Five Keys to Increase ROI for DOE On-Site Training

A recent discussion with a client led to these questions—“How do we keep design of experiments (DOE) training “alive” so that long-term benefits can be seen? How do we ensure our employees will apply their new-found skills to positively impact the business?” In my 20+ years as a DOE consultant and trainer, I have seen many companies who invested in on-site training, only to have it die a quick death mere days after the instructor leaves. On the other hand, we have long-term relationships with clients who have fully integrated design of experiments into the very culture of their research and development, and wouldn’t consider doing it any other way. What are the keys that lead the latter to success?

Key #1: Top-Down Management Support
Management must focus on long-term results versus short-term fixes. Design of experiments is a key tool to gain a fundamental understanding of processes. When combined with basic scientific and engineering knowledge, it helps technical professionals discover the critical interactions that drive the process. It’s not free, experimentation costs time and money. But forward-thinking companies understand that the long-term gains are worth the short-term expense. Management needs to buy-in to the use of DOE as a strategic initiative for future success.

Key #2: Data-Driven Decisions
Long-term success is achieved when management insists on using data to make decisions. My first engineering role was in a company that told us “All decisions are made based on data.” Engineers were expected to collect data and bring it to the table. DOE was one of the preferred methods to collect and analyze data to make those decisions. Key #2 is ingraining the expectation into the business that data-driven results will benefit the company longer than gut-feel decisions.

Key #3: Peer-to-Peer Learning
People like to learn from each other. Training can be sustained by learning from DOE’s done by peers. One way to support this is to plan monthly “lunch and learn” sessions. Everyone brings their own lunch (or order pizza!) and have 2-3 people do informal presentations of either an experiment recently completed, or their proposed plan for a future experiment. If the experiment is completed, review the data analysis, lessons learned, and future plans. If it is a proposed DOE plan, discuss potential barriers and roadblocks, and then brainstorm options for solving them. The entire session should be run in an open and educational atmosphere, with the focus on learning from each other. This key demonstrates the practical application of DOE and inherently encourages others to try it.

Key #4: Practice, Practice, Practice
Company management should plan that the output of on-site training is a specific project to apply DOE. Teams should plan an experiment that can be run as soon as possible to reinforce the concepts learned. As DOE’s are completed, the data can be shared with classmates simply to provide everyone with some practice datasets. The mantra “use it or lose it” is very true with data analysis skills and setting aside some time to get together and review company data will go a long way towards reinforcing the skills recently learned. Schedule a follow-up webinar with the instructor if more guidance is needed.

Key #5: Local Champions
There are always a couple of people who gravitate naturally towards data analysis. These people just seem to “get it”. Invest in those people by providing them with additional training so that they can become in-house mentors for others. This builds their professional reputation and creates a positive, driving force within the company for sustainability.

Summary
The investment in on-site training should include a company plan to sustain the education long-term. Good management support is an essential start, establishing expectations on using design of experiments and other statistical tools. Employees should then be connected with champions, followed by opportunities to apply DOE’s and share practical learning experiences with their peers.