How to get manufacturing operators to catch problems?
February 24, 2020 8:17 PM Subscribe
I work in a manufacturing plant. We’ve been having a lot of problems with people not catching mistakes or problems and leading to high costs and customer complaints. Does anyone have any ideas for increasing our chances of having employees catch problems.
Let’s say that we make custom picture dice. Employees have to install the molds for each side and make sure that the pictures are correct by matching against a sample die. (Multiple people confirm they have checked it.) Then during the production run, they have to check regularly to make sure that the molds haven’t gone out of alignment (moving the pictures or completely removing them), keep an eye on the die shapes (from temperature fluctuations), etc while packaging the dice and making sure the machines run well. We’ve regularly had all those as failure modes.
We’ve had a fair bit of turnover, but we’ve had problems from both new and long time employees. Some of the problems require people looking closely and some are obvious. It seems to be a matter of people getting complacent or not caring.
Has anyone had any experience getting people to be more careful in these types of situations or any techniques we could try?
Let’s say that we make custom picture dice. Employees have to install the molds for each side and make sure that the pictures are correct by matching against a sample die. (Multiple people confirm they have checked it.) Then during the production run, they have to check regularly to make sure that the molds haven’t gone out of alignment (moving the pictures or completely removing them), keep an eye on the die shapes (from temperature fluctuations), etc while packaging the dice and making sure the machines run well. We’ve regularly had all those as failure modes.
We’ve had a fair bit of turnover, but we’ve had problems from both new and long time employees. Some of the problems require people looking closely and some are obvious. It seems to be a matter of people getting complacent or not caring.
Has anyone had any experience getting people to be more careful in these types of situations or any techniques we could try?
This is the sort of thing engineers design into their production lines after thinking carefully about the specific processes they need to control. You're very unlikely to find good advice for free from strangers on the internet who have no idea what you're doing.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 8:59 PM on February 24, 2020 [19 favorites]
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 8:59 PM on February 24, 2020 [19 favorites]
Align incentives. If there's pressure to get a certain number of runs completed during a shift, people will focus on that squeeky wheel and work hard to get things done quickly.
If, on the other hand, there's a dedicated quality check person and the pressure is to not rework product, people will be very careful to catch it the first time.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 9:00 PM on February 24, 2020 [5 favorites]
If, on the other hand, there's a dedicated quality check person and the pressure is to not rework product, people will be very careful to catch it the first time.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 9:00 PM on February 24, 2020 [5 favorites]
Best answer: In a risk management system, the answer is that you have a process issue. You have to have something in your process that safeguards for human error as much as possible; you can't just tell people to "be more careful".
What is your QC process?
Do you have checklists?
Are you asking people to look for "anything wrong" or is there a specific set of flaws they will check for in a set sequence?
Do you have a resource devoted specifically to checking for errors?
Ideally you will separate "doing" and "checking" and have different steps for making the dice and QC'ing the dice, and ideally different people for each of those tasks, rather than rolling them into one single step.
Ideally you will incorporate process redundancy and process diversity, e.g. more than one person QC'ing the product, and different types of QC.
The more different tasks someone has to juggle, the greater the risk they will miss something or do something wrong with one the component sub-tasks. If your employees are doing 10 things at once--installing the molds and making the dice and troubleshooting machines and packaging the finished product--their full attention is never going to be on the quality of the product.
Edit: Also, you will probably want to have a process for tracking and trending flaws and complaints and the cause for each issue. You can find if there is a particular problem and address it. For example, if one employee is consistently making mistakes, perhaps they need more training, or are overworked and need more support; or if one type of product is consistently coming out wrong, maybe your equipment needs repair, or maybe you need to add extra QC steps on just that product.
posted by music for skeletons at 9:01 PM on February 24, 2020 [17 favorites]
What is your QC process?
Do you have checklists?
Are you asking people to look for "anything wrong" or is there a specific set of flaws they will check for in a set sequence?
Do you have a resource devoted specifically to checking for errors?
Ideally you will separate "doing" and "checking" and have different steps for making the dice and QC'ing the dice, and ideally different people for each of those tasks, rather than rolling them into one single step.
