- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Engineering
- Global Quality
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Process Management
- Product Development and Recall
- Project Management
- Quality Tools
- Six Sigma
- Software Quality
- Standards
- Supplier Quality
- Best Practices
- TL 9000
- Career Development
- Risk Management
- Software and Technology (for statistics, measurement, analysis)
- Customer Requirements
- Economic Case for Quality
Riding the Storm Out
Virtually everyone and every organization has been touched in some way by today’s turbulent economy. Smaller budgets, unexpected layoffs and workplace shake-ups have become commonplace....
In the Know
More and more organizations are choosing outsourcing as a necessary means of remaining competitive in the global economy. Quality professionals must consider building a body of knowledge completely dedicated to the subject of quality in outsourcing....
Living Inside China's Quality Revolution
Quality processes in China today continue to be influenced by remnants of ancient policies and practices. When Huawei Technologies, one of China’s largest telecommunications manufacturers, recently declared its intention to become the Toyota of the...
Using FMEA to Assess Outsourcing Risk
Although outsourcing is a growing trend among U.S. businesses, there are risks involved and not everyone benefits from such arrangements. The advantages of outsourcing must be weighed against risks and go beyond cost savings. Without a systematic...
Career Corner: The Making of a Knowledge Worker
Add value, become indispensable, be willing to be itinerant, and you will prosper.
This is the story of Dan Sawyer. Sawyer is an expert in the emerging areas of engineering and technology governance and the application of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to technology....
The Power of Process Orientation
Hidden barriers to the success of continuous improvement programs exist in most companies and often transcend tactics applied to produce cultural change. These cultural conditions are not always obvious, but their symptoms include organizational silos...
No Longer Lost in Translation
Language barriers and communication delays can disrupt a company's plans to survive and thrive in a global economy. The pursuit of quality also depends on bridging the communication gap. Without communication there can be no bridge from quality theory...
Rapid Knowledge Transfer: The Key to Success
Rapid knowledge transfer (RKT) involves the discovery, learning, creation, and reuse of knowledge that becomes intellectual capital that can be converted into value and profits. The concepts of RKT are applicable to quality management because its four...
Outsourcing and Jobs
Jim (name changed) had been looking for a quality director or manager position with a pharmaceutical company in the Northwest. We'd met at one of my Value Added Auditing workshops, where he'd been upgrading his risk management skills....
Costs of Trust for E-Business
With the spread of e-business, organizations face a two-fold dilemma: how to reassure customers they can safely share personal information, and how to minimize the risk the data might be falsified or subsequently compromised....
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...
Age of Agile Manufacturing Puts Quality to the Test
Ongoing and unpredictable change should be met by quick reactions to customer demands. There are profit opportunities for those who apply agile manufacturing to the customization of products and services. Technological support for these changes is...
Can Single Sourcing Work in R&D?
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Standards Battles Heat up between United States and European Union
Perceived inequities in the system of international standards have fueled debate between the European Union (EU) and the United States. The non-profit standards system includes the International Electrotechnical Commission, the International...
Digital Hammers and Electronic Nails - Tools of the Next Generation
In the knowledge age, quality professionals and their organizations must welcome the change that is driven by technological innovations. Successful organizations in this era will be customer focused, process controlled, quality engineered, results...
Trends and Key Forces Shaping the Future of Quality
The American Society for Quality Control Futures Team and Alternative Futures Associates identified nine key forces for the 1995-2010 era. Globilization may lead to demands for multicultural quality training and assistance for countries like China 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...
