Analysis of Data (ISO 9001 / IATF 16949)

“In God we trust, all others bring data.” — W Edwards Deming

In present times, both male & female, analyse the deep pockets of each other before deciding to go ahead for relationship and marriage! During elections, psephology analyses the voting pattern to predict the performance of a political party. Google analyse the lifestyle and food pattern of the common man and offer suitable options accordingly, Advertisers analyse the TRP rating of the TV channel and decide, where to advertise.

Analysis of data and its evaluation is extremely crucial for the sustained success for any organization. The consistent performance and share prices indicate the strength of an organization for analysis and evaluation. Yet, still, there are umpteen organizations, who collect a lot of data but do not analyse and evaluate it effectively.

In the age of Big Data Analysis, IoT (Internet of Things) and Industry 4.0, a huge amount of data is collected. Unless it is systematically analysed and evaluated, there are very high chances of making a mockery of these latest tools.   

As per ISO 9001 & IATF 16949, clause 9.1.3/9.1.3.1, the organization has to analyse the performance of its different process as per QMS.  

Following is the interpretation & key expectations.

1. Conformity of product & services: The key to organization success is conformity to product and service requirements. It includes fulfilment of customer requirements (meeting technical specification, packaging guidelines, despatch procedure, legal requirements etc.) and Customer Specific Requirements (PPAP, record retention, SPC, MSA, Special characteristics, competence guidelines, formats, MSDS etc.). The organizations have to analyse the achievement of CR and CSR. If not fulfilled, they have to plan actions.      
2. Degree of Customer satisfaction: There are different ways for collecting data related to customer perception which includes dealer report, compliments, quality & delivery performance, data from the customer portal, feedback forms etc. The analysis and evaluation give information about the sustenance of business, the possibility of getting new business, areas for improvements and how to enhance customer satisfaction.
3. Performance & effectiveness of QMS: Performance and effectiveness of QMS can be judged based on the results of Internal audit and management review. Based on it, actions to sustain and improve the performance can be planned. In case of any merger, acquisition or major change in the organization processes, how the organization could perform systematically.
4. Effectiveness of Risk & Opportunities: Based on the collected data about risk and opportunity for different processes and products, the organization can decide and take action to
   1. plan contingencies
   2. how to improve customer satisfaction
   3. how to improve the relationship with interested parties like society, government bodies, financial institutions, suppliers, employees etc.
5. Performance of suppliers: Based on the data related to supplier quality, Delivery, premium freight, QMS status, the fulfilment of statutory & regulatory requirements; the organization can decide actions
   1. how to improve the performance of existing supplier base by conducting training and audits for existing suppliers
   2. by adding new suppliers who can fulfil the need and expectation of organization and customer.
6. Improvement to QMS: Based on the performance of customer and supplier quality, internal audit results, an organization can plan actions to strengthen QMS (Quality Management System) by adding new
   1. resources
   2. infrastructure
   3. adding competency of existing resources etc.

Inputs for Data Analysis & Evaluation

• Data: Risk analysis, Capacity analysis, root cause analysis, statistical analysis, measurement system analysis etc.
• Management System: Internal audit results (System, Manufacturing Process, Product)
• Customer: Complaints, rejection, warranty, recall, Satisfaction
• Manufacturing process: Rejection, Scrap, Rework, Repair, Deviation etc.
• Supplier: Performance like Quality, Delivery, new suppliers, Legal requirements etc.

Tools for Data Analysis and Evaluation

• Pareto Chart
• Bar Chart
• Cause & Effect Analysis
• Why-Why Analysis

Benefits to Top Management

• People are always aware of where they are, where they need to reach
• Increase in customer satisfaction level
• Clarity about the gap and what to do next
• Reduction in rejection trends
• High morale for the employees
• Possibility of improving sales is high
• High competency of personnel

Some question to ponder:

• Presently the majority of the organization have performance indicators for their processes but not many conduct systematic analysis & evaluation of the data.
• Even if the analysis is done, many of the organization does not record the output of analysis and proposed action.
• In many organizations, records of analysis and evaluation are still considered a waste of time and energy!

References:

IATF 16949:2016

ISO 9001: 2015

This is the 46^th article of this Quality Management series. Every weekend, you will find useful information that will make your Management System journey Productive. Please share it with your colleagues too.

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