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Master of Business Administration - MBA Semester IV

OM0016 – Quality Management - 4 Credits

(Book ID: B1341)

Assignment - Set- 1 (60 Marks)

Note: Each Question carries 10 marks. Answer all the questions.

1. Elucidate a relationship between strategy and data quality.

ANS. Correlation Between Strategy and Data Quality

Organisations are turning to be more dependent on data; nearly every modern organisation depends upon data and creates huge quantities of data. So, to meet the requirements of the organisation, a comprehensive data management program is necessary. But data is distinctive from other resources and requires diverse management techniques.

Organisational framework required to tackle the above concerns often does not exist. Hence, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive data quality strategy that can address many of these issues. For example, as with many organisations, formal data quality strategy was not documented for the New Zealand Ministry of Health. A planned data quality framework was later introduced which informed the overall development of a data quality strategy for the Ministry of Health. All results of the development of the strategy were documented for each collection of data. And it enabled internal members to access all the information about data collection. The documents are:

· Guidelines for the usage of data and original purpose for the collection

· Roles and responsibilities

· Results of assessment of collection using data quality framework

· Action plan for quality improvement

· Current and previous data quality initiatives

The data was available both on paper and Web.

As defined by Joseph Juran[3], “Data are of high quality, if they are fit for their intended uses in operations, decision-making and planning. Data are fit for use if they are free of defects and possess desired features”. Hence, a data quality strategy in an organisation is a must to define the level of quality required to make the data useful. The data quality strategy also needs to look forward to the future potential uses of the data.

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2. Explain the historical development of quality in brief. List Deming's 14 points philosophy.

ANS. Historical Development

The growth of quality can trace its origin back to medieval Europe, where craftsmen began organising themselves into a group called guilds in the late 13th century.

Until the early 19th century, manufacturing in the industrialised world followed the craftsmanship framework. The factory system, with its accent on product inspection, started in Great Britain in the mid-1750s and later grew into the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s.

In the early 20th century, manufacturers started to include quality processes in quality practices.

Later when the United States entered World War II, quality became a vital component of the war exertion. For example, bullets manufactured in one state had to work systematically in rifles made in another. In the beginning, the armed forces inspected almost every unit of product. Then to simplify the process without compromising safety, they began to use sampling techniques for inspection. These techniques were aided by the publication of military-specification standards and training courses in Walter Shewhart’s SPC techniques.

In the United States, the birth of total quality came as a direct reply to the quality revolution in Japan following World War II. The Japanese accepted the comments of Americans; Joseph M. Juran and W. Edwards Deming and instead of concentrating on inspection, focused on improving all organisational processes through the people who used them.

By the 1970s, the US industrial sectors such as automobiles and electronics had been impacted by Japan’s high-quality competition. In response, the U.S. emphasised not only on statistics but also approaches that embraced the entire organisation. This was later known as Total Quality Management (TQM).

In the 20th century, TQM was considered by many business leaders. Nevertheless, while the use of the term TQM has attenuated, particularly in the US.

In few years, the quality movement seems to have developed beyond the scope of Total Quality. New quality systems have come into existence from the foundations of Deming, Juran and the early Japanese practitioners of quality.

Guilds of Medieval Europe: - From the end of the 13th century to the early 19th century, craftsmen all around medieval Europe were organised into groups called guilds. They were responsible for developing rigorous rules for product and service quality. Inspection committees implemented the rules by marking unflawed goods with a special mark.

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At first this mark was used to track the origin of defective items. But over time the mark became to represent a craftsman’s good reputation. For example, stonemasons’ marks represented each guild member’s responsibility to satisfy his customers and enhance the trade’s reputation.

Inspection marks and master-craftsmen marks functioned as proof of quality for customers all over medieval Europe. This approach was governing quality until the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century.

The Industrial Revolution

American quality practices took place in the 1800s as they were moulded by changes in dominant production methods such as:

· Craftsmanship

· The factory system

· The Taylor system

Craftsmanship

In the early 19th century, manufacturing in the United States inclined to follow the craftsmanship model used in the European countries. In this model, young boys well-versed a skilled trade while serving as an apprentice for many years.

Each craftsman had a tremendous personal stake in meeting customers’ needs for quality, since most craftsmen sold their goods locally. If quality needs were not met, they were at the risk of losing customers those were not easily replaced. Therefore, they maintained a form of quality control by inspecting goods before sale.

The factory system

The factory system, a part of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, began to separate the craftsmen’s trades into specialised tasks. This encouraged craftsmen to become factory workers and shop owners to become production supervisors.

In this system, quality was assured through the skill of labourers, regular audits and inspections. If necessary, faulty products were either reworked or scrapped.

