- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Engineering
- Environmental Manag. and Sustainability
- Human Resources
- Inspection
- ISO 14000
- ISO 9000
- Laboratory
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrics
- Metrology
- Problem Solving
- Process Management
- Product Development and Recall
- Project Management
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Function Deployment
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Safety
- Six Sigma
- Social Responsibility
- Software Quality
- Standards
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- Total Quality Management
- Compliance
- Certification/Registration (management system Standards)
- Information Management
- Customer Experience Management
- Customer Requirements
- Continuous Improvement
Measure for Measure: High Risk, No Reward
The pressure to reduce calibration costs may put inspection, measurement and test equipment (IM&TE) users at odds with a company’s ISO 9001 requirements, as well as good laboratory shop practices....
Attitude Shift
In a used-car dealership group based in Richmond, VA, a lean culture change took place that started with a redesign of its process for reconditioning used cars and ended with numerous benefits, some of which it didn't expect....
Expert Answers: October 2009
Creating quality awareness ... Best test for data comparison....
3.4 per Million: Perusing Process Performance Metrics
Often, I have students ask for clarification about the subtopic level in the 2007 Six Sigma Black Belt body of knowledge, which deals with process performance metrics....
In a Perfect World
During an interview with QP, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill speaks about the U.S. healthcare system, the signs of economic calamity everyone ignored, and the U.S. government's resistance to the quality way of thinking....
Cause and Effect
Cause and effect tree analysis—also known as fault tree analysis—begins with a known event, referred to as the top event, and describes possible combinations of events and conditions that can lead to this event....
Contacts That Count
A team dedicated to improving member contact rates at Healthways Inc. pulled just about everything from its lean Six Sigma toolbox while working on a project and was recognized in ASQ’s International Team Excellence Award competition....
A DMAIC Makeover
Define, measure, Analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) is the common roadmap for Six Sigma projects. But there are potential weaknesses in this roadmap that could be addressed with a simple, proven adjustment to DMAIC....
The Quality Professional as Organizational Gardener
Many quality professionals understand that the answers to these questions require the ability to envision their organizations as living entities, existing within their understanding of systems theory. We work with organizations and people, not on organiza...
Flip the Switch
Have you found the root cause yet? We frequently ask or hear others ask that question. Root cause analysis is a familiar subject. You might assume that quality professionals would have a clear understanding of the technique. But many don't....
Standards Outlook: Ensuring Supplier Quality
I've worked in the medical device and pharmaceutical/biotechnology industries, and I've concluded that when it comes to quality, the medical device world is at least 20 years ahead of its drug-world cousin....
It All Ties Together
At a time when gas costs have skyrocketed and companies across the board are doing their bit to be greener, a team of individuals from CSX Corp. came together to develop a solution to combat the large amount of fuel wasted while locomotives sat idling....
Measure for Measure: A Clearer Picture With RCA
The next step to crafting a successful quality assurance program is conducting root cause analysis (RCA) to examine the individual nonconformities, and then performing trend analysis to determine the most significant nonconformities and the root cause....
Map Quest
Raytheon Six Sigma is a proprietary six-step process that Raytheon Co., a defense and aerospace systems supplier, has embedded into its culture. It was developed by an internal team that was guided by the company’s top leadership....
Measure for Measure: Feather in Your QAP
One of the most important functions in a calibration laboratory is the quality assurance program (QAP), which is crucial in creating a culture where technicians buy into using process improvement to produce a quality product....
QMS Certification: Down With Disillusionment
Conformity assessment and international standards that cover products and quality and environmental management systems provide mechanisms to ensure the quality of goods and services, but a recent survey reveals that the various certification bodies...
Improving the Internal Audit Experience
Employees don’t always understand how audits relate to ensuring the use of good business processes. Many don’t realize the significant process improvement benefits that can be achieved from an internal audit experience. Cerner Corp. developed...
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...
