Control-Chart Dashboards: Managing Your Numbers Instead of Your Numbers Managing You

This paper, which documents Fluor Hanford’s application of Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Dashboards to support planning and decision making, is a sequel to “Leading with Leading Indicators” that was presented at WM ’05. This year’s paper provides more detail on management’s use of SPC and control charts and discusses their integration into an executive summary using the popular color-coded dashboard methodology. Fluor Hanford has applied SPC in a non-traditional (that is non-manufacturing) manner. Dr. Shewhart’s 75-year-old control-chart methodologies have been updated to modern data processing, but are still founded on his sound, tried and true principles. These methods are playing a key role in safety and quality at what has been called the world’s largest environmental cleanup project. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hanford Site played a pivotal role in the nation’s defense, beginning in the 1940s when it was established as part of the Manhattan Project. After more than 50 years of producing nuclear weapons, Hanford – which covers 586 square miles in southeastern Washington state – is now focused on three outcomes: 1. Restoring the Columbia River corridor for multiple uses 2. Transitioning the central plateau to support long-term waste management 3. Putting DOE assets to work for the future. The control-chart-based dashboard has been featured by several professional societies in their publications, most recently by the American Society of Safety Engineers. The case is provided for why one should consider switching from bar charts, moving averages, “rainbow charts,” and other non-statistical charting methods, and changing to control charts. Control charts have actually cost less to make than these other charts. Lessons learned from implementing the “FluorBoard” control-chart-based dashboards will be included. These tools, management theories and methods, coupled with involved leadership and employee efforts, will directly lead to significant improvements in worker safety and health, and environmental protection and restoration at nuclear cleanup sites.