Quality Assurance of Products

Quality Assurance of Products

This category concerns the existence of a quality system within the company for design and control of products.Factors within this category  include:

- customer needs converted to product and process requirements.

- control of business and manufacturing processes so that products meet design plans or specifications.

- continuous improvement of products and processes.

- activity in assessing the quality of products and processes.This concerns both manufacturing and business processes.

- documentation existing to support the quality system.

- control and improvement of the quality of the material provided by suppliers.

- a focus on preventing mistakes,not merely correcting them.

Quality Results

This category relates to having tangible improvements in terms of quality measures. The measures are derived from customer needs and from business operations.

Key factors are:

- improvement trends in product and service quality measures.

- comparisons with quality results of competitors.

- improvement trends in quality measurements of business processes.

- improvement trends in quality measurements of suppliers.

Human Resource Utilization

Human Resource Utilization

This category is next in importance. It deals with how a company manages its human resources to reach full potential. Also, it pertains to the involvement of everyone in quality efforts. 

Major factors concern:

- human resource planning to support quality goals.

- involvement of employees in improvement using teams with members from different functional areas and suppliers. Also, providing a suggestion system or other means of making input to management.

- education and training in quality knowledge and skills. Important is training in problem identification and improvement skills. 

- performance measurements for the identification of teams and individuals making quality improvements.

- recognition for contributions of teams and individuals by both management and peers.

- health and safety considerations in quality improvements.

Quality Assurance of Products

This category concerns the existence of a quality system within the company for design and control of products.

Factors within this category include:

- customer needs converted to product and process requirements

- control of business and manufacturing processes so that products meet design plans or specifications.

- continuous improvement of products and processes.

- activity in assessing the quality of products and processes.This concerns both manufacturing and business processes.

- documentation existing to support the quality system

- control and improvement of the quality of the material provided by suppliers.

- a focus on preventing mistakes, not merely correcting them.

Insights for Improvement

Insights for Improvement

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award provides insight into what is needed for continuous quality improvement. This award was created in 1987 by U.S. Public Law 100-107. Its purpose is to stimulate and reward companies for improving the quality of their goods and services. The application for the award has guidelines and criteria that can provide a benchmark for companies to judge how they are organized for quality improvement.

The guidelines and criteria form the foundation of an effective improvement effort. There are seven categories of effort supporting continuous improvement.; some are considered more critical than others, and are given different points or weights in recognition of this. In reality, an effective effort cannot exist without all seven components puling together.

Customer Satisfaction:

The component given the largest weight in the award is customer satisfaction. This category accounts for almost one-third of the total points allowed in the award, showing its importance. Criteria about this category reflect how a company addresses customer requirements and service relationships.

Key factors are:

- knowledge of customer requirements and expectations through interviews, surveys, and other means. A deep understanding of customers is needed so their wants can be turned into products. 

- effective management and improvement of relations with customers. This would include providing customers with easy access to the company for help.An important element is establishing a long standing relationship going beyond selling the product.

- standards for the servicing of customers. This would include response time and other key service performance indicators.

- commitment to customers on warranties.

- complaint resolution procedure for customers and feedback of difficulty to company for preventing future problems.

- measurement of the satisfaction of customers.

- improvement of customer satisfaction.

- comparison of customer satisfaction with competitors.

Continuous Improvement of Individuals

Continuous Improvement of Individuals

In the past, the major focus for quality improvement was the individual. The cause of a problem was usually traced to a person, and pressure was applied for improvement. Sometimes this included disciplinary action. Now, it is widely recognized that most individuals try to do high quality work, but are blocked from doing so by the organization or the process they work within. For example, only a small portion of the problems pointed out by SPC can be solved solely by the operator. The bulk of the problems require a change in the process or organization.

To a large extent,individuals mirror the organization or process they work in. A human receives input,produces the understood output and changes actions based  upon any feed back. To help an individual get high-quality performance, a standard of what is expected for output is needed. The standard should be custom-driven,and supported by the process. To develop the standard, it is necessary to understand what is needed by the customer,how this need can be satisfied and measured,and the limits acceptable to the customer. This must be clearly conveyed in some type of documentation. Also desirable in the standard is what the customer can expect if acceptable limits are not maintained. Conveying this to the individual is particularly challenging; feedback to the individual is vital to the improvement of quality. It can be internal feedback, with individuals checking their output against the standard, or external feedback from others, particularly customers. often, what is shown in the standard may need additional clarification. Modifications in the resources available to the individual may have to be made. The way feedback is given is critical. For example, if workers are struggling with quality problems and management complains that they are falling behind, the wrong signal is given,it ,may be seen as a strong statement that getting the product out is more important than quality.

