Continuous Improvement of Supplier PPAP Efforts
Improving Supplier PPAP Today Will Give You a Competitive Advantage
The coronavirus is an unfortunate reason to transition into remote work. But you need to do so for the health and safety of your employees, do it well.
Business slowdowns are the best time to stand back and look at the big picture. Over the past three years, I have heard every excuse possible for not moving away from stand alone spreadsheets for internal and supplier PPAP, especially the Process Flow, PFMEA, Control Plans, and Gage studies. The excuse comes from people that “hate” spreadsheets, but that is all they have to get the job done.
I am describing an improvement process, not just uploading old spreadsheets into a database. The time to fix errors and linkage issues in the files make it faster and easier to start over.
This is where I am hearing the complaints, like “I do not have the time to setup all this stuff, I just need to get the PPAP approved.” Well, in order to get the benefits of a relational database, it requires time to setup the system.
I remember when things like Purchase Orders got computerized, and people complained how long it took compared to writing by hand or using a spreadsheet. Accounting, and things like purchase orders, was the first areas computerized, for several reasons:
- Money drives the organizations, both income (sales orders) and expenses (purchase orders)
- Reporting mistakes on money causes bad decision that cost money
- Reports that took months to compile were too late to make useful decisions
- And more…
So, organizations decided if they set up Customer files for income, Supplier files for expenses, part / item files for consistent data entry & tracking and reporting, the organization could do better in the long run.
How does this apply to the Supplier PPAP Software? Better products reduce scrap, rework, and warranty costs. Supplier PPAP process are proven methods for improving product quality and lower costs.
Build a knowledge base from PPAP and dramatically shorten time and improve results to minimize risk
- PPAP Creation Time – Reduce 60%
- PPAP Reporting / Submission time – Reduce 90%
- PPAP Effectiveness – Improve 80%
Spreadsheets create silos. Teams break down into people working in their own spreadsheets. This creates havoc. Your teams give or receive conflicting feedback. Old data is mistaken for the latest. Priorities are unclear. No one knows what to work on today. More than that, no one remembers when it was due—today, yesterday or two weeks ago? Before you know it, your top talent wastes time updating spreadsheet after spreadsheet.
Things to consider…Spreadsheet versus Database
Bad Data - If your company is having trouble maintaining accurate data then it is time to put spreadsheets to rest. Spreadsheets provide limited methods to validate input, and these safeguards can be easily bypassed or ignored. This results in compromised and inaccurate data due to manual errors. Their accuracy completely depends on the users’ skill level and ability to manually identify and correct mistakes. Mistakes usually go unnoticed and spreadsheets are rarely checked or tested thoroughly before being rolled out
Is Too Hard to Learn - Most employees who interact with a Supplier PPAP software only need to know how to fill in a form or click on an icon. The only people who need any in-depth knowledge of relational databases are programmers that create and maintain the database, and they need less in-depth knowledge than the person struggling with coding in spreadsheets to try and get a spreadsheet to act like a database.
We’ve Always Used Spreadsheets - You may have always used a screwdriver as a crowbar or a shim, but it doesn’t make it the best tool for the job. If you’re working on the company financials - use a spreadsheet. If you’re creating a budget, use a spreadsheet. But if you’re maintaining non-numerical data, use a database. Even most financial data is kept on a database these days (that’s what accounting programs are, they’re databases). They simply export cumulative data to spreadsheets for special financial calculations such as projections and planning.
Not Enough Data Here to Warrant a Database - How many times have I heard this? A year later, they’re still using that spreadsheet, only it’s grown to 1,000 rows and takes 5 minutes to open. When it comes to core tools, the files get bigger than expected and then bad things start to happen. If you have a large amount of data, finding the data point you want can be especially difficult in a spreadsheet. Those of you who work with large spreadsheets know this. You get a spreadsheet with thousands of lines, and paging through the spreadsheet can slow to a crawl.
Version Control - How many times has someone opened a spreadsheet in Read Only mode, saved changes to it to their hard drive, and then copied it back over the network copy, eliminating any changes made by another person?
Speed - A database stores information more efficiently. Relational databases use tables to segregate data. You’ll have one table for part, customer, suppler information, and another one for the specific forms. Therefore, your database is smaller than your spreadsheet and provides an idea how, over time, your database is more streamlined than your spreadsheet.
Searches, Views, and the reports based these databases are easier to write and run. Because your data is relational, you can mix and match and re-sort your data in all kinds of different ways. Of course, you can do that with a spreadsheet, given enough time and code. But with a database like relational databases, a person with relatively little knowledge can produce queries and reports.
Security - Spreadsheets lack control and security features. If you require any level of security or user permissions within the spreadsheets file, then you should look elsewhere. Although spreadsheets allow you to protect data with a password and Windows based permissions, it is extremely delicate and requires a deep understanding of spreadsheets. Some of these features won’t work if you have people using different operating systems or if you need relational databases from other computers. Even a password protected spreadsheets file is not secure; there are tools on the Internet that anyone can use to unlock a protected spreadsheets file without knowing the password
Conclusion
Just Say No! - The next time your boss wants to use a spreadsheet for a Process Flows, PFMEA, and Control Plans, just say no. Explain why a database is better and get permission to use a Supplier PPAP database software. Spreadsheets are a good tool for certain things, but it just isn’t a database
Companies would greatly benefit from a solution that combines spreadsheets functionality with a secure, centrally managed application and database, allowing users to experience the power of an enterprise-scale solution without leaving the familiarity and flexibility of spreadsheets behind.
The point of using software tools is to make your business more efficient, and therefore more profitable. If you are at the point where spreadsheets are hindering your progress due to tedious and repetitive work, then it is time to look for a solution that can alleviate these issues. Many database driven solutions can automate tasks and reduce redundancies by storing related information that can pulled later.
The benefits of Improving Supplier PPAP today are great for your business. You will have happier employees and happy employees stick around longer, take better care of your customers and improve your company’s performance.
Today is the best day to get started.
Need help convincing your executive team? I can help.
John M. Cachat
PeProSo, LLC
www.dhirubhai.net/in/johncachat
Supplier PPAP Webinar - What Software Does and Does Not Work & Why - https://vimeo.com/408615293