Statistical Process Control-Honda

Please watch the following video and post your thoughts to the discussion board about the pros and cons that Honda is using and an explanation about why.  Also, add your thoughts about how things might be added or deleted to the process.  Make sure to comment on 3 of your classmates suggestions and I will summarize my thoughts to your responses at the end of the week.

Honda has been effectively using the statistical process control techniques to monitor their operations at their manufacturing plant. The monitoring process is focused on specific activities in the plant according to the narrator in the video. In the following discussion I have listed some of the pros and cons of the way Honda has incorporated the statistical process control system.

Pros 

It is considerably simple process and helps a lot in understanding the failure rates regarding specific process. These statistics regarding the failure rates can then be used to make future adjustments.

In the example about the speed at which a door should close without slamming it, the data collected through the statistical process can help in door closing speed adjustments.

Specialized software packages are used to analyze test data at Honda. This adds to the quality of their end products as these applications can process huge amount of statistical data within no time with accurate results.

To monitor process capability, Honda uses SPC charts and histograms. They have their pros and cons. The advantage is that it is a timely, accurate representation of the data that has been collected by different computers. It helps in identifying irregularities within the industrial processes. These charts help in getting the industrial processes in accordance to the industrial standards by regularly monitoring them.

Cons

The speed of the door closing test is based on data collected from “customer’s perception”. Customer’s perception is a subjective matter. Data collected for the statistical processes may or may not be accurate and I believe it will be a time consuming process to actually interview the customers and then draw inferences from the collected data.

All the data that is collected from different tests at Honda is added to the data mine. There are always concerns about the security of data mines and I believe that Honda would need special arrangements to safeguard data from external attackers.

The disadvantage of the SPC charts and histograms is that they should not be monitored and interpreted by just any employ at the Honda plant. Wrong interpretations can lead to extra time being used on rectifying something that was wrongly interpreted.

The use of specialized software for different test is an advantage and disadvantage at the same time. These software need regular upgradation and error control mechanisms. This upgradation and error rectification process is important and expensive.

What can be deleted and what can be added

Honda stores offline data in specialized hand held gadgets. This data is then monitored manually and adjustments are made. I believe that instead of monitoring this data manually, they should use the intelligent statistical process control mechanism that will rectify any errors automatically and hence leaving less chance for human error.

The door closing test can be performed with the help specialized robots hence minimizing the time and human resource required to perform the task.

The SPS charts that are monitored by Humans might be too late in some manufacturing process. Therefore Honda might want to organize a computerized system that can send alarms if some process cross the thresholds allocated to them as this happens.