Ideally you will incorporate process redundancy and process diversity, e.g. more than one person QC'ing the product, and different types of QC.
The more different tasks someone has to juggle, the greater the risk they will miss something or do something wrong with one the component sub-tasks. If your employees are doing 10 things at once--installing the molds and making the dice and troubleshooting machines and packaging the finished product--their full attention is never going to be on the quality of the product.
Edit: Also, you will probably want to have a process for tracking and trending flaws and complaints and the cause for each issue. You can find if there is a particular problem and address it. For example, if one employee is consistently making mistakes, perhaps they need more training, or are overworked and need more support; or if one type of product is consistently coming out wrong, maybe your equipment needs repair, or maybe you need to add extra QC steps on just that product.
posted by music for skeletons at 9:01 PM on February 24, 2020 [17 favorites]
Best answer: I hope my answer is helpful. First a little about my relevant background. I worked as a national marketing manager for a company making products that other companies turned into car parts. Parts that had a significant influence on the reliability and performance of new and used cars, trucks, tractors, and so on. As such, we needed to provide defect-free materials to our customers. In the space of two years, two major events occurred--our biggest client firm was bought out by our second biggest client. The 2nd biggest was also a competitor of ours--in other words, they made some of the same basic materials that we did and could replace us as a vendor with their own product. The 2nd major event was that we bought one of our biggest competitors who made a similar product to ours, and which also was a major supplier to both Client 1 and Client 2.
The reason I mention this background is that in that two-year stretch I became responsible for ensuring on-time and defect-free supply for about $3 million annually in 1996. Now, our plant(s) had quality control people and logistics and supply chain people but as the VP of the combined mega-client said when we announced the purchase of our competitor "Congratulations, you have now gone from our #3 overall vendor to our #1 vendor in terms of dollars, and from our #1 vendor with an on-time performace of 93% and a defect/1000 rating of 9, to an on-time performance of 69% and a defect rating of 85/1000. Both are unacceptable in 6 sigma manufacturing. We will replace you unless those ratings both improve to 96% or better on time and a defect rating back under 5/1000."
My VP and my company president sent me essentially to live at the factory, some 500 miles from my home, since I inherited this problem. They pegged this situation as being a six month assignment, win-lose-or-or-draw. Lose or draw, and I would be looking for a new job. Win, and in the market at that time, I would be thrilled to keep my job as far as they were concerned.
This was going to require, as I believe your situation does, a culture change. I had started out years before this as an inside salesperson, with no previous manufacturing or even sales experience. Some of this ahead may sound corny, but if you read all the way through, I can offer results. I learned from my earliest mentors that there is always an alternative/equivalent product and that it isn't MY company that is signing my paycheck, it is the customer. Without the customer, none of us would have a job. Another thing I learned and lived and breathed is that inside the manufacturing operation, each department or process within the chain is the customer for the department or process that proceeded it. Finally, we all can benefit from real-world examples of why each worker should care and what is in it for them.
I was dealing with a union workforce. Although I was a suit, I believe in unions. What I didn't believe in was passing substandard work on and not raising the issue with my supplier just because they might be my union brother or sister.
Going through the quality rejection reports from the customer showed that one of the biggest defects was that the products were damaged by our preparation for shipping. Our shipping department overtightened the steel banding on the pallets, causing damage to the products within.
Second biggest defect was products not slit to be the right size. The finishing department had the process manuals that said that with the two operators on the finisher, one measured where to set the cutting wheel and the other was supposed to double-check that it was set to customer specification. In practice, since they were doing a repetitive job that pretty much ran itself once you pressed start, one operator would both set and confirm the setting.
The real-world example in the "treat the customer as you would be treated" I used was to gather everyone together with some packages of parts I picked up at the auto parts store. Some were damaged a little, some were damaged a lot, and some were pristine. The production people and shipping people all agreed that they wouldn't buy the highly damaged parts, would want a discount on the cosmetically damaged parts, and would pay full price for the made-to-spec parts. Exactly how all of our customers feel! They want what they are paying for, want us to issue credits for products that are functional but appear damaged, and reject that which is clearly damaged.
