- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Design of Experiments
- Engineering
- Environmental Manag. and Sustainability
- Global Quality
- Human Resources
- Innovation
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrics
- Problem Solving
- Process Capability
- Process Management
- Product Development and Recall
- Project Management
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Function Deployment
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Reliability
- Safety
- Six Sigma
- Social Responsibility
- Software Quality
- Standards
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- Best Practices
- Theory of Constraints
- Total Quality Management
- Compliance
- Certification/Registration (management system Standards)
- Risk Management
- Information Management
- Customer Requirements
One Good Idea: Get Specific
Quality control or quality assurance personnel will typically be responsible for determining whether a lot of product conforms to specifications. Answering a few key questions is the first step toward the elimination of nonvalue-added product testing....
Newer Better Faster
The Small Business Administration has indicated that the majority of innovations are consistent with the continuous improvement commonly used in the define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) Six Sigma method....
Starting From Scratch
Graduate students studying quality developed the Quality Systems Development Roadmap to help organizations do this, using application templates from the Lean Six Sigma Quality Transformation Toolkit. However, new companies, organizations without an enterp...
Expert Answers: August 2008
Flushing out flatness ... Corrective vs. preventive actions....
Quality Tools, Teamwork Lead Boeing Team to a System Redesign
A team from Boeing, as well as members of the Air Force and suppliers, worked to fix the C-17's inert gas generating system that previously needed constant repairs. Using quality tools, the team identified cause and came up with the best solution for...
Achieve Compliance Through CI
Using Six Sigma tools for continuous improvement (CI) is a proven method for meeting or exceeding FDA requirements for medical devices. Optical Integrity Inc., a manufacturer of medical devices, used the Six Sigma define, measure, analyze, improve...
DFX and DFSS: How QFD Integrates Them
The differences in concept and application between design for excellence (DFX) and design for Six Sigma (DFSS) are discussed, and it is shown how they can be effectively integrated by using quality function deployment. Quality must be built into a...
Quality in the First Person: Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due
Shortly after retiring from the business world, I had the opportunity to spend several semesters as an adjunct instructor in the school of business at a small, local private college....
QFD's Evolution in Japan and the West
Although the theory of quality originated in the United States, early industrial applications predominantly took place in Japan. Yoji Akao conceived quality function deployment (QFD), a concept that is a vital management tool for new product...
One Good Idea: Under One Roof
Quality function deployment (QFD) is a great tool for designing a business based on the voice of the customer. Many quality tools are multifaceted....
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...
Hospital Reduces Medication Errors Using DMAIC and QFD
The medication error rate at Illinois' Alton Memorial Hospital was low when compared to national statistics, but the hospital knew cost savings would be significant if this statistic was lowered even further. A multidisciplinary team sought the help of...
You Can Go Home Again
Jamie Houghton's love for Corning brought him out of retirement and back to the company when it was fighting for survival, due to the decline of the telecommunications industry and decreased demand for Corning's fiber optics. When Houghton returned to...
One Size Does Not Fit All
It has been said that academia has lagged behind practice in the development of quality management methods and philosophies, yet academia has done a good job of propagating these concepts. Now academic research has developed two new concepts that will...
One Good Idea: PDCA at the Management Level
The plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle can organize your quality management system's (QMS's) management review process and help you focus on specific organizational needs....
TRIZ: A Creative Breeze for Quality Professionals
TRIZ, a systematic approach to creative thinking originating in Russia, can help quality professionals develop new approaches and solutions to quality problems. Its creator, Genrich Altshuller, wanted a systematic approach based on the rules of...
The House That Fraud Built
The downfall of several seemingly strong companies has recently occurred after the discovery of extensive and long-running management fraud. While the fraud may not have been readily apparent, certain key indicators act as early warning signs that can...
QFD in a Managed Care Organization
The application of quality function deployment (QFD) in the healthcare industry has been limited because the healthcare product is intangible and ill defined. Recently, however, a managed care organization used QFD to redesign its member handbook. QFD's...
Does Six Sigma Work in Service Industries?
Service and manufacturing organizations have much to learn from one another when it comes to serving customers. While in manufacturing the focus on product quality distracts employees from customer service quality requirements, in the service sector the...
What Do Online Customers Value?
Burgeoning e-commerce sales point to the pivotal role of the Internet as an effective marketing tool. An online survey was used to determine which website design features have the strongest consumer appeal. One section of the survey gathered background...
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...
