Continuous Improvement Using QC Tools

This assignment details a comprehensive approach to continuous improvement (CIP). It emphasizes the utilization of the Seven Quality Control (QC) Tools to analyze data, uncover cause-and-effect relationships, and inform decision-making for process enhancement. The plan advocates for an iterative Kaizen approach, where small, incremental changes lead to significant long-term improvements. Appendices provide further details on the CIP implementation program.

Project Management Methodologies: Latino Engineering Case Study
Name
Date

Summary
This report evaluates the background of the problems at Latino Engineering that are coming just 12
months after the new owners came in, yet the company has operated for 30 years without such
problems and had a reputation for high quality. To solve these problems over a three month period,
the POTI model will be used for assessing the company systems and operations to get a blue print
that will then be used for developing a new vision for the company. Based on these, the 7 QC tools
will be used for evaluating causes of problems, prioritizing them, determining their relationships
and the Kaizen model employed to continuous apply the 7 QC tools for continuous improvement.
Data from the 7 QC tools will help determine the progress and significance/ impact of the
continuous improvement process

Introduction
Latino Engineering is faced with monstrous challenges, coming just twelve months after the
company founder, Dominic Latino sold the company to the current owners, an investment group.
The driving force behind Dominic Latino selling the company that he had successfully run for 30
years was the fear of losing control of the company, especially in decision making and controlling
quality, if he had accepted the initial offer of the investors (current owners) buying shares in his
company. Latino Engineering has over the years built a strong reputation for quality products, with
many clients in diverse industries including oil and gas, infrastructure, manufacturing, and
construction praising the company for its quality and reliable engineering products. The quality
standards were driven mainly by the passion of the founder, Dominic, who had a passion for quality
engineering products. At present, things have changed drastically; there are various problems that
are a major threat to Latino Engineering. This is partly due to leadership; while the new owners
retained the name of the company and its employees, some managers left to seek greener pastures
while the founder also retired, resulting in changes in leadership positions. At present, Latino
Engineering is facing the following problems and complaints from her customers;
i. Defective engineering equipment
ii. Poor design and development follow up with clients
iii. Too long turnaround time for issue resolution
iv. Non responsive customer service team
v. Cases of wrong engineering equipment was packaged and delivered to clients
Based on this brief background, the Latino Engineering Company is seeking ways pf solving these
problems and continuously improving their product and service offering. This report gives a plan
for how Latino Engineering will improve continuously, its service and product offering. The report
will first discuss a framework for identifying the problems by evaluating processes, organization
structure and culture, technology, and information aspects of the company (The POTI framework)
which will give a blueprint for CI (continuous improvement). This will then be followed by an
application of suitable tools (the 7 QC Tools) for use in monitoring interventions and progress; the
information provided by the 7 QC Tools will enable management to make sound decisions based on
structural facts and figures. The report then proposes a framework for achieving continuous
improvement by employing the technique of Kaizen to ensure continuous improvements to service
and product delivery by Latino Engineering. This project will be implemented using the Agile
project management framework
Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP)
POTI

The blueprint for Latino Engineering will be developed using the OTI framework to identify present
causes of problems and to create a vision for Latino Engineering that will entrench CI into its
organizational and operational culture.
Processes The existing processes at Latino Engineering will be evaluated with the aim
of introducing new ones through this project. Tye operational business
models presently used at POTI must be reviewed and changed in line with
the new operational and strategic goal of CI. The output and performance
levels of employees are to be evaluated and improvements made using the
CIP framework (Kenton 2005). New ways of working will be introduced;
including a structured way of designing projects, making follow-up and
improvements in project design, establishing performance metrics for
handing customer concerns, and improved customer service through a
customer centered approach to customer service. Old ways of working, such
as too much time in resolving customer issues, poor communication and lack
of follow up in product design and development with the customer, along
with the present design principles will be changed/ phased out as advised by
Djella and Gallouj (2011).
Organization Presently, there is a culture of complacency and lack of focus on quality at
Latino Engineering as the currently problems show. The most important asset
the company has are its people and change must start by changing the people;
how they think and how they work, before implemented changes can take
effect (Jain 2001). Apart from the culture, the skills set of employees and
especially managers will be evaluated and changes made, along with the
levels of staff to ensure there are enough employees to meet customer needs.
For instance, the customer service department may be unresponsive to
customer needs because they are understaffed and overwhelmed by the
deluge of customer complaints. From the evaluation, some employees may
be moved to other roles or be trained in other roles so they can help out when
the demand is high. The training needs will also be assessed and proposals
made to improve on their training needs (Feigenbaum 1992).
Technology The existing technology systems will be evaluated, and proposals made for
changes that will harness the power of technology for communication,
reporting, monitoring, and collaboration to enhance product and service
delivery. New computer systems will be put in place and changes made to

