Fundamentals of Industrial Quality Control

Lawrence S. Aft

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351446501
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Operations
• Index: Business

"Quality" is the latest buzz word in business and industry-quality control, quality assurance, quality improvement, and quality systems. But what does quality mean to you? Fundamentals of Industrial Quality Control, Third Edition shows how the concept of "quality" can be validated with basic statistical methods.

1	Introduction

Introduction

The U.S., after and perhaps because of many fits and starts, has once again begun to assert itself as one of the giants of the industrial world. A major contributor to the turnaround has been the continuing emphasis on quality: quality control, quality assurance, quality improvement, and quality systems. Looking back years from now, we will probably call the 1980s and the 1990s the “decades of strategic quality management.” Companies used many different names for their quality efforts: total quality management, company-wide quality improvement, continuous quality improvement, and just about any other name that included quality and the organization’s name. The movement included not only industry, but service organizations, governmental organizations, healthcare, and education. These names were meant to signify a new approach to quality management that included a revolutionary rate of quality improvement in every part of the company. Organizations rallied behind making quality process improvements and providing ever-increasing value for their customers. “Quality management was used in every business process: in marketing and market research, in finance, in the patent offices, in sales and service, in shipping, in the research and development labs, and in white-collar administrative offices” (Godfrey, 1990, p. 17).

Quality has been defined in many ways. Some sources cite consistency at the target value, while others define quality as conformance to requirements or production with specification limits. Yet others define quality as meeting the customers’ requirements. All of these definitions are appropriate, and all can apply in the study of basic quality control methods. If all measurable quality characteristics are on target, they will certainly be within specification limits. Customer consultation when specification limits are set ensures that requirements are met.

“The quality of a manufactured product is a direct reflection of management’s attitude toward quality. Just as the winning attitude of a football team or other team … plays an important part in the outcome of the game, the quality attitude of a company affects the integrity of the items produced” (Adamson, 1983, p. Q1). For many years the quality of products produced in the U.S. was unquestioned. “During the early 1950’s, Western product quality was regarded as best” (Juran, 1982; p. 16). The Western world, as exemplified by the U.S., led the world in quality of work produced. Prior to World War II and immediately thereafter, Japanese product quality was considered to be among the poorest, if not the worst, in the world (Juran, 1982, p. 16).

This is beginning to change. To cite some specific examples: “Xerox has regained four percentage points of market share from its worldwide competitors. In one of the toughest businesses in the U.S., nuclear fuel, the Westinghouse Commercial Nuclear Fuel Division has taken over 40 percent of the U.S. market and over 20 percent of the world market. In specialty steels, a market that most companies had abandoned to foreign competitors, a small company with plants in Ohio and Alabama, Globe Metallurgical, is running 24 hours a day, seven days a week and capturing new markets throughout the world. In textiles, another threatened U.S. industry, Milliken is recording record profits. In electronics, probably the most publicized threatened industry in the U.S., Motorola is not only recording record profits, but it is world leader in cellular telephones and has even successfully entered the Japanese market with miniature pagers capturing significant market share” (Godfrey, 1990, p. 17).

According to Dr. W. E. Deming, who presented a series of seminars to the Japanese on statistical quality control, “Statistical quality control is the application of statistical principles and techniques in all stages of production directed toward the most economic manufacture of a product that is maximally useful and has a market” (Deming, 1950, p. 3). Quality control involves uniform production of a product that meets the needs of the consumer.

In the early 1950s, at about the same time that Dr. Deming was presenting his lectures on statistical quality control to Japanese engineers and managers, Dr. Joseph Juran was, literally, preaching to management the benefits of making quality control part of the overall management philosophy and strategy. As a result, the Japanese pioneered in the following areas (Juran, 1982, p. 16):

■ Introduction of massive quality-related training programs

■ Establishment of annual programs of quality improvement

■ Development of upper-management leadership of the quality function

Obviously, some organizations have succeeded, while others have failed. The difference most frequently lies in the quality management function. Quality activities must be led by top management, which must provide the vision and direction for continuing quality management. This effort involves activities such as setting goals that are consistent with the vision, allocating the resources necessary for reaching those goals, making quality a part of the organization’s strategic operation, appraising quality performance, and recognizing and rewarding quality improvement. Management is also responsible for implementing a structure that will enable the organization to achieve the goals established by the organizational vision. While no one system is appropriate for all organizations, there have emerged some model quality systems that are impacting all of American business and industry. As American business and industry have been increasingly aware of the need to establish and maintain formal quality systems, major guides for the establishment of formal quality systems have been externally mandated or suggested. These are quality systems standards such as ISO 9000, QS-9000, and the Baldrige National Quality Award standards.

Organizations wishing to establish themselves as legitimate quality organizations have, to varying degrees, complied with the requirements of these systems. One of the common threads which ties all of these together relates to measurement systems and the use of statistics within the operations of the organization.

ISO 9000

ISO 9000 is a generic baseline series of quality standards written with the intent of being broadly applicable to a wide range of varying industries and products. The standards define the basics of how to establish, document, and maintain an effective quality system.

ISO 9000 standards consist of both models which define specific minimum requirements for external suppliers and guidelines for development of internal quality programs.

The ISO 9000 standards were developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a Geneva-based worldwide federation of national bodies working together through technical committees. The U.S. is represented by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The American Society for Quality (ASQ) has specific responsibility for the ISO 9000 series of standards, also called the Q9000 Standards. ISO 9000 consists of five standards: ISO 9000, ISO 9001, ISO 9002, ISO 9003, and ISO 9004.

ISO 9000/Q9000: Quality Management and Assurance Standards — Guidelines for Selection and Use. This provides guidance on tailoring the other standards for specific contractual situations. It also provides guidance on selection of the appropriate quality assurance model (ISO 9001/Q9001, ISO 9002/Q9002, or ISO 9003/Q9003).

ISO 9000/Q9000 challenges the user to:

1. Achieve and sustain a defined level of quality

2. Provide confidence to management that the intended level of quality is being achieved and sustained

3. Provide confidence to the purchaser that the intended level of quality is being, or will be, achieved and delivered

The most recent revision of the ISO 9000 quality system standards was adopted in 1994. According to that version of the standard, the ISO/QS standards are described as follows:

ISO 9001/Q9001: Model for Quality Assurance in Design/Development, Production, Installation, and Servicing. This is for use when conformance to specified requirements is to be assured by the supplier during several stages, which may include design/development, production, installation, and servicing. It is primarily for firms that design, produce, supply, and service products.

ISO 9002/Q9002: Model for Quality Assurance in Production and Installation. This is for use when conformance to specified requirements is to be assured by the supplier during production and installation; and this is for use by firms that supply to an externally agreed-upon (contracted) specification.

ISO 9003/Q9003: Model for Quality Assurance in Final Inspection and Test. ...