Today, we’ll discuss the basics of the Check Sheet and how to use it.
[Intro Video]
Hi, this is Mike Negami, Lean Sigma, Black Belt.
I received this request recently.
"Hello Mike. Do you have an Excel spreadsheet that will track types of defect by production line?”
Chuck, thank you very much for your request.
One of the 7 QC Tools is the best to use for this.
That is the ‘Check Sheet’.
In order to reduce defects and increase productivity, it’s essential to grasp the current situation
numerically.
So, by recording what kind of defects, how many and when they occurred, in the Check
Sheet, you can investigate the cause and make solutions.
Furthermore, you can track your progress afterwards.
I made a Check Sheet template too, so all the videos and templates of the 7 QC Tools
were covered, I made a playlist of them.
Please check them out in the link above.
This is the Check Sheet template.
You can record daily for a week from Monday to Sunday.
Type your process name, measurement period, place and the person in charge in the middle,
and possible defect names in the left column.
Then, you’re good to go for recording.
In practice, you would print this out on paper, give it to each worker and ask them to count
the numbers of defects using this paper.
Then, you would collect all of the papers daily or once a week and enter the total numbers
of each kind of defect in this Excel sheet.
Then the summary results will appear by day and defect type.
Also, if you press the ‘Pareto Chart’ button and scroll up, it will automatically
create a Pareto Chart as well as a Bar Chart.
This clarifies which defect is the most frequent.
Actually it’s more effective if you do this with PowerApps which I am recently into.
It’s very cumbersome for workers to count defects with a pen and paper.
I made this sample app, with PowerApps and I would install it in workers’ phones.
When a defect occurs, the worker needs to just tap the name of the defect.
The occurrence day and time and the name of the phone holder will be collected automatically.
Also, by tapping the ‘Analysis Result’ button here, all of the app holders can get
the analysis result, live.
This handiness and speed is amazing, isn’t it?
PowerApps is a process improvement innovation.
Now let’s return to the topic of the Check Sheet.
There are actually two types of Check Sheet.
The one we discussed is the ‘Check Sheet for Recording’ and the other one is the
‘Check Sheet for Checking’, which some people call it ‘Checklist’.
As shown in this image, it’s a very simple table that has a list of items to be checked
and a column where to put a check mark after completing it.
It's easy to make, so I didn’t make its template.
It can be used as an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) too.
Since you see the progress of which ones you haven’t done yet, it will prevent you from
overlooking them.
Of course it would become cumbersome and less efficient if we make a Checklist for all the
regular work and obligate all the workers to put check marks.
However, this Checklist is quite effective for less frequent tasks and important tasks
where mistakes are not allowed.
If you have tasks that have some issues because each worker works differently, it’s a good
idea to review their standard procedures once and make this Checklist.
As for PowerApps, I envision that by making Checklist apps with PowerApps it will dramatically
improves company standardization.
It often happens that an SOP was created and distributed, but it’s buried by other documents
or emails.
Also since too many SOP’s were created, they are not utilized well.
If you organize all SOP’s and put them in an app, they will be very handy and accessible
for all employees whenever they are needed.
Since the progress of the check marks can be recorded seamlessly in the cloud, it enables
managers to monitor the SOP usage very easily.
Also, you can create inspection forms and have managers use them and monitor the inspection
results as well.
I concluded this episode with PowerApps, but the theme was the Check Sheet.
The Check Sheet is very simple and invented a long time ago, but there are still plenty
of opportunities to use it.
Please try to use it and you’ll find it to be very powerful.
Thank you very much for viewing.
Please click the ‘Subscribe’ button.
Also click and watch my other related videos.
Thanks.