Good Processes Enable Good Results

完善的流程能带来效益

By Dr. Klaus M. Blache, Univ. of Tennessee, Reliability & Maintainability Center

本文由田纳西大学可靠性与可维护性中心Dr. Klaus M. Blache编写

流程可以分为正式的或是非正式的、后续的或是被忽略的、被审计的或是不受控制的等等。遵循标准化程序的程度通常是衡量组织运作情况的良好指标。随着作业管理、文档管理、物料管理和根源分析等方面的不断增加，隐藏的运营成本也随之不断攀升。不仅在可靠性以及可维护性上是这样，对于任何人员，流程以及技术的交互也是这样的。接下来我将以我近期的旅行经验作为例子进行解释。

Processes can be formal/informal, followed/ignored, audited/uncontrolled, and so on. The extent to which a standardized process is followed is typically a good indicator of how well an organization is doing. Hidden operational costs accumulate quickly with increasing process variation from such things as work management, document control, material management, and root-cause analysis. This is not true just for reliability and maintenance, but for any interaction of people, process, and technology. I’ll use my experience on a recent trip to explain.

这件事情要从我选择一家从来没乘坐过的大型航空公司说起。从办理国外登记手续开始，在途中遇到的问题堆积如山。在旅途中，我尝试回想以及记录遇到的问题，并将其分为四类：系统故障，现有流程失效，人力资源匮乏（人力资源问题）以及活动冗余/时间浪费。以下是几个例子：

It began with a decision to fly on a major airline that I had not used for some time. The troubling issues I experienced piled up fast, starting with check-in for my outbound flight. During the trip, I tried to document as many problems as I could recall, categorizing them into four areas: system malfunction, ineffective existing process, poor use of human resources (people issues), and redundant activity/time wasted. Here are several examples:

在机场，尽管我已经提前一天在网上办理好登机手续以及打印登机牌，仍要在自助一体机输入相同的信息才能办理行李托运签手续。而其他的旅客也收到同样提示。然而糟糕的是，没有人告知我们必须前往自助一体机办理，直到我们去到值班柜台才得知。所以你应该能理解人们为了赶飞机却在这些地方浪费时间的沮丧感吧。

At the airport, despite having checked in online and printed my boarding passes the day before, I was told to go to an automated kiosk where I had to enter the same information to start the baggage-tagging process. Other travelers received the same instructions. Unfortunately, nobody was informed we had to visit the kiosks until we reached the check-in counter. You can understand the frustration of individuals running out of time to catch their flights.

事实上，当值机柜台人手不足时，工作人员会引导旅客至一体机办理手续，从而减缓因队伍太长拖延办理时间的问题，然而这并不是一个最佳的策略。当一体机不能正常运作时，被引导至一体机的旅客仍需返回值班柜台，柜台人员在处理排队办理的旅客事务同时，还需要处理从一体机旅客的事务，这样值班人员就会一直抱怨换班同事迟迟未到，甚至是觉得不应值这个班。

As it turned out, the person at the understaffed check-in counter was sending customers to the kiosks to buffer her growing line. It wasn’t a good strategy. The kiosks weren’t properly performing all functions, so they were sending customers back to the harried counter employee. Soon, she was dealing with two lines—the original one and one returning from the kiosks. All the while she was complaining that her end-of-shift replacement hadn’t arrived and she wasn’t even supposed to be on duty.

无论身处何处，流程的变化产生的额外高费用会让人感到沮丧。

Wherever and however they occur, process variations can be expensive and frustrating.

值得庆幸，我在行李X光检查处有三名值班员工，工作的清闲让他们的聊得甚欢。当他们意识到我放下行李时，其中一人踱步走来并试图将我的行李放到传送带上。之所以我用“试图”这一字眼，是因为这位员工似乎举起40磅的行李，略显吃力。然而，他又不得不将我的行李滑到摇晃的传送带上。

Luckily, there were three people on duty at the baggage X-rayarea when I arrived, and they seemed to have plenty of time to chat among themselves. Once they realized I was waiting to drop off my bag, one of them strolled over and attempted to hoist it onto the conveyor belt. I use the word “attempted” because the gentleman seemed to have difficulty lifting the <40-lb. item.Instead, he had to slide the suitcase on the conveyor, where it barely stayed in place.

最后我共记录了15条改善建议。很荣幸航空公司有更好的飞机维修流程，而美国联邦航空局也对标准化流程制定了规章与准则。但是，他们仍不能延期办理登记手续。

In total, I documented 15 improvement opportunities. Fortunately, airlines have better processes regarding aircraft maintenance. The Federal Aviation Administration has regulations and guidelines for standardized processes. They clearly don’t extend to check in.

那么，在我旅途中遇到的困难是否与现场可靠性以及可维护性相关呢？当评估以及执行可靠性与可维护流程时，第一步应该是创造文化，其中包括可靠性计划与目标.（最好的结果是实现几个基本要素。）下一步是实现标准作业流程的要素。这一步能起到优化并固化的成效。这是可靠性与可维护性应用的最佳实践以及持续改善方式。工厂工人应依靠RASIC“角色与职责”图表或者泳道（工作流程图）进行工作，RASIC即有责任心，开放，支持还能培养工人主动沟通，主动咨询的习惯。

So, how do my travel woes relate to your site’s reliability and maintenance efforts? When assessing and implementing a reliability and maintainability (R&M) process, the first step should be to create the culture, including, among other things, a reliability plan and goals/targets. (Best results come from implementing several foundational elements first.) The next step is to implement elements enabling standardized work processes. This leads into steps for optimizing and sustaining the effort. Then it’s on to application of R&M best practices and continual improvement. Plant personnel should all be tied to a RASIC (responsible, approve, support, inform, consult) “roles and responsibilities” chart and/or swim-lanes (diagrams of workflow).

最后，稳定的R&M流程能带来多重效益，其中包括：增加生产量、减少浪费与降低成本、提高安全性、减少流程变化、减小误差、提高员工参与度以及更轻松对流程进行培训与维护。然而与流程相关的人员，必须有能力以及乐意去做才能达到这些效果。也只有这样，你才会享受到遵循流程的好处。

In the end, stable R&M processes lead to multiple benefits, among them: increased throughput, reduced wastes and costs, improved safety, reduced process variation, error reduction, higher employee involvement, and easier training on and sustaining of processes. People associated with the process, though, must be capable and willing. You’re only as good as your processes allow.

2017中国设备管理大会暨第十五届全国TnPM大会由中国设备管理协会和国际维修联合会主办，中国设备管理协会国际合作交流中心、学府咨询（国际）集团有限公司、珠海经济特区顺益发展有限公司承办本年度设备管理界盛典，大会将于9月20~22日在美丽泉城——济南•山东大厦举行。

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图片内容转载自网络，译者：陆佩泳。本文内容为原作者观点，并不代表本公众号立场。