- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Design of Experiments
- Engineering
- Global Quality
- Human Resources
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrics
- Metrology
- Problem Solving
- Process Management
- Product Development and Recall
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Function Deployment
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Reliability
- Six Sigma
- Software Quality
- Standards
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- Best Practices
- Total Quality Management
- Risk Management
- Information Management
- Customer Experience Management
- Economic Case for Quality
- err
Statistics Roundtable: Divide and Conquer in Reliability Analyses
All product is not created equal. Some units are more likely to fail in service than others. Thus, in reliability evaluations, you need to identify subpopulations with different failure susceptibility....
Expert Answers: September 2009
Accountability ... defining cost reduction ... honing in on confidence intervals....
Statistics Roundtable: Drudgery to Strategy - a Statistical Metamorphosis
Think back to your Stats 101 course. You entered the first session laden with apprehension— induced by survivors’ horror stories—and your worst fears were confirmed....
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....
It Doesn't Add Up
Bewildered economists offer many theories as to what ultimately led to today’s financial woes. Analysts attempt to untangle how so many factors and variables—banks, mortgages and government oversight—contributed to the mess....
Statistics Roundtable: In a Certain Way
Whenever we estimate a population parameter from a sample, in addition to providing a point estimate, we should also include an interval to characterize the associated uncertainty....
Expert Answers: February 2009
Executives hear money talk ... Customer feedback: What works best?...
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....
Salary Survey 2008: Looking at the Numbers
Mean salary: The mean salary is the average salary for that particular group. Manager: Ensures the administration of the company’s quality, process and business improvement efforts within a defined segment of the organization. Quality engineer: Designs, i...
Salary Survey 2008: The Complete Report
51 Section 6 Salary by Number of Work Hours Online Section 7 Salary by Nonexempt vs. Exempt Status Online Section 8 Salary by Number of Years in Current Position Online Section 9 Salary by Number of Years in Current Position and in the Quality Field Onli...
Total Quality, Total Commitment
An innovative approach to quality helped A.V. Feigenbaum create the concept of total quality management. Indeed, Feigenbaum’s quality contributions have been praised by U.S. business leaders and quality professionals around the globe. Armand V. Feigenbaum...
Statistics Roundtable: The Pros of Proactive Product Servicing
Just like athletes can experience an injury that takes them out of a game, systems can experience component failures that require downtime and repair....
Expert Answers: October 2008
Sample size of 30 ... DFMEA dilemma....
Statistics Roundtable: More is Not Always Better
All other things being equal, if offered a choice between small or large sample sizes, the larger sample size is preferred. Or is it?...
3.4 per Million: After the Low-Hanging Fruit
There are four major approaches for organization-wide improvement efforts that fall under the label “lean Six Sigma,” as evidenced by current practices at many industrial organizations, service organizations and consulting firms....
Statistics Roundtable: In With the Right Crowd
First, the good news: The importance of statistics related to the way the world does business has never been greater. Now, the bad news: The statistician and quality professional might become the proverbial middle man who gets cut out by these advances....
Statistics Roundtable: It Depends
A Shewhart chart is an excellent tool for detecting abrupt process changes. One of its additional properties is its ability to detect small process changes through the use of run rules....
Educating Engineers
Statistics is an indispensable tool for solving engineering problems. But many engineers are not exposed to problems that require the use of statistical methods until they start their professional careers....
Lean Six Sigma's Evolution
When Motorola rolled out its initial Six Sigma system in 1987, there were no Green Belts, Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Champions or any of the infrastructure or focused training we have come to associate with modern practices in Six Sigma....
Salary Survey-Regular Employee and Self-Employed Consultants Results
45 Section 6 Salary by Number of Work Hours Online Section 7 Salary by Nonexempt vs. Exempt Status Online Section 8 Salary by Number of Years of Quality Experience and Highest Level of Education Online Section 9 Salary by Number of Years in Current Posit...
Part I Section 1 Salary by Job Title (Regular Employees)
Standard Minimum Maximum deviation Count Mean Median Full- time employees Analyst $ 30,000 $ 145,000 $ 19,951 206 $ 63,694 $ 60,000 Associate 21,000 200,000 26,118 96 61,756 56,500 Auditor 18,000 170,000 22,697 258 66,392 65,000 Black Belt 34,000 149,845...
Retrospective Analysis of a Designed Experiment
Design of experiment (DOE) techniques have been successfully used by India’s Department of Defense Production to optimize the process parameters for a plastic injection-molded part used in the manufacture of tank deterrents. The goal was to get...
Nanotechnology: A Big Little Frontier for Quality
Nanotechnology is a field of applied science that deals with arranging particles...
