Why Capability? We have No Go Gauges.

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Welcome to why they Fail, the podcast that pulls back the curtain on why continuous improvement efforts fail. Buckle up, because we're not here for motivational fluff. We're dissecting the short sighted decisions and leadership agendas that sabotage CI success. But don't worry, we'll clue you in to the few simple keys to success to avoid these pitfalls. If you're ready for the truth, let's do this. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Welcome to why they Fail and the simple key to Success. I'm your host, Kevin Clay, President and CEO of Six Sigma Development Solutions. In our last episode, we talked about why a staggering 96% of continuous improvement programs fail. Today, we're diving into one of the biggest reasons why. It all stems from a question I was once asked by a plant's COO who. Who was a certified black belt, by the way, that honestly left me speechless. He asked, why do we need capability when we have go no go gauges? Now, I've called this one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard. And while that sounds harsh, it reveals a fundamental and frankly, epidemic misunderstanding that dooms so many improvement efforts before they even start. This COO's plant had a dismal 62% yield, yet they were focused on simple inspection rather than true process improvement. They were sorting the good from the bad. After wasting enormous amounts of time, money and materials. This single question separates companies that merely react to problems from those that build a culture of preventing them. It's the difference between staying stuck and. And achieving real sustainable success to break down exactly why this mindset is so destructive and what the simple key to avoiding it is. I've brought in two of my top master black belt mentors here at Six Sigma Development Solutions, Frank and Lola. They're about to have a deep dive discussion that cuts right to the heart of this issue. Let's listen in. [00:02:16] Speaker C: Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We're here to cut through some of the noise today, tackle a. Well, a really fundamental misunderstanding that quite frankly baffles us sometimes as master black belts here at Six Sigma Development Solutions. [00:02:29] Speaker A: It really does. [00:02:30] Speaker C: It's one of those things that once you see it, it explains so much about why continuous improvement efforts can stall. [00:02:36] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, we've all seen CI efforts stumble, haven't we? It's almost. Well, it's frustratingly common. [00:02:44] Speaker C: Absolutely. [00:02:44] Speaker A: You might even remember from a previous Deep Dive, we talked about whether your CI program is just a kind of fad diet for the business. [00:02:51] Speaker C: I remember that. Yeah, the temporary fix. [00:02:53] Speaker A: Exactly. And we brought up that really Sobering statistic from Pat Bergen of Aeroflow Technologies. Remember, a staggering 96 out of 100 companies fail or quit their CI efforts within just 18 months. [00:03:06] Speaker C: 96%. It's huge. And often, as we've discussed, it's down to those quick fixes. Maybe the Lone Ranger approach, people working in isolation. But today, we're diving into something really specific, a pitfall that's surprisingly common, and it perfectly captures this whole issue. [00:03:22] Speaker A: It really does. [00:03:23] Speaker C: It came up recently in Kevin Clay's excellent why they fail YouTube series. He talked about a question someone asked him. Oh, yes, why do we need capability when we have no go gauges? [00:03:35] Speaker A: That question. Now, look, as Kevin pointed out, it might sound like a, well, stupid question on the surface, right? But the intent usually isn't bad, is it? It's more like a symptom. A symptom of a much bigger, deeper problem in how continuous improvement, especially the Six Sigma component, is sometimes taught. And maybe more importantly, how it's implemented. [00:03:56] Speaker C: Yeah, the application. [00:03:57] Speaker A: So our mission today is to really unpack that, show you why that kind of thinking just completely derails progress, and hopefully reveal the, you know, the surprisingly simple keys to truly understanding your process. That's the goal, right? Sustainable improvement. [00:04:10] Speaker C: Okay, let's get into it. Let's use that real world scenario Kevin Clay shared. It really sets the scene perfect. So Kevin, seasoned consultant, he walks into this company. They make aluminum rims for cars, right? [00:04:22] Speaker A: And this particular plant, they were trying really hard to copy the success of their sister plant, the one where Kevin. [00:04:28] Speaker C: Had already helped them implement Lean Six Sigma. [00:04:31] Speaker A: Exactly. The sister plant had seen huge gains in efficiency, quality, the works. So naturally, this plant wanted the same thing. [00:04:42] Speaker C: Makes sense. So Kevin goes in, right? [00:04:44] Speaker A: And during a meeting, talking about their current performance, Kevin asks the plant operations officer, and get this, the guy was a certified black belt himself. [00:04:52] Speaker C: Oh, wow. Okay. [00:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah. Kevin asks him this crucial question. Do you measure the capability of your current process inputs? [00:05:01] Speaker C: The million dollar question. [00:05:02] Speaker A: And the response, the response was that exact phrase, why do we need capability when we have no go gauges? Apparently, Kevin was just stunned for a second. [00:05:12] Speaker C: I can only imagine for anyone deep in Lean Six Sigma, that's like fingernails on a chalkboard. [00:05:16] Speaker A: It really is. [00:05:17] Speaker C: But let's back up for our listener. Maybe not everyone lives and breathes this daily. What exactly are these no go gauges? [00:05:23] Speaker A: Good point. Yeah. Simply put, their inspection tools, often physical things like a template, a pin gauge, something you use to check if a part fits or doesn't fit. [00:05:30] Speaker C: Like a pass fail test. [00:05:32] Speaker A: Exactly. They give you a binary answer. Good or bad, pass or fail, is the part within tolerance, yes or no? It's like that quality gate at the end of the line. [00:05:40] Speaker C: Okay. Simple enough. So why is that a problem? Why was that COO's response such a massive red flag for Kevin? What's the rub, as they say? [00:05:49] Speaker A: Ah, the rub. It's huge. Because while those gauges tell you if a part meets the spec, right now, they tell you absolutely nothing about how good or how bad it is. Is it barely scraping by? Is it perfectly centered? You don't know? [00:06:05] Speaker C: No sense of the variation? [00:06:06] Speaker A: None at all. And crucially, they don't tell you if your process can consistently pump out good parts over time. Like imagine a pass, fail, gate at the end of a marathon. The gauge just tells you if you cross the line. Right. Process capability, though, that's like your fitness tracker. It tells you your average pace, your consistency, your stamina, whether you can actually run that race well every single time, not just whether you finish this one. [00:06:29] Speaker C: That's a great analogy. So the COO is basically saying, look, we check every part. Why do we need anything else? [00:06:35] Speaker A: Pretty much. [00:06:36] Speaker C: And you mentioned their yield was, what was it, 62%, dismal. [00:06:40] Speaker A: 62%, yeah. [00:06:41] Speaker C: That means almost 40% of their wheels had to be melted down and recast. I mean, that's just enormous waste. How could a plant with the black belt running operations miss something so fundamental? [00:06:52] Speaker A: Mind boggling, isn't it? That's 62% yield. That's not just a number. That's huge financial loss, wasted materials, wasted energy, constant firefighting. [00:07:03] Speaker C: Yeah, the cost must have been astronomical. [00:07:05] Speaker A: Absolutely. And this whole situation, it just highlights something we see way too often. An epidemic, really, which is you get a lot of lean Six Sigma black belts who are, look, they're genuinely skilled in the qualitative tools. You know, fishbone diagrams, five whys, process mapping, brainstorming stuff. [00:07:21] Speaker C: Yeah, Mapp out the process. [00:07:23] Speaker A: Exactly. They're good at that. But they rarely, sometimes never use statistics to actually solve the problems. [00:07:29] Speaker C: Okay, but hang on, I can hear someone thinking, wait a minute, those qualitative tools are useful, right? We use fishbones all the time. [00:07:35] Speaker A: And that's a fair point. They absolutely are useful. Don't get us wrong, those tools are excellent for initially understanding a problem, for mapping things out, generating potential ideas, hypotheses about what might be going wrong. [00:07:48] Speaker C: So for the define and measure phases, maybe getting started, perfect for that. [00:07:53] Speaker A: Absolutely essential even. But here's the critical they rely heavily on subjective input on Opinions, anecdotes, group consensus. [00:08:03] Speaker C: Right. What the team thinks might be the cause. [00:08:06] Speaker A: Exactly. Which means different teams looking at the same problem can come up with completely different lists of root causes. They're fantastic for generating ideas, exploring possibilities, but they don't prove anything. [00:08:17] Speaker C: They give you suspects, but not the smoking gun. [00:08:21] Speaker A: That's a great way to put it. No hard evidence. [00:08:23] Speaker C: So, okay, if the qualitative tools give us the what ifs, where does the real power of six sigma come in? What gives us the actual proof? [00:08:30] Speaker A: Ah, now we're getting to the heart of it. The six sigma in lean six Sigma, that's all about the rigorous use of data, statistical analysis. [00:08:38] Speaker C: Using numbers. [00:08:39] Speaker A: Using numbers to move beyond assumptions, to validate or invalidate those hypotheses from your fishbone and ultimately to pinpoint the actual root causes with objective evidence. This is where things like hypothesis testing come in. [00:08:54] Speaker C: Okay, let's pause there. Hypothesis testing, break that down a bit. How does that differ from just, you know, the team agreeing on a cause? [00:09:00] Speaker A: Well, think of it like this. Instead of just saying we think machine A is the