Advancing Performance Excellence

www.asq.org AUGUST 2007

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Six Sigma p. 51
Using Youden Plots p. 64
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SAS, JMP, and all other SAS Institute Inc. product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of SAS Institute Inc. in the USA and other countries. ® indicates USA registration. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Copyright © 2007, all rights reserved. 435463US_0607
Contents AUGUST 2007 I VOLUME 40 NUMBER 8

F E AT U R E S
OUTSOURCING

17 Using FMEA to Assess Outsourcing Risk

Businesses can apply a modified version of failure mode
effects analysis when weighing their outsourcing options.
CLIFF WELBORN, assistant professor, Middle Tennessee State University,
Murfreesboro, TN

CASE STUDY

23 Retrospective Analysis of a Designed

Experiment
The Indian army used design of experiments techniques to improve
the way an anti-tank weapon component was manufactured.
BHUPINDER YADAV, managing director, Q-Tech Synergy, New Delhi, India

GLOBAL QUALITY

30 Living Inside China’s Quality Revolution

A quality practitioner from the United States describes how a Chinese
telecommunications company integrated quality and flourished.
JACK POMPEO, chief quality officer, core network, Huawei Technologies, Shenzhen, China

SMALL BUSINESS

36 Creating and Preserving a Business Culture

As a small business grows, leaders must revisit the firm’s culture and
values to reinforce them or decide whether change is necessary.
SAVIO CAPELOSSI FILHO, director of Magna Consultoria, São Paulo, Brazil

EDUCATION

42 Don’t Throw Out the Baby With the Bathwater

In its quest for continuous improvement, a Colorado high school
developed its own tool to measure quality.
C H E C K O U T
FREDERICK G. DREIER, principal, Berthoud High School, Berthoud, CO
The ASQ website!
VISIT

www.asq.org LEAN SIX SIGMA

• Web Watch.
51 Deployment: Start Off on the Right Foot
Simple preparation and pre-work before beginning a lean Six Sigma
• Author guidelines.
project can clear the way for a positive outcome.
• Searchable database of ASQ
abstracts. ROBIN GATES, management consultant, Middleton, WI

• Index of back issues.

HEALTHCARE
For ASQ members only:
• Salary surveys from 1995 to 2005. 58 Benchmarking in Hospitals: More Than a
• Complete feature articles since 1995. Scorecard
• QP Discussion Board. It’s not enough to look at the numbers. Aim high by learning
• Back to Basics in Spanish. from the successes of best in class organizations.
VICTOR E. SOWER, professor of management, Sam Houston State University,
Huntsville, TX
D E PA R T M E N T S QualityProgress
6 Up Front TABLE OF CONTACTS
The quality/creativity paradox.
Mail
Quality Progress/ASQ
8 QP Mailbag 600 N. Plankinton Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53203
‘Survival Guide’ a
keeper ... Revisiting Telephone Fax
reliability assessment 800-248-1946 414-272-1734
technique ... more. Pay-for-performance not leading 414-272-8575
to improvement p. 12
E-mail
Follow protocol of first initial and full last name
8 Mr. Pareto Head followed by @asq.org (for example, vfunk@
asq.org).

12 Keeping Current
Article Submissions

Hospital performance plan

71 QP Toolbox
Quality Progress is a peer-reviewed publication
with 85% of its feature articles written by quali-
ty professionals. For information about submit-
critiqued ... Food safety
ting an article, call Valerie Funk at 800-248-1946
report ... NIST backs data
exchange initiative ... more.
72 QP Reviews x7373, or e-mail manuscripts@asq.org.

Free QP Live
Subscribe to our free electronic newsletter,

62 Career Corner 74 QP Calendar QP Live, for a summary of each issue’s

contents. Visit www.asq.org/keepintouch.html,
Adapt to today’s risk based or contact ASQ customer care at help@asq.org.

environment. 80 Back to Basics Photocopying Authorization

Authorization to photocopy items for internal or
Have you adequately defined
personal use or the internal or personal use of
64 Statistics Roundtable your situation? specific clients is granted by Quality Progress pro-
vided the fee of $1 per copy is paid to ASQ or the
It’s not always what you say, Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Dr.,
but how you say it. Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. Copying for
other purposes requires the express permission
of Quality Progress. For permission, write Alice

67 Standards Outlook Next Month:

Haley, PO Box 3005, Milwaukee, WI 53201-3005,
call 414-272-8575 x7406, fax 414-272-1734 or
ISO 14001 hits 10-year mark. e-mail ahaley@asq.org.

Quality in Service, Photocopies, Reprints

69 Lean Lessons Government and And Microform

Article photocopies are available from ASQ at
Lean kaizen in the 21st century. Military 800-248-1946. To purchase bulk reprints (more
than 100), contact Barbara Mitrovic at ASQ,
800-248-1946. For microform, contact ProQuest
Information and Learning, 300 N. Zeeb Road,
Ann Arbor, MI 48106, 800-521-0600 x2888, inter-
national 734-761-4700, www.il.proquest.com.

Membership and Subscriptions

For more than 50 years, ASQ has been the
worldwide provider of information and learning
ASQ’s Vision • By making quality a global priority, an organizational imperative and opportunities related to quality. In addition, ASQ
a personal ethic, the American Society for Quality becomes the community for everyone membership offers information, networking, cer-
who seeks quality technology, concepts or tools to improve themselves and their world. tification and educational opportunities to help
quality professionals obtain practical solutions to
Student, Associate, Canadian includes
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION and Forum/Division Forum/Division Forum/Division first-class delivery. the many problems they face each day. Sub-
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International $110 $130 $90 $55 $110 tronic access are includ-
ed with a regular ASQ tion on p. 61 of this issue.
Canadian $110 $130 $90 $55 $110
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List Rentals
Quality Progress (ISSN 0033-524X) is published monthly by the American Society for Quality, 600 N. Plankinton Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53203. Orders for ASQ’s member and nonmember
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4 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

UPFRONT
QualityProgress
The Quality/Creativity Paradox Publisher
WILLIAM A. TONY

I n the June 11 BusinessWeek article, “3M’s Innovation Crisis: How Six

Sigma Almost Smothered Its Idea Culture,” it seems the writer had his
mind made up before he put pen to paper.
Editor
SEICHE SANDERS

Associate Editor
MARK EDMUND
Brian Hindo’s article decries Six Sigma’s core tenets as damaging to corpo-
Assistant Editor
rate creativity: “When these types of initiatives become ingrained in a DAVE NELSEN
company’s culture, as they did at 3M, creativity can easily be squelched,” he Manuscript Coordinator
wrote, referring to the methodology’s process focus. VALERIE FUNK

While the author at least went through the mo- Editor at Large
SUSAN E. DANIELS
tions in his research for the article—he spoke at
Contributing Editor
length to two ASQ board members who are Six NICOLE ADRIAN
Sigma subject matter experts—he conspicuously Copy Editors
omitted their comments from his story. They had SUSAN GRONEMUS
KELLY SULLIVAN
given Hindo examples of companies using Six
Sigma as foundations for business success—organi- Art Director
MARY UTTECH
zations where, at the same time, innovation was
Graphic Designer
alive and well. SANDY WYSS
One might assume that these experts’ points, however salient, didn’t jive Production
with the writer’s preconceived notions of Six Sigma as it relates to innovation. CATHY SCHNACKENBERG

The article’s assertion is that, by nature, the two simply cannot co-exist. Advertising Production
BARBARA MITROVIC
When the article appeared on BusinessWeek’s website, www.businessweek.
Digital Production Specialists
com/magazine/content/07_24/b4038406.htm, readers fired back. ERIC BERNA, LAURA FRANCESCHI
“Take care not to bash Six Sigma,” one said. “The problem is not with
the methodology itself but rather with how it is applied and what specifi- Account Executives
ANGELA M. MITCHELL
cally it is applied to … If managed effectively, Six Sigma can absolutely MITCHELL PEZANOSKI
co-exist with innovation!”
Classified/Recruitment Advertising
Many echoed the sentiment, even while the sources interviewed for the RAMONA GARCIA

story—many of whom are 3M researchers and scientists—firmly reiterated Marketing Administrator

that, in their opinions, Six Sigma absolutely does thwart innovation. MATT MEINHOLZ

“You cannot create in that atmosphere of confinement or sameness,” cur- Editorial and Advertising Offices
414-272-8575 fax 414-272-1734
rent 3M CEO George Buckley says in the article. “Perhaps one of the
mistakes that we made as a company—it’s one of the dangers of Six ASQ ADMINISTRATION
Executive Director
Sigma—is that when you value sameness more than you value creativity, I PAUL E. BORAWSKI

think you potentially undermine the heart and soul of a company like 3M.” Managing Directors
CHRISTOPHER D. BAUMAN
What’s your experience? Can Six Sigma and innovation work within the
BRIAN J. LEHOUILLIER
same four walls? Write to me, editor@asq.org, or post your comments on the MICHELLE MASON

QP discussion board at www.asq.org/discussionBoards (case sensitive). To promote discussion of issues in the field of quality and ensure
coverage of all responsible points of view, Quality Progress pub-
lishes articles representing conflicting and minority views.
Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily
of ASQ or Quality Progress. Use of the ASQ logo in advertisements
does not necessarily constitute endorsement of that particular
product or service by ASQ.

