Selecting the Right Quality Improvement Project

A prioritization matrix is a good place to start

Mon, 05/05/2014 - 09:31

A few years ago I wrote about the difficulties that can ensue when you’re trying to get started on a lean Six Sigma or quality improvement initiative. What can be especially difficult is having many potential projects and you aren’t sure which one will give the most bang for your buck.

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When it comes to deciding which projects to focus on, a project prioritization matrix is a good place to start. It can help you logically select optimal improvement projects against their weighted value based on your company’s predefined metrics (i.e., consider the projects’ relevant importance to company goals). The matrix can help determine which projects offer the most value for your effort.

A project prioritization matrix example is shown in figure 1. It compares only two projects, but you could use it to compare many projects. 

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Comments

Submitted by Rajohnson on Tue, 05/06/2014 - 10:28

I have used this tool for many years (outside of Minitab) with one small twist. 

It wasn't used to decide what to do, rather used for what NOT to do

Dr Ishikawa created 3 types of Cause and Effect diagrams 1 the traditional 4M's and familiar Fishbone - we now say People /Personnel instead of Man as the article showed 2 Classification which was used in the various examples like 5S - these can be drawn based on other 'System Analysis' tools as Affinity or Relations Diagrams as memory joggers to each 'Bone'. So the Fork Lift Truck stops; Low Science Faculty Exam Results; Low reliability of F-35 Strike Fighter Performance; Golden Staf infection breakout in the Dialysis Ward are but a couple of examples where the basic cause and effect analysis tool is great as the article shows very well. However, and importantly, and the most overlooked of Dr Ishikawa's C&E Diagrams is his 3rd the Process Classification Cause and Effect Analysis or as Don Dewar of QCI International taught me in the early eighties in his Quality Circles Facilitator Training, a simplified 'Process Cause and Effect' diagram. If as we know all work occurs in our processes, of Dr Ishikawa's C&E methods it is the most useful to analyse the causes in each step of a process problem. The Delay in Lab Results is a perfect application of Ishikawa's 'Fishbone' of the Minitab drawn examples. It is indeed useful for an initial 'systems' view but would be sub-optimal in aiding true direct and root cause analysis compared to the Process C&E. The steps of a process can be drawn from the ISO 9001 Management, 'Production Realization' (Value Stream/Core) and System Support Process Flowcharts and Procedures summarized within the Process C&E [ISO 9001 requires a "process-approach' to QMS design]. Similarly, the Work Study / Industrial Engineering / VA technique of 'Flow Process Chart' can better identify the true Value Adding steps supporting a Lean Value Stream Map, and would show most of the the process steps to then develop the the more practical Process C&E. Perhaps Minitab has this function to draw such or can be developed to respect Dr Ishikawa's great Cause Analysis technique? Many thanks to Don Dewar of QCI for teaching me this great technique. Michael

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