3.4 per Million: Use DMAIC to Make Improvement Part of the Way We Work
Faster, better, cheaper. That’s what organizations across almost all major industries must now do to remain competitive....
Lean Lessons: Lean Kaizen in the 21st Century
Adapted from a chapter of Lean Kaizen, the author offers key takeaways from the Toyota Production System (TPS). He describes how the kaizen method is the foundation of the The Toyota Way and how it emphasizes efficiency, problem solving and...
Back to Basics: Have You Adequately Defined Your Situation?
The is/is not matrix is a simple yet powerful tool that enables a planner or investigator to more clearly define the problem, decision or situation being addressed. The matrix can be extremely useful in problem definition and root cause analysis, but...
10 Quality Basics
In an overview designed to give quality newcomers a glimpse of the knowledge they need to succeed, ten regular Quality Progress contributors write on 10 basic quality topics that are fundamentals essential to surviving in a quality role. Topics covered...
Using Statistics To Improve Satisfaction
Choosing which attributes to improve from customer survey data maximizes the use of resources and increases the chances of positive returns on your efforts. The Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks helps focus attention on what needs...
One Good Idea: 60 Minutes To A Solution
We’ve all been in those meetings. You know the type: Everyone knows what the problem is. Lots of ideas are chewed on and spit out. The group shares anecdotal experiences about the problem, but nobody records anything....
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...
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...
Back to Basics: A Fish(bone) Tale
You have been asked to perform a root cause analysis to determine where a process is breaking down. Not sure where to begin? Use a fishbone diagram to help you and your team identify and discuss all potential causes of an effect....
Getting Credit for Service
Experian Marketing Services (EMS) considers quality management a critical part of its commitment to its clients. Last year EMS looked to ISO 9001 certification as a way to extend its established project management program. EMS identified more than 100...
A Second Look at 5S
While Six Sigma has largely replaced 5S (lean), that doesn't mean that 5S doesn't have the potential to deliver benefits beyond cleaning up the shop floor. 5S is an idea that can change the perception of the workplace and provide a foundation for all...
Beyond PDCA - A New Process Management
The ISO 9001 quality management standard calls for the use of the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) model for managing processes. The author questions why check is included in the cycle when the goal is to reduce the need for verification activities. Current...
Standards Outlook: Supply Chain Management Remains Aerospace Challenge
The aerospace industry is in the process of shedding new light on the customer-supplier relationship, especially in the never ending quest to deliver defect free, safe and reliable product....
Core Roles in a Strategic Quality System
When establishing and maintaining a strategically viable quality system, senior management defines the roles played by groups, departments, or functions within the organization using risk/benefit analysis to determine the best fit in terms of logistics,...
Simple Tools for Complex Systems
Complex problems don't always require complex solutions. Pareto analysis and process mapping are examples of simple tools that can reduce the defects of a complex manufacturing process. A high-tech manufacturer of electromechanical devices put these...
Lean Lessons: Building Blocks
Is your organization wasting its valuable resources? Waste can directly impact your organization’s costs, quality and delivery, and may lead to excess inventory, unnecessary movement, unintentional waiting time, untapped......
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...
ISO 9000 In Service: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began requiring ISO 9001 certification for its new business contracts, claims processing contractor Palmetto GBA decided to pursue certification for its existing contracts as well. Getting a...
Quality in the First Person: Old Ideas Find a New Industry
I work in the software industry. My world changes quickly, and it can be hard to keep up. As the software industry is still quite young, many of its employees are not yet as indoctrinated into the quality world as are people in other industries....
Quality in the First Person: Dead Man's Shoes
The responsibility for quality assurance is sometimes bestowed upon reluctant recipients who don't really understand quality. However, basic quality assurance factors don't change between business sectors. The real issue is to get people to listen and...
Quality in the First Person: Quality Shots
Quality tools that are vital to process management can be used in almost every field of activity, including sports. A player's performance in a basketball game is subject to variation that must be controlled and reduced. An example focusing on...