Seiche Sanders
Editor

6 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

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 QP
MAILBAG
Basic Information Quality” (June 2007, p. 22). The requirement was clear: 97%
Remains Important Wilson’s confidence that “the ISO reliability for 10 years of operation.
22000 standard is exactly what food Initial evaluations used a proportion
just received the June issue. The
I “Quality Survival Guide” cover
theme is outstanding. Too many
producers need to prevent incidents
like the recent pet food contamina-
of failures to total, and intermediate
evaluations used a binomial estimate
tion” does not address willful substi- of reliability at a lower 95% confi-
times, we provide sophisticated and tution of unsafe or banned substances dence. The 95% confidence level was
complex information when there are in foods destined for U.S. consump- selected to account for testing a rela-
so many quality assurance folks who tion by people more concerned with tively small sample of motors because
just need the fundamentals applied making money than consumer health. the estimate was subject to much
well to be successful. Because less than 0.5% of all incom- statistical uncertainty, as the authors
I am reminded of Vince Lombardi, ing U.S. food shipments are laboratory stated.
one-time coach of the Green Bay Pack- tested, the risk to food safety and qual- The authors correctly used the well-
ers and member of the NFL Hall of ity has little to do with whether the known Weibull distribution to model
Fame. He started practice for his vet- standard is adopted and audited but, variability of age to failure. Unfortu-
eran championship team each season- rather, how criminal intent is uncov- nately, there was one main problem
with basic blocking and tackling. ered and dealt with. The former head with the article. The authors
More of this would help. Thanks! of China’s Food and Health Admini- employed statistics to calculate result-
J IM C ARPENTER stration’s death penalty should send a ing confidence, and then they used
Excel Inc. clear message the issue is not to be the estimated confidence to allow
Westerville, OH taken as lightly as Wilson suggests. bypassing of the requirements. This
jim.carpenter@us.exel.com
C ORY D. Z UPFER
approach is completely invalid.
Imation Corp. The authors stated that the 95%
Oakdale, MN lower confidence bound of 96% for 10-
Editor’s Note
cdzupfer@imation.com year reliability just missed the desired
Thank you to the readers who con-
demonstration goal of 97%. So, analysis
tacted us with suggestions for
after six months of testing indicated the
improving the “Quality Glossary”
Big Mistake in Otherwise motors did not meet the requirement.
(June 2007, p. 39.) We will continually
Excellent Column The article then said that the 97%
update the online version (www.
demonstration (reliability requirement)
asq.org/glossary) and include all
can be made with 92% confidence—and
changes in the next printed version.
O nly one mortal sin was commit-
ted in “Reliability Assessment
by Use-Rate Acceleration” (Necip
this was judged to be sufficient for pro-
duction start-up. Using confidence in
Food Safety Not as Doganaksoy, Gerald Hahn and this way can lead to improper accep-
Simple as ISO 22000 William Meeker, June 2007, p. 74). tance of faulty equipment.
The column describes an application When I teach classes on Weibull
take issue with the superficial distribution, questions often arise
I remedy Steve Wilson proposes in
the “Keeping Current” article “A
of accelerated testing of washing
machine motors by reducing non-oper-
ational time, a terrific way to get results
about acceptance in such cases. One
that always leads to heated debate is
Closer Look at Food Safety and much more quickly if done properly. whether you can change requirements

Mr. Pareto Head by Mike Crossen

8 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

based on results. It is very tempting to production. This was done with an
do that, but adjusting the confidence understanding of the associated statis-
level according to the results voids the tical risks and the added uncertainty
CHAIR OF THE BOARD
concept of confidence. in applying the results to large scale Ronald D. Atkinson, General Motors
A related problem involves retesting. production. But would things really
PRESIDENT
Suppose you create a pass/fail require- have been that different if the test
Michael D. Nichols, Nichols Quality Associates
ment test and flunk the test. You try results had demonstrated 97% relia-
another test and flunk that test. You try bility with 95% confidence, rather PRESIDENT-ELECT
Roberto M. Saco, Aporia Advisors
another test, and you pass it. So, the than with 92% confidence?
equipment is OK, right? Wrong. You Most importantly, we did not rest TREASURER
are giving yourself additional opportu- on the initial assessment. Additional E. David Spong, Boeing (retired)

nities to pass. investigations were conducted to get PARLIAMENTARIAN

Taking away this cart-before-the- more information. These included James J. Rooney Jr., ABS Consulting
horse error, the remainder of the col- physical examination of all failed DIRECTORS
umn is a good example of practical (and some unfailed) test units, con- Jochen Amelsberg, Juran Institute
reliability and quality engineering tinuing some unfailed units on test, Belinda Chavez, United Space Alliance
work. The benefit of such work is evi- and extensive testing of additional Brenda M. Fisk, Software Quality Solutions
dent in improved reliability from units. Richard A. Gould, RG Management Solutions
Kamla P. Gupta, Continuous Improvement Technology
equipment fault identification and If these further evaluations had
Stephen K. Hacker, Transformation Systems International
corrective action. The column deftly been unfavorable (which they were
Gary L. Johnson, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
demonstrates the use of simple tech- not), the start-up could have been Kay A. Kendall, Sun Microsystems
niques for evaluating reliability. aborted. This was felt to be an accept- William H. LaFollette, Humana Inc.

W ES F ULTON
able risk based upon the available Lou Ann Lathrop, General Motors

Fulton Findings information. David B. Levy, Levy Quality Consulting

We agree that confidence intervals Richard A. Litts, Litts Quality Technologies

San Pedro, CA
Richard F. McKeever, D2 Quality Associates
wes33@pacbell.net are an important tool for quantifying
Aimee H. Siegler, Benchmark Electronics
statistical uncertainty. The choice of Donald C. Singer, GlaxoSmithKline
the confidence level to use is, howev- Steven E. Wilson, U.S. Department of Commerce
Authors’ Response er, somewhat arbitrary; 95% confi- Seafood Inspection Program
We thank Wes Fulton for his posi- dence is used most commonly. QP EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD
tive comments and for voicing his However, we often recommend Randy Brull, chair
concerns about our column. His “mor- lower levels early in a development Administrative Committee
tal sin” assessment is, however, com- program and higher levels when near- Roger Berger, Brady Boggs, Randy Brull, Jane
pletely misplaced. ing product release or when there are Camp-anizzi, Larry Haugh, Jim Jaquess, Gary MacLean,
The crux of our disagreement rests important safety issues. Christine Robinson, Richard Stump
in Fulton’s statement that the analysis We concur with some of the general Technical reviewers
after six months of testing indicated I. Elaine Allen, Andy Barnett, David Bonyuet, John
concerns Fulton expressed but strong-
Brown, Bernie Carpenter, Ken Cogan, Linda Cubalchini-
the motors did not meet the require- ly disagree that they apply to our Travis, Ahmad Elshennawy, Tim Folkerts, Eric Furness,
ment. Our analysis showed no such analysis. Mark Gavoor, Kunita Gear, Lynne Hare, Ron Kenett, Ray
thing. Instead, the estimated 10-year Klotz, Tom Kubiak, William LaFollette, Shin Ta Liu,
N ECIP D OGANAKSOY
reliability was 99.4% (first paragraph Pradip Mehta, Gene Placzkowski, Paul Plsek, Tony
G ERRY H AHN
on p. 76), subject to correction of the Polito, Peter Pylipow, Philip Ramsey, R. Dan Reid,
B ILL M EEKER
previously identified design flaw. Wayne Reynolds, John Richards, James Rooney, Anil
Sengupta, Sunil Thawani, Joe Tunner, John Vaks, Manu
Admittedly, accounting for statistical
Vora, Jack Westfall, James Zurn
variability, 97% reliability could be
demonstrated only with 92% confi- Correction
dence, rather than the desired 95% con- Minitab’s listing in June’s “Software
fidence. Failure to meet a high level of Showcase and Directory” (p. 69) was
statistical confidence in making an incomplete. The complete list of soft-
assertion is, however, vastly different ware categories Minitab offers is: capa-
from showing that the assertion is bility studies, consulting, customer
untrue. In fact, one-sided lower and service, design of experiments, gauge
upper 95% confidence bounds on 10- repeatability and reproducibility, pre-
year reliability were 96% and 99.9% ventive action, problem solving,
(the latter not reported in our article), process documentation/mapping,
respectively. quality function deployment, reliabili-
Under these circumstances, the ty, Six Sigma, software, statistical
practical—and not unreasonable— methods, statistical process control,
decision was made to proceed with Taguchi techniques, training and other.

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 9

KEEPING
CURRENT
HEALTHCARE

STUDY: Pay-for-Performance
Not Leading to Improvement
A study by the Duke Clinical Research Institute
concluded that the Center for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) pay-for-performance pilot program
has not resulted in significant improvement in quality
of care or outcomes in hospital patients with acute
myocardial infarction (heart attack).
The three-year study compared 54 hospitals in the
CMS pilot program with 446 control hospitals. CMS’s
pay-for-performance program, which was launched in 2003, gives financial bonuses to hospitals scoring in
the top 20% in any of five clinical areas, including acute myocardial infarction, as measured by numerous
standardized quality indicators.
CMS and Premier Inc., a nationwide group purchasing organization of hospitals collaborating with CMS in
the pilot project, recently published preliminary results for the first two years of the pay-for-performance pro-
gram. They reported significant improvement for all five clinical conditions being monitored.
However, unlike the study conducted by the Duke researchers, this evaluation did not compare the hospi-
tals in the pilot program with hospitals not receiving financial incentives. The ability to draw conclusions
about the direct impact of the pay-for-performance program on quality improvement was therefore limited.
The study, “Pay for Performance, Quality of Care, and Outcomes in Acute Myocardial Infarction,” ap-
peared in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. and is available at http:/ / jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/
content/short/297/21/2373.

