In many instances process failure is blamed on employees when it is caused by inadequate process capability

In practice, many businesses/organisations are actually maintaining processes that do not satisfy or create customers at all. These processes add to costs, tie up investment capital and demand management attention. This is a specific case of process failure.

Process variations are caused by many contributing factors. Some of these are materials, methods, people, machines, measurement, environment, suppliers, etc.

One very important factor is process capability, which is a function of the design of the process.

A normal family car is not designed to perform like a formula one racing car. Its process capability is inadequate for the demands made on the process. It’s no good blaming the driver for not succeeding!

Example:

Take a poorly made gun, mount it in a bracket, aim it perfectly at a target and fire 100 shots. Due to the inherent inaccuracy of the gun, only a few bullets will hit the target. Most bullets will be spread over an area bigger than the target. The process has failed because of inferior process capability, which is result of the process design. Even the best hunter could not improve on this result. This process cannot improve by training the hunter. Many organisations throw everything at training when they haven’t addressed process capability!

The priority is to always ensure processes are redesigned to achieve process capability.