Quality management. Basic principles. (90
.pdfIV. Give the main idea of the text (in one sentence).
V. Make up a plan to the text and retell the text according to it.
VI. Answer the questions and give your opinion upon the following:
1.What common threads do all TQM philosophies share?
2.Will you list the basic elements of total quality management as expounded by the American Society for Quality Control?
3.What manager-worker relationships should be in any enterprise?
4.If a manager of a company emphasizes quantity over quality, will it give any profit to the company as well as customers?
5.Why only through the use of statistics can managers know exactly what their problems are, learn how to fix them, and gauge the company's progress in achieving quality and organizational objectives?
6.What are those three characteristics necessary for TQM to succeed within an organization identified by Joseph Jablonski, author of Implementing TQM? What is their peculiarity?
7.What I your attitude to the participative management?
8.What is a motivator to work harder for you?
9.Why do workers and management develop an appreciation for, and confidence in, TQM over a period of time?
10.Is there any use in cross-functional team?
11.What are those six attributes of successful TQM programs identified
Jablonski?
12.Will you list a five-phase guideline for implementing total quality management offered by Jablonski? What stage is of primary importance?
Text 7. BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING
Read the information given below and state the difference between Total Quality
Management and Business process reengineering.
Business process reengineering (BPR) is a management approach aiming at improvements by means of elevating efficiency and effectiveness of the processes
that exist within and across organizations. The key to BPR is for organizations to look at their business processes from a "clean slate" perspective and determine how they can best construct these processes to improve how they conduct business.
Business process reengineering is also known as BPR, Business Process Redesign, Business Transformation, or Business Process Change Management. "Business Process Reengineering, although a close relative, seeks radical rather than merely continuous improvement. It escalates the efforts of Just-in-time (JIT) and TQM to make process orientation a strategic tool and a core competence of the organization. BPR concentrates on core business processes, and uses the specific techniques within the JIT and TQM ”toolboxes” as enablers, while broadening the process vision."
In order to achieve the major improvements BPR is seeking for, the change of structural organizational variables, and other ways of managing and performing work is often considered as being insufficient. For being able to reap the achievable benefits fully, the use of information technology (IT) is conceived as a major contributing factor. While IT traditionally has been used for supporting the existing business functions, i.e. it was used for increasing organizational efficiency, it now plays a role as enabler of new organizational forms, and patterns of collaboration within and between organizations.
BPR derives its existence from different disciplines, and four major areas can be identified as being subjected to change in BPR - organization, technology, strategy, and people - where a process view is used as common framework for considering these dimensions. The approach can be graphically depicted by a modification of "Leavitt’s diamond" (Leavitt 1965).
Business strategy is the primary driver of BPR initiatives and the other dimensions are governed by strategy's encompassing role. The organization dimension reflects the structural elements of the company, such as hierarchical levels, the composition of organizational units, and the distribution of work between them. Technology is concerned with the use of computer systems and other forms of communication technology in the business. In BPR, information technology is
generally considered as playing a role as enabler of new forms of organizing and collaborating, rather than supporting existing business functions.
The people / human resources dimension deals with aspects such as education, training, motivation and reward systems. The concept of business processes - interrelated activities aiming at creating a value added output to a customer - is the basic underlying idea of BPR. These processes are characterized by a number of attributes: Process ownership, customer focus, value-adding, and cross-functionality.
Text 8. QUALITY ASSURANCE (part I)
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the activity of providing evidence needed to establish quality in work, and that activities that require good quality are being performed effectively. All those planned or systematic actions necessary to provide enough confidence that a product or service will satisfy the given requirements for quality.
History
Early efforts to control the quality of production
Quality assurance defines that "Whatever we made the product should be assure" When the first specialized craftsmen arose manufacturing tools for others, the principle of quality control was simple: "let the buyer beware" (caveat emptor).
Early civil engineering projects, however, needed to be built to specifications. For instance, the four sides of the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza are perpendicular to within 3.5 arcseconds.
During the Middle Ages, guilds took the responsibility of quality control upon themselves. Royal governments purchasing material were interested in quality control as customers. For instance, King John of England appointed a certain William Wrotham to supervise the construction and repair of ships. Some centuries later, but also in England, Samuel Pepys, Secretary to the Admiralty, appointed multiple such overseers.
Prior to the extensive division of labor and mechanization resulting from the Industrial Revolution, it was possible for workers to control the quality of their own products. Working conditions then were more conducive to professional pride.