Narrow Focus Provides Widespread Benefits
The vision of the University of Northern Colorado's Monfort College of Business (MCB) was to provide Colorado's best undergraduate business program. To accomplish this, the college eliminated all graduate programs, including the state's largest MBA...
Curse of the Super-fish-al
Root cause analysis teaches us to ask, "Why?" five times, and from this I developed these five ways not to use a fishbone....
Our Place-Kicker Is Out of Control
In most business, reducing variation is essential. The same is true for football and other sports. In a parable about place kicking, the author explains how statistical process control and basic quality improvement tools can be used to better understand...
The Road to Quality
In my earlier days of football games, keg parties, sleeping through classes and a seemingly endless pursuit of something that interested me, I stumbled, tripped over and basically fell into the food science program at my university....
Lean Thinking for Knowledge Work
Productivity in the service sector trails manufacturing by a wide margin. Since the early 1990s, the Toyota Production System (TPS) has been heralded as the standard for manufacturing environments, but early attempts to apply it to nonproduction work...
Lean Six Sigma Reduces Medication Errors
Medication errors are a serious threat in the healthcare industry. One mid-sized hospital interested in quality management in several areas undertook a Six Sigma project to determine what policy and practice changes might be needed to remedy the...
Training : It's Not Always the Answer
Employers need employees who perform well, and while training is one way to achieve this goal, it isn't the only way. A training needs analysis assesses current performance and defines desired performance, with the gap between the two states...
A Midstream Career Change
I began my life in the real world with a new engineering degree, a new job with a major aircraft manufacturer and a new baby. My first brush with the quality industry was after two years as an intern for the Boeing Co....
Quality in the First Person
Five authors provide personal accounts of their quality experiences. In A Hunger for Quality, Robert Nix tells how a temporary job organizing files for a quality control manager turned into a permanent career in quality management. Certified Quality...
Stoplight Charts (With SPC Inside)
Many balanced scorecards use stoplight charts to track defects. Colors for the chart are set by comparing current results with target thresholds. Software that automates the process results in an operation that is quick and efficient, but which may be...
Can the Gurus' Concepts Cure Healthcare?
Representatives of the movement for quality in healthcare present the views of four quality gurus as they apply to managing cost and improving the quality of healthcare. Don M. Nielsen says Philip Crosby's emphasis on prevention and zero defects has led...
Create a Better Life With Quality Tools
The same quality principles needed for business success may be applied on an individual basis to improve both professional and personal lives. For the process to succeed, standards must be identified, set and measured....
Quality in the First Person
Four quality professionals discuss how they used quality principles and tools to improve their personal lives. In Control Charts and Your Real Hourly Wage, Jonathan...
Why Buy Accredited?
Using an accredited lab may help you rest assured your results are correct....
Root Cause Analysis for Beginners
Root cause analysis (RCA) is a tool to help identify what, how, and why an event occurred so that steps can be taken to prevent future occurrences. Additionally, RCA may be used to target opportunities for systemwide improvement. Root causes are...
Prepare for the Worst
Quality professionals face the same problems as those in IT, software development, programming, automaking and numerous other fields, loss of jobs to overseas outsourcing....
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....
Learning From Columbia
In the year since the space shuttle Columbia accident that took the lives of its seven crew members a number of reports say NASA’s management and culture should share the blame. Findings from the accident have significance in all operations...
Column: Back to Basics: Collecting Data for Root Cause Analysis
Collecting Data for Root Cause Analysis by James J. Rooney and Lee N. Vanden Heuvel actual evidence derived from data gathering activities is the basis for all valid conclusions and recommendations from a root cause analysis. Management can analyze the ...
The Seven Deadly Sins of Quality Management
Root cause analysis is the structured investigation of basic causal factors leading to quality failure. When the root cause resides in the fundamental values of an organization, eradication can be extremely challenging. Problems ascribed to...
