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Excellence : Excellence is defined as the quality of being extremely good So what is Personal excellence? In simple words, setting up the bar higher [benchmark] in whatever activities, the individual(who is compared with the rest) does. Process Excellence: Providing an environment where the processes are highly stable and controlled with a minimal or no variation and with minimum or no wastage(Muda). Focus is on continuous improvement to ensure processes are highly stablized Operational Excellence: It reflects the way how as a person, unit, you or your team/organisation excel at parameters such as Cost, Human Resources, scope, time, quality etc.,. By excelling at this, the provider of a service, can provide value to the customer with optimal/maximum efficiency. Business Excellence: It is through which you make your business, with effective strategies ,efficient business plans , best business practices so that optimal results are achieved at a sustained rate. How each one is related to the other one(s): Personal Excellence is directly tied to Process Excellence. If and only if the individual is interested to adhere to the processes laid out, then process excellence or for that matter any other activity can be successful . If the cultural shift/mindset is not there amongst the individual/team , then no change would work. This can be represented by the formula : Quality of the solution (Q) * Acceptance of the solution (A) = Effectiveness of the solution (E). Unless there is an acceptance to any thing (which is the human part) nothing can be done. So if the individual has the desire to excel at his/her work, then he/she would strive to make sure he/she/the organization achieve Process Excellence. Process Excellence provides a way for continuous improvement. Purpose of process excellence is to streamline all the processes , make them stable and in the process to achieve minimal degree of variation and minimal wastage. By having a process excellence system in place, grey areas in Operational excellence and Business excellence can be identified and improved/rectified upon. Practically it is difficult to achieve excellence in one when another one is absent. For instance, Business and Operational excellence would require process improvements. If streamlining does not happen there then there is no excellence in Business and in Operational aspects as well.Similarly without human intervention or the elevated mindset of the individual, it becomes difficult to successfully run the processes at a top-notch. From an organisation perspective, the organisation should Provide a conducive environment to work with wherein by individuals can be encouraged to share their ideas/thoughts and create a transparency, making them feel belonging to the organisational/unit's problems/constraints (Personal Excellence) Encourage individuals to showcase their creativity in designing/providing solutions to problems (Personal Excellence) Create Challenging contests and rewarding people on various categories such as best creativity,best solution, optimal solution,... (Personal Excellence) Setup process standards and metrics for each parameter(Define the expectation).Set the Upper & Lower limit & also customer specification limits (Process Excellence) Conduct awareness sessions on process expectations with reasoning and justifications. Provide details with SMART goals (Process Excellence) Ensure that individuals/teams adhere to the standards with constant monitoring through Audits/Inspections/reviews. (Process Excellence) Look out for scope for continuous improvements periodically and accordingly adjust the process baseline if required. (Process Excellence) Define the Operational parameters that requires excellence. (Operational Excellence) Conduct awareness sessions to key stakeholders on those operational parameters and provide the plan on when and how to achieve them (Operational Excellence) Ensure the status of operational excellence through Project Management Reviews/status reports and other similar artefacts and address the deviations (Operational Excellence). Preserve the best practices that were followed to achieve Operational Excellence (Operational Excellence) Define the strategies/plans needed for improving the business results (Business Excellence) Define the best practices in getting business-oriented goals/activities done (Business Excellence) Conduct Confidential meeting with key stakeholders and provide the envisaged plan to them and convey your expectation (Business Excellence) Conduct monthly/quarterly review meetings with respective units and look onto the 4-quarter dashboard. (Business Excellence) Get Business Mgmt section of Customer Satisfaction Survey from the customer to see if organisation is in target with its objective (Business Excellence) Document the outcome of the business results and the effective means to achieve them (Business Excellence)

The First Jidoka The automatic loom, invented by Sakichi Toyoda, the founder of Toyota, in the year 1902, can be considered as the first Jidoka example. In this innovation, if threads ran out or broke, the loom process was stopped automatically and immediately. In the early days of assembly line mass production, work cycles were watched over by a human operators. As competition increased, Toyota brought about a significant change in this process by automating machine cycles so that human operators were free to perform other tasks. The Toyota Production System has many tools for efficient products and services. Developed over the years, these tools aim at reducing human effort and automating machines to increase productivity. Jidoka is one such tool without which efficient manufacturing would practically be impossible, as of today. The article below explains all about the Jidoka process. The Concept of Autonomation To begin with, understand that autonomation and automation are different from each other. According to the definition of autonomation, it is a 'self-working' or 'self-controlled' process. It is a feature that contributes to the Jidoka process. Automation is the process where the work is still being watched by an operator, where errors may still be apparent, and detection and correction take a longer period. Autonomation resolves two main points. Firstly, it reduces human interference, and