FOOD SAFETY

Quarterly Quality Report Says Inspection

Alone Won’t Improve Food Safety
Eliminating outbreaks of food borne illness is possible, but it won’t happen by increasing inspections alone.
That’s what food safety experts say in ASQ’s latest Quarterly Quality Report.
The report, titled “Food Safety—A Quality Management Systems Approach,” comes in the wake of several well-
publicized food contamination cases. It identifies actions that can lessen the likelihood of contamination, such as:
• Reinforcing maintenance procedures.
• Strengthening regulatory agencies in high risk areas.
• Increasing diligence by food companies.
• Using more effective inspection—not just more inspection.
ASQ spoke to several industry experts for the report. They included: Steve Wilson, chief
quality officer for the U.S. Commerce Department and ASQ board member; John Surak, a
food safety consultant and member of ASQ’s Food, Drug and Cosmetic Division; and Janet
Raddatz, vice president of quality and food safety systems at Sargento Foods.
To view the complete Quarterly Quality Report, go to www.asq.org/quality-report/
reports/200706.html.

12 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

AUTOMOTIVE

Auto Spec Allows

Measurement
Data Exchange
The National Institute of Standards and
W h o ’s

Name: Jim L. Smith

Q Who in

Technology (NIST) is supporting development

Residence: Metamora, IL
Education: Bachelor’s degree in business management
of a new data specification that will allow com-
and administration from Columbia Pacific University, a
pliant products to store and exchange measure- distance learning school based in
ment data from process monitoring instruments California
in an open and nonproprietary format. First job in quality: Machine opera-
tor at Caterpillar Inc. (where his
The data specification is expected to provide
father and grandfather worked) in
substantial savings to quality systems users and 1964
their suppliers. It defines the information Current job: Quality division
exchanged between factory floor measurement manager for Caterpillar’s
Mossville Engine Center in
instruments and statistical process control
Mossville, IL, which includes
(SPC) software.
overseeing the quality management systems for
The specification’s development work was Caterpillar’s Greenville, SC, facility
conducted by NIST researchers and representa- ASQ activities: Fellow; member of the Audit,
tives of the Automotive Industry Action Group, Automotive, Quality Management and Human
Development, and Leadership Divisions; chair of Heart
key manufacturers and quality software ven-
of Illinois section; certified manager of quality/organiza-
dors. tional excellence, quality auditor and quality engineer.
NIST says a measuring device typically can- Teaches preparatory courses for several certifications.
not communicate with SPC software unless Recent honor: ASQ Automotive Division’s Quality
Professional of the Year for 2006, Quality magazine’s
both the device and the software component
Quality Professional of the Year for 2007, Global
speak the software vendor’s proprietary lan-
Register’s Professional of the Year for 2007
guage. The 1,500 to 2,000 existing languages Personal: Married, five children
make transfer of information difficult, produc- Favorite ways to relax: Writing, reading, studying histo-
ing unnecessary costs. ry (especially pre-1900), golf, traveling, following St.
Louis Cardinals baseball, teaching and mentoring, and
The quality measurement data development
spending time with family
effort represents the first time a group of com- Quality quote: The human side of quality is as impor-
peting providers of quality software has joined tant as the technical side—maybe even more important.
forces to define a nonproprietary solution, It’s fairly easy to teach someone how to use a quality tool
or technique; it is more difficult to motivate people to use
according to NIST.
the tool appropriately and with rigor and discipline. A
NIST supported the development effort by
quality professional’s development needs to start as early
creating a test suite. For more information, go to as possible. It takes strong commitment, a positive atti-
www.isd.mel.nist.gov/projects/metrology_ tude and lifelong learning. Most of us will not reach the
interoperability/qmd_test_suite.htm. heights of the quality giants, but being a practicing quali-
ty professional who can mentor others is well within our
grasp.

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 13

KEEPING
CURRENT

BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY PROGRAM

Baldrige Regional Conferences

Slated for Cleveland, Seattle
The Baldrige National Quality Program has sched- Baldrige National Quality Award recipients.
uled its regional conferences this year for Sept. 20 in Registration can be completed online at www.
Cleveland and Oct. 5 in Seattle. enter.net/%7emaccinc/brc2007 or by calling 215-822-
The conference provides an opportunity to learn 6319. For additional information, go to www.quality.
best practices and performance strategies from repre- nist.gov/2007_Regionals/Regionals.htm (case sensi-
sentatives of this and previous years’ Malcolm tive).

Web Watch
This month’s Web Watch focuses on organizations outside the United States.
For more quality related websites, visit www.asq.org/links.

www.efqm.org and outside of Pakistan. Its website includes a total

The European Foundation for Quality Manage- quality management dictionary, a list of free case
ment (EFQM) is a not-for-profit membership orga- studies available for order and PDFs of the insti-
nization that aims to help European businesses tute’s newsletter.
make better products and deliver improved ser-
vices through management practices, such as the www.tuv.com
EFQM excellence model. The website offers free The TÜV Rheinland Group describes itself as an
brochures to download as well as the opportunity international service company that “documents
to purchase publications and apply for the Euro- the safety and quality of new and existing prod-
pean Quality Award. ucts, systems and services.” Its homepage is
mostly a collection of links to TÜV’s national affili-
www.nqi.ca ates, which cover more than 50 countries in five
The National Quality Institute (NQI), a not-for- continents.
profit organization in Canada, promotes excellence,
quality and healthy workplace practices. Its website
includes a calendar of events, job postings, training More websites. Links to and descriptions of these
information and several full length articles. Also sites and past Web Watch sites can be found in the
available is a PDF version of the latest issue of cumulative Web Watch listing online. Click on the
Excellence, NQI’s magazine. Any Canadian organi- Quality Progress link at www.asq.org.
zation can become a member.
Found an interesting quality site? If you
www.piqc.com.pk come across a noncommercial site that
The Pakistan Institute of Quality Control provides could be useful to other quality profession-
training and consulting services to organizations in als, e-mail it to dnelsen@asq.org.

14 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

short
runs
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZA- Business Transformation Canada, the rate is even lower.
TION FOR STANDARDIZATION Strategic Framework, go to
Technical Committee 176 held a ple- www.army.mil/armybtkc/index.htm. WASHINGTON BASED
nary meeting in Helsinki, Finland, in NONPROFIT GROUP eHealth
June to continue developing the A STUDY PUBLISHED IN Initiative says legislators in 41
amendment to ISO 9001:2000 and the Health Services Research, shows states introduced 168 health IT
revision to ISO 9004:2000. It was that having doctors write electron- bills in the first six months of
agreed that ISO 9001 should advance ic prescriptions reduced medica- 2007. Governors in 11 states have
to the draft international standard tion errors by 66%. The study also signed 13 health IT related bills
stage and should not be circulated as found that prescribing by comput- into law. The laws mandate plans
a second committee draft. This means er reduced dosing errors by 43% and, in some cases, provide fund-
the next edition of ISO 9001 is expect- and instances in which patients ing for the mandates. According
ed to be published around October were harmed by 37%. The study to the firm, about half of the states
2008, instead of 2009, as previously noted, however, that only 9% of are developing plans related to
expected. The next edition of ISO 9004 U.S. hospitals have computer health IT because of concerns
is not expected until August 2009. physician order entry systems. In about the quality of healthcare.

THE JOINT COMMISSION HAS

RELEASED its 2008 National Patient
Safety Goals and related require-
ments for each of its accreditation AWARDS
and certification programs, which
include: ambulatory care and office
based surgery, behavioral healthcare, Freund Scholarship
hospitals and critical access hospitals,
disease specific care, home health,
long-term care and laboratories. It is
Awarded
the sixth annual release of the goals. Denisa Olteanu has received
To see the complete 2008 National ASQ’s Richard A. Freund
Patient Safety Goals, go to www. International Scholarship for
jointcommission.org/patientsafety/ 2007. The $5,000 scholarship,
nationalpatientsafetygoals. named for a past ASQ president,
supports a quality professional’s
THE DEPARTMENT OF graduate study.
DEFENSE says lean Six Sigma tech- Olteanu came to the United
niques being used by the Army con- States from Romania to study sta-
tinue to prove successful, and leaders tistics at Virginia Tech. She received her master’s degree and
anticipate reaching $2 billion in sav- has now been accepted into the doctorate program in statis-
ings this year. Several Army bases tics at Virginia Tech.
and offices within federal Army head- “At the end of my studies, I want to continue working in
quarters have been using lean Six the quality field and later I hope to lead initiatives, and have
Sigma methods to improve processes the power to change practices and make people aware of the
such as recruiting, equipment and importance of quality improvement,” Olteanu says.
clothing distribution, inventory man- For more information on the scholarship and Olteanu, go
agement and vehicle maintenance. to www.asq.org/about-asq/awards/honors/bio/olteanu.html.
For more information on the Army

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 15

KEEPING
CURRENT

ASQ News
EACH ONE REACH ONE SURPASSES GOAL The Each One Reach One (EORO) member
recruitment program has surpassed its 5,700-member year-end goal. There were 6,043 members
recruited through the program in the last fiscal year. This is an increase of 13.5% over the previous
year. For more information on the EORO program, go to www.asq.org/eoro/index.html.