The Taylor system

Late in the 19th century, Frederick W. Taylor developed a new management approach that was adopted in the United States, breaking through European tradition. Taylor’s aim was to increase productivity without increasing the number of skilled craftsmen. He attained this by assigning factory planning to specialised engineers. He also used craftsmen and supervisors, as inspectors and managers who executed the engineers’ plans.

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Taylor’s approach led to an outstanding rise in productivity, but it had considerable drawbacks: workers were once again divested of their rights, and the new approach had a negative effect on quality.

The Early 20th Century: - The beginning of the 20th century marked the addition of “processes” in quality practices.

A process[5] is a collection of activities or tasks intended to accomplish a particular goal (to produce a product), for a particular customer or customers.

Walter Shewhart, a statistician for Bell Laboratories, started to centre on controlling processes in the mid-1920s. He made quality relevant for both finished product and the processes that created it.

Shewhart identified that industrial processes yield data. For example, a procedure in which metal is cut into sheets result in certain measurements, such as each sheet’s length, height and thickness. Shewhart found out that this data can be analysed using statistical techniques to see whether a procedure is stable and in control, or if it is being affected by special causes. Being determined, Shewhart laid the foundation for a modern-day quality tool known as control charts.

World War II: - After entering into World War II, the United States endorsed a statute law to help gear the civilian economy to military production. At that time, products were thoroughly checked on delivery to ensure conformance to requirements.

During this period, quality became a significant safety concern. Insecure military equipment was clearly unacceptable, and the U.S. armed forces inspected almost every unit produced to ensure that it was safe to use. This practice required immense inspection forces that caused problems in recruiting and retaining competent inspection personnel.

To facilitate the problems without any compromise in product safety, the armed forces began to use sampling inspection to replace unit-by-unit inspection. With the help of industry consultants, especially from Bell Laboratories, they modified sampling tables and published them in a military standard. These tables were then integrated into the military contracts so that the suppliers clearly understood what they were expected to produce.

The armed forces also aided suppliers to improve on quality by sponsoring training courses in Walter Shewhart’s Statistical Quality Control (SQC) techniques.

Although the training courses led to some quality improvement in some organisations, most companies had the modest need to integrate the techniques.

Quality Philosophies

The many quality philosophies put forth by quality gurus, some them are explained here under.

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Deming’s 14 points: - The 14 points seem to be a radical idea, but the key to understanding them is Deming’s thoughts about variation. Variation was considered by Deming as the disease that menaced U.S. manufacturing industry. Deming strongly believed that quality is the responsibility of the management. He derived the fourteen points that can be applied to both small and large organisations, to the manufacturing or service industry. They also apply to a department within a company.

The Deming’s fourteen points[6] are summarised as follows.

1. "Create constancy of purpose towards improvement". Substitute short-term response with long-term planning.

2. "Adopt the new philosophy". The significance is that the management should actually adopt his philosophy, rather than just expecting the workforce to do so.

3. ”Cease dependence on inspection". If variance is reduced, there is no need to check manufactured items for defects, because there would not be any.

4. "Move towards a single supplier for any one item." Multiple suppliers mean variation between raw materials.

5. "Improve constantly and forever". Always strive to reduce variation.

6. "Institute training on the job". If people are not properly trained, they will not work the same way, and this will bring in variation.

7. "Institute leadership". Deming differentiates leadership and supervision. The latter is number and target based.

8. "Drive out fear". Deming considers management as counter- productive in the long term, because it keeps workers from acting in the organisation’s best interests.

9. "Break down barriers between departments". Another central idea to TQM is the concept of the ‘internal customer’, that each department serves other departments that use its output, but not the management.

10. "Eliminate slogans". Another central idea to TQM is that it is not people who make mistakes; instead it is the process they are working within.

11. "Eliminate management by objectives".

12. "Remove barriers to pride of workmanship". Other problems outlined within an organisation reduce worker satisfaction.

13. "Institute education and self-improvement".

14. "The transformation is everyone’s job".

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3. Elucidate the features of Six Sigma. List the advantages and disadvantages of Six Sigma in brief.

ANS. Features of Six Sigma

Six Sigma has many features that are useful in vital problem-solving processes and to drive an organisation towards success.

Some of the important features are as follows:

· Six Sigma shifts the paradigm quality as the cause of good business performance and not the effect. Earlier all process and product improvement techniques were aimed at continuous improvement of quality. Six Sigma propagates that all-round quality performance is bound to result in the attainment of the desired business excellence in terms of reduced cost, maximum customer satisfaction and return on investment.

· The philosophy of Six Sigma is to make fewer mistakes in all the organisational activities and continue to reduce mistakes.

· The Six Sigma is a business strategy to reduce the cost by attaining good quality.

· It is a statistical process control technique aimed at achieving total confidence in the company’s products and service performances for the customers as well as the management.

