- Auditing
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Engineering
- Human Resources
- ISO 14000
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrics
- Problem Solving
- Process Management
- Project Management
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Function Deployment
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Six Sigma
- Small Business
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- Theory of Constraints
- Total Quality Management
- ISO/TS 16949
- Compliance
- Career Development
- Customer Requirements
- Change Management
Moving Right Along
Art is knowledge kept in the artist’s mind. Science is knowledge that is documented. The goal of any lean organization is to transfer art to science: tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge. Applying lean to aid in the process of control is vital....
Score One for Improvement
Five years ago, Intel’s IT organization decided to improve internal customer satisfaction and the efficiency of IT projects with a CMMI-based process improvement activity to develop standard processes for project management....
Standards Outlook: Effective Audit Programs
Today's organizations need to be agile and responsive to the changing requirements in private and public business sectors. Properly directed, internal audit program resources can help an organization stay focused and uncover improvement opportunities....
Expert Answers: November 2008
Workplace recognition ... Choosing the right chart.
In your particular case, your production run rate is 30 pieces per hour, so you have a variety of charts available to you, including attribute charts. PPAP provides flexibility in how much documentation must be submitted to the customer as evidence the PP...
Deployment: Start Off on the Right Foot
Deploying lean Six Sigma can produce fantastic results that are worth all the hard work of deployment. Managing change, securing leadership commitment, managing talent, and getting the right accountability will make the difference between a...
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...
Internal Customer Service: Has It Improved?
A recent survey of organizations conducted by the Metrus Group shows a dramatic improvement in internal customer service (ICS) since a similar survey conducted in 1993. Respondents to the survey believe that high levels of ICS are important to their...
Make Healthcare Lean
The principles of lean manufacturing are as applicable to healthcare as they are to the automobile industry. However, unlike manufacturing, healthcare management structures are not usually hierarchical, and hospitals generally are not-for-profit. Value...
Career Corner: Three R's for Quality Professionals
While talking with the president of a growing service company, I learned he had some painful connections to the concept of quality professionalism. The words he associated with those who had "quality" in their job titles were overwhelmingly negative....
Seven Steps To Measure Supplier Performance
Most organizations use some type of supplier performance measure, yet few are satisfied with their supplier assessment capabilities and results. Quality professionals are under increasing pressure to avoid supplier problems and retain high performers....
A Recipe For Excellence
The roots of the Bama Companies' 2004 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award go back to a Texas kitchen in 1927. Today the third-generation family owned business makes frozen baked goods for fast food and casual dining restaurants using the same...
Lean Glossary
A glossary defines terms commonly associated with lean...
Managing Project Quality
Quality professionals who normally deal with ongoing processes need to know how to manage project quality effectively. Quality initiation and quality closure stages, unique because of the temporary nature of such projects, are often neglected. Failure...
Quality From Scratch: A Model for Small Business
Whether a company is large or small, quality programs are vital to assure customer, stakeholder, and employee satisfaction. Many small businesses, however, may find limited resources and conflicting priorities make the quest for organizational...
Three C’s + Q = Success
When Bill Thomas left the corporate world to start his own company manufacturing khaki pants patterned after the original World War II U.S. Army issue pants, he found it difficult to find suppliers for the materials required to make the product...
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...
13 Steps to Certification in Less Than a Year
Ultratech Stepper (UTS), a manufacturer of photolithography equipment, became both ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14000 certified in less than a year at a cost under $200,000, using only two employees to manage the effort part-time. UTS's quality steering...
Effective Strategic Planning
Many business leaders have difficulty translating their strategic planning strategies into business results. One reason is that carefully devised strategies are often poorly deployed and implemented. To successfully launch a business strategy, an...
10 Process Improvement Lessons for Leaders
Many of the process improvement programs launched by companies with great enthusiasm fail to live up to expectations because leaders fail to understand the dynamics that influence the success of the program. While not intended to replace an existing...
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...
How To Evaluate the Internal Customer-Supplier Relationship
Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I J U L Y 2 0 0 1 I 63 How To Evaluate the Internal Customer- Supplier Relationship Moving away from a command structure toward the use of quality principles by Peter Bialowas and Edith Tabaszewska S U P P L Y C H A I N M A ...
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...
Fire in the Hole
Quality professionals must be able to measure progress by creating a baseline to determine the effectiveness of their programs. The Japanese process known as kaizen refers to continuous improvement of quality to internal customers, which reduces costs....
A European Application Of the Business Excellence Index
Critical success factors begin with leadership
The excellence seeker's approach applies a variable assignment algorithm that maximizes improvements to key areas of the organization to further improve business excellence. The BEM, shown in Figure 1, shows causal relationships among the total quality ma...
NISO: A Standard That Parallels, Complements and Exceeds ISO 9001:2000
I have since come to realize that the acronym NISO could have a variety of other meanings: Next ISO, New ISO, Never ISO, Nice ISO or a multitude of other creative options. 3. To satisfy its customers an organization must provide product(s) that will satis...
It's All About Improving Performance
Teams should be aware of their problem solving and decision making methods. This meta-problem solving and meta-decision making information can improve team performance of its four basic activities: define the problem; collect data to verify root...
Total Quality Requires Serious Training
Simultaneous training of line workers and their direct supervisors is a key to successful implementation of total quality (TQ). A three-module training system is suggested. Module A covers a variety of topics that must be well integrated: an...
