Sep 17 2007
DOE Study Group
After an eventful trip to Shenzhen, I settled in for the week. After all that flying, my arms were really tired! It was the bags, not the flapping, that got to me.
This morning I met with the group who would be going through Design of Experiments with me. A small collection of professionals, all working towards their Black Belt certification with their companies. Only two firms represented, one a significant supplier of the other. Fortunately for me, their English is quite good, every one of them.
After the introductions we chatted about what they wanted, from the class and from their project efforts. These participants really want to understand and use DOE methodology! They’ve heard it is powerful and efficient, and a couple have participated in other projects and seen the positive aspects first-hand. Given that they’re all working in the electronics industry, they know they will need more sophisticated tools, year over year, to make progress.
Rather like preaching to the converted.
Which makes it all so much easier in the long run. I had the group break into two teams, and we explored a process simulator to see how they approached optimization right now, with limited DOE knowledge. At the end, they learned that their current approach may need a lot of help. Variataion in methods, switching methods in the middle, guessing, and purely Edisonian (inspired trial-and-error) attempts were all noted in the debrief.
Okay, it’s not a disaster. At least we all agreed we missed the mark, and there has to be a better way.
Other exercises, including some with catapults, got them to thinking hard about the plan. And for many industrial experiments, it’s all about the plan. But of course, we often spend our time and creativity operating the experiments; this lesson got through clearly today.
Which will make much easier tomorrow!
I even got away with assigning some homework, and the participants didn’t seem to mind. In my previous experience in the Chinese training room, there is seldome any interest in extra work. But these folks agreed to try the exercise and report back.
Seems I got a great group, and my job will be easier. At least in some respects; now I have to keep up…
Don’t settle for less than the best, and Enjoy!
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