Eric Schneider, Continuous Improvement Manager
Birken Manufacturing, Bloomfield, CT
I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time in the fall of 1989. I was working as a Quality Engineer at Hamilton Standard in Windsor Locks, CT. Hamilton was embarking on a Continuous Improvement journey, and Tennessee Associates Inc (TAI) was selected as the consulting company. I left Hamilton in June of 1998 and have been the Manager of Continuous Improvement at Birken Manufacturing Co., Inc, in Bloomfield CT since that time.
As part of the program, TAI made available to Hamilton, (2) seats at a public Design of Experiments (DOE) course in Tennessee. Each month, for 3 months, I was able to travel to Knoxville for this 3 day at a time, 9 day total, course.
Dr. Ward was the lead teacher. I have to say that the DOE training has been a defining element of my career for the past 27 years. Dr. Ward had oversight of, and presented much of the training. F-Tests for statistical significance, Analysis of Variance, Sample Size determination, and Factorial Screening Designs were all covered. The TAI DOE Procedure is something I use to this day. What I really like about DOE and the use of the procedure is how it ties together team skills with technical knowledge. I learned how to facilitate teams through the procedure, and select an experimental design to get answers when other methods to resolve an issue had not yielded an answer. While Dr. Ward and her team taught us many techniques, I have to admit the Factorial and Fractional Factorial designs have been of most use to me in aerospace manufacturing projects. Often, I use the procedure Dr. Ward taught to help teams better understand and define a problem. The result of a couple of hours going through the procedure do not always result in an experiment, but an “aha” moment where a key factor or issue the team had not though of is revealed as a key contributor to better control or understand. 27 years after taking the class, I still have fond memories of my time with Dr. Ward and her team in Knoxville. The workshop format she led was enough to get me the technical and some facilitative skills to help me run or consider at least one DOE each year since that time. I grew to understand and enjoy statistical thinking through her help. Through the continued relationship of Hamilton Standard and TAI, I also took Facilitator Training. Again, the DOE skills, and Facilitator Training from TAI and Dr. Ward have made a difference in who I am and what I have been able to do in my aerospace manufacturing career. I have been fortunate to take what Dr. Ward taught me and develop my own training sessions and presentations to deliver to others as well.