Statistics Roundtable: Reliability Assessment by Use-Rate Acceleration
Statistical evidence is often needed to show that a proposed product meets or exceeds its reliability goals. Many times, such evidence must be obtained in a compressed time period....
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...
Statistics Roundtable: Turning Shewhart?s Challenge Into Opportunity
Statisticians must step forward and lead management to become more statistically minded.
Nearly 70 years ago, quality pioneer Walter Shewhart threw down the gauntlet: "The long-range contribution of statistics depends not so much on getting a lot of highly trained statisticians into industry as it does...
Building a Better Fantasy Baseball Team
Fantasy baseball is a popular game giving sports fans the opportunity to display their baseball expertise in competition with other fans. The game fosters careful planning and research in hopes of outsmarting the rival team. By looking at fantasy...
3.4 per Million: Assessing the Effectiveness of Controls Under Uncertainty
Sequential sampling and logistic regression techniques offer useful strategies....
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...
Statistics Roundtable: Superiority, Equivalence and Non-inferiority
Most statistical tests are performed to show whether two measurements, processes, products or treatments are significantly different from each other and whether we can reject the null hypothesis....
Measure for Measure: Comparing Specifications Made Easy
Manufacturers have many different ways to specify the performance of measuring instruments. It is often a struggle for us, the instrument users, to derive useful information from that multitude....
Salary Survey – 2006
Full Survey
44 Section 6. Salary by Number of Work Hours Online Section 7. Salary by Nonexempt vs. Exempt Status Online Section 8. Salary by Number of Years' Quality Experience and Highest Level of Education Online Section 9. Salary by Number of Years in Current Pos...
Salary Survey – 2006
Regular Employee - Section 1. Salary by Job Title
Standard deviation: Standard deviation is a FIGURE A PART 1. REGULAR EMPLOYEE RESULTS Section 1 Salary by Job Title Comparison of Salaries of Full- Time And Part- Time Employees 4,731 ( difference) 77,049 ( 2006) 72,318 ( 2005) 4,777 ( difference) 71,584...
Statistics Roundtable: Improving Reliability Through Warranty Data Analysis
Today's emphasis on proactive improvement calls for building high reliability into products at design. The goal is to avoid field failures during a product's estimated lifetime....
Linking the Supply Chain to TQM
In today's environment of global outsourcing, supplier quality management must transform itself from simply measuring supplier compliance to gathering knowledge, managing risk, and executing project management. Total quality management (TQM) ensures...
Statistics Roundtable: Different Roads to Take for Data Analysis
For most of us with some formal training in statistical methods - from a single course to an advanced degree - the starting point of this part of our education typically began with classical or frequentist methods for analyzing data....
Market Focused, Value Driven - It's All About Gaps
Value is a leading indicator of market share and profitability. Six Sigma is a tool organizations can use to increase their value leadership. Because value gaps among competitors are defined by customers of all competing organizations, it is the voice...
New Frontiers in the Design of Experiments
Statistically designed experiments enable businesses to reduce time to market while achieving quality product performance that is critical to survival and success. R.A. Fisher first introduced them in the early 20th century to evaluate the results of...
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...
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...
Statistics Roundtable: How to Analyze Reliability Data for Repairable Products
Leveraging powerful - yet simple - methods for reliability data analysis of repairable products or systems can help you stay on the right track....
Statistics Roundtable: Monitor Your Industrial Processes.
Models are often developed in industry to characterize and explain a process because they can show how process variables are interconnected and interrelated. Historically, two particular methods have been used to construct models to...
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...
Salary Survey – 2005
Full Survey
45 Section 6. Salary by Number of Work Hours Online Section 7. Salary by Nonexempt vs. Exempt Status Online Section 8. Salary by Number of Years' Quality Experience and Highest Level of Education Online Section 9. Salary by Number of Years in Current Pos...
Salary Survey – 2005
Regular Employee - Section 1. Salary by Job Title
org Standard Minimum Maximum deviation Count Mean Median Full- time employees Analyst $ 24,500 $ 120,000 $ 19,048 132 $ 57,327 $ 54,500 Associate 15,000 106,000 20,593 49 54,119 52,000 Auditor 23,000 160,000 18,503 179 58,646 56,000 Black Belt 27,580 125...
Feigenbaum's Enduring Influence
Armand V. Feigenbaum was one of the first engineers to recognize financial performance as an indicator of poor quality. Together with W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran, he established the intellectual framework for quality as a discipline worthy of...
The Power of Dynamic Illustrations
As more organizations embrace statistical methods and thinking, a useful new tool can help quality professionals and their students meet the challenges of learning statistical methods. Dynamic illustrations are software applications that combine...
