Process Management:

Efficiency Improvement

Quality Management

A Prerequisite of Your Market Success

By: Vadim Kotelnikov

  

"Since most of us spend our lives doing ordinary tasks, the most important thing is to carry them out extraordinary well." ~ Henry Thoreau

"You can not inspect quality into the product; it is already there."  ~ Edward Deming

 

 

Quality Management Customer Retention

Balanced Organization: 5 Basic Elements

Corporate Culture (Earth):

Kaizen Mindset

  • Not a single day should go by without some kind of improvement being made somewhere in the company... More

QUALITY MANAGEMENT: Computing the Cost of Quality

Eight Rules for Managing Quality

  1. Define what quality means to you and your customers, and how it can help to achieve your business goals and compete more effectively for market share.

  1. Develop a strategy that defines a specific aspect of quality designed to provide a competitive advantage. Think outside the box; as you think about quality in your division, look at the bigger picture to address the strategy that will best guide your organization in the marketplace.

  2. Focus all functions and levels of your organization on quality and continuous improvement. Build a companywide lasting commitment to the process of continuous improvement. Involve multiple departments in cross-functional quality improvements processes... More

Deming's 14 Point's Plan for TQM

  • Point 1: Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of the product and service so as to become competitive, stay in business and provide jobs... More

 

 

The GE Leadership Effectiveness Survey (LES)

  • Strives to fulfill commitment to Quality in total product / service offering... More

Main Subjects for Suggestions in Japanese Companies

  • Improvements in product quality... More

Canon Production System (CPS) includes:

 

14 Total Quality Management (TQM) Slogans at Pentel

  • Build quality in upstream.

Why Quality Management?

Quality improvement is integral to running a business the smart way. To drive responsibility for the quality process through the ranks of your organization, you should assess individual contributions to the quality process as part of every employee's periodic review.

Quality Is a Must, but Not a Guarantee of Success

Quality is now expected by consumers and is ceasing to be a point of differentiation. When developing your differentiation strategy, keep in mind that quality is no longer is a differentiator in the world of marketing; it is a prerequisite. You cannot build a powerful brand without it. But quality is an expectation, not a tiebreaker. Quality is a given these days, not  difference.4

The New Definition of Quality

Past definitions of quality focused on conformance to standards. Such definitions focused exclusively on the customer's perception of quality and didn't take into consideration how these standards are met – through defect prevention or a considerable rework of a specific part or service. In addition, past definitions of quality often overlooked the fact that product or services rarely consist of a single element.

The new definition of quality focuses on achieving "value entitlement."3 It defines quality as a state in which value entitlement is realized for the customer and provider  in every aspect of the business relationship. "Value" represents economic worth, practical utility, and availability for both the customer and the company that creates the product or service.

"Value entitlement" means:

  1. For the customer – a rightful level of expectation to buy high-quality products at the lowest possible cost.

  2. For the provider – a rightful level of expectation to produce quality products at the highest possible profits.

Customer's Perspective of Quality

Customer expectations are continuously increasing. Brand loyalty is a thing of the past. Customers seek out products and producers that are best able to satisfy their requirements... More

Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM refers to an integrated approach by management to focus all functions and levels of an organization on quality and continuous improvement. TQM focuses on encouraging a continuous flow of incremental improvements from the bottom of the organization's hierarchy. TQM is not a complete solution formula as viewed by many formulas can not solve managerial problems, but a lasting commitment to the process of continuous improvement... More

 Case in Point  Benefits of Business Process Management

The payoffs of process mastery can be breathtaking. Costs melt away, quality goes through the roof, and time spans shrink to a fraction of what they were. In 1999 Hammer and Company5 surveyed dozens of companies that had adopted the process approach to work and business.

  • In order fulfilment, cycle times had typically decreased by 60% to 90%

  • "Perfect orders" (those delivered on time, with no mistakes) had increased by 25%

Six Sigma

While traditional quality programs have focused on detecting and correcting defects, Six Sigma encompasses something broader: It provides specific methods to re-create the process itself so that defects are never produced in the first place... More

 Case in Point  Quality Measures at General Electric (GE)

Jack Welch, the former legendary CEO of GE,  made quality the job of every employee. Senior manager's bonuses were tied to Six Sigma results.

Welch credits the Six Sigma quality initiative with "changing the DNA of the company", meaning that it has had a greater impact on the productivity of GE than any other program. To help their businesses to track progress in the six sigma program, GE designed five corporate measures: Customer satisfaction; Cost of poor quality; Supplier quality; Internal performance; and Design for manufacturability...

Kaizen & Quality Control Circles

TQC is a management tool for improving total performance. TQC means organized Kaizen activities involving everyone in a company - managers and workers – in a totally systemic and integrated effort toward improving performance at every level.

 It is to lead to increased customer satisfaction through satisfying such corporate cross-functional goals as quality, cost, scheduling, manpower development, and new product development... More

 Case in Point  Canon

The objectives of Canon Production System (CPS) are to manufacture better quality products at lower cost and deliver them faster. To achieve these goals, 9 wastes are to be eliminated.

Be the Best Possible

10 Tips by Ten3 NZ Ltd.

  • Quality is not just product related.  Quality is not just the product; it's a combination of the product and "add-ons," i.e. packaging, availability, convenience of use and value adding customer service, etc.  The same applies to you in the employment market. Possessing a tertiary qualification may only get you 50% of the way towards being internally promoted or externally employed.  The other 50% will depend upon what your acquired "add-ons" are, i.e. what makes you more valuable than your competitor in the mind of potential employers/customers.  Ask yourself "what value adding skills have I acquired and applied to my work within the past 2 years that demonstrate skill flexibility, continuing career development and quality as an employee?"... More

TPS-Lean Six Sigma

TPS-Lean Six Sigma is like a ‘turbo-charged’ Lean Six Sigma program. TPS-Lean Six Sigma is a revolutionary, holistic concept. It actively has human capital embedded in Lean Six Sigma in a manner that not only stimulates commitment, integrity, work-life balance, passion, enjoyment at work and employee engagement but also stimulates individual and team learning in order to develop a motivated workforce and sustainable performance improvement and quality enhancement for the organization.

Integrated Environmental & Quality Management System

A recent market study concluded that full integration between ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 was possible and  it was easiest for organizations that had  structured their ISO 9001 Quality Management System together with their business processes and such integration could lead to valuable synergies... More

 

 

References:

  1. "Competitive Manufacturing Management", John M. Nicholas

  2. The 80/20 Principle, Richard Koch

  3. "Six Sigma", Mikel Harry and Richard Schroeder

  4. Differentiate or Die, Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin

  5. Agenda, Michael Hammer

  6. "Extreme Management", Mark Stevens

  7. "The Six Sigma Way," Peter S. Pande et al

  8. "Synergizing Business Processes," Vadim Kotelnikov

Six Sigma

Leveraging Your Service-Profit Chain

Lean Production

7 Principles of Toyota Production System (TPS)

13 Tips for Transitioning Your Company To a Lean Enterprise

Successful Implementation of Kaizen Strategy: 7 Conditions

Kaizen vs Kaikaku and 10 Kaikaku Commandments

Case Studies

Six Sigma Implementation at GE

Toyota Production System (TPS)