TEAM COMPETITION ENTRIES DUE Entries for the International Team Excellence Award
competition are due Sept. 3. Team finalists will participate in live competitions during ASQ’s World
Conference on Quality and Improvement, May 5-7, 2008, in Houston. For more information and to
view the 2007 presentations, go to http://wcqi.asq.org/team-competition/index.html.

MEDALS NOMINATION DEADLINE MOVED UP The awards board has moved the nomina-
tion deadline for ASQ awards from Nov. 1 to Oct. 1, allowing the board to name the award winners in
November instead of December. The purpose is to give ASQ and the winners’ companies more time
to promote the names of the winners before the awards are handed out in the spring. For more infor-
mation, go to www.asq.org/about-asq/awards/index.html or e-mail Trish Borzon at tborzon@asq.org.

PROGRAM AWARDS LARGEST GRANT TO DATE The Community Good Works (CGW) pro-
gram awarded a $15,000 grant to the Partnership for Education in Ashtabula County, OH. The funding
will be used to implement community and school partnerships in Ashtabula County school districts.
This is the largest grant ever awarded by the CGW program. For more information about the CGW
program, go to www.asq.org/about-asq/what-we-do/goodworks.html.

ORGANIZATIONAL MEMBER RECOGNIZES

EMPLOYEES Abbott Laboratories held its third annual certi-
fication award ceremony in June. At the event, Abbott recog-
nized all of its employees who earned ASQ or Regulatory
Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS) certification during the
previous year. Employees received personalized awards rec-
ognizing their specific certifications. A total of 136 certifica-
tions were recognized, with some employees earning more
than one.

DIVISION OFFERING CQA REFRESHER COURSE The Audit Division will hold a certified
quality auditor (CQA) refresher course Oct. 9-10 in Atlanta. The purpose is to prepare participants for
the CQA exam, which will be administered Oct. 13, following the Audit Division conference. The cost
is $595. Participants will receive a copy of The ASQ Auditing Handbook, third edition. For more infor-
mation or to register, go to www.asq.org/courses/cqa-refresher.html.

DIVISIONS CO-SPONSORING CONFERENCE Two ASQ divisions are among the sponsors of
the 51st Fall Technical Conference, Oct. 10-13 in Jacksonville, FL. The conference is jointly sponsored
by ASQ’s Chemical and Process Industries Division, the Statistics Division, and the American
Statistical Assn.’s sections on Physical and Engineering Sciences and Quality & Productivity. For
more information, go to www.eng.fsu.edu/ftc2007.

16 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

OUTSOURCING

Using FMEA
To Assess
Outsourcing Risk
by Cliff Welborn

normal and healthy part of the evolution in the

O
utsourcing has become a growing trend
among many U.S. companies.1 Two com- U.S. workforce.2 Lower costs are often the dri-
mon examples of the practice are out- ving factor, and there have been many success
sourcing IT jobs to India and outsourcing product stories of companies that enter this global supply
manufacturing to China. Some say the practice is a chain and realize significant cost savings.3, 4
However, outsourcing does not guarantee
business success. There is risk involved and not
In 50 Words all sides benefit from such arrangements.5
Or Less The advantages of outsourcing should be care-
fully weighed against risk and must go beyond
• Outsourcing has become common for many U.S. evaluating just price. So much more goes into
judging the business impact of an outsourcing
businesses, but assessing the risk involved in
decision. Without a systematic analysis technique
such arrangements hasn’t. to assess risk, much can go wrong: unexpected
cost, extended lead times, poor quality or other
• A modified version of failure mode effects negative performance variables.
analysis (FMEA) is one way businesses can Risk Assessment Basics
evaluate the risk of outsourcing options. Indeed, risk associated with outsourcing can
offset the often more publicized benefits.6
• Risk priority numbers can be calculated to rate Sometimes the risk doesn’t pay off. Some U.S.
companies have joined the outsourcing trend
any potential failures.
only to be disappointed in the overall net effect

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 17

OUTSOURCING

on business operations and eventually returned FIGURE 1 FMEA Process Steps

jobs back to the United States.7, 8
Analyzing the risk associated with a supply chain Identify risk categories.
and outsourcing is a relatively new subject, and little
research has been done.9 But one thing is certain: Identify potential risks.
Documenting and analyzing risk is an essential ele-
Rate the opportunity, probability,
ment to continued learning and process improve-
and severity for each risk.
ment.10 It is critical to have an easily understood
method to identify and manage risk.11 Calculate the risk priority
Failure mode effects analysis (FMEA) is tool number (RPN) for each risk.
used to collect information related to risk manage-
ment decisions.12 There are documented procedures Analyze risks by RPN
to complete an FMEA and examples of its applica- using a Pareto distribution.
tion in various industries.13 A modified version of
the tool can be used to help evaluate the risk of Develop actions to mitigate
outsourcing options. risks with high RPN.
FMEA is a well documented, proven technique
Reassess risks with
commonly used to evaluate the risk for failures in
another cycle of failure mode
product and process designs.14 Every potential fail-
effect analysis (FMEA).
ure studied is evaluated in terms of likelihood and
severity.
A higher FMEA score indicates greater risk.
Common variables used to quantify risk are fre- quantity of parts associated with the defect, ability
quency of an activity associated with the defect, to detect the defect, probability of defect and sever-
ity of defect.
Other industry specific FMEAs
use other variables to quantify
risk. Rating scales of 1-5 and
TABLE 1 Outsourcing Risk Assessment 1-10 are often used to quantify
each variable. The 1-10 scale
Risk priority allows more precision in esti-
Risk Opportunity Probability Severity number
mates and typically creates
Cost more separation in scores
Unforeseen vendor selection cost 2 4 2 16 between risks. However, the 1-5
Unforeseen transition cost 2 4 2 16 scale makes it easier for a team
Unforeseen management cost 4 4 3 48 to agree on rating values.
Lead Time A risk priority number (RPN)
Delay in production start-up 2 4 4 32 is calculated for each potential
failure. A common RPN is the
Delay in manufacturing process 5 3 2 30
product of:
Delay in transportation of goods 4 2 2 16
Quality Probability of failure X
Minor cosmetic/finishing defect 5 4 1 20 detectability of failure X severity
Major cosmetic/finishing defect 5 2 2 20 of failure.
Component will not fit with mating The steps to complete a
5 2 4 40
parts—requiring rework
FMEA process are illustrated in
Structural defect—function failure 5 1 5 25 Figure 1.

18 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 Outsourcing options can be FIGURE 2 Example of Pareto Distribution of Risks in Outsourcing
evaluated in much the same
manner as product and pro- 50
cess defects. Risks are evaluat-
ed in terms of opportunity, 40
probability and severity, and
can be grouped into intuitive Risk priority number
30
categories.
The opportunity score for a
risk is the frequency at which 20
that activity happens. Using
the 1-5 scale, an activity that is 10
a one-time event or seldom
takes place has an opportunity
0
score of 1. If the activity is a
ts

rts

ct

ct

ct

st

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tu
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common occurrence, the op-
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tc

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portunity score is 5. The prob-

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tio
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sm

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ability score is the expected

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likelihood that the risk will

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actually happen.
la
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The severity score indicates
po
Un

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Un
Co

the level of impact if the risk

materializes. A risk with a low Risk
severity score causes a mini-
mal impact on operations
when it happens, while a risk
with a high severity score creates a significant instance, when RadioShack builds a new store or
impact to operations. The impact might be in terms remodels an existing one, RSSF consolidates the
of cost, lead time, loss of intellectual property, required construction materials from various ven-
quality to the customer or other relevant cate- dors into one shipment. This procurement configu-
gories. ration reduces complexity and shipping costs for
The RPN for a risk is calculated as the product of: RadioShack.
The supply of major store display fixtures is typ-
Opportunity score X probability score ically awarded on a yearly contract basis. Through
X severity score. a request for proposal (RFP) process, vendors sub-
mit bids to supply a fixture for a calendar year.
Once the RPN is calculated for each risk, the Historically, RSSF used domestic manufacturers to
risks are analyzed using a Pareto distribution. supply all major furniture and fixtures, including
Actions are then taken to mitigate risks, and the items such as wall systems, gondolas and shelves
process can be performed again to evaluate resid- to display products.
ual risk. Recently, RadioShack changed its fixture design
direction from primarily wood based products to
RadioShack Example metal based fixtures. When this design change was
RadioShack Store Fixtures (RSSF), a division of implemented, potential vendors in Asia were con-
RadioShack Corp., procures and distributes furni- sidered in the RFP process. Initial estimates indi-
ture and fixtures to RadioShack retail store loca- cated that Asian vendors offered a significant cost
tions. RSSF serves as a consolidation warehouse for savings compared with domestic vendors, espe-
items purchased from many different vendors. For cially those vendors that provided metal fixtures.

