Quality Management
Based on slides for Chase Acquilano and Jacobs, Operations
Management, McGraw-Hill
© Holmes Miller 1999
Definitions of Quality
ASQC: Product characteristics & features
that affect customer satisfaction
User-Based: What consumer says it is
Manufacturing-Based: Degree to which a
product conforms to design specification
Product-Based: Level of measurable product
characteristic
Exercise: List attributes of a quality car
Importance of Quality
Costs & market share
Market Gains
Reputation
Volume
Price
Improved
Quality
Increased
Profits
Lower Costs
Productivity
Rework/Scrap
Warranty
Total Quality Management
Managing the entire organization so that it
excels on all dimensions of products and
services that are important to the customer.
Involves entire organization from supplier to
customer
Objective: Meet or exceed customer needs
through company-wide continuous improvement
Early proponents
W. Edwards Deming
J. M. Juran
Philip B. Crosby
Some Total Quality
Management Principles
Continuous improvement
Employee empowerment
Benchmarking
Knowledge of TQM tools
CI Methodology: PDCA Cycle
(Deming Wheel)
1. Plan a change
aimed at
improvement.
4. Implement
the change;
abandon it or
do it again.
4. Act
3. Check
3. Study the results;
did it work?
1. Plan
2. Do
2. Execute the
change.
Employee Empowerment
Getting employees involved in product &
process improvements
85% of quality problems are due to process &
material
Techniques
Talk to workers
Support workers
Let workers make decisions
Build teams & quality circles
Benchmarking
Learn “best practices”
Form Benchmarking teams
How might Muhlenberg go about
benchmarking? What topic might be
“benchmarked”?
Quality Tools
Quality function deployment (QFD)
Taguchi techniques
Pareto charts
Process charts
Cause & effect diagrams
Statistical process control (SPC)
Pareto Chart
Vertical bar chart showing relative
importance of problems or defects
Makes identifying & solving them easier
Based on Pareto Principle
Most effects have relatively few causes
e.g., 80% of quality problems come from 20% of
machines, materials, or operators
Focus on ‘vital few’ 20% causes
Called 80-20 rule
Process Chart Example
SUBJECT: Request tool purchase
Dist (ft) Time (min) Symbol
Description
D Write order
 On desk
75
D To buyer
D Examine
 = Operation;  = Transport;  = Inspect;
D = Delay;  = Storage
Cause & Effect Diagram
Example
Method
Drill
Slow
Manpower
Tired
Over
Time
Old
Wood
Steel
Material
Too many
defects
Lathe
Machinery
Exercise
In your group, select a problem:
At Muhlenberg
Your company
Another organization
Develop a cause and effect diagram to
address the problem
Deliverable: Develop the diagram and share
solution with class
Statistical
Process Control (SPC)
Uses statistics & control charts to tell when
to adjust process
Developed by Shewhart in 1920’s
Involves
Creating standards (upper & lower limits)
Measuring sample output (e.g. mean weight)
Taking corrective action (if necessary)
Done while product is being produced
Example: Control Charts
Can be used to monitor ongoing production process quality
and quality conformance to stated standards of quality.
1020
UCL
1010
1000
990
LCL
980
970
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11 12 13 14 15
Aspects of Statistical Process
Control
Process Variation
Key Point: ANY process has associated variation
Process Capability
Some processes are not capable of satisfying
customer requirements
 Process Control Procedures
Variable data
72” in height, 131 lbs.
Attribute data
On/Off, 7 scratches on surface
SPC at Honda
Basic Forms of Variation
Assignable variation is caused by factors
that can be clearly identified and possibly
managed
temporary employee
improperly set machine
Common variation is inherent in the
production process
phone system cannot handle incoming traffic -slow response times
SPC at Honda (Part 2)
Six Sigma Quality
A philosophy and set of methods companies
use to eliminate defects in their products
and processes
Seeks to reduce variation in the processes
that lead to product defects
The name, “six sigma” refers to the variation
that exists within plus or minus six standard
deviations of the process outputs
Six Sigma allows managers to readily
describe process performance using a
common metric: Defects Per Million
Opportunities (DPMO)
DPMO 
Numberof defects
 Numberof 
 opportunit
ies  x No.of units
 for error per 
 unit



x 1,000,000
Six Sigma Quality: DMAIC Cycle
Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and
Control (DMAIC)
Developed by General Electric as a
means of focusing effort on quality using
a methodological approach
Overall focus of the methodology is to
understand and achieve what the
customer wants
Inspection
Involves examining items to see if an item is
good or defective
Objective: Detect a defective product
Does not correct deficiencies in process or
product
Issues
When to inspect
Where in process to inspect
Consider Transformation Process ---
Transformation Process -Revised View
Inputs
Transformation Process
Outputs
Customer
Inspect
CONTROL CHARTS
Inspect
Warranty
Good-will
Rework
Scrap
These are the additional costs of quality!
Costs of Quality
Appraisal Costs
External Failure
Costs
Costs of
Quality
Internal Failure
Costs
Prevention Costs
Funnel Experiment (Deming)
 Treating a special cause as a common cause
 Improvement of a stable system nearly always
means reduction of variation - -- it may also require moving the center line to a
higher or lower level.
 Tampering with a stable system only increases the
production of faulty items and mistakes.
 One necessary qualification of anyone in
management is - -- stop asking people to explain ups and downs that
come from random variation.