Lean Culture Now!

• Reduces variation in production
• Improves & maintains discipline
• Reduces scrap and rework costs
• Improves communication
• Reduces internal and customer rejections
• Lowers PPM (part per million)
• Increase Employee participation
• Reduces warranty
• Stops production problems from becoming rejections
• Increases the number of improvement ideas

Improves the overall quality while reducing the cost of quality

A Good LPA System, implemented in the correct areas, can be an effective tool to use toward achieving Zero Defect production. With the right focus on high-risk processes, factors which could lead to defective products can be closely monitored. An effective LPA system quickly identifies variations. If audits occur regularly enough, these variations can be corrected before bad product is manufactured, or at the very least before defective products are shipped to customers. Catching defects before they are shipped or even before they happen provides obvious opportunities for cost savings. The question is, how can an LPA system help achieve this? Timing and containment are the key.

Timing 

The first element of timing is obviously the overall LPA schedule. Layer One audits- audits performed by the first-line of defense in your LPA system- should be performed very regularly. Generally, it is a good idea to perform these audits at least once per shift. However, individual circumstances may require more frequent auditing. Higher layers should also perform the audits on a fairly regular basis, but this is of secondary concern to us now, so we will leave that topic for another time.

The second element of timing involves reaction to non-conformances. When an auditor discovers conditions outside of audit parameters, the initial response should be immediate and decisive. Auditors must be trained about the types of reactions which are expected of them and be given the authority to do what is necessary to prevent potentially defective products from moving down the line and out the door. Whether this involves calling maintenance immediately to perform repairs or shutting down the line and moving product or parts to quarantine, the reaction should occur at the time the non-conformance is discovered. The more time that elapses before corrective action, the likelier defects are to move through production and out the door. Correcting symptoms quickly saves scrap, rework and sorting, and it reduces the possibility of outside rejections.

Containment

It is important that non-conformances discovered during an audit are not simply documented for later review. Corrective action should begin immediately and should almost always include containment action. Because layered audits are meant to focus on critical process parameters that are likely to lead to defective product, discovering variation outside of allowed tolerances means there is a chance defective product has already been produced. If there is reason to believe that non-conforming product is moving downstream, a timeframe for suspect product should be established, and product produced during that timeframe should be physically isolated from production flow. Inspection and sorting can be discussed and completed from that point on. There is always time later to review what was done and improve. Training your auditors to perform audits is a start, but it is not enough. You must also make sure they know what actions to take when problems arise. 

The key to successfully preventing internal and customer rejections is acting swiftly when a problem is identified and ensuring product that may be affected is set aside immediately. Everything after the initial containment activity can happen at whatever pace management chooses, but containment has to happen right away.