Towards an agile methodology for industrial problem solving

• Main Author: Llamas Zogbi, Valentina Maria
• Format: Others
• Published: 2017
• Online Access: http://oatao.univ-toulouse.fr/19421/1/LLAMAS_ZOGBI_Valentina_Maria.pdf; Llamas Zogbi, Valentina Maria <http://www.idref.fr/221651861>. Towards an agile methodology for industrial problem solving. PhD, Genie industriel, Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, 2017

In order to survive to the unstable and highly changing market-place, modern organisations need to adapt their business processes to be more agile. Such is, particularly, the case of problem solving processes. Problem solving is a key activity that companies perform on a daily basis to improve quality and to obtain sustainable and continuous improvement. Such processes are built following standard rigid frameworks as Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA), Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve, Control (DMAIC), or 8 Disciplines (8D)/ 9 Steps (9S). In these methods, the generalization and reuse of knowledge is facilitated by standardization. However, it is sometimes difficult to react to unexpected events due to over-constrained standards. Then, a need arises to define a problem solving process sufficiently structured but not over constrained by standards, which can be reconfigured and adapted to unexpected situations, and that is based on experience feedback principles. This thesis work describes a proposition of an agile problem solving process driven by the reuse of experiences and knowledge. For this purpose, based on Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) principles, the complete lifecycle of an agile problem solving process is proposed. Following the five steps that compose the agile lifecycle, the agile process can be defined, executed and stored in a dedicated knowledge and experience base. An application of the model to a specific problem solving process of a surface treatment company is presented. The process is analysed, deploying the complete agile lifecycle. It is shown how the standard problem solving method used within the company could become more agile through the application of our method.