Discussion

摘要

The authors have done an excellent job of summarizing the Shainin System~(TM) approach to quality improvement and problem solving. They identify areas where the Shainin approach shows great promise; they give useful suggestions on how to augment its useful graphical tools and rule-of-thumb decision rules with up-to-date statistical analyses; they discuss commonly used Shainin tools in the context of simple examples; and they provide extensive references to studies that evaluate these tools critically. Readers of this crticle will appreciate the excellent overview of the guiding philosophy behind the Shainin approach, and they will learn about tools that will prove useful in many improvement projects. This article should spark much valuable discussion and lead to further critical evaluation of the Shainin methodology. The scientific process of sorting out what is good about this method, and which of its components should be replaced by more powerful tools, will help everyone dealing with process improvement.