· It is a philosophy of achieving the ultimate goal of ‘Do it right the first time every time.

· Sigma in statistics is used to indicate the standard deviation. A sigma value indicates the ability of a process to perform defect-free work. The higher the sigma value, the better the process performance and the lower the probability of defect.

· Six Sigma reduces the defect and variations in the product by improving the process that produces and delivers the product.

· The Six Sigma is not delegable. The involvement of the top management is a must.

· The Six Sigma principles and philosophy are equally applicable to the manufacturing and the service industry.

· The Six Sigma is not new. It makes use of the same problem-solving tools in a structured manner.

· The Six Sigma’s main objectives are reduction of variation, defects, costs and cycle time, aimed towards maximisation of customer satisfaction.

· The focus of Six Sigma is on the following areas:

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· Independent variable to the process.

· Root cause of any problem and its elimination or prevention.

· The inputs to the process and not on the output.

· The problem and not on the symptom.

· In controlling the problem or the deviation and not on monitoring.

Benefits of Six Sigma

The following are the benefits of Six Sigma:

· Six Sigma is influenced by the customer and thus aims to achieve maximum customer satisfaction and minimum defects. It targets customer delight and new innovative ways to exceed the customer expectations.

· Implementation of Six Sigma methodology leads to increase in profit and decrease in costs. Thus improvements attained are directly related to financial results.

· Six Sigma is successfully implemented in every business category including return on sales, return on investment, employment growth and stock value growth.

· Six Sigma targets variation in processes and focuses on the process improvement instead of final outcome.

· Six Sigma is a potential methodology as compared to other quality programs as it focuses on prevention on defects rather than fixing it.

· It is thoughtful to the entire business processes and training is integral to the management system where the top down approach ensures that every good thing is capitalised and every bad thing is quickly removed.

Disadvantages of Six Sigma

Though SIX Sigma is a very beneficial concept, it does have some drawbacks. The following are the disadvantages of Six Sigma:

· The Six Sigma critics are being arguing about applicability of Six Sigma. They suggest that the quality standards should be according to specific task and measuring 3.4 defects per million as standard leads to more time in areas which are less profitable.

· Six Sigma emphasises on the rigidity of a process which essentially contradicts innovation and kills creativity. An innovative method means deviations in production,

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redundancy, unusual solutions and insufficient study which are opposite to Six Sigma principles.

· People contend that Six Sigma is simply a re-branding of continues improvement techniques and tools. Hence it promotes outsourcing of improvement projects with lack of accountability.

· Six Sigma implementation continuously require skilled work force. Therefore, control and employee dedication are hard to accomplish if it is not implemented regularly.

· While changing over the theoretical concepts into practical applications there are lot of real time barriers which needs to be resolved.

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4. Why do think management responsibility is an essential requirement of QMS?

Ans. Quality Management System Requirements

The quality management system that needs to be documented and implemented will be determined by the nature of the process carried out to ensure that the product or service conforms to customer requirement. Certain fundamental principles are applicable. These fall into well-defined categories which are detailed in ISO 9001:2000.

Management responsibility

Managerial responsibility plays a very important role in the QMS. It is essential to retain and manage the system components.

Customer needs/requirements

The organisation must focus on customer needs and specify them as defined requirements for the organisation. The aim of this is to achieve customer assurance in the products and/or services provided. It is also necessary to ensure that the defined requirements are clearly understood and amply met.

Quality policy

The organisation must define and publish its quality policy, which forms an element of the corporate policy. Complete commitment is required from the senior management to ensure that the policy is communicated, understood, implemented and maintained at all levels in the organisation. It should, therefore, be authorised by top management and signed by the chief executive, or equivalent signatories.

Quality objectives and planning

Organisations must publish quality objectives and define the responsibilities of each function and level in the organisation.

A manager reporting to top management, with the necessary authority, resources, support and ability must be given the responsibility to coordinate, implement and maintain the quality management system. He must also resolve any problem and ensure prompt and effective corrective action. This includes responsibility for ensuring proper handling of the system and reporting on needs for improvement. Those who control sales, service operations, warehousing, delivery and reworking of non-conforming product or service processes must also be identified.

Management review

Management reviews of the system must be carried out by top management at defined intervals, with records to indicate their actions. The effectiveness of these actions must be considered during subsequent reviews. Reviews include data on the

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internal quality audits, customer feedback, product conformance analysis, process performance and the status of preventive, corrective and improvement actions.

Quality manual

The organisation must prepare a quality manual that is appropriate. It must include the following:

· A quality policy

· Definition of the quality management system; its scope, exclusions and more.

· Description of the interaction between different processes of the quality management system

· Documentation of procedures required by the QMS

In the quality manual for a large organisation it is convenient to indicate the existence and contents of other manuals containing the details of procedures and practices in operation in specific areas of the system.

