Shigeo Shingo, one of the founders of the Toyota Production System, explained his insight related to the proportion of statistical analysis and problem-solving.

He recorded spending ten years doing statistical quality control on defects in his production plant. He loved it. The statistical analysis of problems gave him deep insight into the type of all sorts of problems in manufacturing.

Slowly and over time, however, he started to realize that all that statistical control was waste. In looking back, he even recalls that time as his lost ten years. Why?

Because he was focusing on measuring and controlling defects instead of eliminating them.

Reference: Paul Akers / Ken Snyder (Shingo Institute)

Photo: Wikipedia.org

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