The Industrial Revolution led to a system in which large groups of people performing a similar type of work were grouped together under the supervision of a foreman who also took on the responsibility to control the quality of work manufactured.
Wartime production
During World War I, the manufacturing process became more complex, and the introduction of large numbers of workers being supervised by a foreman designated to ensure the quality of the work, which was being produced. This period also introduced mass production and piecework, which created quality problems as workmen could now earn more money by the production of extra products, which in turn led to bad workmanship being passed on to the assembly lines.
Due to the large amount of bad workmanship being produced, the first full time inspectors were introduced into the large-scale modern factory. These full time inspectors were the real beginning of inspection quality control, and this was the beginning the large inspection organizations of the 1920s and 1930s, which were separately organised from production and big enough to be headed by superintendents.
The systematic approach to quality started in industrial manufacture during the 1930s, mostly in the USA, when some attention was given to the cost of scrap and rework. With the impact of mass production, which was required during the Second World War, it became necessary to introduce a more stringent form of quality control which can be identified as Statistical Quality Control, or SQC. Some of the initial work for SQC is credited to Walter A. Shewhart of Bell Labs, starting with his famous one-page memorandum of 1924.
This system came about with the realisation that quality cannot be inspected into an item. By extending the inspection phase and making inspection organizations
more efficient, it provides inspectors with control tools such as sampling and control charts.
SQC had a significant contribution in that it provided a sampling inspection system rather than a 100 per cent inspection. This type of inspection however did lead to a lack of realisation to the importance of the engineering of product quality.
For example, if you have a basic sampling scheme with an acceptance level of 4%, what happens is you have a ratio of 96% products released onto the market with 4% defective items – this obviously is a fair risk for any company/customer – unless you happen to be one of the unfortunate buyers of a defective item.
Postwar
After World War II, the United States continued to apply the concepts of inspection and sampling to remove defective product from production lines. However, there were many individuals trying to lead U.S. industries towards a more collaborative approach to quality. Excluding the U.S., many countries' manufacturing capabilities were destroyed during the war. This placed American business in a position where advances in the collaborative approaches to quality were essentially ignored.
After World War II, the U.S. sent General Douglas MacArthur to oversee the re-building of Japan. During this time, General MacArthur involved two key individuals in the development of modern quality concepts: W. Edwards Deming and Joseph Juran. Both individuals promoted the collaborative concepts of quality to Japanese business and technical groups, and these groups utilized these concepts in the redevelopment of the Japanese economy.
Quality assurance activities
Quality assurance covers all activities from design, development, production, installation, servicing, documentation, verification and validation. This introduced the rules: "fit for purpose" and "do it right the first time". It includes the regulation of the quality of raw materials, assemblies, products and components; services related to production; and management, production, and inspection processes.
One of the most widely used paradigms for QA management is the PDCA (Plan-Do- Check-Act) approach, also known as the Shewhart cycle.
Quality Assurance versus Quality Control
Whereas Quality Control emphasises testing and blocking the release of defective products, Quality Assurance is about improving and stabilizing production and associated processes to avoid or at least minimize issues that led to the defects in the first place. However, QA does not necessarily eliminate the need for QC: some product parameters are so critical that testing is still necessary just in case QA controls fail.
Failure testing
A valuable process to perform on a whole consumer product is failure testing, the operation of a product until it fails, often under stresses such as increasing vibration, temperature and humidity. This exposes many unanticipated weaknesses in a product, and the data is used to drive engineering and manufacturing process improvements. Often quite simple changes can dramatically improve product service, such as changing to mould-resistant paint or adding lock-washer placement to the training for new assembly personnel.
QUALITY ASSURANCE (part I) – SET WORK 1
(History - Failure testing)
I.Read the words and translate them from English into Russian:
assurance, systematic, enough, confidence, requirements, to define,
specification, perpendicular, arc second, guild, appointed, multiple, mechanization, conducive, complex, designated, piecework, workmanship, separately, superintendent, scrap, rework, stringent, a memorandum, significant, 100 per cent, a ratio, collaborative, to utilize, verification, validation, raw materials, assembly, a paradigm, Plan-Do-Check-Act, versus, humidity, mould-resistant.
II. Give synonyms to the following words:
a customer, to supervise, overseer, a foreman, to be headed, a superintendent.
