First, the QRQC approach is derived from Nissan by Valeo which enriched it. It is not a problem solving tool but a problem solving management approach instead.
I have seen it implemented in several places with a great deal of variation (even within Valeo Plants), so you might need to adapt it to your internal organization.
It is mainly used to deal with problems on a day-to-day basis to improve shopfloor indicators (customers concerns & internal scrap rate, OEE, accident rates ...).
There are 3 levels of QRQC :
- Line QRQC used in small production units (APZ : Autonomous Production Zone) where the main goal is to go back to the standard. The Line QRQC team deals with line problems immediately. If it happens the problem lies with the standard relevancy rather than a deviation from the standard or if the problem is too complex, you move up to the APU QRQC. At this level, Line QRQC leaders are Team Leaders working with team members. Typical expected time to close the Line QRQC problem : 24 H.
- APU QRQC used in APU (Autonomous Production Unit which is made of several APZ). There, you deal with Customer concerns, ineffective Line QRQCs, indicators targets not met. The APU QRQC Team is a multi-disciplinary team (production, quality, Engineering, maintenance, logistics..). They have to use an effective problem solving tool (Valeo recommends using FTA, 5Ys etc.. nothing new here).
Daily APU QRQC meetings are held in each APU (at the APU communication area) to review APU QRQCs status.
- Plant QRQC to deal with more serious problems (eg. field returns, major accidents etc..). It is similar to the APU QRQC except that the daily plant QRQC meeting involves some operational plant management committee members (GM, Plant QM ...) and is held at the plant communication area.
It insists on 7 basic principles (I have added one ;-)) :
- Quick reaction : react as soon as the problem appears
- Real place : investigate problems on shopfloor to find out actual causes (no brainstorming in remote meeting rooms)
- Real people : involve operators who work on the defective process
- Real parts : analyse the NOK parts and compare them with the OK parts
- Real data : use data collected to perform the problem analysis (NOK parts history charts, parts & process characteristics measurements ..)
- Logical thinking : Use a logical approach (problem solving tools ...). Ban opinions.
- On the job coaching : management should be involved in the QRQC approach to give advices, congratulate teams ... and ensure QRQC is maintained and efficient.
IMHO, the main advantage of the QRQC approach, are the first three principles : act ASAP investigating the defective process, involving & led by directly concerned people (operators, teams leaders & members ...). It is not the problem solving tool recommended by Valeo which is important as any other effective PS approach would do. (Except that the FTA relies on
Again, it seems that as QRQC is expanding in the automotive industry, different "offshoots" appear here & there.
In my company, we experienced some problems when trying to implement the QRQC approach :
- the Line QRQC is more adapted to production lines dedicated to one product than single machines (like stamping presses, welding cells ..) with continual production changes.
- Our operators and supevisors are much less educated than Valeo's to be able to deal with problem Solving matters by themselves (some Valeo supervisors are Engineers). Besides, we have a high employees turnover.
So I reckon that you should have an efficient production organizational structure and well educated & trained production personnel to be able to implement efficiently the QRQC approach.
Feel free to correct me if I am wrong somewhere.
Francois