University, Inc.
Institutions of higher education can increase their competitiveness and product value by applying synchronization, zero-defect, and quality control techniques. Supporting such techniques is a systems view in which student education, courses, and...
Applying QFD to Internal Service System Design
Listening to the voice of the internal customer leads to the meeting of customer needs. A QFD (quality function deployment) project at the RRC (Research Resources Center) of the Tennessee Technological University College of Business Administration...
Measuring People and Performance: Closing the Gaps
Quality Progress and Metrus Group surveyed a sample of ASQ members about people metrics and management at their companies. Findings from more than 800 respondents indicate that even though people measures are used in many companies, only about 30% of...
How to Fine-Tune Your Business Processes
Two tools for eliminating waste and managing handoffs between internal providers and customers are service-level agreements (SLAs) and internal service guarantees (ISGs). SLAs cover the delivery of support resources or services. The provider and...
Benchmarking Your Plant Against TQM Best-practice Plants: Part 3 of 4
The Tennant Co. plant is the third of four world-class operations described in a series of articles on quality practices. The total quality management structure at Tennant includes a quality manager, a senior vice president of industrial markets, and...
Benchmarking Your Plant Against TQM Best-Practices Plants: Part 1 of 4
technically trained but management oriented 7. Clear quality responsibilities for managers of all areas 8. Champions named to lead quality processes 9. Do a good job benchmarking competition Engineering- based practices 10. Practice concurrent engineerin...
Developing a TQM Implementation Model
A 3-D model of quality improvement with individual, team, and organizational dimensions was implemented at a manufacturing firm. The model for this TQM (total quality management) program was built on assumptions that covered: continuous change in all...
Make Customer Service Analyses a Little Easier With the PGCV Index
The index of potential gain in customer value (PGCV) is an enhancement of importance/performance (IP) analysis. It is especially useful in the public sector. As in other IP methods, data for PGCV are customer ratings of the importance and performance...
Cause-And-Effect Diagrams Alone Don't Tell the Whole Story
Feedback loops increase the power of cause-and-effect diagrams. The usual cause-and-effect diagram is a linear display of an effect and its possible causes. The enhanced version incorporates balancing and reinforcing feedback loops. Balancing loops...
Becoming Partners with Internal Customers
Continuous surveys of local telephone company (telco) supply-order managers give GTE Supply the data it needs for quality improvements. Telco managers are internal customers at almost 200 warehouse locations, and the surveys have become the best way...
Are Students the True Customers of Higher Education?
Whether students are customers depends on their roles. Clarifying these roles will help institutions of higher education improve customer focus and the implementation of total quality management. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award education...
Putting Fear to Flight
Performance management is the application of behavior principles to the needs of individual organizational cultures. At the Wongpaitoon Footwear Company (WFC) in Bangkok, Thailand, performance management has excised fear and helped employees improve...
ISO 9000 Preparation: The First Crucial Steps
When selecting the appropriate standard, consider the following factors: � Design process complexity � Design maturity � Production process complexity � Product or service characteristics � Product or service safety � Economics � Customer requirements Mo...
Leading the Duck at Mission Control
At Wainwright Industries, quality comes from the heart and the head. Symbolic of the emotion that drives the company is its stuffed duck mascot. It represents passion, teamwork, and market anticipation. Factual information is in Mission Control. On...
UNC Charlotte Measures the Effects of Its Quality Initiative
Assessment of TQM (total quality management) programs is the way to understand why programs succeed or fail. At the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, TQM implementation began in 1992, with a CQI (continuous quality improvement) focus on...
What Went Wrong in U. S. Business's Attempt to Rescue Its Competitiveness?
Appropriate application of TQM (total quality management) and realistic expectations of its effects can prevent implementation failures. Definitions of TQM from the U. S. General Accounting Office and Department of Defense emphasize: employee...
TQM in the R&D Function
Another helpful device is personality profiles, which assist Figure 1. Examples of Customer- Supplier Chains Supplier Input Process ( owner) Output Customer University research New Develop new technology New proven technology Product development departme...
Making Performance Appraisals Consistent with a Quality Environment
Employee evaluations can reinforce quality principles. Old performance appraisal methods did generate fear and ignore teamwork, but today's methods can be fair and valuable. The appraisal process for city government managers in Milwaukee has evolved...
Quality Management Benchmark Assessment
A series of task-oriented checklists with 253 requirements enable a firm to compare itself and its suppliers to the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria and to the Q9000 standards of ANSI/ASQC (American National Standards Institute /...
How to Develop a Meaningful Employee Recognition Program
Acknowledgment of employees reveals a company's principles and values. Employee recognition also is an incentive for quality and productivity improvements. However, a recognition program should not be a tool for behavior manipulation. A successful...
Using QFD Becomes an Educational Experience for Students and Faculty
Correlating customer requirements with system design elements leads to quality improvement. A key tool in this process is quality function deployment (QFD). At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Mechanical Engineering Department used QFD to...
1994 Baldrige Award Recipients Share Their Expertise
36 Quality Progress/ February 1995 How these accomplishments were achieved was briefly addressed during the ceremony by the award- winning companies' leaders: Joseph P. Nacchio, president of AT& T CCS; Earl A. Goode, president of GTE Directories Corp.; a...