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 19

OUTSOURCING

RadioShack decided to award the business to an Ratings and Scores

Asian manufacturer. In the third step, the team evaluated each risk
Although the quoted purchase price from the using the 1-5 rating system and the variables of
selected vendor was significantly lower than other opportunity, probability and severity. The 1-5 rat-
domestic or offshore vendors, there was a concern ing was determined by consensus following group
about the risk of entering into a long-term relation- discussion. Although this rating technique might
not represent the utmost in analytical accuracy, it is
a quick, easy and commonly used technique that
provides a quantitative measurement to a qualita-
tive concept.
Outsourcing options can be For example, the risk of a delay in the manufac-
turing process was given an opportunity score of
evaluated in much the same 5. Since manufacturing is a recurring activity, the
chance of a delay at this stage is recurring. The
manner as product and opportunity score of 5 indicates that there were
many instances when this risk could materialize.
process defects. Risks are The probability score for a delay in manufactur-
ing process risk is 3. This is the team’s evaluation
evaluated in terms of of the chance that there would actually be a delay
in manufacturing. This evaluation was also based
opportunity, probability on the team’s understanding of the vendor’s man-
ufacturing capabilities and performance history.
and severity, and can be The final variable scored was severity. A delay in
manufacturing was evaluated to have a severity
grouped into intuitive score of 2. The score indicates the overall impact to
RadioShack if the delay materializes. The score also
categories. suggests that the impact would not be greatly sig-
nificant to the overall performance of the company.
As described in Figure 1, the fourth step in the
FMEA development was to calculate the RPN value
ship with a relatively unknown vendor not based in for each risk. This was a simple multiplication of:
the United States. The outsourcing risk assessment
procedure illustrated in Table 1 was used to evalu- Opportunity score X probability score
ate the risks of this relationship. A cross functional X severity score.
team consisting of representatives from design,
global sourcing, operations and quality assurance In the fifth step of the FMEA development, the
was established to perform the FMEA. The out- risks were sorted in descending order based on their
sourcing risk assessment chart in Table 1 was used RPN score and graphed as a Pareto distribution, as
to collect the relevant FMEA data. shown in Figure 2 (p. 19). This representation of the
The first step of the FMEA development process risks was used to prioritize risk mitigation efforts.
was to identify risk categories. Through group dis- In this example, the risk with the highest RPN
cussion, the general categories were established as score was “unforeseen management costs.” It had a
cost, lead time and quality. RPN of 48. “Unforeseen management costs” repre-
In the second step of the FMEA development, sented the risk associated with incurring additional
the team brainstormed and generated a detailed cost to conduct business with a vendor from anoth-
list of potential risks. The detailed risks were er country. The management team was concerned
grouped under the risk categories established in about the communication barrier and its ability to
step one. efficiently convey business transactions.

20 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 The risk with the next highest RPN was “com- REFERENCES

ponent will not fit with mating parts—requiring 1. J.K. Liker and T.Y. Choi, “Building Deep Supplier
rework.” Its RPN was 40. The new vendor would Relationships,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 82, No. 12,
be producing many different fixture components pp. 104-113.
that would have to connect to components made 2. T.J. Rodgers, “The Truth About Outsourcing,” IEEE
by other vendors. There was a concern that com- Design and Test of Computers, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 12-13.
ponents from two different vendors would have 3. H.L. Lee, “The Triple A Supply Chain,” Harvard Bus-
dimensional discrepancies resulting in a poor fit. iness Review, Vol. 82, No. 10, pp. 102-112.
4. R.E. Slone, “Leading a Supply Chain Turnaround,” Har-
With this quantified risk assessment, RSSF’s
vard Business Review, Vol. 82, No. 10, pp. 114-121.
management team implemented mitigation
5. P.J. Singh, A. Smith and A.S. Sohal, “Strategic Supply
efforts. A small product/process development
Chain Management Issues in the Automotive Industry: An
team was established to ensure smooth opera- Australian Perspective,” International Journal of Production
tions with the new vendor. This three-person Research, Vol. 43, No. 16, pp. 3,375-3,399.
team made several trips to the vendor’s location 6. Mohammed H.A. Tafti, “Risk Factors Associated with
in Asia. Focus was on the development of a sys- Offshore IT Outsourcing,” Industrial Management & Data
tem to manage business transactions, such as Systems, Vol. 105, No. 5, 2005, pp. 549-560.
communication of orders, schedules, payments, 7. Lee, “The Triple A Supply Chain,” Harvard Business
returns and repairs. Review, see reference 3.
Additionally, the representatives from RSSF 8. Brad Stone, “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” Newsweek,
and the new vendor met to establish clear product April 19, 2004, pp. 52-53.
specifications. Samples from RadioShack’s exist- 9. Roshan R. Pai, Venkata R. Kallepalli, Reggie J. Caudill
and MengChu Zhou, “Methods Toward Supply Chain Risk
ing product stock were sent to the new vendor to
Analysis,” Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on
verify fit conformity. In some cases, the mating
Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Vol. 5, 2003, pp. 4,560-4,565.
parts that were not to be produced by the vendor 10. John A. Walewski, Edward G. Gibson and Vines F.
were sent to ensure proper fit. Prototypes were Ellworth, “Improving International Capital Project Risk
produced and sent to RSSF’s warehouse for thor- Analysis and Management,” Proceedings of Project Manage-
ough evaluation before the vendor was allowed to ment Institute Research Conference, July 2002.
begin production. 11. Thomas A. Carbone and Donald D. Tippett, “Project
These proactive risk mitigation efforts resulted Risk Management Using the Project Risk FMEA,” Engineer-
in a smooth supply chain relationship. Without ing Management Journal, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 28-35.
the FMEA based outsourcing risk assessment 12. Anand Pillay and Jin Wang, “Modified Failure Mode
tool, unforeseen problems might have impacted and Effects Analysis Using Approximate Reasoning,” Reli-
the overall success of the global outsourcing ability Engineering & System Safety, Vol. 79, No. 1, pp. 69-85.
13. D.H. Stamatis, Failure Mode Effect Analysis—FMEA
efforts.
From Theory to Execution, ASQ Quality Press, 1995.
Future of the Analysis Tool 14. G.Q. Huang, J. Shi and K.L. Mak, “Failure Mode Effect
Analysis Over the WWW,” International Journal of Advanced
Decision makers considering outsourcing Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 16, 2000, pp. 603-608.
options should use the FMEA based outsourcing
risk assessment technique. The technique is easily
implemented and understood. CLIFF WELBORN is an assistant
Further research should be undertaken to veri- professor at Middle Tennessee State
fy the risk assessment results with actual short- University in Murfreesboro. He earned
comings and failures of various outsourcing a doctorate in industrial engineering
options. This can be done through a comprehen- from the University of Texas at
sive study of companies undertaking outsourcing Arlington.
programs.

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 21

Don’t Let Another
Opportunity Blow By
Achieve_Greatness with the American Society for Quality

The American Society for Quality can help you take your career and organization to the next level. ASQ can provide you with
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increase employee and customer satisfaction, and improve processes.
Achieve all of this and more through ASQ’s:

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Gain the latest trends in quality at a discounted price when you become an ASQ member. An ASQ membership
can inspire you to make great things happen—in your organization, your school, and in your community.

JOIN ASQ BY CALLING 800-248-1946 OR VISIT www.asq.org AND WE’LL HELP YOU ACHIEVE_GREATNESS.
CASE STUDY

Retrospective
Analysis
Of a Designed
Experiment by Bhupinder Yadav

T
he concept of structured experiments has In one case, however, design of experiments
been successfully applied in many devel- (DoE) techniques were successfully used by India’s
oped countries. But despite its versatility, Department of Defense Production to optimize the
the technique still is not being widely used in process parameters for a plastic injection-molded
developing countries such as India. product used as part of a tank deterrent.
Genichi Taguchi is credited with
advocating the need to design quality
In 50 Words into products and processes from the
Or Less design stage through the entire product
development cycle. Taguchi used statis-
tical methods to integrate the concept of
• India’s Department of Defense Production used design of
DoE, initially proposed by R.A. Fisher,
experiments (DoE) to optimize process parameters for a into industrial processes.
tank deterrent part. The suggested multivariate designs
were more efficient than sequential one-
factor-at-a-time ones. Testing factors
• Retrospective analysis showed that DoE provided an
and levels provided the same estimates
improved process variable setting, but a statistical as one-factor-at-a-time testing did, but
software package determined the optimal solution by the number of experiments rose with
the number of factors and levels.
screening and characterizing the variables. To overcome this challenge, fraction-
al factorial experiments are now gener-
ally employed to reduce the number of