The plant manager thought I was crazy. He wanted to put in sanctions and penalties--which is how there was so much mistrust engendered in the first place. Instead, I worked with them--observing their rules for what i could and could not do as a salaryman versus their union regulations. But I also wanted to make sure they knew that THEY were the experts in their job functions, not me. By the end of the first month I had them realizing that they had a lot of control over what went out with their names on it. By the end of the 2nd month, they were dealing with each other interdepartmentally as clients and vendors and were proactive about spotting problems. By the 3rd month, we went from our abysmal performance to exceeding the stretch goals set by the client. We achieved 98% on time and 3/1000 defects. At the end of the year, 9 months after we were tasked with improving or losing, we were recognized by the external customer as the most-improved vendor and best overall vendor. I was able to return home to my family after only 3 months. It was hell for my family, my wife, my kids, and me. But I took the challenge because I believe that every person in an organization is responsible for the quality of the product that goes out the door.
I did get a promotion out of the whole experience, but that's not why I did it. I frankly thought my bosses were a big part of the problem, trying to command people to perform without involving them in the process, and changing their culture so that they understood why it was important for them to insist on quality thoughout the process. If they saw a problem that they could fix, they should. If they couldn't fix it, they should bring it to a team meeting for a solution. We had small daily quality circle type meetings, and weekly larger interdepartmental meetings recognizing positive improvements and seeking hive-mind solutions to problems that lingered. And lots of pizza. And lots of ice-pops in May and June. I went up there to upstate NY at the end of March and came home over the 4th of July.
Culture change and a gold-standard of Customer Care.
I hope there is something in this Chautauqua you can use.
posted by beelzbubba at 9:40 PM on February 24, 2020 [71 favorites]
The reason I mention this background is that in that two-year stretch I became responsible for ensuring on-time and defect-free supply for about $3 million annually in 1996. Now, our plant(s) had quality control people and logistics and supply chain people but as the VP of the combined mega-client said when we announced the purchase of our competitor "Congratulations, you have now gone from our #3 overall vendor to our #1 vendor in terms of dollars, and from our #1 vendor with an on-time performace of 93% and a defect/1000 rating of 9, to an on-time performance of 69% and a defect rating of 85/1000. Both are unacceptable in 6 sigma manufacturing. We will replace you unless those ratings both improve to 96% or better on time and a defect rating back under 5/1000."
My VP and my company president sent me essentially to live at the factory, some 500 miles from my home, since I inherited this problem. They pegged this situation as being a six month assignment, win-lose-or-or-draw. Lose or draw, and I would be looking for a new job. Win, and in the market at that time, I would be thrilled to keep my job as far as they were concerned.
This was going to require, as I believe your situation does, a culture change. I had started out years before this as an inside salesperson, with no previous manufacturing or even sales experience. Some of this ahead may sound corny, but if you read all the way through, I can offer results. I learned from my earliest mentors that there is always an alternative/equivalent product and that it isn't MY company that is signing my paycheck, it is the customer. Without the customer, none of us would have a job. Another thing I learned and lived and breathed is that inside the manufacturing operation, each department or process within the chain is the customer for the department or process that proceeded it. Finally, we all can benefit from real-world examples of why each worker should care and what is in it for them.
I was dealing with a union workforce. Although I was a suit, I believe in unions. What I didn't believe in was passing substandard work on and not raising the issue with my supplier just because they might be my union brother or sister.
Going through the quality rejection reports from the customer showed that one of the biggest defects was that the products were damaged by our preparation for shipping. Our shipping department overtightened the steel banding on the pallets, causing damage to the products within.
Second biggest defect was products not slit to be the right size. The finishing department had the process manuals that said that with the two operators on the finisher, one measured where to set the cutting wheel and the other was supposed to double-check that it was set to customer specification. In practice, since they were doing a repetitive job that pretty much ran itself once you pressed start, one operator would both set and confirm the setting.
