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Statistical process control after W. Edwards Deming

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Re: Statistical process control after W. Edwards Deming

#32
post #27
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This problem actually comes up in The Goal . After the characters lift the bottlenecks in their factory, things go smoothly for a while but then they start to see starvation in other areas like you mentioned. The solution they come up with involves local signaling and also data collection and analysis to understand the timeframes in play within the factory. The following excerpt is from Chapter 26. Then I said, "Fine…

Yes, but also no. Prediction implies somewhat steady flow. That is of course the ideal! If you know roughly how much is going to be needed when you can just run things to schedule and you don't need any signals at all! The problematic case is when variation is too big for that. That's when (from my memory -- was a while since I read the books) Goldratt leans on global ingress control instead of local signaling. But I…

Got you. It seems like I'm the one misremembering. I thought they'd gotten more sophisticated than that by the end. I guess the story makes the ideas seem more powerful than they'd appear when laid out in a straight-forward way against competing processes.

Re: Statistical process control after W. Edwards Deming

#33
post #4

I've used Deming's ideas to optimize ads and it did work way better than bayesian ab testing or ML-based approaches. However, management did not like that I was using something so old, so I had to rebrand it, but it was Deming still.

I would love to know more about this - can you elaborate a little? Thank you!

Re: Statistical process control after W. Edwards Deming

#34
It's easy to think of Deming as "old fashioned" or irrelevant in the modern world (and yes, some people talk about him like a cult figure), but his ideas are fundamentally practical, enduring, and flexible. The Deming Institute over the last few years has shifted from "preserving Deming's teachings" to "teaching folks how to use Deming in their businesses/organizations now."

I recommend visiting www.deming.org, and also checking out DemingNEXT (https://deming.org/learn/demingnext/). It's a new, unique way to learn Deming online with interactive courses, case studies, "what would you do" scenarios, examples, articles, podcast episodes, and more. (You can get a free 14-day trial to check it out.)

I also recommend watching "why Deming, why now" video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zCD2w3u9Ms&t=3s.

Full disclosure - I've worked for The Deming Institute for just over a year now and I've been blown away by how simple but powerful his ideas are.

Re: Statistical process control after W. Edwards Deming

#35
post #4

I've used Deming's ideas to optimize ads and it did work way better than bayesian ab testing or ML-based approaches. However, management did not like that I was using something so old, so I had to rebrand it, but it was Deming still.

Can you give an example? E.g. signal that you chose to ignore?
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