secondly, it prevents processes from making errors. This has been enlisted below. PRODUCT DEFECT Ordinarily, when a defect occurs, a worker detects it and later reports the problem. Autonomation enables the machine to stop the cycle when a defective piece is encountered. PROCESS MALFUNCTION If all the processed parts or components are not picked up at the end of the cycle, the machine might face problems, and the process might halt, and it would take a while before the worker realizes that the process has been interrupted because of a minor error. In case of autonomation, if the previous piece has not been picked up during ejection, the machine gives a signal or stops the cycle all together. An Introduction to Jidoka The Evolution towards Jidoka Jidoka can be simply defined as 'humanized automation'. Autonomation is just another term for Jidoka. It is used in different contexts. It is mainly used to detect defects and immediately stop the production or manufacturing process. It fixes the defect and finds solutions so that the defect or error does not occur again. The concept, as mentioned before, was invented by Sakichi Toyoda. Its purpose is to reduce human error and judgment by automatic error detection and correction. It was developed to eradicate the wastage of time due to human observation of the process, transportation, inventory, correction of defect, etc. Now, with Jidoka, production lines have become significantly more efficient, and the wastage of goods and inventory have been reduced too. Other Toyota Tools and Terms You need to keep in mind is that Andon, Poka-yoke, Just-in-time, etc., are all tools invented by Toyota. Jidoka is also one of these tools, and it encompasses some of the others as well, like Andon and Poka-yoke. Jidoka was developed to minimize errors that may have been caused due to human observations. Remember that Andon is not an example of jidoka, but an important tool. It displays the current state of work―whether the process is smooth, or it has any malfunction, or if there are product glitches, etc. The relation between Andon and Jidoka has been explained further in the article. Similar to Jidoka, Just-In-time is another important tool, and is one of the crucial pillars of TPS. It adheres to what product is required, when it is required, and how much is required. The 'takt time' is an important principle―it refers to the time that should be taken to manufacture a product on one machine. Line Stop Jidoka is a term that applies to the process in automotive manufacturing plants. It is called so because it interrupts and halts the entire line (process) when a defect is found out. The Elements of Jidoka GENCHI GENBUTSU It is one of the important elements of Jidoka. The basic principle of Genchi Genbutsu is to actually see the problem. It entails going to the root source of the problem. This is an important step in the Jidoka process―to find out why the defect occurred in the first place. ANDON As stated in the previous section, Andon is a visual representation of the current process. It indicates whether the process in running as per norms or whether there is a potential flaw. According to the condition, it gives out electronic signals. If the signal is negative, workers will understand that there is a problem in the process. The machine stops, immediately of course, and the workers can stop the production until the flaw in the process is fixed. STANDARDIZATION The main aim of Jidoka is to increase production quality. This is what standardization deals with. It involves developing strategies that adhere to perfection and quality. When a flaw is discovered, it is not only fixed, but efforts are also undertaken to see that it does not occur again, and the quality and standard of the same product are maximized. POKA-YOKE The concept is also called mistake-proofing or error-proofing; poka-yoke devices are designed to avoid mistakes that could occur during production. The Principles The Jidoka Process As seen in the first figure above, without Jidoka, the defective piece continues to be produced and ejected. It is only after ejection that the worker may realize that the product is defective and then stop the process. In the second figure, with Jidoka, the Andon light glows brightly indicating that the product is defective. The process is halted immediately, and necessary steps are taken. DETECT This involves detecting the problem. The machine is fixed with the right components so that the abnormality is immediately identified. For this step, machines may be fixed with sensors, electrical cords, push buttons, electronic devices, or may be fed with proper instructions to identify if a product is defective. STOP Once a defect has been spotted, the machine stops immediately. The machine is designed to stop on its own, no staff or worker needs physically stop it. The fact that a defect has been detected is indicated through signals. Once that is done, the staff might rush to the site to find out why the process has been halted. FIX When the machine stops, the production line needs to be stopped. You might wonder why the entire line needs to be halted due to one or more defective pieces. This is done because there is a likelihood of defective parts or components to have been manufactured along with the defective part or component. To avoid this over-production and wastage of material and equipment, the production line is halted. After this, steps are undertaken to fix the problem. Sometimes, this may be a minor glitch, while at times, there may be a major problem. Once the error is fixed, the production resumes. INVESTIGATE The last and rather vital step of Jidoka is to investigate the source of the problem. You have to find out answers to the following questions: 'Why the defect has occurred?', 'What kind of defect is it?', 'How can it be fixed?', 'What can be done to prevent it?', and so on. Root-cause analysis tools are widely used to get to the bottom of the problem. Through this process, efforts are undertaken to find out the best solution for the defect, and to prevent it from occurring in the first place. As more and more investigation and research is being carried out, better methods of manufacturing are discovered, better problem-solving techniques are invented, and the product quality increases. Examples Jidoka is mainly used in the manufacturing and automotive