Control of quality records

Quality records must demonstrate conformance to requirements and effective operation of the quality management system. Quality records from suppliers also need to be controlled. This includes record identification, collection, indexing, access, filing, storage and disposition. In addition, the retention time of quality records must be established.

5. Explain the goals and programs of strategic plan.

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Ans. Development of Goals: - Next are the Goals, these are specific immediate or ultimate time-based measurements to be achieved by implementing strategies in quest of the company’s objectives. For example, to achieve sales of Rs.3 million in two years time, goals should be quantifiable, reliable, practical and realisable. They can relate to factors like market (sizes and shares), goods, funds, prosperity, operation and competency. A goal should be able to:

· Describe a future end-state – desired outcome that is encouraging of the mission and vision.

· Shape the way ahead in actionable conditions.

· Applicable where there are obvious choices about the future.

· Put planned focus into the organisation – specific ownership of the objective should be assigned to people within the organisation.

· Work well where things are changing fast.

Goals should be apt for long-term environments that have limited choices about the future.

Action plans

The Action Plan identifies the specific steps undertaken to achieve the initiatives and strategic objective of the organisation. Each initiative has a sustaining Action Plan(s) attached to it.

Action Plans are executed toward operations, actions and processes. They describe who does what, when it will be achieved, and how the organisation knows when such steps are accomplished. Action Plans necessitate the control of progress on objectives, for which measures are needed.

The execution of Action plans in an organisation is in the following manner:

Figure 5.1: Execution of Action Plan

Characteristics and execution of action plans

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Organisations face many challenges in today’s unstable economy – competitive battles, increased expenses, decreased margins and many other internal and external forces. In order to shore up their companies’ responses to these factors, today’s leaders must be able to take the plans they place for their organisations and turn them into results. Unfortunately, too many companies struggle to bridge the gap between goals and results – they create concrete and rational plans, but are unable to execute properly.

Following is process of executing action plans:

1. Assigning responsibility for the successful completion of the Action Plans. The roles and responsibilities should be assigned clearly in definite terms.

2. Featuring all required steps to achieve the Initiative that the Action Plan is sustaining. The exact area of the action to be taken must be identified.

3. Establishing a time frame for the completion each steps. The exact time of undertaking the action should be defined.

4. Establishing the resources required to complete the steps. The financial concerns related to the need of the resources in order to accomplish an action should be identified.

5. Defining the specific actions (steps) that must be taken to implement the initiative. Determine the deliverables (in considerable terms) that should result from completion of individual steps. Identify in-process measures to ensure the processes used to carry out the action are working as intended. Define the expected results and milestones of the action plan.

6. Providing a concise status report on each step, whether completed or not. The communication process followed in the process must be recognised and the level of the implementation of the action plans should also be acknowledged.

Action Plan execution requires that the organisation has answered the Who, What, How, Where, and When questions related to the project or proposal that impels strategic execution.

Synchronisation with lower level sections, administrative and operating employees is important since they will execute the Action Plan in the form of specific work strategy.

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6. What are the two Six Sigma models undertaken for Quality improvement?

Ans. Methods of Quality Improvement

There are various methods for quality improvement. These cover product improvement, method improvement and people based improvement. The following are the methods of quality management that include ISO 9004:2008 – guidelines for performance improvement:

· ISO 15504-4: 2005 – information technology – process assessment – Part 4: Guidance on use for process improvement and process capability determination.

· Quality Function Deployment (QFD): It is also known as the house of quality approach.

· Kaizen: Japanese word for change for the better; the common English term is continuous improvement.

· Zero Defect Program: Created by NEC Corporation, Japan, based upon statistical process control and one of the inputs for the inventors of Six Sigma.

· Six Sigma: It combines standardised methods such as statistical process control, plan of experiments and FMEA (Failure mode and Effect Analysis) in an overall framework.

· PDCA: Plan, do, check, act cycle for quality control purposes.

· Quality circle: A group of people working towards the organisational improvement approach.

· Taguchi methods: Statistical methods including quality robustness, quality loss function and target specifications.

· The Toyota Production System: Reworked in the west into production

· Kansei engineering: An approach that centers on capturing customer feedback about products to enhance improvement.

· Total Quality Management (TQM): It is a management strategy aimed at establishing awareness of quality in all organisational processes. First promoted in Japan with the Deming prize which was adopted and adapted in USA as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and in Europe as the European Foundation for Quality Management award.

· TRIZ: Meaning "theory of inventive problem solving"

· Business Process Reengineering (BPR): A management approach aiming at ‘clean slate’ improvements.

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· Object-oriented Quality Management (OQM): A model for quality management.

