Evolution of a Process Flow Diagram

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Evolution of a Process Flow Diagram

• Some examples for Production Agriculture

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Overview

• What is a Process Flow Diagram (PFD)?
• Why do you need a PFD? The ISO 90012000
  requirements.
• Varying degrees of PFD complexity It depends on
  what you do!
• Getting Started Define your business processes.
• Categorizing your business processes
• Management Responsibility
• Resource Management
• Product Realization
• Measure-Analyze-Improve.
• The ISO 9001 Process Model.
• How to build your own PFD.
• The evolution of your PFD. Some examples of PFD
  for production agriculture.

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• What is a PFD? Process flow diagrams are
  illustrations of key business processes and their
  interactions.

Planting
Crop Management
Harvest
out
in
out
in
The output of one process is often an input to
the next. You could also think of a PFD in terms
of material flow throughout the production line.

This simple PFD contains 3 general Processes
The interaction between the processes is the
sequence, or order, in which they occur.
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• Why do you need a PFD?

Reason 2 By creating a PFD for your operations
you must actively think about each of your
business processes individually, and as part of a
system. This is often referred to as process
evaluation
Reason 3 A PFD is also an organizational tool.
It may be used as a checklist to ensure that you
have all of the human and material resources your
need to produce your products.
Reason 4 A PFD is your road map to continual
improvement. With all of your business processes
and interactions in plan view you should be able
to see where measurement and analysis will most
likely lead to improvements in your system.
The Bottom Line Your PFD is a roadmap of your
business and QMS. It will help you to meet all of
the general requirements of ISO 90012000.
Reason 1 The ISO 90012000 standard requires
you to identify all of your business processes
and their interactions.

• ISO 90012000 Clause 4.1 - GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
• The organization shall establish, document,
  implement, and maintain a quality management
  system (QMS) and continually improve its
  effectiveness in accordance with the requirements
  of this International Standard. The organization
  shall
• a) identify the processes needed for the quality
  management system and their application
  throughout the organization (see 1.2)
• b) determine the sequence and interaction of
  these processes

• determine criteria and methods needed to ensure
  that both the operation and control of these
  processes are effective

d) ensure the availability of resources and
information necessary to support the operation
and monitoring of these processes
e) monitor, measure and analyze these processes
and f) implement actions necessary to achieve
planned results and continual improvement of
these processes.
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• PFDs for Production Agriculture We are going to
  build on the previous example by adding some
  pre-planting and post-harvest processes.

Planting
The complexity of the PFD depends on WHAT YOU
DO!!!
In this example the color coded arrows
distinguish product that is shipped Immediately
after harvest, OR click
Following a period of storage, OR click
Following packaging (and possibly storage), OR
click
Following processing (and possibly packaging
and/or storage)
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• Slow Down?!?! Dont worry, you are going to start
  with the basics Lets get rid of the fancy stuff
  for now

Storage and/or processing and/or packaging.
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• Thats better. This looks like a good starting
  point, but there are a few things missing

Storage and/or processing and/or packaging.
What about
Seed Purchases
Crop planning
Hiring seasonal staff
Financials
Equipment Maintenance
Just to name a few. You are very busy. Take
some time to make a list all of the things that
you do as part of your farming operations.
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• YOUR list may include some of the processes shown
  below. Your processes may then be grouped into
  categories

Product Realization
Management Responsibilities
Resource Management
Measurement and Analysis
customer communication
planting
pest control
product quality analysis
purchasing
Harvest and conveyance
fertilizer application
infrastructure
financials
crop planning
Processing and packaging
Equipment maintenance
storage and shipping
tillage
hiring seasonal staff
Staff training
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• Look Familiar? These categories are also
  illustrated in the ISO Process Model for a QMS.

• Management Responsibility
• Customer communication
• Crop planning

• Measurement and Analysis
• product quality analysis
• financials
• yield/profit maps

• Resource Management
• Purchases
• Equipment/infrastructure maintenance
• hiring staff/training

• Product Realization
• tillage
• planting
• apply fertilizer/pesticide
• harvest and conveyance
• process and package
• storage and shipping

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• Building your own PFD Our first example PFD
  included only Product Realization Processes. What
  do you do before your start farming?

Hmmm There may be another interaction between
these processes. You may set some of your
objectives based on your customer requirements
(e.g., delivery dates).
What category from the ISO Process Model of a QMS
do these processes belong to? Hint Who is
responsible for each step?

You need a plan!
But wait How do you decide what to produce? You
will need to gather this information before
planning your crop.
Good Now that you know what you are working
towards, you probably have some objectives in
mind with respect to your cropping season (e.g.,
yields, profits). Remember, ISO requires you to
establish and document measurable objectives.
Management Responsibility
Crop Planning
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You need to obtain RESOURCES in order to produce
your crop according to your plan, your customers
requirements, and your objectives. This requires
purchasing material resources
You will also have to manage for HUMAN RESOURCES,
which includes hiring and training
What Section of the ISO Process Model do these
processes belong to???
and taking care of the equipment/infrastructure
that you already have
Resource Management
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The next Section of the ISO Process Model is the
PFD that we started with earlier. What is this
section called???
Product Realization
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At the end of the growing season you should be
evaluating the
What Section of the ISO Process Model do these
processes belong to???
At the end of the growing season all of these
evaluations should be part of your MANAGEMENT
REVIEW. This will help you to plan and IMPROVE
your QMS for next year!
b) efficiency of your processes
a) quality of your products
c) effectiveness of your QMS.
MANAGEMENT REVIEW
Measurement, Analysis, and Improvement
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Put the whole model together
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KEY POINTS

• The PFD includes processes (boxes) and their
  interactions (arrows).
• Your PFD should be unique to your farm business
  Make sure you include what you do!
• The level of detail is also dependant on your
  needs
• It may be simpler that our 1st example (i.e., a
  linear chronological flow of processes

• Or a more complex web of process interactions
  and multiple products and services

• Or it may be fancy

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TIPS for Constructing Your Farms PFD

• Write down a list of what you do throughout the
  year
• Categorize the processes under the headings of
  Management Responsibilities, Resources,
  Production, and Measurement Analysis -
  Improvement.
• Evaluate your list. Did you leave anything out?
• Draft the PFD by putting the processes into order
  (on scrap paper).
• Look for process interactions (other than the
  chronological sequence that was done in the above
  step) and draw them in.
• Re-examine the examples in this slide show. Is
  there anything that you could borrow from them?
• Complete Exercise 3 in the Ag-ISO Workbook to
  generate an electronic version of your PFD.
• Accept what you have (for now). Your PFD will
  evolve and improve over time especially when you
  put it to work!