Back to the Future at Ford
The U.S. automotive industry, and U.S. industry in general, have seen significant change over the past thirty years, and the results haven’t always been positive. While specific details differ, Ford Motor Company's experience with the major system...
Are Your Hearing Voices?
For a company to succeed in today's marketplace, it must listen to the voice of the customer (VOC) so it can provide the products and services that inspire an enthusiastic customer response. One effective way to collect VOC input is through a customer...
How Useful Is QFD?
The author describes his experience mentoring high school students participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition, a multinational event that teams professionals and students to solve engineering problems. After a successful performance in the 2003...
Your Gateway to Quality Knowledge
For the past decade, the Quality Information Center (QIC) at ASQ’s Milwaukee headquarters has collected and compiled material from quality professionals in academics, manufacturing and service to create a definitive quality body of knowledge....
The Triple Top Line
Quality and sustainability are intertwined and provide win/win/win solutions for both the short-term and long-term effects of design on social responsibility, environmental performance and business results. These elements comprise a triple bottom line....
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...
Match the Change Vehicle and Method to the Job
Processes are at the core of continuous improvement, and improvement happens when a process is changed in one way or another....
Translate Know-What Into Know-How
Organizational change is a much more difficult challenge than we've been led to believe....
Move From Product to Customer Centric
Can a 50-year-old manufacturer of industrial products become a customer centric organization? How can a traditionally product centric company learn to listen systematically to its customers?...
Applying an Excellence Model to Schools
Students, parents and society are demanding much more of schools as education becomes more and more important for national economic competitiveness, growth and even survival....
Column: Standards Outlook: Characteristic Management
Executives sometimes wonder why their organizations still have quality problems, despite their best efforts to eliminate them. There are many possible causes and you've probably heard of some of them, such as lack of resources and lack of leadership or...
QFD Explicado
Utilice este proceso para asegurar calidad a través del proceso del desarrollo de producto
El despliegue de la función de la calidad (QFD) es un método estructurado para traducir requisitos del cliente en los requisitos técnicos apropiados para cada etapa del desarrollo de producto y de producción....
Column: Back to Basics: QFD Explained
Quality function deployment (QFD), often referred to as listening to the voice of the customer, is a structured method for translating customer requirements into appropriate technical requirements for each stage of product development and production....
Hungary's Journey To Business Excellence
Hungary has emerged as a major European success story, its economy thriving despite the recent worldwide recession. Four Hungarian companies illustrate how quality has led to business success. Using total quality management techniques tailored to fit...
Column: Frontiers of Quality: Gathering Customer Feedback
Most people have heard the cliché, "If you are going to talk the talk, you need to walk the walk." As such, the Six Sigma community has claimed a linkage with customer values, but are we really aligned?...
Your Resume: Not Just a Job Hunting Tool
Your resume need not remain buried in your computer between job changes. By applying the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle, your resume can provide greater control over your current career and better prepare for future growth. PDCA requires regular...
College and University Programs in Quality
A list is provided of more than 100 colleges and universities offering courses, programs, and degrees in quality related fields. The list is both alphabetical and geographical and indicates the type of institution and certificates or degrees offered....
Should You Transition to ISO 9001:2000?
With the deadline little more than a year away, indications are that fewer than 20 percent of organizations whose business and quality objectives include compliance to the ISO 9000 standards have made the transition. Six ISO 9000 experts present their...
Annual Quality Awards Listing
Quality Progress' Quality Awards Listing is a guide to automotive, government, international, national, regional, and state quality related awards and awards programs. Awards listed must be quality related, eligibility cannot be limited to members...
Check Out This Baldrige Winner
In 1993 Clarke American, a manufacturer of bank checks, faced a major business crisis due to industry consolidations and competition from direct mail suppliers. It was a defining moment for Clarke's new president and CEO, and a catalyst for the...
Strive to Win the Game
Many companies successfully certified in quality standards are having difficulty getting the most from their new product development (NPD) process. Automotive companies, in particular, are struggling to improve their bottom-line results. College sports...
Education and the Future of Quality
As education goes, so goes quality, since the leadership derived from the educational process provides direction for the future. How ASQ can use student branches and other key resources more effectively to improve quality and education systems for the...
Column: Frontiers of Quality: Design for Six Sigma
You need more than standard Six Sigma approaches to optimize your product or service development
Many organizations believe design for Six Sigma (DFSS) is a design process when really it is not. DFSS is an enhancement to an existing new product development (NPD) process that provides more...
Organize Your Quality Tool Belt
Quality professionals adopt and adapt techniques from other fields to satisfy the need to apply their skills to a wide variety of processes and situations. To someone new to the profession, this array of tools may seem overwhelming, but upon closer...