Process Approach: This approach forms the basis of ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System standards and is taken from the ‘Eight principles of Quality management’, process. For example, Six Sigma was planned for manufacturing but has spread to service industries also. Each of these methods has met with success but not without failures.

Some of the common differentiators between success and failure include commitment, knowledge, information and expertise to guide improvement, range of change/improvement desired and adapted by the industry cultures. It is important to consider the people factors in an organisation, such as culture, while selecting a quality improvement approach. Any improvement takes time to execute, gain acceptance and stabilise as an accepted practice. Improvement must allow sometime between executing new changes so that the change is established and examined as a real improvement, before the next improvement is made.

Improvements that change the culture take long time as they have to overcome greater resistance to change. It is effective to work within the prevailing cultural boundaries and make small improvements (that is Kaizen) than to make drastic transformational changes. For example use of Kaizen in Japan was a major reason for the development of Japanese industrial and economic strength.

The FADE model

This is a graphical model. There are 4 broad steps to the FADE QI model:

Focus

The first step of quality improvement is the recognition of the available opportunities for development. Problems can be identified in a number of different ways and then the identification of the problems can open up new doors for the development of quality improvement in the industry. The following questions are used in problem identification:

· What is the problem?

· How do you know that it is a problem?

· How frequently does it occur, or how long has it existed?

· What are the effects of this problem? How will you know when it is resolved?

Analyse

The second step of quality improvement begins with the identification of an opportunity for quality improvement. Analysis is performed to enhance the understanding of the process that needs improvement. The following are some objectives of the problem analysis stage:

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· Clarify why the process produces the effect that needs an improvement

· Measure the performance of the process that produces the effect

· Learn about domestic and outdoor clients

· Prepare research questions, including:

· Who is involved or affected?

· Where does the problem arise?

· When does the problem arise?

· What happens when the problem occurs?

· Why does the problem occur?

To accomplish these objectives, the analysis stage involves the use of information.

Develop

The third stage is initiated when adequate data has been collected to develop hypotheses about what changes or interventions have to be done to improve the existing problem. A hypothesis is an educated presumption about the underlying cause of a problem. But it is not practical because it is not tested and thus it is only a theory.

Evaluate

The fourth stage of the quality improvement process focuses on testing and implementation of the supposed solutions. As with the other stages of the quality improvement attempt, the nature of this step is influenced by the size and complexity of the quality improvement effort. For example, in some situations it might make sense to conduct several small tests of the solution(s), while in other situations it might make sense to make one large test of all the solutions.

It is always necessary to install an ongoing measuring/monitoring system to guarantee success.

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Figure 6.1: Fade Model

The PDSA

The process that is used to identify and implement hypothesised solutions in real scenario is known as the PDSA Cycle. Within process improvement domain, a methodology is used to build knowledge that leads to process improvement. The methodology is known as Shewhart’s Cycle for Learning and Improvement. It is often referred to as the “PDSA Cycle” with the full form relating to the words “Plan,” ”Do,” “Study,” and “Act.”

The PDSA Cycle consists of the following steps:

1. Plan

· Make a plan for the improvement.

· Collect basic data necessary or the improvement on different processes.

· Communicate the test of the change.

· Plan to monitor the results of change through a data collection system.

· Educate and communicate with others about the change.

2. Do

· Test the change undertaken for the quality improvement as planned.

· Document the results of the change on the process concerned with the changes.

· Collect data about the process being changed.

3. Study

· Verify the effects of the change on the related process.

· See if the data are complete and accurate.

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· Check results and monitor the data used.

· Compare predicted results with the results from the test.

4. Act

Summarise and communicate what was learned from the previous steps. Modify/abandon the prior unsuccessful plan. Implement successful plan on the processes. Develop ongoing monitoring on the process held for the application of the new

efforts of quality improvement. Consider implementing change throughout organisational system.

Figure 6.2: The PDSA Cycle

Six Sigma improvements

Six Sigma is another form for improvement. The phrase comes from its use in statistics of the Greek Letter (sigma) to signify Standard Deviation from the mean. Six Sigma is a measurement-based approach for process improvement and problem reduction in an organisation. This is undertaken through the use of two Six Sigma models: DMAIC and DMADV.

· DMAIC (define measure, analyse, improve, control) is an improvement system for existing processes looking for improvement.

· DMADV (define, measure, analyse, design, verify) is an improvement approach used to expand new processor products at Six Sigma quality levels.

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Master of Business Administration - MBA Semester IV

OM0016 – Quality Management - 4 Credits

(Book ID: B1341)

Assignment - Set- 2 (60 Marks)

Note: Each Question carries 10 marks. Answer all the questions.

1. Explain the two Reliability theories?

Ans. Reliability Theories

Reliability theory allows researchers to predict the age-related failure for a system of given architecture of its components.

