Quality tools and techniques

A recent survey of companies in the automotive and aerospace industry found that many companies are unaware of the benefits that can be gained from the utilization of quality tools and techniques. The adoption of BS EN ISO 9000 (1994) and Total Quality Management (TQM) strategies might be expected to increase the utilization of methods. However, the extent to which companies utilize methods is more strongly related to annual turnover than employee count, therefore the use of tools and techniques is dominated by large companies (Araujo et al., 1996). 

McQuater, R. and Dale, B. 1995 Using Quality Tools and Techniques Successfully. UMIST and TQM International Ltd. 

Many companies already organize their shop floors with teams. The teams are usually trained in total quality tools and techniques. For a self-directed work team to function well, it has to have a clear structure to provide a framework for decision making. A common structure for this type of team is referred to as either the spoke or star structure. This means that the team s responsibilities are classified into distinct areas. Typically, one team member is appointed to fulfill the role of leader for each responsibility area. Common star leadership positions include scheduling, human resources, quality, and safety. 

A large number of operating variables are checked each shift. These variables include, at the least, pressure, temperature, level, flow, and compositional data. Each variable is checked to see if it is within operational specifications. This data is carefully organized using a variety of quality tools and techniques, including ... 

The Toyota X300 fork lift truck project design cycle is concurrent in nature spanning all the major disciplines in the process with quality assurance reviews, stipulating the use of appropriate tools and techniques at certain points. The product development process produced by General Electric is called the Tollgate Process . Again, it is concurrent in nature and includes ten review points. 

Kapur, K. 1993 Quality Engineering and Robust Design. In Kusiak, A. (ed.). Concurrent Engineering Automation, Tools and Techniques. NY Wiley. 

To improve customer satisfaction and business competitiveness, companies need to reduce the levels of non-conformance and attendant failure costs associated with poor product design and development. Attention needs to be focused on the quality and reliability of the design as early as possible in the product development process. This can be achieved by understanding the potential for variability in design parameters and the likely failure consequences in order to reduce the overall risk. The effective use of tools and techniques for designing for quality and reliability can provide this necessary understanding to reduce failure costs. 

We have only to look at the introductory clauses of ISO 9001 to find that the aim of the requirements is to achieve customer satisfaction by prevention of nonconformities. Hence quality management is a means for planning, organizing, and controlling the prevention of failure. All the tools and techniques that are used in quality management serve to improve our ability to succeed in our pursuit of excellence. 

Customer-supporting reference manuals on Advanced Quality Planning Control Plan Tools and Techniques... 

The standard requires the supplier to use tools and techniques identified in the customer reference manual on advanced product quality planning. 

Like the previous edition, the book remains focused primarily on investigating process-related incidents that present realized or potential catastrophic consequences (that is, accidents as well as near misses). However, readers will find that the methodologies, tools, and techniques described in the following chapters may also be applied when investigating other types of occurrences such as reliability, quality, and occupational health and safety incidents. 

Several models, tools, and techniques are available for improving the quality of products and services and managing the total quality leadership process. Greene (1993) reviewed quality practices in lapan and the United States and claims to have identified about 24 dimensions of total quahty management (TQM). Edosomwan (1998a) identified several TQL tools summarized in Table 3 for improving quality and performance at the individual, work-unit, and organizational levels. 

In order to meet the real-time transfer of the signal, stringent service quality parameters are defined over the data transfers down the supply chain. This chapter provides techniques to meet these requirements with minimal resources. Intime flow of the commodities to the end user is the basic requirement in a supply chain. The tools and techniques used to meet this goal are different in different supply chains. The example of realtime transfer of information for the end user is eonsidered throughout this ehapter. The supply ehain involves various routers, switehes, and media in between. The goal is to getthe real-time performanee in the ehain with minimal retransmissions. The concepts may be easily extended to any other form of supply chain. 

System safety continues, in many cases, to be more of an art than a science. The quality of system safety products is determined by the skill and talent of the individual analyst, not by the systematic application of accepted tools and techniques. 

Mears, R, Quality Improvement Tools and Techniques, McGraw-HiU, New York, 1995. 

Anderson, Bjorn and Fagerhaug Tom, Root Cause Analysis Simplified Tools and Techniques, 2nd ed., ASQ Quality Press, Milwaukee, WI, 2006. 

The Japanese automotive industry is a case in point. Not only did practices like Total Quality Management and Just-in-Time transform the fortunes of the companies that used them domestically, it has also changed production practices internationally. For the firms that have gained from using such tools and techniques it is inconceivable that they should turn back the clock to the time before they were used. Consequently, it seems that management tools and techniques are not inappropriate per se, but can cause problems if the tool is inappropriate for the problem at hand, or appropriate but misapplied. And, it is at this point that one has to understand the problem that is created by the method by which most tools and techniques are created and then sold into firms. 

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