The real-world example in the "treat the customer as you would be treated" I used was to gather everyone together with some packages of parts I picked up at the auto parts store. Some were damaged a little, some were damaged a lot, and some were pristine. The production people and shipping people all agreed that they wouldn't buy the highly damaged parts, would want a discount on the cosmetically damaged parts, and would pay full price for the made-to-spec parts. Exactly how all of our customers feel! They want what they are paying for, want us to issue credits for products that are functional but appear damaged, and reject that which is clearly damaged.
The plant manager thought I was crazy. He wanted to put in sanctions and penalties--which is how there was so much mistrust engendered in the first place. Instead, I worked with them--observing their rules for what i could and could not do as a salaryman versus their union regulations. But I also wanted to make sure they knew that THEY were the experts in their job functions, not me. By the end of the first month I had them realizing that they had a lot of control over what went out with their names on it. By the end of the 2nd month, they were dealing with each other interdepartmentally as clients and vendors and were proactive about spotting problems. By the 3rd month, we went from our abysmal performance to exceeding the stretch goals set by the client. We achieved 98% on time and 3/1000 defects. At the end of the year, 9 months after we were tasked with improving or losing, we were recognized by the external customer as the most-improved vendor and best overall vendor. I was able to return home to my family after only 3 months. It was hell for my family, my wife, my kids, and me. But I took the challenge because I believe that every person in an organization is responsible for the quality of the product that goes out the door.
I did get a promotion out of the whole experience, but that's not why I did it. I frankly thought my bosses were a big part of the problem, trying to command people to perform without involving them in the process, and changing their culture so that they understood why it was important for them to insist on quality thoughout the process. If they saw a problem that they could fix, they should. If they couldn't fix it, they should bring it to a team meeting for a solution. We had small daily quality circle type meetings, and weekly larger interdepartmental meetings recognizing positive improvements and seeking hive-mind solutions to problems that lingered. And lots of pizza. And lots of ice-pops in May and June. I went up there to upstate NY at the end of March and came home over the 4th of July.
Culture change and a gold-standard of Customer Care.
I hope there is something in this Chautauqua you can use.
posted by beelzbubba at 9:40 PM on February 24, 2020 [71 favorites]
***addendum to the above*** I had a tremendous amount of support from the two main plants' QC management and Shipping Coordinators. The bought in early and helped facilitate a lot that would have been impossible for me as an outsider. One of the most important things we all did was recognize successful performance to the goal--not just outstanding performance, but completion of requirements. Getting manufacturing and QC buy-in that the goal was important for team success was critical. We did all of this operating in an organization that had all of the ISO and QS ribbons and awards and plaques already, but without attention to why it is important, none of the QC processes will save the day. If your people don't think making custom picture dice is important, someone else's company will.
posted by beelzbubba at 9:54 PM on February 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by beelzbubba at 9:54 PM on February 24, 2020 [1 favorite]
Wherever possible get two sets of eyes on the product.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:28 PM on February 24, 2020
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 10:28 PM on February 24, 2020
If your production process involves volatile organic compounds you might want to look at increasing ventilation, because the problems you describe all could be the result of mild intoxication from VOCs, especially if you've ramped production up recently or changed the process.
posted by jamjam at 10:34 PM on February 24, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by jamjam at 10:34 PM on February 24, 2020 [5 favorites]
Bit astonished that you've gone to "complacent or not caring" - they could be tired. Employees need good working conditions to do accurate work.
posted by lokta at 2:14 AM on February 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by lokta at 2:14 AM on February 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
A bonus payment to all staff if less than X errors per 100 units occur?
posted by Murderbot at 3:07 AM on February 25, 2020
posted by Murderbot at 3:07 AM on February 25, 2020
It's in a different industry but your question made me think of this recent Farm to Tabor podcast, which talks about the Equitable Food Initiative, a multi-stakeholder program (including unions) to raise safety and work standards in agriculture.
In terms of directly attacking the problem, I would suggest approaching it from two directions: empathy and data. You need to understand how people think and feel about the work they are doing and how that is contributing to quality. And you need to understand exactly what problems are happening and what their causes are.