present technology systems. New tool sets and networks will be put in place
and necessary plant equipment to improve product design will also be put in
place, as alluded to by Cruz-Cunha (2010)
Information This will entail evaluating the existing data and information systems and
their impact in the delivery of quality products and services. With new
technology systems and automation, information systems must also be
improved. In this area, better design principles such as the use of Computer
Aided design and simulation software applications will be implemented
(Cassidy & Guggenberger 2001). The information systems will also be
configured to provide better reporting and reports that management will use
to monitor progress and performance. Customer relationship systems will be
introduced to enhance customer service delivery through providing a better
system for managing, tracking, and following up on customer issues. The
new systems and tools will be developed to enhance collaboration, between
teams and between the teams and customers, especially during product
design and development (Tavana, Szabat &Puranam 2017). New data
requirements will also be incorporated into the system, for instance, the need
to fed all customer contacts into the customer relationship system to identify
patterns and continuously improve them. Data outcomes for project specific
activities will also be incorporated into the new information system
To achieve these visions and improve the company at all levels and in all processes, suitable tools
are required to generate data and information for managing progress of the POTI framework and
help in informed decision making.
Tools for CIP
The Seven Basic Tools for Quality and Continuous Improvement (7 QC)
The PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) incorporated the 7 QC tools into quality
management in projects as basic tools that anyone can use, even those with minimal skills in
managing projects. These tools can be used in any industry and sector and across the entire
organization. The following are the 7 QC tools;
 Stratification (Dividing and Conquering)
 Histogram
 Cause and Effect Diagram (Fishbone diagram)
 The Check Sheet (Tally Sheet)

 Pareto Chart
 Scatter Diagram
 Control Chart (Revelle & Margetts 2010)
These are then discussed below in detail and how and why they will be used for the Latino
Engineering CIP
Stratification
This is a divide and conquer approach to CIP that involves the division of data into sub categories
based on division, group, levels, or class and this helps in deriving meaningful information that will
help in better understanding the existing systems (Shiba, Walden, Graham & Petrolini 2007).
Stratification will divide data and conquer their meaningful information with the goal of solving the
Latino Engineering problems. Present data, such as customer service follow up calls are unstratified
if the records show, for example, that one employee failed to make a follow up call on various
dates. This data can be stratified by grouping the information into weeks and knowing the
frequency. This will help determine the frequency of occurrence of some phenomena, such as
knowing the frequency of a specific fault being found in a product.
Histogram
According to Mohanty (2008) , this is a bar graph that represents the frequency of all bars
distribution; the histogram will be used in studying the data density in given distributions and
comprehend the factors that are more often repeated. The histogram is important in managing
projects because it helps in prioritization of issues. Without prioritization, effort may be placed on
issues that do not have much impact on problems, and ignoring the crucial cause agents for
problems. With the histogram, the areas the require the most attention immediately are identified
and tackled.
The Check Sheet (Tally Sheet)
The Tally sheet/ Check sheet is a structured table, metrics, of a form used primarily for data
collection with a view to analyzing this information (Land, Smith & Walz 2012). The information
on causes and issues at Latino Engineering will be collected using the tally sheets; quantitative
information will be collected, such as the number of customer information in a given time period.
The check sheet will be utilized in listing down important events and checkpoints in metrics tabular
formats; these information must keep on being updated and then marking their status of how they
occur that will help in the understanding progress; the causes for defects and patterns for defects
will also be understood better through the use of these check sheets.
The Cause and Effect Diagram
The cause and effect diagram is a tool that will be used to help identify the factors and causes for
the problems that Latino Engineering is undergoing at the moment, that lead to those effects (the

