Standing in Line, Learning Quality

Can you learn quality while standing in line? Sure. Just watch how McDonalds makes french fries.

McDonalds’ fries are loved around the world. One reason is because they taste the same around the world whether in Boston or Bangkok. This absence of variation is the essence of quality. It is one of the things that makes McDonalds a world class company and the leader in its field.

McDonalds does this with unskilled, high turnover labor. They do it by mistake proofing. Next time you visit McDonalds, watch how they prepare the fries. You will learn techniques that can be applied on your packaging line.

They begin with good materials. They could probably find a cheaper supplier of potatoes but it would be impossible to get good fries from bad spuds. When I worked at McDonalds in the 60’s they used fresh potatoes, peeled and sliced on-site by people like me. That added variability. Eventually they developed a process that could provide frozen potatoes in bulk to eliminate this variability.

The amount of fries cooked in a basket is another source of variability. They eliminated this by packing the fries in batch sized bags.

Cooking time is a key and relying on the cook to remove the fries when done is another variability that has been eliminated. The fryers automatically remove the fries from the oil when fully cooked.

Even something as simple as salt is not left to a chance. In other restaurants the cook sprinkles salt from a standard shaker. Sometimes they get it right. Other times they put too much or too little. McDonalds developed a shaker that measures and distributes the salt precisely eliminating the variability.

The customer expects a specific amount of fries, tastefully presented. The scoop that McDonalds uses looks pretty simple but back in the 60’s a lot of work went into it  before they got it right.

How do you define quality in your plant? Do you use the traditional definition of “Within specification”? Is that just another way of saying “Good enough”?

I was not born yesterday. I know that complete absence of variation is never possible. All processes and all materials will always vary. That is no excuse for not working continuously to drive it towards zero. Here are some things you need to do:

Simplify – Simplify your process. The more complexity there is the more variability will creep in. Make your process as simple as possible (but no simpler)

Document – If you do not document the process: who does what and how, it will be impossible to perform it consistently.

Train – Make sure all of your teammates understand their tasks and one correct way to perform them.

Use good materials – You cannot get rid of variability in the process without getting rid of variability in materials.

Maintain your machinery – You cannot make good product on sloppy machines. Repair, rebuild or replace your machinery to eliminate wear and variability.

Drive variability out of your product and you will drive customers to it.