industries; however, it can be demonstrated in simple products used in daily life as well. For example, if your kitchen cabinet is fixed with a dustbin, you will notice that when you open the door of the cabinet, the lid of the dustbin is automatically lifted. This is because there is a string that helps lift the dustbin lid the moment the door is opened. Consider a printing press machine. If a sheet is missing in the machine, a sheet detector raises the print cylinder. This is due to Jidoka. In the manufacturing industry, a sensor is used to check if the components are in alignment. Even if a small part is out of alignment, the machine is stopped. Some high quality machines use the recall procedure. Sometimes, despite the best counter-measures, some products in the production line may slip through the machine cycle, undetected. The recall procedure checks every single product once again, before the final output ejection. Light curtains are used in automatic feed machines. They have a presence sensor that stops the machine if a component is broken or is defective. Benefits of Jidoka It helps detect the problem as soon as possible. It increases the quality of the product by proper enhancement and standardization. It integrates machine power with human intelligence to produce error-free goods. It helps in proper utilization of labor since the process is automated, workers can spend their time performing more value-added services. There is less scope for errors in production, which substantially increases the rate of productivity and lowers costs. Improved customer satisfaction is an important advantage as well. Good products are manufactured in lesser time. Jidoka is one of the strong pillars of TPS (Toyota Production System). It helps prevent defects in the manufacturing process, identifies defect areas, and devises solutions to see to it that the problem is corrected and the same defect does not occur again. Jidoka helps build 'quality' and has significantly improved the manufacturing process. Difference between Autonomation & Automation: (in summary) Autonomation vs. Automation Description Jidoka Automation If a malfunction occurs, The machine shall detect the malfunction and stop itself. The machine will continue operating until someone turns off a switch. Production of defects No defective parts will be produced. If defects occur, detection of these defects will be delayed. Breakdown of machines Breakdowns of machines, molds and/or jigs can be prevented. possible breakdown of machines, molds, and/or jigs may result. Severity of Malfunction detection Easy to locate the cause of any malfunction and implement measures to prevent recurrence. Difficult to locate the cause of malfunctions at an early stage and difficult to implement measures to prevent recurrence. thanks, Kavitha

Automation Autonomation Definition Technology by which process or procedure is performed without human assistance Intelligent automation or automation with Human assistance (supervisory). It is a process of detecting automation errors Aims 1. Cost savings 2. Improve the quality (Accuracy & precision) 1. To detect product defects or process malfunction 2. Stop the process 3. Fix or correct the immediate condition 4. Investigate the root cause & fix it before starting Example To produce a sheet metal part (multistage operation). 1. Cut the part to right size 2. Pick and place the part in next station 3. Bend it to the right dimensions 4. Transfer the finished part to conveyor to assemble to make a final product Before step 04, if a camera is fixed to check for the critical dimensions & give an error feed back to the operator & stops the production to root cause the problem fix it Summary: Autonomation (Jidoka) helps in: Improves the speed of detecting defects Reduces costs by reducing damage to work-in-progress and equipment, and by preventing further processing on flawed work-in-progress Improves operator morale, particularly if the operator is trained to resolve problems (rather than simply calling for a technician) May reduce direct labor costs by permitting one worker to "supervise" several machines

Hi All Please find below comparison on the topic. Hope I can connect to the lot here. Business Excellence Process Excellence Operational Excellence Personal Excellence INQUIRY What am I supposed to do How am I supposed to do When am I supposed to do Who am I CRITERIA Vision Outcome Output Realization FOCUS AREA Market Competitiveness Continuous Improvement Quality Service Learning RELATIONSHIP Transforming Reframing Refining Acting ORDER You start with You design it into You execute it as You reinvent each time ABSENCE CAUSES Annihilation Variation Waste Insatiety APPROACH Balance Score Card Etc Value Stream Mapping Etc 7 QC, 7 MT, 7 Waste Selflessness and learning Regards Igniting Minds 95 ( Nagraj Bhat - On behalf of )

When we talk about excellence the first quote that came up to my mind is “Excellence/Perfection is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends.” by Mr. Brian Tracy. The word excellence is derived from the Latin word excellere (which translates to Surpass) so when we talk about excellence it can be defined as the condition or state which surpasses the expectations and delights the user who is constantly on the lookout for improvement. Terms - Personal excellence, process excellence, operational excellence, and business excellence are interrelated and it is not possible to achieve one in the absence of another. Being a strong believer of taking one step at a time, would like to summarize the way excellence can be achieved in any discipline (personal/process/operational/business) Self-examination and the desire to be better and raising the bar from the current scenario – winning the mind of self and other leaders Selecting right goals and their duration: short, medium, and long - ownership Evaluating strengths and weakness – key performance results Placing entire focus on areas that need to be improved: what needs to be done, how it needs to be done, by when it needs to be done – strategy Identifying solutions/improvement plans, verifying whether the solutions/plans will bring about benefits (top line/bottom line) and implementing the improvement plan, reviewing with stakeholder, gather feedback and review. The above 1-5 steps need to be constantly worked upon to remain relevant and create value.