To obtain the best quality,individual strengths should be matched to the needs of the job. Training should be done before placing a person on the job. The training objectives should include a clear understanding of the quality standards and how to measure them. The person also should understand what must be done if acceptable limits are not obtained. More companies are insisting that the operation be shut down until quality issues are resolved. Other important considerations are whether a person is mentally,physically and emotionally fit to do the job. Additional training may be in order. many companies are providing basic math and reading classes to those who need help. Physical impairments often can be handled by modifying work stations. In a few situations, it may be that the employee should be assigned elsewhere. When improvements are required from individuals during production, the same type of training mentioned above should be repeated. talking to the individuals to find out heir ideas could be an immense help. Most often the fix requires changing the process, not the individual. 

Continuous Improvement of Processes

Continuous Improvement of Processes

High priority for making improvements focuses on processes. An organization is made up of many processes,of both a business and manufacturing nature.In general, this is where lasting solutions are best made.Improving the organization is necessary to have the climate favorable for a company to do the right things , but this improvement takes a long time.

For processes, changes that last can be made quickly. Probably 85% of the problems in a company are due to inadequate processes. Much of the necessary improvement is in the business processes, not in those processes making the product. The small reminder of problems can be corrected by working solely with individuals within the processes.

There are surprisingly large numbers of business, and manufacturing processes in a company. For the most part, business processes are run by white-collar workers who support selling or scheduling the product. Others are concerned with the design of the product and production equipment. Manufacturing processes are usually run by blue-collar workers  who make the product.

Determining how critical a process  may be easier for manufacturing than for business processes.Techniques such as DFMEA (Design failure Mode Effects Analysis) and PFMEA (Process for Failure and Effects Analysis) can be used for manufacturing processes. A consensus of the members of a steering committee may be the best way of identifying critical business processes. Although there can be a large number of these processes,often less than thirty are critical to a company. At this point,the steering committee can rate how the company performs on each critical process. One basis for the rating is how each process supports the values and beliefs envisioned for the company. based on the analysis, specific goals can be assigned for cross-functional improvement teams.

The setting of clear goals that are realistic but challenging is the starting point of quality improvement. Motorola, another winner of the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award,achieved its goal of a ten-fold increase in quality over a five year period. Bench marking the performance of other companies is often useful in setting the goals to a realistic level.For example, a competitor may have 30% fewer field problems. For this company, a reduction in field failures by 30% would be realistic. Achievement of this goal also would be necessary to remain competitive in the market place.

Conceptually, a process is an activity that transforms inputs into outputs. Simply,inputs could be people,material,equipment and information. Inputs are mostly received from other processes within a company. The output from each process is either a product or service. The output is furnished to a customer. Within a company,there are many processes intricately linked together and each successive process is a customer for the preceding process. In a like manner,the pending process is a supplier to the following process.Collectively,the processes form the system that delivers products to customers of the company. The output of the last process in the chain is delivered to the customer who placed the order within the company. A process is usually represented by input-output box.within the process  there may be many operations dedicated to making a transformation. These operations may be in several different functions of a company.take,for example,the product design process. This process is a customer of the scheduling process. It also is a supplier to both the purchasing process and production engineering process. The scheduling process must furnish information about detailed customer needs. How thoroughly this job is done has a lot to do with the effectiveness of the design process. Each process acts as a link in an intricate chain.The chain is as good as the weakest link. Priority for quality improvement should be given to the weakest link. Reaching solutions is often complex because each process may involve several functional areas in a company. Under these circumstances, no one functional area feels an "ownership" of the process. Usually there is a total lack of ownership,which is why many problems occur.

The operations in the product design process can be viewed simply as:

Step                                              Functions Involved

Product  Definition                         Marketing,Product development

Preliminary Design                         Marketing,Product development,suppliers,production

                                                     engineering, purchasing

Design review                                Marketing,Product development,suppliers,production

                                                     engineering,production, purchasing

Validation                                      Product development,Quality

Final design                                   Marketing,Product development,suppliers,production

                                                     engineering,production, purchasing

Release for production                   Marketing,Product development,suppliers,production

                                                     engineering,production, purchasing

There are seven functional areas involved in the process. Getting an improvement in the process is complex. No one functional area is the natural owner of the entire process. Many companies have solved this dilemma by using cross-functional improvement teams. members of the team represent each functional area in the  process. The team is recognized as the natural owner of the process.Consensus is sought to obtain the best solution for the company. 

A popular strategy for improving processes is to evaluate variations in the parameters for both manufacturing and business processes. performance measures are sought for the process to be improved. For a manufacturing process,they may be such things as downtime or level of inventory. A business process such as product design, may make a number of changes after release for production. Changes in design after tooling is complete are usually very disruptive.There is also a large risk of making a mistake.

The performance measures may be chosen at the output of the process. In this way, the measures reflect what the entire process is doing. For many companies,the measure of the output is the key issue in process performance.

