Quality Indicators, Brainstorming, and Problem Analysis

Posted on Mar 17, 2025 in Other subjects

Types and Conditions of Quality Indicators

A. Simple

They consist of a direct measure of the property to be assessed and are aimed at evaluating departmental functions and activities of specific tasks. They are the easiest to define and the most widely used in the business environment:

  • Delayed shipments of the total
  • Bill returned to the total

B. Compound

These are formed by a set of direct measurements of individual features or requirements that a product must fulfill. The aim is to provide an overall measure of quality. They are appropriate to assess the overall activities of the areas or functions of the company.

A composite indicator may measure the quality of suppliers of a manufacturing company. The indicator consists of three elements:

  • Quality potential: Based on whether facilities, equipment, and quality systems are suitable for manufacturing parts and assemblies according to specifications.
  • Quality of supply: Depending on the quality of product deliveries.
  • Quality assurance: Assessing the number of failures within the warranty period of the final product.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming is a group technique that stimulates the development of creativity. In practice, brainstorming has three phases:

  1. Defining the problem: All participants must be clear that the objective is to determine the cause of a problem or seek solutions.
  2. Presentation of ideas: Intervention rounds are held, relying on questions.
  3. Selection: Brainstorming will be finalized when no participant has ideas to contribute.

Given the large number of ideas, two operations are performed:

  1. Qualitative elimination
  2. Quantitative selection

Rules of Brainstorming

  1. Each participant contributes one idea in each statement, and if they don’t think of anything, they ‘pass’.
  2. Freedom of expression: Freely expose what everyone can think of without fear of ridicule.
  3. Respect the right to speak.
  4. Be brief in interventions.
  5. Support the ideas of others.
  6. Make as many rounds as necessary.
  7. Note all ideas that emerge.
  8. Do not evaluate until the end.
  9. Reflect on the ideas presented.

Technical Analysis of Problems

A problem is any unwanted event that generally is not known, even when it begins to cause disputes, and requires a solution. The analysis of problems has one goal: to find the real cause of the problem.

The stages of analysis:

  1. Statement of Deviation

    This is to make a concise statement identifying the deviation that must be resolved.

  2. Specifying the Problem

    This is a detailed description clearly defining the boundaries of the problem. A technique for specifying the characteristics of a problem is to focus on two facets: the object that is wrong and the defect itself or diversion. It is necessary to define the problem, identifying the “NOT” to establish a clear boundary around the problem.

  3. Development of Possible Causes

    The system to quickly focus on the causes that have a high probability of being true will search for “differentiation” and changes in the problem. A “distinction” is a quality or characteristic that distinguishes what the problem is from what it is not.

  4. Testing Possible Causes

    Possible causes are the result of a systematic search, but there may be more than one possible cause. To eliminate those that do not have a high degree of probability, they are confronted with the problem specification box.

  5. Checking the Most Likely Cause

    To know that a cause is true, it is necessary to carry out verification. There are two steps to ensure the real cause:

    1. Verification of Reality

      The determined cause is confronted with the specification to see if it explains all the facts. If it meets the reality check, research is done at the scene. If the latter is not feasible, we can identify other events that should also occur if the case were true; then, these facts can be verified.

    2. Verification of the Results

      The change necessary to end the cause we believe to be responsible for the problem is applied, and we see if the problem disappears. In the problem analysis, results shall be checked only when we are sure that the reality check has found the true cause of the problem.