MINUTES OF THE [SAN FRANCISCO] BAY AREA DEMING USERS GROUP Meeting [January 1996] Scribe: Dan Robertson Our next meeting is on Monday, 5 February. Planned programs: 5 FEB: Karen Jacke will provide us with insights and discussion on the topic of Deming's Quality and the Family. 4 MAR: Annabelle Jinkins will be our presenter. The topic will be "Renewing Joy in Work". ANNOUNCEMENTS: * Deming seminars: If your organization is interested in a Deming seminar, ring Quality Enhancement Seminars in Los Angeles, on (800) 574-5544, or FAX (310) 824-7170. The next 4-day seminar is 3-6 June. * "Beyond TQM and Re-engineering", with Dr. Russell Ackoff, is being held in the Spring of 1996 in Marina Del Rey, CA. FAX the Deming User Group of Los Angeles for more information at (310) 495-1205, or e-mail smlinar@attmail.com. * The Fremont-Newark Quality Network, a newly formed group using Dr. Deming's philosophy as their underlying focus, will be holding their next monthly meeting on 22 February at 6:30pm. Location: The Newark Ohlone Center, Room 7 at 35753 Cedar Blvd. in Newark. Ring Pam Lambert at 510-657-8984 or Linda LaVigne at 408-752-3441 for further info. * David Langford, who has experienced great success in implementing Dr. Deming's principles in Education, is holding a 4-day public seminar in San Jose, CA, 6-9 FEB. Ring (406) 245-7773 for more information or to register. * AQP's Spring Conference in Portland, Oregon will be on "The Spirit of Working Together", 29 APR - 1 MAY. Keynote speakers will include Joel Barker, Herman Cain and Lily Tomlin. For an application, ring AQP at (800) 733-3310. * The Eighth Annual Ohlone College Roundtable will be held 14-16 MAY, 1996 in Santa Clara. The theme will be "The Evolution of Quality in a Changing Environment". Watch for further info in the next few months. Several BADUG participants will be presenting at the conference. PROGRAM: The January presentation was made by Steve Ungemach of Komag with John Dowd, who has been a Deming consultant at Komag for several years. This session was a continuation of the topic presented in December on the use of statistical control charts. Understanding Variation The first half of the session covered the highlights of the material from last time. The examples from Don Wheeler's book "Understanding Variation" continued to provide the group with interesting insights as to the value of using control charts to understand variation. Stories about real life reactions to variations in results reminded us just how often behavior is driven by "2 point comparisons". We were also reminded of experiences where large percentage changes in small portions of the total picture will drive analysts to ask, "What's happening?", though the process was actually in control. Small percentage changes get overlooked, on the other hand, though they are the ones really falling out of normal control limits. _Mistake One:_ Interpreting noise as if it were a signal. _Mistake Two:_ Failing to detect a signal when it is present. The Control Chart approach provides a tool for minimizing the chance of experiencing these two mistakes. Using Control Charts in our work and lives: In the later part of the session, we invited those who had done their homework from last time to share the data they had gathered and charted. There were observations taken in both the workplace and in non-work settings. Some general observations that were discussed: - The act of measurement in itself brings about a higher sense of awareness of the process being observed. This awareness often brings about new insights about the process and a deeper level of understanding. - One must be cautious about "explaining" a major variation that occurs _inside_ the control limits for the sake of eliminating that point from the data. There is the potential for assigning "meaning" to such points. Shewhart's teachings warn that such behavior may not be economic. It takes discipline to stay focused on what falls outside the limits. - Much in the same vein as above, it's difficult to resist the tendency to jump to conclusions about what a process is doing, or to "predict" what the causes of variation are, based on personal experience with the process being measured. While that experience is valuable -- Dr. Deming referred to the value of "deep process knowledge" -- one should have faith in the control chart to provide pointers to what the most important things to work on are; those that will bear the largest savings and reductions in system complexity. - Use of the statistical method _combined_ with knowledge of the process makes one's confidence in prediction much higher. The scribe's other duties got the best of him this month, so we only have a very brief note on the session... Our thanks to Steve, John and Lucille Jurgens, though, for providing us with their experience and insights over these past two meetings. /s/ Dan Robertson ------------------------------------------------ Please feel free to pass this posting on to others! 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