to clearly
state process objectives that are consistent withorganizational objectives.
yAn example of an organizational objective is "Striveto continually provide our customers with higher-quality products/services at an attractive price that
will meet their needs.
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y What Are the Process's Objectives?y
A process owner in the Purchasing Departmentcould translate the preceding organizationalobjective into the following subset of objectives:y Continuously monitor the Purchasing Department's
customers (e.g., Maintenance Department, AdministrationDepartment) to determine their needs with respect to:
y Number of days from purchase request to item/servicedelivery.
y Ease of filling out purchasing forms.
y Satisfaction with purchased material.
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y Continuously train and develop Purchasing personnel with
respect to job requirements. For example, takemeasurements on the following as a basis for process
improvement:
y Number of errors per purchase order.
y Number of minutes to complete a purchase order.
y Whatever the objectives of a process are, allpersons involved with that process must understand
its objectives and devote their efforts toward those
objectives, rather than toward some other
objectives.
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yAre Process Data Valid?
y Management's (process owners') attempts to
define and document a process must include
precise definitions of process objectives and sub-
objectives, and specifications of products and
services, and processes.
y Operational definitions used to collect data must
have the same meaning to everyone so that thedata can be used as a basis for action.
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y It is useful to illustrate the confusion which can becaused by the absence of operational definitions.y The label on a shirt reads "75% cotton." What does this
mean? Three quarters cotton, on the average, over thisshirt, or three quarter cotton over a month's production?
y What is three quarters cotton?
y Three quarters by weight? If so, at what humidity? By whatmethod of chemical analysis? How many analyses?
y Does 75 percent cotton mean that there must be somecotton in any random cross-section the size of a silverdollar?
y If so, how many cuts should be tested?
y How do you select them?
y
What criterion must the average satisfy?y And how much variation between cuts is permissible?
y Obviously, the meaning of 75% cotton must be stated inoperational terms, otherwise confusion results.
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yAs another example, one operation in a production
process is a deburring operation. Clearly, it is
reasonable to ask for the definition of a burr.
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y Although inspectors B and C always agree, they alwaysdisagree with inspectorE.
y Inspector A agrees with inspectors B and C 40 percent of
the time, with inspectorE 60 percent of the time, and withinspector D 50 percent of the time.y Inspector D also agrees with inspectors B, C, and E 50
percent of the time.
y This information does not paint a pretty picture.y Absence of an operational definition of a burr creates
mayhem. The Deburring Department manager (theprocess owner) and inspectors have no consistent conceptof their jobs. This creates fear (Deming's Point 8) andsteals their pride of workmanship (Deming's Point 12).
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More on Operational Definitions
yAn operational definition consists of:
y A criterion to be applied to an object or to a group
y A test of the object or group
y A decision as to whether the object or group did or did not
meet the criterion
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A firm produces washers. One of the critical quality
characteristics is roundness. The following
procedure is one way to arrive at an operational
definition of roundness, as long as a buyer and
seller agree on it.
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y Step 1: Criterion for roundness.y Buyer: "Use calipers that are in reasonably good order." (You
perceive at once the need to question every word.)y Seller: "What is `reasonably good order'?" (We settle the question
by letting you use your calipers.)
y Seller: "But how should I use them?"
y Buyer: "We'll be satisfied if you just use them in the usual way."
y Seller: "At what temperature?"
y Buyer: "The temperature of this room."y Buyer: "Take six measures of the diameter about 30 degrees
apart. Record the results."
y Seller: "But what is `about 30 degrees apart'? Don't you meanexactly 30 degrees?"
y Buyer: "No, there's no such thing as exactly 30 degrees in the
physical world. So try for 30 degrees. We'll be satisfied."y Buyer: "If the range between the six diameters doesn't exceed
.007 centimeters, we'll declare the washer to be round." (Theyhave determined the criterion for roundness.)
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y
Step 2: Test of roundness.y Select a particular washer.
y Take the six measurements and record the results in
centimeters: 3.365, 3.363, 3.368, 3.366, 3.366, and 3.369.
y The range is 3.369 to 3.363, or a 0.006 difference. They test
for conformance by comparing the range of 0.006 with thecriterion range of 0.007 (Step 1).
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y Step 3: Decision on roundness.
y Because the washer passed the prescribed test for
roundness, they declare it to be round.
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y If a seller has employees who understand what
round means and a buyer who agrees, many of
the problems the company may have had
satisfying the customer will disappear.