III.Translate phrases from English into Russian and make up sentences of
your own:
1.for short –
2.to provide evidence –
3.to establish quality –
4.to be performed effectively –
5.to be built to specifications –
6.to take the responsibility of quality control upon –
7.working conditions –
8.professional pride –
9.quality problems –
10.extra products –
11.full time inspectors –
12.inspection organizations –
13.systematic approach –
14.initial work –
15.to be inspected into an item –
16.inspection phase –
17.control tools (sampling and control charts) –
18.a sampling inspection system –
19.an acceptance level –
20.released onto the market with 4% defective items –
21.a fair risk –
22.to remove defective product from production line –
23.technical group –
24.failure testing –
25.to drive engineering –
IV. What do you know about:
The Industrial Revolution, World War I, World War II.
V. Grammar: Word formation. Find words in the text which belong to noun, verb, adjective, and adverb. Say how they are formed.
VI. Give the main idea of the text (in one sentence).
VII. Make up a plan to the text and retell the text according to it. VIII. Answer the questions and give your opinion upon the following:
1.What is quality assurance, what does it cover?
2.What do these planned or systematic actions provide?
3.Comment upon: "Whatever we made the product should be assure", "Let the buyer beware".
4.Who were the overseers?
5.Do working conditions and professional pride play any role in the product quality?
6.What was the reason for introduction of first full time inspectors and what did it lead to?
7.When did the systematic approach to quality start and what was the aim of this innovation?
8.What were the main control tools of inspectors?
9.Was a sampling inspection system of any use?
10.What does one of the most widely used paradigms for QA management the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) mean?
11.What is the difference between Quality Assurance and Quality Control? Is it always possible to use one without the other? Why?
12.Why is failure testing of great importance? In what spheres can it be implemented?
Text 9. QUALITY ASSURANCE (part II)
Statistical control
Many organizations use statistical process control to bring the organization to Six Sigma levels of quality, in other words, so that the likelihood of an unexpected failure is confined to six standard deviations on the normal distribution. This
probability is less than four one-millionths. Items controlled often include clerical tasks such as order-entry as well as conventional manufacturing tasks.
Traditional statistical process controls in manufacturing operations usually proceed by randomly sampling and testing a fraction of the output. Variances of critical tolerances are continuously tracked, and manufacturing processes are corrected before bad parts can be produced.
Total quality control
Total Quality Control is the most necessary inspection control of all in cases where, despite statistical quality control techniques or quality improvements implemented, sales decrease. The major problem which leads to a decrease in sales was that the specifications did not include the most important factor, “What the customer required”.
The major characteristics, ignored during the search to improve manufacture and overall business performance were:
Reliability
Maintainability
Safety
As the most important factor had been ignored, a few refinements had to be introduced:
Marketing had to carry out their work properly and define the customer’s specifications.
Specifications had to be defined to conform to these requirements.
Conformance to specifications i.e. drawings, standards and other relevant documents, were introduced during manufacturing, planning and control.
Management had to confirm all operators are equal to the work imposed on them and holidays, celebrations and disputes did not affect any of the quality levels.
Inspections and tests were carried out, and all components and materials, bought in or otherwise, conformed to the specifications, and the measuring equipment was accurate, this is the responsibility of the QA/QC department.
Any complaints received from the customers were satisfactorily dealt with in a timely manner.
Feedback from the user/customer is used to review designs.
Consistent data recording and assessment and documentation integrity.
Product and/or process change management and notification.
If the original specification does not reflect the correct quality requirements, quality cannot be inspected or manufactured into the product.
For instance, all parameters for a pressure vessel should include not only the material and dimensions but operating, environmental, safety, reliability and maintainability requirements.
To conclude, the above forms the basis from which the philosophy of Quality
Assurance has evolved, and the achievement of quality or the “fitness-for-purpose” is “Quality Awareness” throughout the company.
QA in software development
The following are examples of QA models relating to the software development process.
ISO 17025
ISO 17025 is an international standard that specifies the general requirements for the competence to carry out tests and or calibrations. There are 15 management requirements and 10 technical requirements. These requirements outline what a laboratory must do to become accredited. Management system refers to the organization's structure for managing its processes or activities that transform inputs of resources into a product or service which meets the organization's objectives, such as satisfying the customer's quality requirements, complying with regulations, or meeting environmental objectives.
For software development organization, CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) standards are widely used to measure the Quality Assurance. These CMMI standards can be divided in to 5 steps, which a software development company can achieve by performing different quality improvement activities within the organization.