Column: Measure for Measure: Getting to the Root of It All
Quality systems the world over, including laboratory quality systems, share several important characteristics. One of the most important is the corrective action system. When a nonconformance is discovered, either by an internal audit, a customer...
Gain a Competitive Edge By Preventing Recalls
Product recalls are a serious problem for consumer products companies. Each year, thousands of products representing hundreds of millions of product units are recalled in the United States for safety reasons....
Best Practices in Process Management
Process improvement tools have been used to evaluate business processes ranging from employee satisfaction to customer help desk support....
Eastman Chemical's Success Story
There is also internal buy- in, which has led to enhanced internal relations, particularly between Eastman Chemical Co. 0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 16,000 J F M A M J J A S O N D 1997 J F M A M J J A S O N D 1998 J F M A M J J A S O N ...
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...
Toe the Line: No More WorldComs
Revelation of mismanagement at WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia and other companies have led to an unprecedented erosion of confidence in corporate America....
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....
Reduce Human Error
Human error is most often determined to be the cause of events leading to death or serious injury at healthcare facilities. When the responsible person is coached, disciplined, or perhaps even fired, managers and team leaders feel fairly confident...
First to the Top
A small, scattered school district in a remote part of Alaska, a suburban school district near New York City, and a mid-sized public university have become the first winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in the education category. The...
From Quality to Business Success
Quality professionals have made little progress in communicating how to convert quality tools and methods into a foundation for sound business management. The model "quality as a profit center (QPC)" makes the case that every facet of a quality...
Destination: ISO 9001
When in 1999 Nebraska manufacturer Nucor Corporation announced that it would require each of its Vulcraft divisions to achieve ISO 9001 certification, the Norfolk Division had two paths from which to choose. They decided that rather than wait until the...
Mooooving Toward Six Sigma
This supports the hypothesis that variation in ingredients, feeder accuracy and the resulting mix must be controlled to lower costs, decrease excretion Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 2 I 35 Dairy Farm Systems FIGURE 1 Feed storage ...
Members Talk About Terrorist Attacks
Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 1 I 57 Members Talk About Terrorist Attacks Responses to questionnaire cover both emotions and the role of the quality community by Susan E. Daniels, associate editor HAVE A son and future daughter- i...
Journey to the Baldrige
Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 1 I 51 Journey to the Baldrige For winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the coveted honor is just one step in their ongoing quest for performance excellence by Debbie Phillips- Do...
Column: Career Corner: Why quality careers are still important.
Jobs like implementing systems, being the champion and providing training still remain important--but you have to be prepared
The role of the quality professional has definitely changed in the last decade, particularly the last few years. The traditional quality employee was an inspector who watched a product through its various manufacturing steps or checked the quality of...
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...
Managing in Uncertainty: Lessons from the Underground
Corporate results can only be improved in the face of uncertainty if the management process itself is defined, developed, and monitored carefully. In some industries, including the mining industry, high levels of uncertainty impact results. In such...
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...
Quality tools for metrology.
Many quality professionals need and use measurements every day in their work--from business measurements in quality management to dimensional and electrical measurements in manufacturing, research or design. Measurement assurance is a system of processes,...
A Trio for Quality
Health care organizations can use quality approaches developed for other industries. Accreditation standards developed by the Joint Commission on Accreditations of Healthcare Organizations can be used in combination with criteria of the Malcolm...
"You Just Print Checks, Right?"
A payroll processor becomes registered to ISO 9001
Dominion Systems, with 20 employees, is currently the largest local payroll processor in Western Michigan, handling payroll for nearly 400 different companies. By looking at individual elements of the standard, you can see what Dominion Systems did to mak...
Column: Emerging Sectors: "You Just Print Checks, Right?"
Dominion Systems, with 20 employees, is currently the largest local payroll processor in Western Michigan, handling payroll for nearly 400 different companies. But the challenge was that Dominion was growing at a very steady rate and needed to do...