Also, yeah, consider the fact that quality isn't free--you may need to hire a specialist (or promote one of your workers to specialize in this) or give your workers raises/more breaks. In addition to simple fatigue, workers "not caring" about an outcome can be petty revenge for other bad policies, as well.
posted by ropeladder at 4:45 AM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
In terms of directly attacking the problem, I would suggest approaching it from two directions: empathy and data. You need to understand how people think and feel about the work they are doing and how that is contributing to quality. And you need to understand exactly what problems are happening and what their causes are.
Also, yeah, consider the fact that quality isn't free--you may need to hire a specialist (or promote one of your workers to specialize in this) or give your workers raises/more breaks. In addition to simple fatigue, workers "not caring" about an outcome can be petty revenge for other bad policies, as well.
posted by ropeladder at 4:45 AM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.
(All 14)
If your process requires a guy to manually check the product, your process will fail repeatedly.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:31 AM on February 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
(All 14)
If your process requires a guy to manually check the product, your process will fail repeatedly.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:31 AM on February 25, 2020 [4 favorites]
I used to work at a large corporation, and did a safety audit at a plant that made ceiling tiles. They rotated positions every 2 hours. One of those was watching ceiling tiles go by on a conveyor under a bright light to catch quality defects.
I can't guarantee this will help, but maybe try rotating people in different jobs? Having an attention to fine detail while looking at the same thing for hours a day, day in and day out can be mind-numbing.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 6:48 AM on February 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
I can't guarantee this will help, but maybe try rotating people in different jobs? Having an attention to fine detail while looking at the same thing for hours a day, day in and day out can be mind-numbing.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 6:48 AM on February 25, 2020 [3 favorites]
What Huffy Puffy said is twinned to mine. Our plant QC manager and I both were Deming disciples. Also ropeladder. You can't inspect quality into the product and both empathy and data are requisite to change the outcomes.
posted by beelzbubba at 7:02 AM on February 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by beelzbubba at 7:02 AM on February 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Find somebody that can tell you the difference between QA and QC, then listen.
posted by achrise at 9:54 AM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by achrise at 9:54 AM on February 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
> Huffy Puffy: If your process requires a guy to manually check the product, your process will fail repeatedly.
Yes, you have to make changes to the process. You cannot rely on a human to be accurate at manufacturing scale. In your example, some things that I would suggest looking at (I know this is just an example, but I want to give you an idea of how big picture you need to look).
Employees have to install the molds for each side and make sure that the pictures are correct by matching against a sample die.
Change the shape of the molds so that they only fit together if they are installed the correct way.
Then during the production run, they have to check regularly to make sure that the molds haven’t gone out of alignment (moving the pictures or completely removing them)
Have shorter production runs.
keep an eye on the die shapes (from temperature fluctuations)
Install alarms that go off when temperatures are out of spec.
I worked as a bank teller once, and one of my favorite things was that if you entered a customer's account number in the amount field (an easy mistake to make!) the software would alert you that "You entered what looks like an account number in the amount field, are you sure?" You've got to make it impossible for people to make mistakes if it is essential that you stop those mistakes.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:25 AM on February 25, 2020 [7 favorites]
Yes, you have to make changes to the process. You cannot rely on a human to be accurate at manufacturing scale. In your example, some things that I would suggest looking at (I know this is just an example, but I want to give you an idea of how big picture you need to look).
Employees have to install the molds for each side and make sure that the pictures are correct by matching against a sample die.
Change the shape of the molds so that they only fit together if they are installed the correct way.
Then during the production run, they have to check regularly to make sure that the molds haven’t gone out of alignment (moving the pictures or completely removing them)
Have shorter production runs.
keep an eye on the die shapes (from temperature fluctuations)
Install alarms that go off when temperatures are out of spec.
I worked as a bank teller once, and one of my favorite things was that if you entered a customer's account number in the amount field (an easy mistake to make!) the software would alert you that "You entered what looks like an account number in the amount field, are you sure?" You've got to make it impossible for people to make mistakes if it is essential that you stop those mistakes.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:25 AM on February 25, 2020 [7 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by thegreatfleecircus at 8:31 PM on February 24, 2020 [13 favorites]