In a process where operations are done by different functional areas,additional measures may be identified. Usually,these measures are at the interfaces between two functional areas. Many companies have found that most problems occur at these interfaces. Often these problems are due to confusion between the functional areas about what is required. This confusion can be cleared up in team meetings after being pointed out.

Properly selected measures will vary over time. The variation will be stable if it is due to the inherent nature of the process.It will not be stable if it is due to something else.(such as workers not paying attention).When plotted on SPC charts,this will be clear.

A major auto producer used this approach in a product design process. There were 17 designers involved. Management was not pleased with the large number of design changes after release to production. SPC charts showed that there was only one designer who needed individual help. The other 16 were victims of the process. Though unacceptable, they could do no better until the design process was changed. Dramatic improvements came about through rethinking the process.

This example shows the advantages of improving processes. Without this,analysis, the designers would,rightly become more frustrated. Pressure would undoubtedly be used on each designer to improve performance.If the process was not changed, most of them would fail/ They would be unhappy and productivity would likely suffer.

There are other ways of showing process measures. so they  can be analyzed for improvement. Various means of doing this will in due course. 

Continuous Improvement of Organizations

Continuous Improvement of Organizations

Many will agree that a drastic change in culture is necessary to improve the organization of most companies. These changes require a big shift in the way things are done. This is the most difficult part of continuous improvement and takes a long time. A few companies started the transition in the early 1980s, and the end is not in sight, but the rewards so far have exceeded the expectations of everyone. Some believe the end will never be reached, because of the need to adapt constantly to the dynamic world that we operate within.

Formally, culture is made up of the values and beliefs shared by most members of an organization. Beliefs are assumptions about what is true.Values are opinions about what is worthwhile or desirable. To survive, there must be a culture within a company dedicated to quality as viewed by the customer.There also must be a dedication to continuous improvement in everything. This culture must have clear values and beliefs driving its behavior, since behavior is the foundation by which the company is managed and seen by everyone One way to look at the cultural change required is by seeing it as a ladder as per the given below steps:

CUSTOMER FOCUS

CROSS FUNCTIONAL TEAMS

CULTURAL TRAINING

COOPERATION AMONG FUNCTIONS

STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL

INSPECTION AND AUDIT

Though described as a ladder,the changes need not be made one step at a time or in the sequence shown. Stages at each step may be pursued together. Also, all  these steps may not be necessary and additional steps may be added to meet the unique needs of each company. To illustrate the cultural change,a hypothetical situation is described. At the bottom rung,a company that relies heavily on inspection and auditing by QC is shown. Little prevention activity to avoid problems is practiced. The company realizes it must change to survive. They know because the companies that they supply told them they must change. At this point,  they really have no vision of what they must do. If they did,they would see that they must be customer-driven as shown on the top rung of the ladder.

The company reached the second rung on the ladder when SPC was adopted. The work concerned with SPC was doe by QC. It made their customers happy for a while, but the company could see little improvement to offset the added cost. Adjustments were then made in the approach. The work for SPC was shifted from QC to the operator. Some improvements were obtained, but not enough. The company realized that the operator could only correct perhaps 15% of the problems;the rest were due to things that others in the company controlled.

More adjustments were made. Different functions started working more closely together. The company was now on the third rung of the ladder.Responsibility was matched with control by the shift of inspection to manufacturing. Marketing worked closer with product development to help with the design. Engineers from manufacturing got involved with looking at products early in the design phase.Things were getting better for this company,but it was still struggling to survive.

Then management got interested in changing the culture of the company. Other companies involved in this approach appeared to be making progress.Training was set up for the top people in the organization. The company was now on the fourth rung of the ladder. Top management learned that they must be the innovators of change. They must have a vision of what the company should be like.From this vision, they must prepare plans to get there. The most difficult change is in the area of behavior. This must correlate to the values and beliefs according to what they observe.

Top management learned, during the training, that typical values and beliefs of companies involved in a cultural change include:

- The entire organization must focus on customers and their needs. The judgement of the quality of products is in the eyes of the final customer.

- There must be a strong focus by the organization on each employee. Through serving its own employees well, a like behavior is carried over to its customers. Efforts must be made to develop a work force with high motivation.

- There also must be a strong emphasis on safety in everything the company does. This includes its products and facilities. Also of concern is the safety of the community in which it resides.

- Prevention of problems must be another area of focus for the company. For this, the company needs to continuously improve the ability of its individuals,processes and organization.

- A strong emphasis must be placed on teamwork. Solutions by a team are usually better than those developed separately.

- There must be total involvement of everyone in an organization regularly. Each employee should participate in problem solving and continuous improvement. Decision making should be done on the lowest level by those involved in the process. Those closest to problems can make good solutions.