The Nominal Group Technique
Generating possible causes and reaching consensus
Editor's note: Root Cause Analysis: Simplified Tools and Techniques, written by Bjørn Andersen and Tom Fagerhaug and published by ASQ Quality Press (item H1047), offers approaches to identifying and eliminating root causes. 1. Each team member generates i...
Call Resolution: The Wrong Focus for Service Quality?
For the enlightened help desk or call center, first-time call resolution and closure has become a measure of productivity and customer service. This nontraditional measure could replace more traditional measures like call duration and time to answer...
21 Voices for the 21st Century
The interplay of quality, e-quality, and equality in the comments of 21 individuals provide a preview of the future of quality in the new century. The editors of Quality Progress, with input from many sources, have selected 21 original thinkers...
Implementing the Six Sigma Solution
Six sigma initiatives rely on quantitative, root-cause analyses and the comparison of customer requirements to business performance. Any business can use this method to solve its process problems. To do so, it must have good information about its...
To Be a Problem Solver, Be a Classicist
Intuitive individuals and teams form mental images of the activities involved in the problem, 48 I Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I J U N E 1 9 9 9 T O B E A P R O B L E M S O LV E R , B E A C L A S S I C I S T 1. Creative 2. Leader 3. Analytical 4. Struc...
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...
Putting Quality in Knowledge Management
Rapid access to expertise within an organization is a purpose of knowledge management. Quality professionals have critical leadership and educational roles in the harvesting of that knowledge and in the management of corporate memory. Knowledge is...
What Higher Education Should Be Teaching About Quality - But Is Not
A survey of colleges and universities revealed inadequate correlation between quality-related topics taught in schools and topics identified as important by winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The teaching of quality is vital in...
It Takes More Than Sparkling Water
As a customer-focused organization, BHC Co. is a Connecticut utility that has earned many service and product initiative awards, including the 1997 Connecticut Small Organization Quality Award. Customer focus is especially needed in the highly...
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...
IBM Canada Holds on to Its Beliefs - and Its Future
In 1996, the company's domestic revenues reached $ 3.9 billion Canadian ( about $ 2.8 billion in U. S. dollars), a 13% increase from 1995; it hired close to 2,800 new employees, more than any other year in history; and it invested $ 44 million Canadian (...
How to Teach Others to Apply Statistical Thinking
An interactive session on statistical thinking involved realistic scenarios worked on by teams of conference attendees and a panel of experts. Unlike statistical methods, statistical thinking is a learning and action philosophy. It is based on...
Redefining a Process in 14 Steps
Process improvement requires prerequisites, people, and a series of redefinition deliverables. To satisfy prerequisites, the process should be understood, and it should need quality improvement. The organization should have the leadership, expertise,...
Maximizing the Value of Customer Feedback
The voice of the customer (VOC) is vital, but too many companies analyze this information inefficiently. Studies of over 100 companies by Technical Assistance Research Programs, Inc. (TARP) show how to improve customer feedback programs. Measures of...
A Nation Reconstructed
Rebuilding America's cities requires a quality system supported by quality champions and cross-functional teams. It will take a root cause analysis that acknowledges the American people and the U.S. Constitution as vital elements in the rebuilding....
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...
A Darwinian Future Is Looming ...
As quality becomes everyone's responsibility, the quality profession must evolve. Its transformation has been driven by technology; by new markets, products, and services; and by competitiveness. To survive in the Darwinian future, the fittest...
The TQEM-ISO 14001 Connection
Environmental thinking should be integrated into all company functions. A tool for total quality environmental management (TQEM) is the ISO 14001 standard. Some organizations have gone beyond the ISO 14001 baseline, but initial steps in any TQEM...
Are You a Right-Brain or Left-Brain Thinker?
Quality professionals should be open to various styles of thinking. Right-brain thinkers tend to be analytical, logical, rational, and sequential, while left-brain thinkers are more likely to use interrelationships, intuition, and synthesis....