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 23

CASE STUDY

experiments. The effectiveness of the fractional fac- during the expected life of the product. A postpro-
torial designs rests on the empirical premises that: duction annealing operation also did not help much.
• Out of several variables, a few will have sig- To obviate any mixing of recycled material, produc-
nificant effects. tion changed the color of the body of the part. But
• Main effects are generally more dominant the product with the new design still did not meet
than factor interactions. the ESCR test criteria.
• The active interaction takes place among The issue was discussed in detail in meetings
active main factors. with India’s Central Institute of Plastic Engineering
Technology (CIPET) in Chennai. CIPET teams
Problem Statement checked and certified the molds, but the problem
The plastic injection-molded product used for remained. With the help of the production team, I
filling explosive devices was about 47 inches by 4.3 decided to optimize the process parameters and
inches by 2 inches. The part was integrated with their settings to produce an injection-molded body
other subsystems to function as a tank deterrent in casing that would perform optimally.
different environmental conditions. A small plastic molding firm, Miltech Metals in
The expected life of the product was about 10 years in Nagpur, India,1 was supplying the product, but
in the Indian environment. To assess the sustainability its ESCR test results for production runs also
of the hardware component against rigorous weather weren’t satisfactory. The spread value of F-50 var-
conditions, an environmental stress crack resistance ied from two to 12 hours in the batches tested.
(ESCR) test was specified with a 50% failure probabili- The delay in supplying the product was causing
ty (F-50) value of a minimum of 10 hours. concern. The green line in Figure 1 shows a typical
The test performance was indicative of the level pattern.
of molded stresses in the product. Higher levels of
stress resulted in poor performance in the test and Designed Experiment
failure in the field. With the help of Miltech, an army senior quality
Several small manufacturing vendors were mold- assurance team and I decided to optimize the
ing the product. Army personnel in the field were process parameters and their settings to produce
complaining about cracks on the body appearing an injection-molded body that would perform at
top levels. Only limited literature on practical
applications of designed experiments existed dur-
ing this pre-1995 period, and there was no software
to facilitate the task.
FIGURE 1 Probability Graph
In the initial brainstorming session, the managers
100 directly responsible for production were asked to spell
80 out all of the process parameters that affected the
60
40 molding process. They developed a comprehensive
Lot 114A
F-50 = 15 hours
list of 19 parameters for the DoE, shown in Table 1.
20
10 Pre-95 lot Screening and Characterization
8
6
F-50 = 7 hours Of Process Variables
Hours

4 With limited conceptual knowledge about DoE

2 and no software to do the screening, characteriza-
tion of input variables and process optimization,
1.8
0.8 our goal was simply to get results in a short time
0.6 with minimal budget and resources.
0.4 With the help of published information, a two-
0.2 level factorial design involving simultaneous
adjustment of factors with a minimum number of
0.1
2 5 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 95 98 experiments was considered adequate. We chose
Percentage

24 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

seven of the initial 19 factors and their respective TABLE 1 Variables Selected
levels, shown in Table 1, for the DoE. For Experimentation
Conducting the Experiment Selected levels
For each run, 50 body casings were molded using Code Variables 1 -1
an assigned set of variables, as shown in Table 2. In A Temperature in barrel 240° C 200° C
all, 400 bodies were molded, and 10 bodies from each B Refilling time 80 seconds 40 seconds
run were subjected to ESCR testing for 20 hours.
C Way of coloring Master batch Pigment
The team conducted the test twice on each run
and at two different laboratories to overcome the D Cycle time 5 minutes 3.5 minutes
test variability. Team members recorded the number E Injection pressure 2,100 pounds 3,400 pounds
of pieces cracked, along with time taken for them to per square per square
inchsquared inch squared
crack for all of the runs. They plotted F-50 value
graphs for each experiment, shown in the red line in F Injection time 15 seconds 11 seconds
Figure 1. G Hold on pressure More Less
The optimum solution implemented was within
the process parameters: TABLE 2 Experiment Run Setting
• Temperature (level -1) be at 200° C.
And Results of ESCR Test
• Refilling time (level 1) be at 80 seconds.
• Master batch (level 1) be used for coloring. Run Average
• Cycle time (level 1) be kept at five minutes. number A B C D E F G F-50 value
• Injection pressure (level 1) at 2,100 pounds per 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 18
square inch (psi).
2 1 1 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 16
• Injection time (level -1) be at 11 seconds.
• There be more hold on pressure (level 1). 3 1 -1 -1 1 1 -1 -1 12
The parameters were optimized, as described, and 4 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 1 1 12
the ESCR value of more than 10 hours was achieved 5 -1 1 -1 1 -1 -1 -1 14
in the next production run. Subsequently, more than
6 -1 1 -1 -1 1 1 1 17
100 manufactured lots met the specification require-
ments. The F-50 value of the later production run after 7 -1 -1 1 1 -1 1 1 16
optimization is also shown in Figure 2. 8 -1 -1 1 -1 1 -1 -1 12

Retrospective Evaluation ESCR = environmental stress crack resistance

I had been exposed to DoE during a joint lean Six
Sigma Black Belt training initiative by ASQ and the
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry. So, I decided to analyze the experiment FIGURE 2 Process Output Before
retrospectively with the help of a statistical software And After Optimization
package. I didn’t do complete statistical and graphi- Lower specification limit
cal analysis because my main aim was to check the After
optimization
adequacy of the model with previous data.
To do the comparison, the formulated design was Before
based on a run pattern similar to the one originally optimization
conducted. The proposed experiment runs, with
only one replication, provided a level three resolu-
tion (see Table 3, p. 26).
The main effect plot in Figure 3 shows the follow- 0 5 10 15 20
ing: Environmental stress crack
• The barrel temperature at the two levels did not resistance value in hours

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 25

CASE STUDY

FIGURE 3 Main Effects Plot (Data Means) for R was not a significant difference between the
two levels.
• Injection time should have been 11 seconds
A B C (level -1), corroborating the earlier setting.
16.5
15.0 • The earlier hold on pressure setting was cor-
13.5 roborated, but there was no significant differ-
-1 1 -1 1 -1 1 ence between the two levels.
The interaction plot (Figure 4) highlights strong
D E F
Mean of R

16.5 interaction between variables A and B, A and C,

15.0 and A and F. Variable C interacts strongly with D
13.5 and E. Variable D interacts strongly with E and F,
-1 1 -1 1 -1 1 and variable E interacts strongly with F and G.
G Variables A, D and E are the most interactive, but
16.5 they surprisingly were not significant individually.
15.0 Such interaction played an important role in the
13.5
optimum solution.
-1 1
Observations
Three significant groups of conclusions followed:
make a significant difference. 1. The retrospective analysis revealed that the
• Refilling time was the most significant vari- DoE provided an improved process variable
able. The time (level 1) at 80 seconds corrobo- setting, but the setting was not the optimal
rated the selected setting. solution. The software analysis provided a
• Master batch (level 1) was recommended in different run setting from those conducted
the experiment for coloring. The retrospective earlier. The statistical software package
analysis indicated that this method made a helped in screening, characterizing variables
significant difference. and optimizing the process more scientifically,
• The earlier cycle time setting (level 1) of five rather than empirically.
minutes was corroborated. 2. The selection of significant factors and the lev-
• The earlier selected injection pressure (level 1) els was based mostly on empirical and tacit
of 2,100 psi was corroborated. However, there knowledge to avoid cumbersome calculations.
The low resolution experiment conducted ear-
lier missed the number of interactions and
was therefore likely to give misleading results
on specific effects. In such cases, factor inter-
TABLE 3 Run Setting Without Replication
action affected the process and ultimately the
product quality.
Run number A B C D E F G 3. Statistical analyses derived from software
could validate the overall outcome and indi-
1 -1 1 -1 -1 1 -1 1
vidual effects with the help of signal to noise
2 1 -1 1 -1 1 -1 -1 ratio and residual analysis. This analysis would
3 -1 -1 -1 1 1 1 -1 provide the difference between the actual and
4 1 -1 -1 -1 -1 1 1 predicted response or the error in predictions.
The software could also predict robust molding
5 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
conditions.
6 1 1 -1 1 -1 -1 -1
7 -1 1 1 -1 -1 1 -1 Knowledge Sharing
And Software Capability
8 -1 -1 1 1 -1 -1 1
DoE has emerged as a powerful technique for

26 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 THE PRODUCT: An Indian tank deterrent included this
plastic injection-molded part along with other subsystems.

use in robust design. It improves product quality part, the retrospective analysis was aimed at gain-
while reducing process variability and the costs ing wider understanding and relevancy, rather
of poor quality. The current body of knowledge, than on efficiency in estimating the variables.
supplemented by software capability, provides a
platform for planning experiments, analyzing the AUTHOR’S NOTE
data and drawing conclusions for optimal solu- 1. Miltech Metals was a small company in 1996. After
tions. instituting a quality culture through designed experi-
In this case, which involves a tank deterrent ments, the firm became the Indian army’s largest supplier

FIGURE 4 Interaction Plot (Data Means) for R

-1 1 -1 1 -1 1 -1 1 -1 1 -1 1
A
16 -1
A
14 1
12
B
16 -1
B
14 1
12
C
16 -1
C
14 1
12
D
16 -1
D
14 1
12
E
16 -1
E
14 1
12
F
16 -1
F
14 1
12
G

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 27

CASE STUDY

BIBLIOGRAPHY
of this plastic injection-molded part. Now a mid-sized
company renamed Miltech Industries, the firm contin- Anderson, Mark J., and Shari L. Kraber, “Keys to Successful
ues to grow. Designed Experiments,” Stat-Ease Inc., paper presented at
ASQ conference, Jan. 20, 1999.
Anderson, Mark J., and Patrick J.
Whitcomb, “Software Sleuth Solves
Engineering Problems,” Machine
Design, June 1997.
Antony, Jiju, V. Somasundarum and
Craig Fergusson, “Applications of
Taguchi Approach to Statistical

FRESH Design of Experiments in Czech

Republic Industries,” Glasgow
Caledonian University, Glasgow,
United Kingdom, and University of
Ostrava, Sokolska, Czech Republic,
SPC charts Vol. 53, No. 5, 2004.
Frey, Daniel D., and Xiang Li,
“Evaluating Robust Design Methods
Instantly Using a Model of Interactions in
from any data Complex Systems,” paper presented
at engineering systems symposium,
source Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, March 31, 2004.

