Spotlight on Operational Excellence in the Digital era

Edward Deming, one of the founding fathers of TQM (Total Quality Management) is widely known to have helped Japan become a manufacturing powerhouse after WWII. Over the years the “Quality” movement has evolved into many tracks, Six Sigma, Lean, DFSS, etc. each with its own particular way of addressing “Quality” in the broad sense. The importance of Quality in brand perception cannot be overstated.

Today I would like to highlight one such case study for an Integrated Avionics Computer product family from prior to the digitalization wave but still provides some very useful insights and know-how that any product company should nurture for its competitive advantage.

This brief case study is based on my personal P&L leadership experience with an Integrated Avionics product line which is/was essentially the brains of an aircraft that controlled many critical aspects related to flying an aircraft.?At the time this was one of the most advanced and complex products to design and manufacture including several circuit card assemblies stacked together, each circuit card with hundreds of chips and other electronics, all sealed in a box that went in the cockpit behind the pilot dashboard.

The issue at hand was that the product was not meeting the factory yield levels to ensure proper gross margins. Further, to make things worse the first-pass OEM customer acceptance rate at aircraft installation was not adequate and field reliability also needed some improvements.??As a result, this was business-critical and required a turnaround!

A major initiative for step-change improvements across the entire product line value chain using the Design for Six Sigma and DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) methodology.

The entire product value chain (Engineering Processes, Supply Chain Management, Operations/Manufacturing, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Acceptance, and Fleet Management Processes) was considered in scope and divided into manageable work streams focusing on specific aspects from design engineering, to factory and supply chain, to installation and field performance.

Sparing the details of each step/tool used during the DMAIC stages. In summary, it included, (a) Pareto and orthogonal classification of known defects (factory and field) for each circuit card assembly of the entire IAC product, (b) Defects per Unit (DPU) metrics, and the Individual & Moving Range (l&MR) Control Charts for DPU tracking was developed where the defect classification by location revealed a high incidence of defects in the Pre-test and HASS stations while the defect classifications by type revealed a high incidence of supplier workmanship and Design for Manufacturing Assembly & Test related defects, (c) as a result a Defect FMEA to analyze the causes, identify improvement actions and prioritize to ensure the most beneficial improvement activities. Further, Product Performance Scorecards were extensively used, utilizing test data at the end-item computer and circuit card level, (d) Performance scorecards, in conjunction with the DPU and l&MR charts, allowed the team to develop a baseline for product Sigma metrics and establish the Control Plan measurements to track improvements, (d) Using the performance scorecards in conjunction with the circuit card Product (Function) Maps, the team identified further potential design improvements by highlighting some previously unknown parameters contributing to low yields from a Cpk standpoint. Further, the low yield parameters identified certain parameters related to certain field failures. (e) also, some Design of Experiments (DOE) analysis for understanding and modeling certain specific issues was conducted.

The outcome of the above led to (1) the identification of certain suppliers as a critical variable resulting in the Sourcing and Quality working very closely with suppliers to reduce incoming defects including potentially onboarding new suppliers, and (2) first-pass customer acceptance rate at aircraft installation and field reliability were improved as well. As a result, the marathon effort while overcoming several bumps in the road, led to greatly improved customer satisfaction, enhancing profitability and driving growth for the entire product family becoming a benchmark for product line management for the company.

Quality is paramount in shaping corporate/product brand and customer experience as it directly influences brand perception and customer satisfaction. High-quality standards ensure a positive customer experience, fostering trust and loyalty towards the brand.

As a result of increased digitalization and automation of manufacturing in the Industry 4.0 age, it is becoming easier and speedier to identify and address such issues, if one has the appropriate digital “Operational Excellence” framework implemented.?I have coined the term "DigiOpEx" to highlight the Industry 4.0 nirvana of the original Lean Six Sigma based Operational Excellence rigor.

How is your organization Digitalizing Operational Excellence?