VARIATION IS COSTING YOU MORE THAN YOU THINK
Every defect, delay , and rework event in your operation has a root cause — and it’s almost always a product of uncontrolled process variation.
Scrap & Rework Costs
Uncontrolled variation produces out-of-spec parts — a direct, measurable hit to your margins.
Quality Escapes
Uncontrolled variation sends defects to customers, damaging trust and triggering costly returns.
Erratic throughput
Unpredictable processes make scheduling, capacity planning, and on-time delivery nearly impossible.
Firefighting Culture
Without a data-driven, repeatable framework, teams react to noise instead of signals.
Luckily, a solution to the problem of variation has been reducing costs and improving quality for more than a century, the process behavior chart.
PROCESS BEHAVIOR CHARTS: A PURPOSE-BUILT TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING VARIATION
Process behavior charts, also called control charts, characterize process behavior as either predictable or unpredictable, directing time and attention to where they are needed most.
This distinction is the key to reducing costs and improving quality. It is the difference between improvement efforts that consume resources but go nowhere and those that deliver measurable results.
This distinction is the key to reducing costs and improving quality. It is the difference between improvement efforts that consume resources but go nowhere and those that deliver measurable results.
Common Causes of Routine Variation
Many in number but small in effect, common causes yield predictable process behavior. When necessary, mitigating common causes requires reengineering.
Assignable Causes of Exceptional Variation
Few in number but dominant in effect, assignable causes yield unpredictable process behavior. These must be found and permanently eliminated.
Process Behavior Charts
The roadmap for reducing costs & improving quality PBCs reveal what your process has done in the past, what it will do in the future, and what must be done to realize improvement.
“A phenomenon will be said to be controlled when, through the use of past experience, we can predict — at least within limits — how the phenomenon will behave in the future."
Walter A. Shewhart, Father of PBCs
OUR METHODS YIELD LASTING IMPROVEMENTS
Using our understanding of variation as our framework and process behavior charts as our guide, we facilitate targeted improvements that reduce costs and improve quality in four steps.
Assess
Establish a baseline
Collect and analyze process data to characterize the current state: predictable or unpredictable.
Document findings.
Investigate
Perform detective work
Contextualize the findings of the baseline by spending time with the process. See the process in action. Talk to the people that do the work.
Improve
Target sources of variation
Work with your team to implement changes that mitigate common causes or eliminate assignable causes.
Control
Lock in the gains
New process knowledge, control plans and trained personnel keep the process predictable after our engagement ends.
This approach is product, process, and industry agnostic, allowing us to tailor our methods to your needs.
WHAT WE OFFER
Whether its assistance solving nagging production problems, establishing a culture of data-driven continuous improvement, or exposing students to the ideas that will give them an edge in the workforce, our services have you covered.
Our trainings teach students the theory and practice that make reducing costs and improving quality possible. Upon completion students will:
Understand the theory of variation and a framework for process improvement
Know how to build process behavior charts and characterize process behavior
Know how to improve the two types of processes (predictable and unpredictable)
Know how to facilitate sequential process improvements
Use process behavior charts to monitor for changes in process behavior
Higher Education Partnerships
The “good enough” approach to manufacturing endures because it is the method that is learn in industry and overlooked by higher ed. To put an end to this, we are looking for higher education partners that will help us advance the theory and practice that governs modern manufacturing. To this end we are looking for:
Curriculum development and advisory roles
Guest lecturing opportunities
Email QualityIsBroken@gmail.com to start the discussion.
Process Characterization & Improvement
Working with your team, we will investigate and characterize the current state of your manufacturing processes and establish a path forward that reduces costs and improves quality. Along the way we’ll share our tools and techniques to foster a culture of continuous improvement
Training for Engineering & Operations
Professional Speaking Engagements & Guest Lectures
We are always looking for opportunties to speak with students and professionals alike. Professional speaking engagements and guest lectures cover a variety of topics:
Data-driven process improvement
Statistical Process Control (SPC) and process behavior charts
The challenge of manufacturing in the 21st
Manufacturing as a science and quality as a discipline
Email QualityIsBroken@gmail.com for details about our services.
Understanding Variation vs. Conventional Methods
Data is the currency of our time, yet few know what to do with it. If you want to start making sense of your production data and gain a competitive edge, understanding the variation in your processes is the answer. The understanding variation approach does NOT require large capital investments that take years to realize. You can start TODAY!
Conventional
Reacting to every data point
Confusing signals for noise and noise for signals
Knowing when to take action & when to leave things alone
Inspection as quality control
Building quality Into the process by addressing root causes
Tribal knowledge & gut feel
Data-driven evidence guides decision making
Temporary fixes & workarounds
Understanding Variation
Responding to only signals
Permanent elimination of assignable causes
Why Broken Quality?
We teach your team, not just fix the problems for you
Real manufacturing floor experience (we show don’t tell)
Vendor-independent, data-driven advice
Specialists in data-driven improvement using PBCs
Engagements sized for your operation
“Numerical literacy is not addressed by the traditional courses in the primary or secondary schools, nor is it addressed by advanced courses in mathematics. This is why even highly educated individuals can be numerically illiterate.”
Donald J. Wheeler, Understanding Variation
Industries We’ve Served
Our methods are product, process, and industry agnostic, allowing us to apply and refine our methodology into a finely tuned machine that adapts to your process, your people, and your operations.
Automotive
OEM, Tier 1 & 2 suppliers, assembly, powertrain.
Aerospace
OEM commercial & military jet engine final assembly, precision machined parts.
Medical Device
Class II, ISO 13485 insulin delivery systems.
Defense
Military optical & targeting systems, ruggedized components, mil-spec manufacturing.
Industrial Automation
Single station robotic cells, multi-station fabrication & assembly lines, vision systems.
Real Results. Real Manufacturers.
The improvements below came from listening to the process, understanding its variation, and responding accordingly.
74% → 95%
First-Pass Yield Improvement
Aerospace Electronics
$215M
Contract Dispute Resolved
Defense Contractor
Identified the root cause of a government contract nonconformance, enabling acceptance of corrective actions and resolution of a $215 million contract dispute.
$494,460
Annual Scrap Eliminated
Medical Device OEM
+19 pts
Automation Throughput Increase
Industrial Automation
Eliminated $494,460 in annual scrap through targeted, data-driven process improvements — achieved without capital investment.
Increased first-pass yield of an In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) product at acceptance test from 74% to 95% — a 21-point improvement.
Increased automation-driven throughput by 19 percentage points, reducing overall cycle time.
Ready to Reduce Costs & Improve Quality?
Let’s start the Conversation!
Compose a tailored process evaluation proposal
We'll review your top manufacturing, quality, and cost challenges
Start you on the road to building a predictable, capable operation, one process at a time
Email QualityIsBroken@gmail.com to start the conversation