© University of Wisconsin-Madison 1

Basics of Quality

Quality Engineering and Quality Management

What is Quality?What do you think?

Do you know quality when you experience it?

Do you know quality when you see it?

Is this Quality?

Is this Quality?

Is this Quality?

Was this Quality?

Defining QualityThe American Society for Quality (ASQ) says…

quality is a subjective term for which each person has his or her own definition.

In technical usage, quality can have two meanings:

1. The characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.

2. A product or service free of deficiencies.

Better Quality?What car has better quality?1. A “Ford-built” 2013 Lincoln MKS? 2. A 2013 Ford Fusion?

WHY?

Better Quality?

What car has better quality?1. The 2013 Lincoln MKS with a base price

between $42,800 and $54,400 depending on options?

2. The 2013 Ford Fusion with a base price between $21,700 and $30,200 depending on options?

More features and/or a higher price do not necessarily mean higher quality

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Dimensions of Quality: Products

• Performance• Reliability• Durability• Serviceability• Aesthetics• Features

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Dimensions of Quality

• Perceived Quality• Conformance to Standards/Specifications• Responsiveness

In the Service Sector, also consider:• Professionalism• Attentiveness

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Critical to Quality (CTQ) Characteristics

What the customer or consumer thinks of as “quality”

• Physical: length, weight, voltage, viscosity..• Sensory: color, taste, appearance…• Time Related: reliability, serviceability, durability…

• For service operations, customer satisfaction may be a CTQ characteristic for the services experienced.

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QUALITY ENGINEERING *

The set of operational, managerial, and technical activities that a company uses to ensure that the quality characteristics of a product (or service) are at the nominal or required levels, and that the variability around these desired levels is at a minimum.

* Managing, Controlling, and Improving Quality, Montgomery, Jennings, and Pfund, 2011

The Three Universal Processes of Managing for Quality*:

Quality Planning

Quality Control

Quality Improvement

*Juran on Leadership for Quality: An Executive Handbook by J.M. Juran. Copyright 1989 by the Juran Institute Inc.

Quality Planning

– Define your suppliers and customers - both internal and external

– Determine supplier and customer needs and expectations

– Develop products and services that satisfy (“delight”) customer

– Develop processes able to provide the product and service features

– Transfer the plans to the “operating forces”

SIPOC Diagram

Add Value

Supplier Internal or

External

Process“Work Station”

Customer Internal or

External

AIM: Reduce the Cycle Time, and Number of Defects and Errors for the Internal Coffee Service Process

Supplier Starbucks,

Purifier, Utility Company

ProcessCoffee Brewing and

Pouring

Customer Consumer of

Coffee

Ground Coffee. Water, Filters, and

Electricity

Correct Temperature, Taste, Strength, & Volume

Quality Control– Measure and evaluate actual

product and service performance (statistics)

– Compare actual performance to goals – customer specification/expectations

– Act on any significant differences

Quality Improvement

– Establish the infrastructure and leadership support/involvement

– Identify improvement projects

– Establish process improvement teams

– Provide the teams with resources, training on problem solving, and motivation to:• Diagnose the root causes• Define and develop solutions• Establish controls to hold the gains

Quality Improvement Initiatives(Many Names; Common Themes)

•Total Quality Management (TQM)•Kaizen (Continuous Improvement in small steps)•Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE)•Plan – Do – Check – Act (PDCA)•JIT and Lean Manufacturing•Quality Management Systems (QMS)•Six Sigma•Lean Six Sigma•The “next flavor of the month”

All Quality Improvement Processes Involves:

• People– Use of teams, respect for people, cooperation

and collaboration, good communications– Focus on internal and external customer needs

and expectations.

•Decisions based on the scientific method – (Problem solving and statistical methodologies

to define, measure, analyze, improve, and control processes)

•Good team leaders and managers

•Change management & supporting culture

Engineers and Engineering Managers Need to:

•Use their technical expertise and the quality improvement process to “make things better”.

•Use their interpersonal skills as a change agent – get things done.

•Understand that management is a part of engineering – not apart from engineering.

Quality & Culture

Don't find a fault. Find a remedy.Henry Ford

Improving quality is not just about using problem solving methods, statistical techniques, and qualityprinciples and tools, it’s also about organizational culture.