Planning Reliability Assessment
Let’s say you have designed a new metal spring and want to estimate the time by which 10% of such springs will fail. How many units do you need to test and for how long?...
Timeless Wisdom From Crosby
Philip Crosby's book, Quality Is Free, changed the way managers looked at the cost of poor quality. Written 25 years ago, Crosby's management principles are as valid today as ever. Thirteen quotations from the book illustrate Crosby's deep insight into...
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...
Volunteer Trains Black Belts in Romania
A retired quality management consultant relates his experiences as a volunteer trainer of Black Belts in Romania, Europe's poorest country. Under the sponsorship of NCH Advisors, a management company that administers investments made in Romania by...
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...
When Your Process Has Runs, Trends and Cycles
As a Six Sigma practitioner, you sometimes work with processes that have memory, in which the value observed at some earlier time partly influences or determines the current value....
Salary Survey – 2004
Regular Employee - Section 1. Salary by Job Title
117,976 104,410 90,930 88,858 83,853 81,216 76,438 75,270 71,043 68,352 66,126 62,885 62,195 61,719 58,945 57,870 55,421 50,422 50,018 43,845 41,571 Job title ( percentage of respondents) Vice president/ executive ( 3.0%) Master Black Belt ( 1.3%) Direct...
Salary Survey – 2004
Full Survey
( For industrial classifications and all tables related QUALITY PROGRESS I DECEMBER 2004 I 25 $ $$$$ $$$$ $$ $$$ $$$ U. S. Salary Changes by Industry 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Average Average Average Average Average Average salary Difference* salary ...
Unsung Heroes of Quality
Not many dedicated quality professionals attain the media-bestowed title of guru. Quality Progress readers respond to a call for examples of outstanding, but frequently overlooked, quality leaders. The eleven persons described represent diverse fields...
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...
Standards: Baselines for Improvement
There are many kinds of standards: ones that apply to a wide variety of products and services, ones that cover a wide range of processes and test methods and even ones that provide guidance or requirements for management systems....
Statistical Leadership
Statisticians, as we have known them for almost half a century, may become an endangered species....
A Tribute To Phil Stein
ASQ and the metrology community lost a powerful champion and a wonderful friend with the passing of Philip G. Stein....
Follow My Lead
Only a month into your company's process improvement project, the plant superintendent says he is considering discontinuing the quality initiative....
Planning life tests for reliability demonstration.
How many units do I need to test and for how long to demonstrate high reliability?? Engineers and managers ask statisticians this question all the time because they need information about reliability before making important decisions....
Planning Life Tests for Reliability Demonstration
How many units do I need to test and for how long to demonstrate high reliability? Engineers and managers ask statisticians this question all the time because they need information about reliability before making important decisions....
Qualitative vs. Quantitative Methods
Using statistical methods in quality management systems (QMSs) has been discussed ever since the advent of total quality management (TQM) and ISO 9000 certification. Yet statistics remain an often neglected component of quality management systems....
Faster Test Results
Southside Hospital used Six Sigma to reduce test turnaround times from 68 hours to an average of 32 hours. The use of quality tools helped the hospital improve the sigma level for stress test turnaround....
Eight Essential Tools
The broad use of Six Sigma since its introduction in the 1980s has taught us much about how to make the best use of Six Sigma tools. Now we need to take a look back and reflect on what we’ve learned...
Salary Survey – 2003
Full Survey
6. QUALITY PROGRESS I DECEMBER 2003 I 31 Average salary 1999 Average salary 2000 Average salary 2001 Average salary 2002 Average salary 2003 Average salary Change from previous year Change from previous year Change from previous year Change from previous...
Salary Survey – 2003
Regular Employee - Section 1. Salary by Job Title
36- 37. As Table A shows, only 9% of U. S. respondents and 6.6% of Canadian PART 1. REGULAR EMPLOYEE RESULTS Section 1 Salary by Job Title United States Canada Count Percentage Count Percentage Analyst 238 2.4% 12 1.8% Associate 113 1.0 6 1.0 Auditor 321...
Improve Service And Administration
Variation in business activities is unacceptable and undermines quality. Statistical methods can be applied to all types of business processes to understand relationships between processes, then document and reduce variation. The several strategies...
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...
SPC: From Chaos to Wiping the Floor
Physicist Walter Shewhart, in tackling the problem of process control, began with the definition of control and went on to distinguish chance causes from assignable causes of variation. He believed that assignable causes could be found and eliminated....
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...
Speedier Reliability Analysis
Customers demand high reliability in new products. The fact that product development usually lasts no more than one year, from design to production, means that accelerated life tests (ALTs) are critical. ALTs are one element of a reliability assurance...