Classical test theory

In classical test theory, reliability is defined mathematically as the ratio of the variation of the true score and the variation of the observed score or one minus the ratio of the variation of the error score and the variation of the observed score.

Item response theory

It is well-known that measurement precision is not uniform across the scale of measurement. Item response theory (IRT) extends the concept of reliability from a single index to a function called the information function. The IRT information function is the inverse of the

The most important features of precision are reliability and validity. Reliability refers to the reproducibility of a measurement. Reliability is estimated by taking several measurements on the same subjects. Poor reliability degrades the accuracy of a single measurement and reduces the ability to record changes in measurements in any experimental studies. Validity is referred to as the agreement between the value of a measurement and its true value. Validity is quantified by comparing the measurements with values that is the closest to the true value of measurement. Poor validity also degrades the accuracy of a single measurement, and it reduces the ability to characterise relationships between variables in descriptive studies.

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2. What are different conditions which a company has to ensure before the

implementation of the Cost of Quality?

Ans. Pre-Requisites for Cost Of Quality

Cost of Quality is the total costs incurred on quality activities and issues and often split into prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs and external failure costs. There are certain conditions which a company has to ensure before the implementation of the COQ.

They are:

· The management should be committed to make rapid changes to maximise the profit within the given time period and imposed constraints. (Example, Company’s Mission and Vision, laws and regulations, policies and so on)

· There should be proper legacy systems, departmental silos and empire building that is excused from any kind of reassessment.

· The current management measurement systems such as scrap, rework, stock outages, absenteeism, productivity, profitability and so on must be compatible with the organisational COQ.

· The employees and the customers must be receiving mixed messages and conflicting signals between COQ and the conventional management measurements.

· The COQ Software should suit the current and the future requirements for maximum value from the available data at the minimum cost.

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3. Explain the principles that can help to develop effective measurements to quality.

Ans. Measurements

Measurement is essential for all three operational quality processes and for strategic management. For quality control, measurement provides feedback and early warnings of problems. For operational quality planning, measurement quantifies customer needs and product and process capabilities. For quality improvement, measurement can encourage people, prioritise improvement opportunities, and help in diagnosing causes. And for strategic quality management, measurement provides input for setting destination and later supplies the data for performance review.

The following principles can help to develop effective measurements for quality:

· Clearly defining the reason and use of the measurement.

· Emphasising customer linked measurements.

· Focussing on measurements that are of use and not on those which are easy to collect.

· Providing participation from all levels in both the planning and execution of measurements.

· Making measurements as close as possible to the activities they contact. This timing facilitates diagnosis and decision making.

· Providing leading and lagging indicators along with concurrent indicators.

· Identifying plans for data collection and storage, analysis, and presentation of measurements in advance.

· Obtaining simplicity in data recording, analysis, and presentation.

· Providing periodic evaluations of accuracy, integrity, and usefulness of measurements.

· Realising that measurement only cannot improve in products and processes. Measurements must be supplemented with the assets and training to enable people to achieve improvement.

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4. What is quality function deployment? List the four phases that are involved in

QFD.

Ans. Quality Functional Deployment

One method for documenting overall design logic is Quality Functional Deployment (QFD).

QFD can be defined as converting the customer’s demands into quality characteristics and developing a design quality for the finished product by scientifically deploying the relationships between the demands and the characteristics, starting with the quality of each functional component and extending the deployment to the quality of each part and process. The overall quality of the product will be created through this network of relationships.

QFD is a general term that means deployment of quality through deployment of quality functions.

A complete QFD involves four phases:

1. Product Planning (House of Quality): Convert customer requirement into product technical requirements to meet customer needs.

2. Product Design: Convert technical requirements to key part characteristics or systems.

3. Process Planning: Recognise key process operations necessary to achieve key part characteristics.

4. Production Planning (Process Control): Set up process control plans, maintenance plans, training plans to control operations.

Linking these phases gives a mechanism to deploy the customer voice through to control of process operations.

Parameter design and robust design

The most essential product feature is performance. To generate better output engineers use engineering principles to combine inputs of materials, parts, components, assemblies, liquids and so on. For each input, the engineer recognises parameters and specifies numerical values to achieve the required output. For each parameter, the specifications state a target value and a tolerance range around the target. This process is called parameter and tolerance design.

In choosing these target values, it is useful to set values so that the performance of the product in the field is not affected by variability in manufacturing or field conditions. Then the design is said to be robust. Robust designs provide optimum performance simultaneously with variation in manufacturing and field conditions.

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Designers have always tried to create robust designs. But as products become more complex, with many factors affecting performance, it becomes difficult to know (1) what factors affect the mean value of an output performance and (2) what nominal values to set for each factor. Furthermore, some factors affect the mean value of an output parameter, whereas others affect the variation about the mean. One purpose of the development testing is to investigate these matters.