BHUPINDER YADAV is managing

Point, click, chart director of Q-Tech Synergy, New Delhi,
India. He retired as a major general in
Download a 30-day trial at www.pqsystems.com the Indian army. Yadav earned a doctor-
ate in production management from
CHARTrunner is SPC software that fetches data from Excel, Access,
Pune University in India.
Oracle, SQL Server, and other databases to generate up-to-the-minute
charts. It is the only process charting software that always provides
fresh charts with no
importing, exporting,
copying, or pasting.
You’ve really got to
see it to believe it.

Please
comment
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on this article, please post your
remarks on the Quality Progress
Discussion Board at www.asq.org,
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28 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

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GLOBAL QUALITY

Living Inside
China’s Quality
Revolution
by Jack Pompeo

C
hina. The word alone conjured up images Huawei is located in Shenzhen, in the southern
of distant, mysterious places rooted in portion of the Guangdong Province on the eastern
strange foreign cultures. So when shore of the Pearl River Delta, neighboring Hong
Huawei Technologies, one of China’s largest Kong to the south. I’ve worked here for a year now,
telecommunications manufacturers, with annual and I’ve come to realize I’m at the epicenter of a
sales of more than $10 billion, asked me to relocate nation deeply committed to being the best. Even in
and help direct its quality initiatives, it was too light of recent and highly-publicized recalls, it’s
intriguing an offer to resist. clear to me that China strives for the best educa-
tion, health, living standards and, most important,
the best manufactured consumer products.
Before moving to China, my telecom quality
In 50 Words career spanned two decades, starting at Nortel,
Or Less
today one of North America’s largest telecom sup-
pliers. My most recent years in the United States
• Huawei Technologies, in its quest to be the “Toyota of were spent as quality vice president at Alcatel, now
the telecom industry,” exemplifies China’s recent steps Alcatel-Lucent, one of the largest telecom suppliers
in Europe. My role at Huawei has brought all those
forward in manufacturing quality.
years of quality experience together in a country
that picks and chooses from the best quality initia-
• Huawei and other Chinese companies are using total tives America and Europe have to offer.
quality management, Six Sigma, ASQ certifications One constant in my career has been my involve-
ment in ASQ. Most recently, I served as chair of the
and quality awards to improve the nation’s centuries-
ASQ Dallas section and also a past chair of the
old quality system. Quality Texas Foundation, which administers a
Baldrige based state quality award. I was a past
project director and co-founder of the Quality

30 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

AN AMERICAN IN SHENZHEN: The author (seated, second from right) with Huawei’s core network product line quality
management department.

Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications • Supervision and inspection (quality assurance

(QuEST) Forum and one of the authors of the TL and control).
9000 Quality Management System, Requirements These state run departments were well organized
Handbook and TL 9000 Quality Management System, and helped establish China’s central control over
Measurement Handbook. production processes. The system even included an
Huawei has also taken a keen interest in ASQ independent quality organization responsible for
activities, and in 2005 it adopted ASQ’s certified end-to-end oversight that reported directly to the
quality engineer (CQE) program. Huawei estimates highest level of government.
it will have more than 200 CQEs by the end of this The central government issued policies and proce-
year, assuming a 60% pass rate. The evolution of dures to control production across China—including
China’s quality system has always been closely production of utensils, carts, cotton and silk—and
linked with the skilled Chinese workers. Now, with prohibited the sale of nonconforming, inferior and
the doors of the world open to China, there’s little substandard products. In many ways, that ancient
doubt Chinese workers will soon reach new heights Chinese system continues to influence quality pro-
in high-tech product excellence. cesses today through strong government control
over production and quality management systems.
China: Yesterday and Today Today’s Chinese quality system continues to
The birth of quality methods, as we know them strongly emphasize tools, methodology and mea-
today, began in China with the Zhou Dynasty, surement. Also, China still places great importance
which began in the 12th century B.C.1 Specific gov- on key quality management processes, including
ernmental departments were responsible for: self-inspection, traceability and recruiting and
• Production, inventory and product distribution training of workers.
of raw material (supply chain management). In ancient China, inspection at various stages by
• Production and manufacturing. the workers themselves was important in establish-
• Formulating and executing standards (quality ing responsibility for quality. Traceability became
management). an effective tool in ensuring quality standards.

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 31

GLOBAL QUALITY

When a product was found to be nonconforming, doesn’t exist in India, where the population is
the responsible worker was identified and the root growing faster than China’s.
causes for the failure evaluated. In general, these policies were created to help
Conversely, today’s high-tech Chinese telecom balance growth against the resources needed to
industry has taken more central responsibility, both support a larger population. China’s minister of
for processes and for quality of work. In contrast to commerce, Bo Xilai, recently described how China
the West, while Chinese workers are highly skilled is one big family: “Today my country educates
engineers, many managers believe they lack the more than 100 million middle school students.
critical skills and experience to produce high quali- Each day, more than 20,000 [women] get married,
ty work without close supervision. and more than 40,000 kids are born.”
Quality processes today in China continue to be That’s a major force soon to be reckoned with by
influenced by remnants of ancient policies and prac- the West.
tices established 3,000 years ago. China continues to
exercise strong centralized oversight over end-to- The Toyota of the Telecom Industry
end production processes, extending from the pur- In the same way ancient Chinese carts once pro-
chase of incoming materials and in-process testing vided reliable travel across vast distances, today,
through final acceptances and customer care. Huawei’s products provide reliable telecom ser-
vices to more than 100 countries. But the compa-
World Quality Standards ny’s goal is not to be just another telecom
Three key strategic strengths must be considered manufacturer; it is to be the quality leader in the
when evaluating trends in Chinese quality. First, telecommunications industry.
China’s immense population forms its most basic Huawei’s senior management recently declared
paradox. While one of its greatest strengths, it is the company’s desire to be the “Toyota of the tele-
also China’s gravest frailty. The country’s huge com industry.” To achieve this, Huawei has studied
masses of diligent workers, including a body of Western telecom manufacturing in great detail and
very well-educated engineers, not only represent a has invested heavily in the latest tools and technol-
pool of low-cost laborers, but they are also a chal- ogy. It is constantly looking for better tools and
lenge to maintain in terms of rapidly rising living techniques that will make it a world leader, mov-
standard expectations. ing away from its current emphasis on low-cost
Huawei’s workforce of highly educated and production.
young workers, unencumbered with integrating Huawei’s rapid economic growth parallels the
older legacy systems, has a distinct advantage over company’s desire to be the world leader, and
workers of other developing nations. The average Huawei is now in the midst of understanding the
age of a Huawei employee is 26 years, and nearly critical role quality processes play in its future
half are trained engineers, many with advanced expansion. The company places a strong focus on
science degrees. China’s population is adapting measurements, tools and methods to enforce strict
and learning rapidly and is hungry for best prac- quality control of production processes. Its manage-
tices and new challenges. ment systems are based on ISO 9001 and TL 9000
China’s second strength is its well-documented processes and standards and are applied across all
quality culture of setting production standards, of Huawei’s product lines in design, development,
including laws applicable to the overall design of manufacturing, sales, installation and service.
architecture, specifications, structure, components Huawei also has a complete end-to-end integrated
and type of construction materials. This long quali- product development process that was implement-
ty history, missing in our Western culture, will have ed with the support of IBM in early 1998.
an impact later as processes are further refined.
China’s third strength lies in its strong desire for Thirst for Quality Knowledge
balance, including a holistic view of work, family When Huawei recognized that TL 9000 is the
and a healthy lifestyle. This is evident in China’s industry’s quality standard, it immediately began
one-child policy, designed to balance the needs of searching for someone to help it better understand
the present with those of the future. This strength the standard. Those searches ultimately took Huawei