Customers: A Love/Hate Relationship?
Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I J U L Y 2 0 0 2 I 37 12 Ways To Determine What Customers Want Insofar as is feasible for you and tolerable for the customer: 1 Probe for the reasons specific parameters and product or service characteristics are important ...
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...
Column: World View: Samsung Uses Quality To Grow
Korean giant draws on just about everything in the toolbox to reach its goals
The Samsung Quality Award was established in 1993 to recognize business divisions by using criteria developed from the Baldrige Award, ISO 9000 quality management standards and the company's own business operation standards. Nearly 70% of Samsung's qualit...
ASQ's Black Belt Certification - A Personal Experience
Together with the growing interest in and use of Six Sigma techniques comes the need to assess the qualifications of those seeking quality leadership roles in organizations. The ASQ certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB) exam is a practical and cost...
How To Compare Six Sigma, Lean and the Theory of Constraints
Many process improvement methodologies appear to conflict with each other, making it difficult to decide which best fits an organization's needs and culture. Three improvement methodologies - Six Sigma, Lean thinking, and Theory of constraints - are...
Column: World View: Quality Movement Continues Growth in Brazil
Future expansion expected in small organizations and nonindustrial sector
Since the 1980s, Brazil has gone through profound social, economic and political change. To meet product and service quality demands and to compete globally, both private and public sector Brazilian companies had to make quality a top priority. ISO 9000...
Column: Career Corner: Learn Lean; Your career may depend on it
Greg Hutchins interviews Norman Bodek, who brought the concept of Lean Manufacturing (or Just In Time) from Japan to the United States....
Column: Frontiers of Quality: Statistical Tools for Six Sigma
What to emphasize and de-emphasize in training
These tools and closely related concepts, such as the design of experiments, are key elements of Six Sigma training and comprise up to half of the standard curriculum. The goal of standard Six Sigma statistical training is to give Green Belts and Black Be...
Annual Quality Awards Listing
Annual Quality Awards Listing compiled by Corinne N. Johnson, Editorial Assistant he annual Quality Awards Listing is Quality Progress' resource guide to automotive, government, international, national, regional and state quality related awards and award...
Lessons Learned
Despite the difficulty of transferring technology and methodology from one culture to another, a team from Raytheon has successfully conducted Six Sigma based tactical transformation workshops for Raytheon Business units, their customers, and suppliers...
Saving the Internet Survivors
In the relentless battle for market share, profitability, and survival in today's fiercely competitive e-business environment, the winners will be those with a deep understanding of customer relationship management (CRM) and those with a commitment to...
Using QFD to Construct a Higher Education Curriculum
This article shows how RainStar used QFD techniques to construct an MS in AOM curriculum that would meet the requirements of the specialty programmatic accrediting body for acupuncture and oriental medicine, the Accrediting Commission for Using QFD To Co...
Quality Movement Helps Brazil's Economy
Key was establishment of a foundation
Examples of these books are Gerenciamento da Rotina do Trabalho do Dia a Dia 4 (Daily Work Routine Management) and Gerenciamento Pelas Diretrizes 5 (Managing by Policy). There must be a management system We have learned not to accept pulverized ideas. Aft...
Quality Professionals Around the World Share Similar Concerns, Experiences
The International Chapter of ASQ has grown from about 25 members in 1956 to more than 5,000 members in about 90 countries by 2000. Quality professionals worldwide want to hold on to a core set of principles, and similar challenges face the quality...
Quality by Knowledge
The other "60%" was devoted to knowledge management projects, such as mapping internal experts, sharing knowledge within virtual teams and supporting reuse of knowledge. Our first hint came in January 1999 when we read an excellent article on quality and ...
ASQ Honors Six Who Make a Difference
Six individuals were recognized by the Awards Board of the American Society for Quality for their exceptional achievement in creating, promoting, and communicating quality information and technology. James M. Lucas, principal of J.M. Lucas and...
Quality Awards Listing
The list includes national, international, state and regional quality awards and award programs and industry-specific quality awards programs. The listed awards are related to the practice of quality, do not limit eligibility to members of the...
Integrating ISO 9001:2000 and the Baldrige Criteria
No single quality system, criterion, or philosophy will provide the solution to an organization's quality problems. A sound quality program can be implemented by an organization using ISO 9001:2000, the Baldrige Award and its criteria, and total...
Optimization Impossible?
