Expert Roundtable: Zero Defect Remodeling "Made in China"

As a world-renowned management philosophy and management practice, "zero defect" plays an indispensable role in the process of the United States and Japan becoming a manufacturing power. Today, China is moving from a manufacturing power to a manufacturing power, and urgently needs "zero defects" to provide strong power. "Zero Defects" has undergone half a century of evolution. What are its latest developments? What is the special significance of its core methodology for China's manufacturing industry, which is taking quality as its core strategy? How can Chinese enterprises effectively implement zero-defect management and change? This roundtable answers these crucial questions for readers by interviewing Yang Zhenhua, Chairman of ALI Consulting Group, and Xie Zifeng, Director of CUHK Consulting Global Resource Center.

Why strengthen zero-defect management

"CEConline": In your opinion, what is the meaning of zero-defect management? What are the evolutions and extensions of zero defect management?

Yang Zhenhua: Zero defect is a concept that cannot be completely achieved in practice. Therefore, the reference to Lean Six Sigma management is a bit more common. Zero defect or Six Sigma is more concerned with the management of process quality from the process, that is to say, eliminating defects in the manufacturing process, which is a more advanced or advanced quality management method. Six Sigma emphasizes the control of the quality of the process and the improvement of process capability, so there is a concept called "process capability", which means that by analyzing and controlling some factors such as the "man-machine-material law circle" that affect the process, Then, for the process itself, it can produce results and quality, and it is about 99.99966% pass rate, which is a very high level.

"CEConline": For manufacturing enterprises, why should we strengthen zero-defect management?

Yang Zhenhua: Quality management has a huge impact on the operation and performance of an enterprise. The average enterprise feels that it is normal for some products to have defects in quality management, because it is inevitable. However, the cost of quality defects to the enterprise is huge, which is divided into two parts, one part is visible part, such as rework costs, maintenance costs, etc.; the other part is invisible, like an iceberg, What you see is only a small part of the surface, and a larger part is hidden in a deeper layer, and this part is called quality cost. For Chinese manufacturing companies, in the current situation of fierce competition and rising costs, it is very meaningful to strengthen zero-defect management or budget management, reduce overall operating costs, or improve customer satisfaction.

Xie Zifeng: This problem can be understood from two aspects: internal and external: From the perspective of manufacturing enterprises, QCD (Q stands for quality, C stands for cost, D stands for delivery) is the core indicator of the enterprise, and quality is the cost and The basis of delivery, without good quality management, enterprise cost control and on-time delivery are all difficult to achieve. Therefore, the internal zero-defect management is the basis for enterprises to achieve good cost control and the guarantee of on-time delivery. From an external point of view, the market competition is fierce, and enterprises must maintain a leading position in the market. In addition to marketing and cost control, good quality management is the guarantee to help enterprises develop stably in the market. Through good quality management It is also conducive to the sustainable development of the corporate brand and the brand premium it brings, which is in line with the development goal of national consumption upgrading.

What should be paid attention to in zero defect management

"CEConline": Where is the breakthrough of zero defect management? How can enterprises do zero defect management? What aspects need to be paid attention to?

Yang Zhenhua: First, choose those projects in the enterprise that have very obvious quality problems in terms of process or quality. Through Lean Six Sigma management, breakthrough improvements can be made on some key quality issues. In this way, a very good demonstration effect can be formed in the enterprise, and then this process can be promoted. 2. Enterprises must cultivate talents and let talents master the systematic methodology of Six Sigma and quality management in order to implement these projects. Generally speaking, Lean Six Sigma management generally involves three types of talents: Six Sigma Green Belts, Six Sigma Black Belts and Master Black Belts, each of which has different levels of ability and is all managers in the enterprise. The expression "green belt, black belt, black belt master" is actually a reference to the expert level of Taekwondo. Generally speaking, green belts are people who work part-time in various departments to carry out continuous improvement projects. Of course, these people have to undergo training and examination certification; black belts are based on green belts, with higher ability, technology and professionalism. Level; Master Black Belts belong to high-level talents, and the scope and difficulty of management are relatively larger.

"CEConline": During the implementation of zero-defect management, a series of reforms and adjustments need to be carried out. What problems should be paid attention to?

Xie Zifeng: Problems that need attention: Management must have a long-term awareness of implementation. Zero defect management is not a short-term project, but a long-term work. Obstacles to overcome: Existing resources are insufficient to address all identified issues in a short period of time. Suggestions: 1. Analyze and identify the main quality problems within the enterprise, which are distributed in which areas and which production lines; 2. Determine the demonstration area or demonstration line through different management tools, concentrate the advantageous resources of the enterprise, and start from a single point. Solve, and then quickly replicate and promote to other areas or production lines; 3. Long-term training of zero-defect talents requires the integration of internal and external resources, so that more professional personnel within the enterprise can support the long-term promotion of zero-defect.