Applications of Design of Experiments (DOE) to product and process design

G. Taguchi has developed a method for determining the optimum target values of product and process parameters that will minimise variation while keeping the mean on target. This method is known as parameter design, setting limits around a target value is known as tolerance design. The emphasis on setting target values on design parameters to minimise variation is an important contribution of this approach. In the Taguchi approach, the design of experiments is employed to investigate control factors in the presence of noise factors. Control factors can be defined as the factors that can be controlled in the design of a product or process. Factors that cannot be easily controlled, but that can be minimised are called as noise factors. Taguchi recommends using fractional factors and set their levels to minimise variation.

In this experiment, levels of nine critical factors were selected. Six of the factors each, three of the factors have only two level each. To explore all probable factor level combination, a full factorial experiment of 36X23, or 5832, observations would require. Instead, a fractional factorial design was chosen to investigate 18 combinations with a total of 34 measurements. Three dimensions of each window were measured. Transformed variables instead of absolute values were used in the data analysis. The variables selected were the mean and the signal to noise ratio (S/N). The signal to noise ratio is given by:

The problem was to determine the factor levels that yield a maximum S/N while keeping the mean on target. Two steps were needed:

1. Determining the factors that have a considerable effect on the S/N. These are the factors that control process variability and are referred to as control factors. For each control factor, the level chosen is that with the highest S/N, thus maximising the overall ratio.

2. Selecting the control factor that has the least effect on the S/N. This factor is called a signal factor. The levels of the factors that are neither control factors nor signal factors is set so that the mean response is on target.

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5. Briefly explain the benchmarking process? What is PDPC?

Ans. Benchmarking

In the previous section we learnt about the history of quality analysis and the tools and techniques required for it. Now in this section we will learn the concept and dimensions of Benchmarking.

Benchmarking also referred to as "best practice benchmarking"[1] or "process benchmarking", is the constant process of evaluating products, services and practises against the strongest competitors or organisations recognised as leaders. It is used by organisations searching for industry best practises that lead to outstanding performance.

It is only through a change of your current practises or performing your processes that effectiveness can improve. Therefore it is not good enough just to know that another organisation is better at performing a certain activity. It is a matter of addressing the issue and learning from similar organisations on how to improve your processes.

The term benchmarking was earlier used by cobblers to determine shoes for people. They would position someone’s foot on a "bench" and mark it out to make the model for the shoes.

For example: A bank can benchmark on loan exemption time from the competitor’s practices. A call centre can benchmark on the reduction of number of dropped calls from one of its competitor. An auto subsidiary industry can benchmark on reducing the number of defects from the quality practices accepted from the competitor.

Process Decision Program Chart

The Process Decision Program Chart (commonly just referred to as PDPC) is used to classify possible problems and counter ways in a plan. It is used:

· When making plans, to help identify potential risks to their successful completion.

· When risks are identified, to help identify and select from a set of possible counter measures.

In any plan there are two approaches to coping with this problem: fire fighting or risk management.

Fire fighting is an approach where the manager spends most of his/her time handling with the unforeseen issue orders, change plans and slip schedules. It can give a false sense of bravery as immediate dangers are averted by dramatic last-minute actions.

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Risk management involves foreseeing the planning stage for possible future problems. The crucial part of this activity is the actual identification of risks. The PDPC provides an assistance to help in identifying both risks and countermeasures.

Figure 13.6: Plans and PDPC

Two of the most common essentials of risk are cost and time, for example where there is a risk in a busy timetable of key equipment being unavailable and subsequent time loss and extra expense being acquired in hiring replacement machines. There are three possible directions that may be taken for handling identified risks: risk avoidance, risk reduction and contingency planning.

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6. Differentiate any two Quality Control tools. Explain the term “Productivity”.

Ans. Quality Control

Quality Control (QC) is defined as a method intended to ensure that a manufactured product or performed service adheres to a defined set of quality criteria or meets the requirements of the client. QC is similar to, but not the same as, quality assurance (QA).

The control process is a feedback loop. This is depicted in Figure 9.1 below. Quality Control involves a universal sequence of steps as follows:

1. Choose the control subject, i.e., choose what we intend to regulate.

2. Establish measurement.

3. Establish standards of performance.

4. Measure actual performance.

5. Compare actual measured performance to standards.

6. Take action on the difference.

Figure 9.1: Feedback Loop

In a department where a natural work team puts the control process into practice, three purposes are served:

· Preserve the gains from improvement projects.

· Promote investigation of process variation based on data, to identify improvement opportunities.

· Allow team members to simplify their responsibilities and work to achieve a state of self-control.

