Response to "Anything New Yet"

["Steve and Jennie Prevette" <prevette@owt.com>]

I thought I would take an attempt at replying to the question of "have there
been any useful extensions to Deming's work?"  I don't want to be too full
of myself in this response, and I would like to first acknowledge Bill
Cooper and Phil Monroe, also DEN members, for without whom I would not be
doing what I am doing now.  I also want to express appreciation to Myron
Tribus for spending several hours with me at the West Coast Deming
conference in April.

I tend to be amazed at the continued calls at conferences in general for
"new applications".  I typically state that I use a very old application -
of Dr. Shewhart's from 1930.  For example, if we look at today's automobile
versus the automobile of 1930.  Today's auto still has 4 wheels, rubber
pneumatic tires, a gasoline engine, a horn, headlights, seats.  Many things
in common between 1930 and 2002.  In some regards, the 2002 auto has
improved safety features, and a computer controlling the gasoline engine.

I feel the same way about control charting.  Very old methodology, looks the
same.  Done on a Pentium III with Excel spreadsheet instead of a pencil,
piece of graph paper and a slide rule.  But same fundamental idea.

I write this on my home computer, because I cannot claim that my employer
follows Dr. Deming's methodologies and SOPK.  In fact, very few managers
realize what I have sprung upon them.  I am at times the most valued
employee of the company, and simultaneously the most likely to be fired
tomorrow if they figured they could at all replace what I am doing.  I have
documented some of what we have been able to do at
http://www.hanford.gov/safety/vpp/asqarticle.pdf  This article has plenty of
good news.  But there is still pockets of ignorance.  For example, for one
internal customer in Hanford I attempted to document the cost-savings that I
thought I was providing them in centrally accumulating data for them and
providing SPC charts.  Their answer was that I was actually costing them
more time and money, because in the past they were simply able to throw the
data on a bar chart, and that was the end of the action.  Now they are faced
with SPC charts, and points out of control that beg for action to be taken.
They consider it cheaper for them if they went back to the old charts that
said nothing and that they had to take no action upon.

But at least for me personally, Dr. Deming's philosophy has helped
considerably.  And the opportunity to trade ideas on the DEN has helped.
And I do have a few local friends who are also members, so it is a good
opportunity.

For "new" ideas, will humbly submit that I do believe I have been able to
successfully make use of Excel spreadsheet in analyzing data using SPC.  And
I do believe I have made a successful tie between principles I learned at
the Naval Postgraduate School in survey analysis and tieing that into
control charts (http://www.hanford.gov/safety/vpp/survey.htm)  But there
really aren't that many "new" ideas.  Just rediscovery of old principles and
ways to employ them.

Steve Prevette
at home, Pasco WA


[Moderator's Note:  The April conference that Steve references was sponsored by the InThinking Network
(see http://in2in.org ) and was, in my estimation,  specifically dedicated to new applications and
directions in thinking based on the Deming Philosophy.  We are working to get as much of the content of the
conference uploaded to the web site.  Planning has already begun for the 2nd conference in early April 2003
at the same location near LA.  And yes - the word NEW has come up often...  ;-)  ]