To ensure that you meet customer expectations, it is important to avoid errors in the production process. While perfection is unattainable (even Six Sigma assumes 3.4 errors per million), striving for perfection is achievable. By learning from mistakes, you can increase your organization’s First Time Right (FTR) percentage, thereby better meeting customer expectations. In this blog, we explain how this works.
What is First Time Right?
The First Time Right principle is about delivering products and services that meet customer requirements on the first attempt. This means striving for a perfect result at every step of the production process the first time it is performed. The First Time Right principle is widely applied in production to improve quality and efficiency while reducing costs. First Time Right focuses on one of the Lean wastes: errors. By implementing the FTR principle in the organization, you achieve more process conformance and reduce the time and resources wasted on corrections. This leads to more stable quality delivery, allowing your organization to better meet customer expectations.
How to calculate the FTR percentage?
To measure and analyse a First Time Right KPI, you need to calculate the FTR percentage. This is done by evaluating each step of the production process separately: How often do corrections need to be made, and what percentage goes First Time Right? For example, if a production process consists of four steps, you will need to calculate the First Time Right percentage for each of these steps to arrive at the final FTR percentage for the entire process. Suppose that in all steps, work is done correctly 8 out of 10 times. Then the FTR percentage of each step is 80%. If you then consider 80% of 80% of 80% of 80%, you get only a 40.96% FTR percentage for the entire production process. Despite each ‘department’ thinking they are doing well, the result for the customer is much less positive. Less than half of the customers receive a product that meets expectations the first time.
What impact does First Time Right have on a process?
Integrating the First Time Right principle into the organization minimizes errors. This reduces the need for corrections, saving extra time and effort. This way, First Time Right can shorten production process lead times and lower costs—two positive outcomes that lead to higher customer satisfaction. Because every employee shares the responsibility for meeting customer expectations the first time, a culture of continuous improvement develops. The First Time Right principle positively impacts the production process in various ways.
How to improve your First Time Right score?
Learning from mistakes and identifying real customer needs help improve the First Time Right score. It is also important to identify where errors are made during handover moments that lower the FTR score. To increase the FTR percentage, you can follow these steps:
- Map the current production process and calculate its FTR percentage.
- Identify the ‘problem areas’ in the production process with a low FTR percentage.
- Create solutions that significantly reduce the need for corrections and implement these solutions in the production process to sustainably increase the FTR percentage.
- Maintain a sharp focus on quality and standard procedures. Implement regular quality checks in the process to detect and correct errors early. Also, introduce the use of clear checklists and forms to promote standardization and reduce the risk of errors.
Optimize your First Time Right score and production process with EZ-GO
With EZ-GO, you can improve the FTR score and the production process by implementing automated and standardized work methods. EZ-GO offers real-time data analysis, enabling faster recognition and correction of errors. EZ-GO enhances process efficiency by automating routine tasks and consolidating all data on one digital platform. Additionally, the built-in assessments and skills matrix help better train people, leading to fewer human errors, shorter lead times, and higher production quality, ultimately improving the FTR score. To further reduce the chance of errors, employees can report improvement ideas through the action module. Planning to set up a First Time Right KPI? Feel free to request a demo. We are happy to show you all the possibilities of EZ-GO!