The PQ Analysis, also referred to as group technology, is a useful tool to
organize data in a fashion that focuses efforts, establishes priorities and reveals
unseen patterns. This allows decisions to be made based on the data instead of
emotions.
For example, once you have entered all of your processes, their frequency and
which activities are required to perform those processes you will now know the
processes and activities that need to be video taped by focusing on the ones
comprising the top 80% by volume and/or cost.
The PQ Analysis can also be used to help establish priorities. For example if you
are developing a new layout that simplifies the process flow, you can use the
frequency of the processes to determine which areas should be located closest
to others or help build the business case for acquiring right sized equipment for
each of the process flows.
Finally, the PQ Analysis is used to reveal patterns in data that were unseen.
Once you have entered the processes against the activities you can look down
the activities columns to see which processes actually follow the same flow. This
is used in the development of work cells to group similar work together.
How To Use
From the main project panel, select the Analysis tab and then click on the PQ
Analysis button. This will launch the PQ tool in a Microsoft Excel window.
Click the Green "Instructions" tab for step-by-step directions on how to use the
tool.
An example PQ Matrix can be found by clicking on the Black "Example" tab.
An example PQ Matrix can be found by clicking on the Black "Example" tab.