A basic element in the implementation of a quality function deployment (QFD) project is combining customers' preferences to create an optimum product design. George A. Hazelrigg has questioned the validity of this approach, however, illustrating that...
Different Roads to Auto Quality: The Experts Speak Out
Product quality has become increasingly important in the automotive industry, but the definition of the term and the best ways to achieve product quality remain subjects of debate. Quality has been defined in a number of ways in the rapidly changing...
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...
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...
Explosion of New Products Creates Challenges
New product development in the Innovation Age needs new quality tools and techniques to meet customer expectations and fast-paced change. Rapid innovation is evident in the explosive growth of patent applications, led by companies like Eastman Kodak,...
Aftermath of Battle
The removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO) is a critical problem deserving of quality assurance. UXO causes some 20,000 civilian casualties annually, while UXO sites in the United States are found on over 11 millions acres. However, there is no one...
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...
Sales Process Engineering: An Emerging Quality Application
Systematic exploration of events that precede and follow a sale can generate opportunities for improvement. This process orientation toward sales is the key to sales process engineering. For example, a business-to-business sales process can include...
The Emancipation of Quality: Building Bridges and Closing Gaps
The recent name change of the American Society for Quality (ASQ) is indicative of the future of the quality profession. Quality goes beyond quality control in manufacturing. It extends to all organizations and to all work. Quality is not only for...
Six Sigma and the Future of the Quality Profession
A lean quality organization that performs supporting roles is a trend in the quality profession. It already has appeared in businesses like General Electric and the now defunct Scott Paper Company. The supporting roles are management of the quality...
Lawyers Find a Partner in Quality
The quality-in-law project initiated by Samuel Welch seeks to identify the needs of legal services clients and to use these data to redesign law school programs. One phase of the project analyzed surveys from 151 clients of nine lawyers and small...
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...
The Impact of Contracting on Quality Transformation in R&D
Outsourcing has an impact on the implementation of quality. R&D (research and development) managers often contract out some work, creating a dual work force. Studies being done in the Transformations to Quality Organizations project suggest that...
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...
The Control Chart Dilemma
Group target X bar and group range charts are control charts appropriate for statistical process control (SPC) in today's complex manufacturing environment. These charts overcome three shortcomings of traditional SPC methods. These limitations are:...
Product Assurance Structure and Management
The main components of product assurance are: cost-of-quality management; just-in-time training; product assurance planning; and quality and reliability tool application. Product assurance applies simultaneously to hardware and software aspects of...
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...
A New Way to Listen to the Customer
The Internet is a source of customer feedback, especially in the conversations in Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists. World Wide Web pages might also be useful, as when individuals use their pages to describe sport and hobby interests. To find...
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...
What Should Higher Education Be Teaching About Quality?
These results correspond closely with the three generally accepted core values of TQM: � Customer focus � Continuous process improvement � Teamwork and participation That is, respondents generally agree that college graduates should: � Have an understand...
Creativity and Improvement: A Vital Link
These might include the assumptions that a PC requires a power Figure 2. Some Tools and Methods of Improvement Based on Critical Thinking Tools to visualize systems/ processes Flow diagram Process model ( input/ outcome) Linkage of processes Systems map ...
Five Ways to Improve the Contracting Process
Quality function deployment (QFD), teaming, integrated planning, change management, and customer-focused metrics can solve many contracting problems. QFD assures that requirements specifications are clear and have input from customer and contractor....
Teams in the Age of Systems
The notion of customer- in, which is adapted from the ideas Figure 2. The Paradigm Shift in Management Philosophy Hierarchical approach to management Origin: The Prussian army; first used in business in the railroad industry in 1840 Focus on management Q...
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...
Focus the Strategy to Achieve Results
Some might believe that only the first option is appropriate, but all three responses are inappropriate because they: � Separate the organization into the good, the bad, and the ugly � Encourage establishing safe, easily reached goals ( first two options...
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...
Avoid a Flop: Use QFD with Questionnaires
Matching a data collection tool to the problem under investigation is key to making good decisions. Quality function deployment (QFD) methods can do this for questionnaires. Phase 1 of the QFD method is to define the problem in measurable terms and...
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...
The Five Drivers of Total Quality
Service to customers, employees, and the business itself is the mission of the Menasha Corporation. A hierarchy of five drivers of quality implements this mission. People quality is the driver with the most influence. This requires selecting the...
Ten Mistakes CEOs Make About Quality
A survey of executives at Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winners and at other quality firms explains why some executives fail to implement quality programs. First, CEOs (chief executive officers) rely too much on speeches and campaigns as...