- Every employee in the company must be able to speak the truth without fear of punishment. Continuous improvement efforts will not succeed without open discussions of the issues.

The changing of any company to these values and beliefs is a difficult task. Much patience and persistence are required. Each process within a company , whether done by blue or white collar workers, must be looked at and improved. barriers and resistance to change must be handled delicately. The pace must be such that it does not overtax the organization.

After training, management of the hypothetical company decided to plan how they would go ahead. They recognized that changes must start with them. Through their behavior,the right values and beliefs will trickle down through the organization. First on the list was a review of the mission statement to see if it matched the desired values and beliefs. Next,the strategic plan was reviewed to adjust it for required changes. Goals were set for achievement of the needed  changes.

In the next step, the organization of the company was reviewed. It was decided that a continuous improvement steering committee was required. This would be made up of leaders of various functional areas. In this way,any conflicts in goals could be resolved. Also, those involved could reach a consensus about the focus of improvement efforts. Finding ways of making the identified improvements would be up to improvement teams.

The improvement teams are made up of members from each functional area. The make-up of each team depends upon the project assigned by the steering committee. Implementation of this approach will allow the company to reach the fifth rung of the ladder. This is where cross-functional teams are used to obtain improvements.

The company is now one step from the top rung of the ladder,but it is a giant step. The last rung denotes that the desired belief and value system is in place.This means that the behavior of most people in the organization reflects the new culture. Reaching this point takes dedication from everyone. Management must provide leadership in changing behavior.Resources must be provided,particularly for massive and continuous training.

Cross-functional improvement teams must change and fine-tune various processes to reflect the new value system. Most individuals in the company must see the need for change and reflect new values in their behavior. The way this is done is different for each company. There is no 'canned approach' to be emulated. Much of it depends on the personalities involved.

The change in culture is worth it No company has reported that they have completed the change to a new culture.Those that are close report the following results:

Increased market share

Cost reductions

Lower throughput time

Management is easier

Communications are better

Employees are happier

Focuses of continuous Improvement

Focuses of continuous Improvement

The most successful continuous improvement efforts do not focus on the product.This approach has not worked well in the past. Improvements were generally short-lived and not effective, because permanent solutions were not obtained:

Permanent solutions often require a basic change in how the business is run. This involves both business processes and company organization.

Today it is thought that continuous improvement can be obtained by focusing on three factors: the organization, the processes involved with the organization, and concerned individuals.Processes can be classified as business and manufacturing. Targets for improvement,organization and continuous improvement are the real focuses of improvement. Collectively they make up the system that influences the quality of the product.The focuses exist both inside and outside a company. For example, a supplier is external to a company. In reality, the supplier is part of the organization that influences quality. Recognizing this, many companies refer to a supplier as a partner.The processes used by the supplier extend to and are integral with those in the buying company. Individuals from the supplier are concerned in these processes.

The customer who is external to the a company, plays a critical part in focusing quality direction. If the customer is another company, strong direction is given by the customer's requirements for quality products. For companies selling directly to the customer market,the direction is more subtle. For these companies,it is critical to seek out the perceptions of customers. A few companies consider customers as part of the organization that influences quality. by doing this, they include the parties that really decide if quality exists.

To show the relationships among the real focuses of improvement- the individual, the processes, and the organization consider what may happen when a product fails. The scenario can be the same whether the failure occurs in the plant or when the product is used by the customer. If a failure occurs in the plant or when the product is used by the customer. If a failure occurs, an improvement is needed in one or more of the focuses.

Assume that a failure happens because an assembly was not put together correctly. Considering the individual, this may be because the operator was not instructwed adequately.

Looking at the process, improvements may be needed in both manufacturing and business processes. Perhaps the business process of materials delivery is providing wrong but look-alike parts to the operator. Also, the assembly process may not have the proper fixtures to prevent putting together wrong parts. Another possibility is that the business process of product development did not make a design that prevented incorrect assembly.

Regarding the organization, the culture may be driven around the need to make production schedules despite all obstacles. Because of this,the climate in the company may have led the operator to compromise quality for quantity.
For continuous improvement, efforts must be focused on all three objectives. Past quality improvement efforts focused on the individual after analyzing the product.The individual was usually someone on the factory floor. In the example just given, the operator possibly would be retrained and the problem considered solved; but what happens when the operator is sick or transferred? The new operator may make the same mistake. Although it is important to start with individuals, permanent solutions are often  not reached with this approach.
Usually, an individual can provide valuable input leading to permanent solutions. These often require changes in the process and organization. Perhaps a combination of changing fixtures and product design can lead to an enduring solution to the problem. Also,seeking solutions in the process and organization can suggest more individual improvements. Training in design for assembly for a product development engineer may be appropriate. Training in quality for the plant manager may start needed changes in the organization also.