The first three steps in the control process require participation of the department work team. The last three steps can be the responsibility of the department work team.

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Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance (QA) is defined as a method intended to ensure that a product or service under development (before work is completed) meets specified requirements.

ISO defines quality assurance as all the planned and systematic activities implemented within the quality system, and established as needed, to provide enough confidence that an entity will fulfil the requirements for quality.

Quality Audit

A quality audit is an independent review conducted to compare some aspects of quality performance against a standard. An independent audit provides an unbiased picture of performance. The terms quality assessment and quality audit have similar meanings, but in common usage, assessment refers to a total spectrum of quality activities, often including managerial matters such as the cost of poor quality, standing in the market place, and quality culture.

Principles of a Quality Audit Program

Five principles are essential to a successful quality audit program.

1. An inflexible emphasis on conclusions based on facts. Any conclusions lacking a factual base must be so labelled.

2. An attitude on the part of auditors that the audits provide assurance to management and also a useful examination to line managers in managing their departments. Thus audit reports must provide satisfactory detail on deficiencies to facilitate analysis and action by line managers.

3. An attitude on the part of auditors to recognise opportunities for improvement. Such opportunities include highlighting good ideas used in practice that are not part of formal procedures.

4. Dealing with the human relations issues that are discussed.

5. Capability of auditors. The basic education and knowledge of the auditors should be sufficient to enable them to learn within short period of time, the technological aspects of the operations they are to audit.

Measurements

Measurement is essential for all three operational quality processes and for strategic management. For quality control, measurement provides feedback and early warnings of problems. For operational quality planning, measurement quantifies customer needs and product and process capabilities. For quality improvement, measurement can encourage people, prioritise improvement opportunities, and help in diagnosing causes. And for strategic quality management, measurement provides input for setting destination and later supplies the data for performance review.

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The following principles can help to develop effective measurements for quality:

· Clearly defining the reason and use of the measurement.

· Emphasising customer linked measurements.

· Focussing on measurements that are of use and not on those which are easy to collect.

· Providing participation from all levels in both the planning and execution of measurements.

· Making measurements as close as possible to the activities they contact. This timing facilitates diagnosis and decision making.

· Providing leading and lagging indicators along with concurrent indicators.

· Identifying plans for data collection and storage, analysis, and presentation of measurements in advance.

· Obtaining simplicity in data recording, analysis, and presentation.

· Providing periodic evaluations of accuracy, integrity, and usefulness of measurements.

· Realising that measurement only cannot improve in products and processes. Measurements must be supplemented with the assets and training to enable people to achieve improvement.

Self control

Preferably, quality planning for any task should put the employee into a state of self-control. Self-control is a universal concept applicable to a general manager responsible for managing a company division at a profit, a plant manager responsible for meeting the various goals set for that plant, a technician running a chemical reactor, or a bank teller serving customers.

To be in a state of self-control, people must be provided with:

· Knowledge of what they are supposed to do, e.g., the schedule, the budgeted profit, and the specification.

· Understanding of their performance, e.g., the actual profit, the delivery rate, the extent of conformance to specification.

· Means of regulating performance, if they lack to meet the goals.

If all the preceding parameters have been met, the person is said to be in a state of self-control and can properly be held responsible for any deficiencies in

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performance. If any parameter has not been met, the person is not in a state of self-control and, to the scope of the deficiency, cannot properly be held responsible.

Seven quality control tools

The seven basic tools of quality is an identification given to a fixed set of graphical techniques identified as being most helpful in troubleshooting the issues related to quality.

The seven control tools are:

1. Cause and effect diagram/Ishikawa/fishbone chart: Identifies many possible causes for an effect or problem and sorts ideas into useful categories.

2. Check sheet: A structured, prepared form for collecting and studying data.

3. Control charts: Graphs that are used to study how a process changes over time.

4. Histogram: It is the most commonly used graph for showing frequency distributions.

5. Pareto chart: This chart shows on a bar graph, the factors that are more significant.

6. Scatter diagram: Graphs pairs of mathematical data, one variable on each axis, to look for a relationship.

7. Stratification/Flow chart: A technique that separates data gathered from a variety of sources, so that patterns can be seen.

Productivity is a measure of the efficiency of production. Productivity is a ratio of what is produced to what is required to produce it. Usually this ratio is in the form of an average, expressing the total output divided by the total input. Productivity is a measure of output from a production process, per unit of input.

At the national level, productivity growth raises living standards because more real income improves people's ability to purchase goods and services, enjoy leisure, improve housing and education and contribute to social and environmental programs. Productivity growth is important to the firm because it means that the firm can meet its (perhaps growing) obligations to customers, suppliers, workers, shareholders, and governments (taxes and regulation), and still remain competitive or even improve its competitiveness in the market place.

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