Cultural Contradictions Of Statistical Process Control In A

Abstract

A 2 1/2 year study of the implementation of statistical process control (SPC) in a US automobile industry plant found cultural barriers to SPC innovation. The plant, located in the northeastern US, was built before World War II but generally uses technology less than 10 years old. It was chosen because key personnel there realized that implementing SPC also would require paying attention to social system dynamics. The plant had an established quality of work life program and, using a state grant, was able to make 6 manufacturing supervisors full-time SPC coordinators. The experience showed 3 barriers to SPC: 1. learning versus performing, 2. the meaning of information, and 3. holism versus segmentalism. The first barrier arises because mass-production organizations value performance over learning. The 2nd arises because SPC makes public information about problems. The 3rd is a product of the segmentation of problems and information in most plants, while SPC treats the process as a whole.