Statisticians and Statistical Organizations How to Be Successful in Today’s World? Ronald D. Snee Snee Associates With Significant Contributions from Roger W. Hoerl, General Electric 2009 Quality and Productivity Research Conference IBM T. J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, NY June 3-5, 2009
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Statisticians and Statistical Organizations How to Be Successful in Todays World? Ronald D. Snee Snee Associates With Significant Contributions from Roger.
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Statisticians and Statistical Organizations How
to Be Successful in Today’s World?
Ronald D. SneeSnee Associates
With Significant Contributions from Roger W. Hoerl, General Electric
2009 Quality and Productivity Research ConferenceIBM T. J. Watson Research Center
Yorktown Heights, NYJune 3-5, 2009
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Today’s Realities
We Need to Change our Thinking
What Should Statisticians be Doing?
Helping Our Organizations Succeed
Focus on Statistical Engineering
“Embedding” Statistical Tools in Work Processes
Summary
Agenda
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Today’s Realities
Profession appears to be at a crucial point in its history Recent Technometrics article and blog highlight major
issues we must deal with going forward “Future of Industrial Statistics: A Panel Discussion”
ASQ Stat Division Newsletter article by Vijay Nair Disconnect between academic research and practice
We haven’t fundamentally modernized the “model” for applied statistics since the 1950’s Pure science versus statistics as an engineering
discipline? Leadership is lacking and desperately needed
No evidence that we have critical mass to change
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How Should We Respond?
Jump in “fox holes” and wait for the crisis to blow over
Argue against globalization
Understand the fundamental changes in our environment,
Embrace them
Adapt to them
Take advantage of them
Understanding today’s environment will help us
understand the future of statisticians and statistical
organizationsThe Choice is Yours
“Survival Isn’t Mandatory” W. E. Deming
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Expanding World of StatisticsThe Profession Has Responded
Launching of Sputnik by the Soviet Union:
Created the need for design of experiments and other
statistical methods in research and development
Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act created the need for
statisticians in the pharmaceutical industry
Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection
Agency created the need for environmetrics and the
use of statistics in solving environmental problems
Global Competition and Information Technology
creates need for improvement
Needs of Employers and Society Define the
Roles and Uses of Statistics
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Expanding Role of Statisticians
Consult on other people’s
projects
Perform routine analyses if
needed
Teach statistical tools
Work with technical people
Narrow expertise and
accountability
“Benign neglect”
Lead or collaborate on our
own projects
Focus on significant,
complex problems
Design training systems
Work with managers and
technical people
Broad expertise and
accountability
“In the firing line”
Consultant Collaborator/Leader
Computer Scientists Provide an Example of Such a Role
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What Should Our Focus Be?
“Anyone can manage for the short term or the long
term; real success comes from managing both short
term and long term at the same time…
If you don’t manage in the short term, there won’t be
a long term” (Jack Welch).
“The complex problems of this world will not be
solved at the same level of thinking we were at when
we created them.” (Albert Einstein)
We need to
Think differently.
Be bold but not reckless
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Helping your Organization Deal with the Global Financial Crisis – Short Term
Cost reduction and short term cash flow
Quick wins essential for sustaining change (John Kotter)
Prudent risk taking
Process understanding is needed
Reducing variation reduces risk
Effective prioritization – working on the right things
Improvement project selection
Customer and employee surveys
Follow the money
Statisticians Can Play a Major Role
in Each of These Areas
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Reinvigoration of Improvement Bottom Line Improvement Never Goes Out of Style
Some may respond, “been there, done that.”
“We have already done Lean Six Sigma, and now
moved on to bigger and better things”
Improvement is particularly needed now
Lean Six Sigma also helps us make sure that we are
working on the right things
The result will be
Immediate, bottom line results
Help with business prioritization
Risk management approaches that balance need for
income generation with need to limit risk
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What Else Should Statisticians be Doing?A Longer Term View
Greater emphasis on “statistical engineering” relative
to “statistical science”
“Embedding” statistical methods and principles into
key business process
Making the use of statistical thinking and methods part
of how we work
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What Does Society Need from Statisticians?
Decades of the 1950s, 60s and 70s
Statistical science needed to be developed to deal with
the problems encountered in R&D, Manufacturing and
other functions including: Efficient and effective experimentation Empirical modeling Process control Process optimization
Need for statistical engineering was there, but limitations
of available methods created a stronger need to develop
statistical science.
21st Century
Society needs statistics to be primarily an engineering
discipline, with a secondary focus on statistical science.
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Statistical Engineering
Engineering focuses on how to best utilize known
scientific and mathematical principles for the benefit
of mankind.
Pure science works to advance our understanding of
natural laws and phenomena.
Example
Chemist may attempt to advance understanding of the
fundamental science of chemistry
Create a new marketable substance
Chemical engineer would more likely attempt to better
utilize the current understanding to greater human
advantage.
Determine how to scale up the process to produce this
substance commercially,
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Engineers Develop Engineering Theory
Engineers do research to develop new theory
Engineers’ theoretical developments:
Tend to be oriented towards the question of how to
best utilize known science to benefit society
Rather than on how to advance known science.
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Two Examples of Statistical Engineering
Product Quality Management at DuPont
Process and Organizational Improvement Using
Lean Six Sigma
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PQM – Statistically Based Product Quality Management System
Product Quality Management (PQM)
Framework for managing the quality of a product or service.
Operational system the enables Marketing, R&D, Production and
support personnel to work together to meet increasingly
stringent customer requirements
“Within two years product quality had improved to the point
of commanding a marketplace advantage and more than $30
million had been gained in operating cost improvements.
The statistically based Product Quality Management system
developed for “Dacron” was expanded to other products
with further contributions in earnings.”Richard E. Heckert