Steven S Prevette

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Dr. Demings Red Bead Experiment

• Steven S Prevette
• Fluor Government Group ESHQ
• ELR Consulting
• ASQ Certified Quality Engineer
• 509-373-9371
• Steven_s_prevette_at_rl.gov

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Lessons from the Red Beads

• You now have a common experience with thousands
  of individuals
• Did you have an Aha moment?
• Lessons from the Beads
• What can I do?

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Aha! Moments
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Lessons

• It's the system, not the workers. Dr. Deming
  stated 94 of the outcomes of any organization
  is a result of the systems used, not the people.
• Quality is made at the top. Quality is an
  outcome of the system. Top management owns the
  system.
• Numerical goals and production standards can be
  meaningless. The number of red beads produced is
  determined by the process, not by the standard.
• 4) Rewarding or punishing the Willing Workers
  had no effect on the outcome. Extrinsic
  motivation is not effective.

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Lessons

• 5) We can use statistics to create a visual
  representation of the data and look for problem
  areas and predict future performance.
• 6) A faulty item is not a signal of "special"
  causes. A process can be stable, in-control and
  be producing 100 percent defective items.
  "Defects" are defined by specification, not by
  process.
• 7) Rigid and precise procedures are not
  sufficient to produce the desired quality.

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Lessons

• 8) Keeping the place open with only the "best"
  workers was acting on "superstitious" knowledge.
• Management was "tampering" with the system by
  rewarding and punishing the Willing Workers.
• People are seldom the source of variability.
• Slogans, Exhortations and Posters Are At Best
  Useless To The Willing Worker.

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Questions for the Willing Workers

• How did the Worker of the Day feel?
• How did the Probationary Worker feel?
• What did they do different?
• Implications for Lessons Learned programs?
• How did the rewards and punishments affect the
  workers?
• Was the knowledge of the workers put to work by
  the company?
• How would you like to work for this company?
• Do you work for this company?

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The Recorder and Inspector(s)

• Why were the willing workers not allowed to count
  and record their own beads?
• Was there value to an independent count?
• Was it worth the cost?
• What would happen if the inspectors falsified
  data?

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The Foreman

• What was the effect of State your first name and
  spell it?
• What did the Foreman do to control outcomes?
• When should procedure compliance be mandatory?
• Were the communications one-way or two-way?
• What were the costs to the company of the
  Foremans actions?
• What could the Foreman have done?

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Dr. Deming

• 14 Points
• System of Profound Knowledge
• Appreciation for a system
• Knowledge about variation
• Theory of Knowledge
• Psychology of people

Photo credit MIT/CAES
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How can I apply these lessons?

• How you present your data
• How you interpret your data
• How you take actions from your data
• Set directional goals vs. arbitrary numerical
  targets
• How you treat and lead people
• Inspection practices
• Systems interactions
• Personal transformation of thinking, feeling,
  interactions, behaviors
• Affecting others transformation

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But I dont make the charts!Im not a manager!

• Is there a safety or quality committee?
• Annual improvement plans / goals?
• May you suggest alternatives to current
  practices?
• Who can you team with?
• Find the friendly neighborhood statistician
• Sometimes you are never so powerful as when you
  are powerless (Tom Peters)

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Data Presentation

• How effective were
• The table of numbers?
• Ranking the workers?
• Bar Chart?
• Moving Average?
• Color Coding?
• The control chart showed us the process was
  stable and predictable.
• Its so simple, just plot a few points - Deming

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Implications of a Stable Process

• No amount of explanation of, corrective action
  to, or causal analysis of an event will fix a
  broken stable process
• What if we did a root cause analysis of why Red
  Bead 298 fell in hole 19 of the paddle?
• What about Find it Fix it?

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The SPC Lens
Control Charts show whether the process is stable
(common cause variation), or whether there is a
changing condition (special cause variation)
The following charts are from a project I worked
on with the US Department of Energy
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Chart as Found

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SPC Lens Applied

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Personal Transformation

• A person, once transformed, will
• Set an example
• Be a good listener, but will not compromise
• Continually teach other people
• Help people pull away from their current
  practices and beliefs and move into the new
  philosophy without a feeling of guilt about the
  past
• From The New Economics, Deming

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Resources You are Not Alone

• Hanford Trending Primer http//www.hanford.gov/rl/
  ?page1144parent169
• In2InThinking
• http//www.in2in.org
• Deming Electronic Network
• http//deming-network.org
• American Society for Quality
• http//www.asq.org
• The Elsmar Cove Discussion Board
  http//elsmar.com/Forums/index.php

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White Bead Conclusions

• A microcosm of current practices
• A vision of improved practices
• A new philosophy
• Statistical lessons
• Human lessons
• Process lessons
• Spread the word!