I can't tell you the number of times that I have taken the 'executive' facility tour only to see something surprising offered as their "statistical process control"!

It's a control chart, demanding attention, loudly proclaiming that the process is 'out of control'. However, the machinery still turns and product continues to be packaged and shipped.

Many of these operations have an abundance of quality certification banners. They have subscribed to the latest fashions in quality (e.g. Six Sigma, Total Quality, etc.). They have hired quality and engineering professionals so are "supposed to handle quality".

So, how can this be? How can an organization that values quality continue 'business as usual' in the face of an urgent alert like this?

Discounted Information

In situations like these, the message conveyed by the control chart has been almost totally discounted. Its perceived relevance to decision-making is almost nil.

There was once a time when the TV weather report received the same scornful treatment. The report would reccomend umbrellas and the sun would shine. People would smile and say, "I told you you can't trust the weatherman!"

And, we all have noticed those new car indicators that suddenly urge you to take out your wallet and drive quickly to the nearest dealer/service center. "Check Engine", the message says, and from the vague discussion in the owners manual - a folklore has sprung up. "It's a computer malfunction", people say. "It's on a timer. Its connected to the odometer", others theorize. Ultimately, the information is discounted, and many people ignore the check engine warning.

Now, think about the ignored control chart. Like an unreliable weather report or a mystery "idiot light", people have persuaded themselves that the information in the chart has no relevance to hour by hour workplace decisions.

There are three things which would cause SPC charts to be discounted and ignored.

1 - Operations Not Properly Trained in SPC Based Decision-Making

Why wouldn't anyone in a room full of people answer a ringing phone? Perhaps everyone assumes the call is for someone else!

Control charts facilitate decision-making, but whose decisions? (Operations!) Too often, operations personnel assume the chart is "for the quality folks" , or for engineering or maintenance.

The first cause of control chart apathy is simply that operations personnel have been trained from a quality or engineering perspective, and have never been shown how they are used to make operations decisions.

2- Operations Leadership Encourages Process "Short-Cuts"

There are many operations managers and supervisors who do not place emphasis on doing a job right. "Right" to them is "whatever gets the alligator off your back". SPC may be warning, but the folks who approve paychecks pay operators to ignore it.

3-SPC Really is Broken!

If you have a car with capricious warning indicators, you learn quickly to not take them seriously. If the various warnings appeared and disappeared for no apparent reason, and careful observation of the car showed no problem, then the dashboard feedback is now dismissed as "broken". SPC control charts can be "broken". There may be a minor or major technical flaw in the way data is gathered and presented, and this is the third cause of chart apathy.

Could Things Be Any Worse?

The only thing worse, than chart apathy, is chart apathy with a veneer of correctness. A common mistake in response to these problems is a management directive to "make SPC look right". Charts like the one above are "tweaked" to look like the perfect case of "in control"- a mathematical version of telling the boss what he wants to hear.

How to Fix This...

Operations, quality and engineering have different uses for SPC data. Start with operations. The SPC-based decisions that engineers and quality personnel make depend on and assume a correct implementation of Operations SPC.

To fix control chart apathy,

1) Your managers and supervisors must reward work done correctly. 2) .Operations personnel must learn how to "answer the phone" when a control chart tells them their processes have changed. They need to understand what the chart is telling them about their work. 3) Control charts must be implemented in such a way that out-of-control indicators really are relevant to operations decisions.