Column: World View: European Statistics Network Grows Rapidly
Aims to increase understanding, idea exchange, networking and professional development
ENBIS now has more than 500 members from 25 countries across the entire European continent plus nine non-European countries, including nine members from the United States, seven from Israel and one from Canada. Most members are...
A Thing of the Past?
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), the most widely adopted framework for an interdisciplinary approach to total quality management and organizational performance, has evolved from the original model in 1988 to the 1992 model and the...
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....
How to Estimate the Parameters of a Weibull Distribution
Quality professionals often must determine time to failure and reliability of a product from a life test that may be incomplete. A method is described that demonstrates how the Weibull parameters can be estimated when the incomplete life test is...
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...
Reliability Analysis by Failure Mode
Reliability improvement should be a major consideration when conducting product life data analysis. One method of determining the failure mode responsible for failure is to perform separate analyses for each mode and combine the results, as opposed to...
Column: Frontiers of Quality: Something's Missing
An education in statistical methods will make employees more valuable to Six Sigma corporations
Education "implies development of the mind" while training "stresses instruction and drill with a specific end in view." The most effective further development of a Six Sigma program will necessarily involve well-informed...
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...
Column: Back to Basics: What Is a Fault Tree Analysis?
Use a general conclusion to determine specific causes of a system failure
The fault tree analysis (FTA) was first introduced by Bell Laboratories and is one of the most widely used methods in system reliability, maintainability and safety analysis. It is a deductive procedure used to determine the...
What Is a Fault Tree Analysis?
Use a general conclusion to determine specific causes of a system failure
The fault tree analysis (FTA) was first introduced by Bell Laboratories and is one of the most widely used methods in system reliability, maintainability and safety analysis. The main purpose of the fault tree analysis is to help identify potential causes...
My process is too variable--now what do I do?
How to produce and use a successful multi-vari study
How to produce and use a successful multi- vari study by Ronald D. Snee Process Schematic FIGURE 1 The process Process outputs Controlled variables Customer Process inputs Uncontrolled noise variables Manufacturing Process Variables TABLE 1 Process input...
Column: Statistics Roundtable: My Process Is Too Variable--Now What Do I Do?
How to produce and use a successful multi- vari study by Ronald D. Snee Process Schematic FIGURE 1 The process Process outputs Controlled variables Customer Process inputs Uncontrolled noise variables Manufacturing Process Variables TABLE 1 Process input...
Column: Standards Outlook: Corrective and Preventive Action In Medical Device Manufacturing
ISO 9000 made more rigorous to ensure a robust system
21 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 820 was revised in 1995 to more closely resemble ISO 9001:1994, and what had been known as "Good Manufacturing Practices" became a Quality System Regulation...
A Road Map to Six Sigma Quality
At the very least, the champion must have the authority to reject Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 1 I 25 Road Map Implementation Steps FIGURE 1 1. Appoint a Champion 2. Select a cross functional team 3. Develop quantifiable goals 4....
Column: Frontiers of Quality: Make the View Worth the Climb
Focus training on delivering better business results
When upper managment sees training as a cost rather than an investment, it is easy to justify cutting that cost. However, using a Six Sigma paradigm to look at training as a means to improving performance in a specific project allows a...
Inferences on percentage changes.
A popular approach to the problem of inferences on functions of averages
Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I O C T O B E R 2 0 0 1 I 57 Turbine Engine Average Deposits TABLE 2 Changes from lubricant eight p- values Standard Percentage Percentage Lubricant Average deviation Difference change Difference change 1 24.89 20.11 - 26.61...
Column: Statistics Roundtable: Inferences on Percentage Changes
Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I O C T O B E R 2 0 0 1 I 57 Turbine Engine Average Deposits TABLE 2 Changes from lubricant eight p- values Standard Percentage Percentage Lubricant Average deviation Difference change Difference change 1 24.89 20.11 - 26.61...
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...
Teaching the Role of SPC in Industrial Statistics
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 89 Teaching the Role of SPC In Industrial Statistics Base the future of a process on statistical investigations of the past by Ralph L. Liberatore S T A T I S T I C S ISCUSSIONS CONCERNING STATIStical pro...
Column: Statistics Roundtable: Using degradation data for product liability analysis.
A case study shows how this type of data can provide more precise results in assessing reliability
High reliability systems require individual components to have extremely high reliability for a long time. Often, the time for product development is short, imposing severe constraints on reliability testing. Traditionally, methods for the analysis of...
It's Attitude That Counts
Focusing on a positive outlook can improve a company's performance
But when we let people implement their own ideas, even seemingly silly ideas, the ideas worked. These ideas may sometimes seem unworkable, but when folks implement their own ideas, taking responsibility for the results, they make the ideas work--even if t...
