- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Environmental Manag. and Sustainability
- Global Quality
- Innovation
- ISO 14000
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Metrics
- Problem Solving
- Process Management
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Six Sigma
- Standards
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Customer Requirements
- Economic Case for Quality
- Change Management
Spring Into Action
Last year, I was presented the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. It was a great honor for all of us at General Systems Co.—and for all of us in the quality profession—to be recognized for our efforts related to total quality and innovation....
Driven by Metrics
Performance metrics are a necessary part of managing an organization. However, they have good and bad impacts on individual behavior, so organizations need to find ways to maximize the good while minimizing the potential damage....
Raising the Bar
Now more than ever, companies must measure and manage their quality costs to compete at a high level in today’s global marketplace....
Career Corner: Full-Time Quality Manager or Part-Time Quality Consultant?
As companies become leaner and the workforce becomes older, it seems the use of highly qualified quality assurance consultants would be an attractive alternative to hiring full-time regular quality managers....
Caring Culture and Results Focus Lead to Baldrige Award
For many years Mississippi ranked near the bottom of health status rankings, but now the North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC), the largest rural medical center in the country, is the recipient of the 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in...
Standards Outlook: Developing the Voluntary Healthcare Standard
The new Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) voluntary standard for healthcare delivery is in its second review, with an anticipated launch no later than early 2008. AIAG also is pursuing partners for the publication from the healthcare sector....
Measuring the Cost of Quality for Management
Over the years, few organizations have adopted a reliable method for measuring and reporting cost of quality (COQ) and used it to improve operations. Since the avoidance of reduced profits from quality initiatives is seldom measured or reported by...
Engaging Physicians in Lean Six Sigma
Healthcare is one of the most difficult industries in which to install a quality system because of the confusing role of physicians, yet few process changes can be fully optimized without engaging physicians. One reason physicians resist change is that...
Healthcare Agreement Revision Nears Release
The first revision of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) International Workshop Agreement (IWA 1) should be released this month if all goes according to plan....
Meeting Patient Expectations
Nearly 100,000 patients die every year in U.S. hospitals due to medical errors, confronting both clinicians and professional healthcare managers with some challenging realities and questions. Could medical error be caused by operational disconnects...
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...
Capturing Financial Benefits From Six Sigma
As the team moves from the define to the control stage of the DMAIC methodology, the accounting and finance SME plays an influential role, as shown in Table 1. 40 I Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I M A Y 2 0 0 1 C A P T U R I N G F I N A N C I A L B E N E...
The Problems with Managing by Objectives and Results
Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I M A R C H 2 0 0 1 I 39 The Problems With Managing By Objectives and Results What your employees may not be telling you by Joseph F. Castellano and Harper A. Roehm Q U A L I T Y M A N A G E M E N T HILE MOST PEOPLE WOULD ag...
Resolving The Process Paradox: A strategy for launching meaningful process improvement
The strategy is comprised of four phases ( see Figure 1). Phase 1, data collection, collects the information and data needed for 52 I Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I M A R C H 2 0 0 1 R E S O LV I N G T H E P R O C E S S PA R A D O X Process Portfolio Ma...
Exploiting the World's Most Recognized Standard
Exploiting the Benefit of the World's Most Recognized and Best Practiced Standard1 are provided throughout this article to demonstrate how effective these colors can be to simplify, increase the effectiveness of and harmonize systems and reports in the f...
Too Many Types of Quality Problems
Categorizing problem types can help practitioners in the quality field to focus their attention on relevant past experiences and problem solving techniques. This approach requires the definition of appropriate problem categories and communicating them...
ISO 14000 and the Bottom Line
A proactive environmental policy linked to ISO 14000 must be based on strategic planning and implementation. Key elements are commitment to prevention and to continual improvement as well as an assurance of compliance with regulations and laws....
Profiting from Quality in the Service Arena
Analyzing the cost impact of internal and external failures is an excellent foundation for cost-of-quality measurement in the service sector. Costs have a different profile in services than in manufacturing, most noticeably in total labor costs, which...
Making the Pitch in the Executive Suite
Quality practitioners at six Baldrige Award winning companies have advice on helping senior executives buy into quality initiatives. At Texas Nameplate Company, Dale Crownover suggests documentation on monetary losses in areas like absenteeism,...
What Does Your Customer Really Want?
The voice of the customer can be linked to a company's internal quality improvement efforts by paying attention to customer loyalty and value, which are driven by quality, price, and company image. The five steps to management of customer loyalty and...
Quality and Its Environment in 2010
Four scenarios of the year 2010 have been developed by the American Society for Quality Control Futures Team. First, the global reality scenario is one of worldwide wealth and technological revolution. The information society of 2010 is surrounded by...