How to ensure zero-defect management

"CEConline": What kind of corporate culture do you think is conducive to zero-defect management? How should companies build this corporate culture?

Xie Zifeng: A corporate culture conducive to zero-defect management: customer first, continuous improvement, teamwork, and encouragement of innovation. To build this kind of corporate culture, the company should do the following key points: All personnel in the company must have corresponding goals and performance appraisals, such as "customer first", then the company should implement every In terms of employee performance, the annual customer complaint index should continue to decline; for the same "continuous improvement", whether the quality problems of each production line and the corresponding quantity and amount of defective products have continued to decline; management personnel It is necessary to regularly conduct coaching and feedback with the production line personnel to understand the problems of the production line, and give corresponding support to the production line personnel, so that the corporate culture can truly be implemented from top to bottom.

"CEConline": In your opinion, what kind of management system is conducive to zero-defect management? How should enterprises formulate and implement this management system?

Xie Zifeng: The core of zero-defect management is prevention, and the management system that is conducive to the realization of zero-defect management mainly has several characteristics: various operations within the enterprise have clear and controllable standard operating procedures; There are goals and incentive systems for continuous improvement; quantitative management is synchronized with qualitative management.

The standard operating procedure is not just a simple document, but an operating procedure that comprehensively considers the quality, efficiency, safety and other factors of the production line and is very convenient for employees to implement. To implement effective standard operating procedures, the management of the production line and the employees of the production line need to formulate operating standards, which not only can ensure the requirements of quality, efficiency, safety, etc., but also ensure the practicality and convenience of the operation of employees. . The smooth operation of the staff makes it possible to ensure the integrity of the quality.

The goal of continuous improvement and the incentive system are the core of mobilizing all staff to provide suggestions and implement improvement plans for problems in the production line. To promote such a system, the core is that all personnel are responsible for improvement, and this needs to be reflected in personal work goals (it should be reflected in compensation management).

Quantitative management will better help companies analyze and solve existing problems, and can better understand the level and reliability of the company's internal processes, so that companies can more specifically understand internal problems and implement improvements. . Therefore, the enterprise should establish corresponding information and data collection plans and methods for internal processes, and conduct regular quantitative analysis of these information and data.

"CEConline": What kind of organizational model do you think is conducive to zero-defect management? How should companies create this organizational model?

Xie Zifeng: Due to the different technologies adopted by industries or enterprises, the organizational models are different, and there is no absolute good or bad. From the perspective of management, organizations that tend to be flat management (three-level management) will be more conducive to the implementation of zero defects. An organization with flat management can better obtain and understand the details of the production line, and can better provide resources and guidance, which is conducive to the rapid response and decision-making of problems within the enterprise.

There are three core points in creating a flat organizational model: the reasonable job design within the enterprise is the guarantee; the training and improvement of the ability of personnel at all levels is the core; reducing the internal reporting level to ensure that the people who provide resources Can quickly and completely understand the information of the production line.

"CEConline": In your opinion, what kind of business process is conducive to zero defect management? How should companies reengineer and adjust accordingly to rebuild this business process?

Yang Zhenhua: The first method is the top-down method, which will directly connect with some key performance indicators of the enterprise, including quality indicators, cost indicators, delivery indicators, etc., which are all improvement goals. After finding out some factors that affect the indicators, improve it through Lean Six Sigma management, so as to achieve a more excellent performance level. The second is the bottom-up approach. For example, if the customer has some complaints, these problems can be directly used as the goal of improvement. For example, some companies have particularly high inventory, and the inventory should be improved and upgraded accordingly. Some problems encountered in the daily work of this department were identified and improved.

Xie Zifeng: The business process of real-time management, process management and quantitative management can help enterprises to better achieve zero-defect management; real-time management is developed from static management. Weekly and daily regular meetings, the information and data from these regular meetings are collected based on the production line situation that happened in the past. The real-time management emphasizes whether the output of each product on each production line can be consistent with the standard in terms of quality and quantity within each hour or even each machine cycle. For example, the quality management in the static management state, based on the past quality information, confirms the content that needs to be improved or adjusted, but in such a management state, some or even batches of quality non-conforming products may have been generated, and the real-time management Once a quality problem occurs, the production line will be stopped as soon as possible, the cause of the defect will be checked and confirmed, and maintenance strategies will be implemented to ensure that the equipment can continue to produce qualified products.

Picture/ Yang Zhenhua Xie Zifeng

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