problem. Or maybe it's supplier B's materials. [00:09:06] Speaker C: Usual suspects. [00:09:07] Speaker A: Right. Hypothesis testing lets you use statistical methods to scientifically test that theory. You collect real data, objective measurements, then you apply statistical tests, maybe a T test, maybe an anova. [00:09:19] Speaker C: Anovu. [00:09:20] Speaker A: Anovu, yes. Maybe regression analysis. These tools give you things like a P value, a statistical probability. [00:09:27] Speaker C: Okay. [00:09:27] Speaker A: That tells you if what you're seeing is a real effect or likely just random chance. It's the difference between I think this is the problem and the data shows with this level of confidence that this is the problem. [00:09:39] Speaker C: So moving from opinion to statistical proof, forensic evidence, like we said. [00:09:43] Speaker A: Exactly. It's fundamental to objective problem solving, which makes total sense. [00:09:48] Speaker C: But if these tools are so critical, why this epidemic of belts not using them? Is it the training they're getting? [00:09:57] Speaker A: Unfortunately, yes. That seems to be a huge part of it. What we often see, you know, here at Six Sigma Development Solutions, is that some training providers, maybe because they think clients are scared of stats or they want to make the training seem easier or quicker. Cutting corners, essentially. Yeah, they teach a kind of watered down lean six sigma. Yeah, they might skip over core statistical topics entirely. Or I just touch on the superficially. [00:10:22] Speaker C: Leaving belts without the full toolkit. [00:10:24] Speaker A: Precisely. Leaving newly certified belts really ill equipped to tackle complex process variation and drive those deep, sustainable improvements. [00:10:32] Speaker C: So what you're saying is some certifications might not actually be creating fully competent black belts. What does that mean for Companies investing in this. [00:10:40] Speaker A: It's a serious issue. It really is. It's like giving someone a chef's hat after they've only learned basic knife skills. They can follow a simple recipe, maybe, but they don't understand the science of cooking. They can't troubleshoot when something goes wrong. They can't innovate. [00:10:55] Speaker C: They don't have the fundamentals. [00:10:57] Speaker A: And a CI effort, especially aiming for six Sigma levels, without that strong statistical foundation, it's like building a house on sand. Or without a proper blueprint, it's just bound to fail eventually. [00:11:12] Speaker C: Which explains those terrible failure rates we started with. [00:11:15] Speaker A: It contributes massively. Companies end up with belts who are great facilitators. They can run a good brainstorming meeting, but they can't quantitatively prove a root cause or. Or statistically validate that an improvement actually worked. [00:11:28] Speaker C: Wow. Okay, so this brings us right back to that COO's question. Why capability if we have no go gauges? It sounds like it comes directly from that gap in understanding. [00:11:37] Speaker A: It perfectly illustrates it. [00:11:39] Speaker C: So let's clarify again the fundamental difference between what these two things tell you. Gauges versus capability. [00:11:44] Speaker A: It's night and day, no go gauges tell you about. Now, this one part, did it pass or fail? It's reactive. [00:11:50] Speaker C: It's inspection looking backward almost. [00:11:52] Speaker A: In a way, yes. Process capability, though, that looks forward. It tells you if your process can consistently hit the target in the future. It tells you how much wiggle room, how much variation you have. It tells you if you're capable of meeting spec reliably. [00:12:05] Speaker C: So it's proactive versus reactive. Prevention versus detection. [00:12:09] Speaker A: Exactly. That's the core difference. Reacting to problems after they happen versus proactively stopping them from happening in the first place. [00:12:16] Speaker C: And when a company only focuses on those gauges, like that rim plant, they're stuck in inspection mode. [00:12:22] Speaker A: Totally stuck. They're just sorting good from bad after spending the time and money to make them. They aren't understanding or controlling the process itself. [00:12:29] Speaker C: Managing symptoms, not the disease, as you said earlier. [00:12:31] Speaker A: Precisely. And that's why their yield was stuck at 62%. They were constantly reacting to defects, melting down nearly 40% of everything. [00:12:40] Speaker C: They made the sheer cost, financial, environmental, it's staggering. [00:12:45] Speaker A: Mind boggling. They were accepting massive waste as just the cost of doing business. Instead of digging in, understanding why the defects were happening, and fixing the process, they were too busy inspecting to actually improve. [00:13:00] Speaker C: That really hits home. It's like constantly bailing water out of a boat instead of fixing the leak. [00:13:04] Speaker A: Perfect analogy. [00:13:06] Speaker C: So what does this mean? For you listening right now, if you suspect maybe your company is a bit stuck in this no go gauge mentality. What's the critical takeaway here for trul mastering your processes? [00:13:19] Speaker A: The absolute critical takeaway, and this is core to what we believe and teach, is that sustainable improvement demands a strong data driven foundation. It just does. [00:13:28] Speaker C: No shortcuts. [00:13:29] Speaker A: No shortcuts. And the first key mindset shift is this inspection tells you what happened, but capability tells you what will likely happen. Consistently, just getting that difference is huge. [00:13:37] Speaker C: Okay. [00:13:37] Speaker A: And a massive part of that foundation is getting a deep, unbiased understanding of your process using objective data. Numbers, not feelings, not opinions. Without robust statistical tools, capability analysis, hypothesis testing, control charts, regression, you know the works, you are not truly understanding your process. You're guessing. You're making decisions on assumptions, gut feel, not evidence. [00:14:05] Speaker C: So okay, measuring capability is crucial. But what's a practical next step if someone listening recognizes this pattern? Maybe their belts aren't using stats much. What can they do? [00:14:16] Speaker A: That's a great practical question. If you see this, the first thing is to push for comprehensive, statistically sound training. Make sure your improvement teams, especially your green belts and black belts, aren't just aware of these tools, but truly proficient. [00:14:28] Speaker C: Able to actually apply them, able to. [00:14:30] Speaker A: Apply them correctly and confidently. They are the backbone. They provide the rigor. This isn't just academic theory. Understanding capability, knowing how to use a control chart properly, running an ANOV to compare setups, doing regression. These aren't optional extras, not if you want real results. These tools let you find the real bottlenecks, target the right variation and make sustainable improvements that show up in your KPIs on your bottom line. It's about embracing data, seeing it as. [00:14:59] Speaker C: Your most powerful ally, moving from reacting to predicting and preventing. [00:15:03] Speaker A: That's the goal. That's true continuous improvement. [00:15:06] Speaker C: So there we have it. We've kind of pulled apart. Why? Just relying on qualitative tools or that simple no go thinking can really hamstring your efforts. Why? It leads to wasted money, abandoned projects and contributes to that shocking 96% failure rate. And we've seen how real continuous improvement, the lean six sigma way absolutely requires that robust data driven approach. Going beyond just looking at the end result. [00:15:30] Speaker A: It really is about building that solid foundation, isn't it? Not just constantly patching cracks. [00:15:34] Speaker C: Definitely. [00:15:35] Speaker A: So for you, the listener, maybe the final thought is this. If your company CI efforts feel stuck, like you're just doing quick fixes, random projects, still dealing with high waste like that 62% yield, ask yourself, what if the biggest barrier isn't the problem you're trying to solve? What if the barrier is a fundamental misunderstanding of how to truly measure, analyze and master your processes? Are your people, your black belts, truly equipped with the full statistical toolkit, or are they maybe limited by the training they received? [00:16:08] Speaker C: That's a powerful question to consider. [00:16:10] Speaker A: It really is, and the answer might just be the key to unlocking real, lasting operational excellence in your organization. [00:16:17] Speaker B: Let's talk about turning things around. You've heard some hard truths about why they fail. Now how about learning how not to fail? My book why they Fail is packed with even more real world insights and proven strategies to build a truly sustainable continuous improvement culture. And I want to give you a copy for free. Just click the link in the Show Notes. You will find another link that is your gateway to discovering more about how Six Sigma Development solutions can help you avoid the pitfalls we discuss. Do you want to go deeper? We offer public green belt and black belt training at 52 locations worldwide. We also offer virtual options so you can train wherever you are. We can even bring customized on site training directly to your organization. Do you prefer to learn at your own pace? We've got robust online certification training as well. Don't wait for your CI efforts to become another statistic. Click the link in the show notes or or if you want to talk it through, call us directly at 866-922-6566. That's 866-922-6567. Get your free book and start building success today. Now that you have experienced the awesome value from this podcast, here's how you can help us reach more people. Subscribe to our YouTube channel. It's a completely free way to support what we do. Also, make sure you're following the podcast on both Spotify and Apple so you get every new episode instantly. Your voice matters. Leave us a five star review and share your experiences. Or just give us your questions in the comments on Spotify or Apple. Remember, ignorance isn't bliss, it's expensive. I'm Kevin Clay reminding you that real change change that is sustainable and isn't comfortable. It takes time and discipline. It takes sacrifice, but the transformation will be phenomenal.