- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Engineering
- Human Resources
- Baldrige National Quality Program
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrics
- Process Capability
- Basic Quality
- Process Management
- Quality Control
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Six Sigma
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Teams
- Information Management
- Change Management
Danger Zones
I’ve often been asked to identify the toughest questions in the Baldrige criteria. Which questions make or break an assessment? What answers does an examiner seek that aren’t explicitly asked for in the criteria? What questions are the hidden jewels?...
Progress Report
Six Sigma has been a hot topic discussed and implemented globally in the business world, nonprofit organizations and even governments. There is comparatively less research, however, into how to assess the maturity of Six Sigma implementation....
Quality Glossary
Five years after it published its first glossary of quality terms, ASQ has revised that glossary with updated definitions and new entries, many from the lean glossary published in 2005. This reference of terms, acronyms, and prominent figures in the...
100 Years of Juran
An interview with Joseph M. Juran reveals an inspirational story of his struggle to overcome the challenges of emigration, childhood poverty, and the Great Depression to become one of quality’s leading gurus....
Six Sigma in Metaphor: Heresy or Holy Writ?
We begin by assuming everyone knows what Six Sigma is. Even in this forum of quality professionals, we know this to be untenable, although it seems likely this is not the first time readers have heard the term...
ISO 9000 Makes Integrated Systems User Friendly
Organizations need management systems that are based on processes or activities that help personnel understand what is essential to achieving continual improvement on a consistent basis....
Lean and Six Sigma – Synergy Made in Heaven
The combination of Six Sigma and lean enterprise work can enhance the production experience. Workers have the empowerment and skill to recognize a problem and, if it cannot be resolved, shut down the line to eliminate the root cause. Six Sigma and lean...
An Integrated Approach System
What’s the best quality system? How would you answer this question? How would your colleagues?...
Baldrige: It’s Easy, Free and It Works
While many people consider the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria to be difficult, a harder task is learning how to manage opportunities for improvements instead of managing known strengths. While Baldrige may not have the answers, it...
Systems Thinking – An Uncommon Answer
Some of the common problems to be found in many business failures include too much focus on short-term gains, too much focus on quarterly profit statements, and a prevalence of long-term losses. One possible solution to these problems is systems...
Complexity Theory Simplifies Choices
Many business management and improvement methodologies provide finite structures for achieving success. Examples include the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award; the ISO 9001 standard; W. Edward Deming, who provided 14 points; and Six Sigma....
Quality Management Multiple Choice: What’s the best quality system?
Monitoring and recording the extent of transition experienced within a designated area assure Procedure ( general) Priority Reviewed Completed Record control Document control Internal audits Management review Corrective action Preventive action Monitorin...
QOS – A Simple Method for Big or Small
Although there are many quality initiatives in the marketplace, many of them involve a degree of hype. Ford Motor Company’s quality operating system (QOS) is recommended as one offering the most value for the money. A QOS assessment looks at...
Create a Lean, Mean Machine
"Lean" has been defined as a systematic approach to identifying and eliminating waste through continuous improvement. Lean focuses on value added flow of resources from the customer’s point of view. To compete in today’s economy a company must...
Column: Emerging Sectors: ASQ's Role in Healthcare
In 1992, ASQ's Healthcare Division was formed to encourage research, innovation and the formation of learning partnerships to advance knowledge of healthcare quality....
Quality Glossary
A handy reference is provided of quality terms, acronyms, and key people in the history of quality. Information is derived from a variety of sources and compiled by the editorial staff of the American Society for...
Developing a New Kind of Certification
One of ASQ's newest certification exams, the certified quality improvement associate (CQIA), is a unique example of process management and response to customer needs. While most certifications are geared toward quality practitioners, CQIA...
Frontiers of Quality: Can It Be This Easy?
You can alter drawing practices to achieve Six Sigma, but only if you understand all the implications
In a fictitious scenario, the author weighs the virtues of altering drawing specifications against making breakthrough improvements when attempting to achieve a capability index of 2.0...
Implementation Can Benefit from Quality Experience
Knowledge management is beginning to be recognized as a quality tool that will change the standards of competition. Knowledge management decreases waste and rework by focusing on shared solutions, ideas, and best practices. The concept of knowledge...
President's Quality Program Honors Government Organizations
The President's Quality Award Program recognizes federal organizations for their accomplishments in continuous improvement via quality management principles and practices. The award was created in 1989 and is administered by the Office of Personnel...
Abatement of Business Risk Is Key to Six Sigma
A closer link to executive thinking
From this perspective, Six Sigma has the capacity and capability to deliver concurrently customer and provider satisfaction, the key ingredients of business success. The third vehicle for delivering breakthrough, managing for Six Sigma (MFSS), is the unde...
Questions Lead, Answers Follow
Six Sigma performance metrics help point the way
In the language of Six Sigma, these questions are shown in Figure 1. As a business leader, I can guide my organization to answer each of the 384 possible questions represented by the chart. In summary, it can be said that Six Sigma is a quest for the qual...
Six Sigma: A Breakthrough Strategy for Profitability
Statistical tools and interventions can lead to major cost reductions and quality improvements. The six sigma strategy is a key to such breakthrough improvements. It involves measuring the capability of processes to produce services or products that...
The Criteria: A Looking Glass to Americans' Understanding of Quality
Process Management is Category 6 in the 1997 criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA). As the sixth of seven installments on the Baldrige criteria, this article notes that the MBNQA is driven by values for which the criteria are...
The Criteria: A Looking Glass to Americans' Understanding of Quality
Information and Analysis is Category 4 in the 1997 criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. As the fourth of seven installments on the Baldrige criteria, this article describes the linking role of information and analysis. This...
Can Benchmarking for Best Practices Work for Government?
Best practices imported from other organizations allow public sector agencies to improve service delivery. Benchmarking in the private sector goes back to Henry Ford and the Japanese dantotsu concept. Among the purposes of benchmarking for government...
Xerox 2000: From Survival to Opportunity
At Xerox, a new Management Model and a Managing for Results process are helping to transform its Leadership Through Quality program into the Xerox 2000 Leadership Through Quality program. The updated initiative integrates the organization's many...