problems). The cause and effect diagram will also aid in deriving relationships between the cause
and effect factors that can be used meaningfully as a basis for making changes and adjustments. The
cause and effect diagram is a very useful tool that will aid in identifying the root causes for all the
problems being experienced at Latino Engineering. After the definition of a problem related to
quality, the factors that cause the identified problems, such as defective engineering products are
identified. The sub factors responsible for causing the problems will be identified on a continuous
basis until the rot cause(s) are identified to form the basis for solving the problem; by eliminating
the root cause. The resultant digram has branches and sub branches (looking like a fish bone
structure) with causal factors that result in the problem (Cano, Moguerza & Corcoba 2015). The
cause of product variation that leads to defective products at Latino Engineering are grouped into
the categories of people, methods, material, machines, the environment, and measurements.
The Pareto Chart
According to Hambleton (2008), the Pareto chart works on the concept of the 80/20 rule that posits
that in any given process, 80% of the problems or failures are caused by just 20% of the main
factors that are collectively referred to as the ‘vital few’. The remaining 20% of the issues and
problems and failures are then caused by 80% of the several minor factors that collectively are
referred to as the ‘trivial many’. For the Latino Engineering case, the vital few problems need to be
identified to solve 80% of the main problems first, before the remaining 20% can be solved through
a continuous process of improvement. The Pareto chart further helps to highlight the most important
factors that are the main/ major reasons for the observed problems. The Pareto chart is made up of
several bars (bar graphs) and lines that represent individual factors in descending order in terms of
their impact and the line graph shows the cumulative total of the individual factors. The Pareto chart
will help in distinguishing between the trivial many and the vital few so that effort and resources are
focused on important problems. The chart also will help in graphically displaying the relative
problem causes’ importance and will aid in focusing on the causes with the highest impacts when
finally solved.
The Scatter Diagram
According to Howell (2015), this is a scatter plot and is a statistical tool that is used to establish the
dependence between two variables or to derive the correlation between the two. The plots are made
on a Cartesian plane with the X axis having one variable and the Y axis having the other variable.
The relative values are plotted as dot on the Cartesian plane on their common points of intersection;
when these dots are joined, the existing correlation / relationship between the two variables can be
determined based on an equation in the form of y = m(x) + c (Howell 2015)
where c is a constant. With this relationship established, future predictions can be made on how a
change in one of the variables will cause the other variable to respond. The Scatter diagram,

therefore, will be useful in establishing the relationship between the overall effect and the causes of
the effect and determine how significant this relationship is. The relationship between the two
variables can be curvilinear, linear, logarithmic, exponential, polynomial quadratic, as well as being
either positive or negative and weak or strong. If the correlation is stronger, then the relationship
holds true equally strongly. The slope of the best line of fit determines whether the relationship is
negative or positive.
Control Chart
This is also a statistical chart that will be helpful for determining whether the production and
manufacturing processes at Latino Engineering are within determined controls and capable of
meeting the specification and performance limits. The control chart will be used to establish if the
process of production for a given product is stable as well as capable under present conditions. The
control chart entails plotting data against time in the X axis; the chart will always be characterized
by a central line (mean or average) an upper and lower control limit line; of which lines are drawn
from historical data. Comparing the present data to these lines, conclusions will be drawn on
whether the process variations are consistent where there is control and affected by common
variation causes; or unpredictable meaning out of control and affected by special variation causes
(Howell 2015). The chart and information from this chart will help in differentiating common
causes from the special variation causes. The control chart is a very important tool for quality
control and plays a very important role in the definition of the capability of processes and
production variations. It is also helpful in identifying whether the process of manufacturing is in
line with regard to the expectations of the customer and will be useful in helping solve the problem
of defective engineering products.
Ensuring Continuous Improvement
The Kaizen model, a Japanese invention, is a term that signifies changing for the better; it a practice
of continuous improvement that works on the following guiding principles;
Good processes create good results
To grasp the present situation, one needs to go see for themselves
use data for speaking and facts for managing
Action should be taken to contain as well as correct root causes of problems
people should work as a team
It is everybody’s business to continuously improve (Zink 2012)
using the 7QC tools, small changes will be made continuously over time, and based on the Kaizen
principle, the results from these small changes will be massive. For instance, reducing the time for
customer service by 25% at every repetition of an intervention will see massive improvements after
just three repetitions of the process, using Kaizen.

Conclusions
Considering the problems that Latino Engineering is faced with just 12 months after new owners
took over the company, it is essential that the POTI model is used to ensure improvement by
analyzing the causes of issues first. The next step is to employ suitable tools, in this case using the 7
QC tools for generating data about important facts, the relationship between cause and effect, and
the frequencies of these causes as well as the effects. These will then be used to make decisions on
which causes to solve first for th biggest improvements. The tools will be used continuously based
on the Kaizen approach where small changes/ improvements will be made incrementally and
eventually result in massive and significant changes after being repeated a few times. The overall
implementation program is show in the Appendices

References
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Appendices
Appendix I: CIP

Apendix II: The 7 QC Tolls Process for CIP