© 2004 Cayman Business Systems
Rev: Pre-G3 - Rendered  Thursday, February 12, 2004
Slide 46
Elsmar.com  --- The Cove!
8-Disciplines Problem Solving
Elsmar.com
Facts About Causes of Variation
+Special Causes of Variation
+Accounts for 5-15% of quality problems.
+Is due to a factor that has "slipped" into the process causing unstable or unpredictable variation.
+Are unpredictable variations that are abnormal to the process including human error, equipment failure, defective/changed raw materials, acid spills, power failures, etc.; failure to remove them can result is corrosion, scale, metal fatigue, lower equipment efficiency, increased maintenance costs, unsafe working conditions, wasted chemicals, increased down-time (plant shut-down...), etc.
+Removal of all special causes of variation yields a process that is in statistical control.
+Correctable by local personnel.
+Common Causes of Variation
+Account for 85-95% of quality problems
+Are due to the many small sources of variation "engineered" into the process of the "system”.
+Are naturally caused and are always present in the process because they are linked to the system's base ability to perform; it is the predictable and stable inherent variability resulting from the process operating as it was designed.
+Standard deviation, s, is used as a measure of the inherent process variability; it helps describe the well-known normal distribution curve.
+Correctable only by management; typically requires the repair/replacement of a system's component, or the system itself.