32 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

to ASQ headquarters with a request for a “quality increase business effectiveness, Shenzhen became
guru who knows TL 9000.” The company recognized the first city to launch a local quality award, called
a gap and looked for a way to close it. That request the Mayor’s Cup Quality Award. It is operated by
ultimately led to my move to China. the Shenzhen Bureau of Quality and Technical
Bringing in a Western outsider can have some Supervision. The vice mayor leads an evaluation
drawbacks, especially when you introduce new committee of local experts, which uses many of the
ideas like total quality management (TQM) and Baldrige criteria, including international best prac-
team empowerment. These concepts have taken tices, social factors and governmental strategic ini-
Western society decades to adapt and integrate into tiatives issued by Shenzhen government leaders.
business management. Now China is looking to do
the same in a fraction of the time.
In just the past few years, Chinese manufactur-
ers have adopted a wide array of quality tools and
Although TQM has fallen out
techniques, including Six Sigma, benchmarking,
balanced scorecards, Capability Maturity Model
of favor in North America
integration, ISO 9000 quality management systems
and the TL 9000 requirements and measurements.
and Europe, it remains one
This has created a clash in China’s desire to main-
tain balance between a centuries-old culture and
of the most used management
the demands placed on the nation by technological
progress.
tools in Asia.
Interestingly, although TQM has fallen out of favor
in North America and Europe, it remains one of the At the end of 2006, more than 55 organizations
most used management tools in Asia, as reported in had applied for the award, and six firms had won,
the 2005 Bain study on management tools and including Huawei in 2004, one of the first winners.
trends.2 This is another indicator of how China is The 3 million RMB ($387,000 U.S.) prize is the
slowly but surely evolving through the quality highest among quality awards in China and has
pathways other countries have already crossed. encouraged many organizations to participate and
share best practices.
Quality Awards Other cities and provinces, including Shanghai,
Recognizing quality management improvement have now set up local governmental quality awards
trends around the world, China quickly realized the to promote quality management systems and share
importance of systematic management improve- experiences in various industries. There are 230
ment in business and social development. Based on locally applied district awards, and 55 organiza-
three of the world’s biggest quality awards—the tions have won prizes at the district level. The qual-
Deming Award in Japan, the Malcolm Baldrige ity divisions in both municipal and district levels
National Quality Award in the United States and have provided 45 quality seminars for nearly 3,000
the European Quality Award—China decided to quality management workers from various organi-
launch an award to promote quality management zations, with interest continuing to grow rapidly.
methods and promote a performance excellence
model to organizations. TL 9000 Benchmark Data
In 2001, the China Association for Quality (CAQ) QuEST Forum’s goal is to help its member orga-
introduced the National Quality Award, which it nizations pursue performance excellence through
recently renamed the Performance Excellence implementing a common quality standard, empha-
Award. In 2004, the General Administration of sizing industry best practices and delivering a
Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of benchmarking measurement system. Its biggest
the People’s Republic of China published a recom- achievement is this benchmarking system, based
mended national standard of performance excel- on its extensive TL 9000 benchmark database.
lence criteria based on the Baldrige criteria. This September, QuEST Forum will celebrate its
In 2004, to both meet with global competition and ninth anniversary and hold its eighth annual best

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 33

GLOBAL QUALITY

practices conference. The heart of the TL 9000 commitments and the executive management team
benchmark data storage is housed in a high securi- balanced scorecard. The balanced scorecard mea-
ty area at the University of Texas at Dallas School of sures four key areas in corporation health: financial
Engineering and Computer Science. Every month, and profit, customer and quality, growth and learn-
data from some 1,700 TL 9000 certified sites glob- ing, and internal business performance. The report
ally are sent to the metric repository. cards and quality metrics are linked to both the
The sources of the benchmark data are not identi- executives’ performance reviews and bonuses.
fied, and individual data points are not available.
The only available data are the processed bench- Numbers by the Book
mark data derived from what is submitted, ensur- Virtually every policy and directive in China is
ing participants their information is never revealed. broken down into numbers. With a population of
1.3 billion, the largest in the world, the nation has
an ever increasing impact on world politics, econ-
omies and societies.
You can’t talk about quality You can’t talk about quality trends in China with-
out talking about “the China price,” possibly three of
trends in China without talking the scariest words in U.S. manufacturing. It implies
that you cut your price or lose your customers. Near-
about ‘the China price,’ ly every manufacturer is vulnerable. The result: A
massive shift in economic power could be under
possibly three of the scariest way. Since 1980, the Chinese economy has grown
nearly 10% annually—doubling an astonishing three
words in U.S. manufacturing. times. China has far outperformed Japan’s 1980s and
run circles around Asia’s “Four Dragons”—Hong
Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore—even in their
economic heydays.
This is a critical aspect of QuEST Forum success China has an official policy to grow the economy
because members contribute highly sensitive net- about 8% annually, the rate state officials calculate
work and product performance measurements. would create the 15 million new jobs each year
TL 9000 is part of a major quality trend in today’s needed to absorb new entrants into the labor mar-
Chinese telecom industry. At last count, 17 of the 36 ket and discards from the shrinking state sector.
QuEST Forum service providers were based in Asia Every policy is calibrated to ensure economic out-
and more than half of the TL 9000 certified sites orig- put continues to expand at this rapid pace.
inate in the Asian region. As a single TL 9000 site, Like businesses in the rest of the world, Chinese
Huawei has one of the largest arrays of telecom organizations are driven by numbers. They identify
products registered to TL 9000, reporting data in gaps in their quality management systems and are
more than 20 product categories. closing them quickly. They understand they have a
There are 11 TL 9000 benchmark measurements, short window of opportunity to transform them-
including number of problem reports, problem selves from low cost producers to competitive and
report fix response time, on-time delivery, network high quality global leaders.
element impact outage measurement and field In 2002, Huawei started Six Sigma quality initia-
replacement unit returns. Huawei recently launched tives in its manufacturing center and migrated
an initiative in partnership with the QuEST Forum’s them into R&D product lines. Last year, there were
integrated global quality workgroup. The goal is to eight Six Sigma projects in R&D, and because of
set up a benchmark study team to better understand the success of these pilots, Huawei is planning 20
causes of variability in the TL 9000 benchmark data more. A Six Sigma steering committee oversees the
and raise industry performance. deployment and reviews and approves projects to
TL 9000 benchmark data are a critical component ensure they meet the launch criteria and resources
of Huawei’s quality management system and are are available to support the teams.
integrated into top management’s personal business

34 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

The Future degree in chemical engineering from McGill University in
As China’s economy roars forward, it has become Montreal. Pompeo is a senior member of ASQ and a found-
a manufacturer to the world, driving the nation’s ing member of the Quality Excellence for Suppliers of
quality management system to undergo rapid Telecommunications Forum. He has also served as a
changes. Quality principles that have taken Western Baldrige, Shingo Prize and Texas Quality Award Examiner.
manufacturers 30 years to develop are
being experienced by China at warp
speeds.
But the nation is not without its
obstacles. The continued rapid
growth of the Chinese economy is
threatened by infrastructure limita-
tions, pollution, logistical bottle-
necks, a young banking system, and
the remarkable imbalance between
male and female births. Chinese men
will soon find themselves competing
for an inadequate supply of women.
Also, China cannot continue pro-
gressing by copying foreign technolo-
gies forever. But we’ve already seen
rapid growth of independent research
in China and a friendlier attitude
from Chinese authorities toward
intellectual property rights critical to
the creation of new technologies. Still,
according to some analyses, China
might need another decade to over-
come a long list of quality manufac-
turing problems, such as weak
design, before its companies can com-
pete with those in Japan and
America.
In all, the future looks bright for
China. The Chinese have been using
quality tools and techniques for
3,000 years. Now they’re just deal-
ing with a much larger marketplace
for their products.

REFERENCES

1. Joseph M. Juran, A History of Managing

for Quality, Irwin Professional Publishing,
1995.
2. Darrel Rigby, Management Tools and
Trends 2005, Bain & Company, 2005.

JACK POMPEO is the chief quality officer,

core network, at Huawei Technologies in
Shenzhen, China. He has a bachelor’s

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 35

 SMALL BUSINESS

Creating and
Preserving a
Business Culture
by Savio Capelossi Filho

very country in the world has its own are systems and structures in place that dictate

E culture, characterized by the way peo-

ple act, what they believe and how
they communicate. Within any country, there
how its people live and behave.
Similarly, every business has its own culture.
And like the culture of a country, a business culture
doesn’t just appear. It starts slowly and evolves
over time—especially as a business becomes more
successful and grows.
In 50 Words A business culture influences the people who do
Or Less
the work every day. Indeed, it is guided by leaders
and adopted by personnel. But often it’s an ongo-
• The leader of a small business initially dictates ing, collaborative effort that ebbs and flows against
the firm’s culture and values. the backdrop of a global marketplace.
There are many examples of small Brazilian
• As the business grows, the culture will evolve. A businesses that have faced this challenge of build-
ing and preserving their own culture. Highlights of
business must revisit its values to reinforce them their successes have been sprinkled throughout
and determine whether changes are needed. this article to show how the efforts pay off and
strengthen the businesses.
• A formal approach can help preserve and
Business Culture Core
disseminate the values of the growing business. Culture is recognized as an important factor for
the sustainability and long-term success of any busi-
ness.1 The dominant culture of any business—large

36 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

or small—is reflected in the behavior of its per- helps leadership take the necessary actions to achieve
sonnel. these goals.
For a small business, initially it’s the role of
the founder to determine the culture of the firm Leaders’ Style, Outlook
and the way its employees work and interact Reflected in Culture
with the marketplace. Many small businesses are started by individuals
Corporate values and policies, most often who, out of necessity, assume the main role in run-
informal for a small company, are established ning the firm. As can be expected, the founder’s
during the early stages of the life of the firm. The leadership is often based on a process of trial and
entrepreneur’s own approach and behavior are error. It’s the founder who initiates all the actions to
often reflected in the general behavior of the make the firm survive and grow. Usually, no formal
firm’s personnel. theory is applied during this early phase—only real
With growth, the process of creating and dis- life experiences and practices. Success at this stage
seminating the desired culture tends to become of development depends heavily on the entrepre-
increasingly difficult as the entrepreneur is no neur’s abilities and personal intuition.
longer involved in the day-to-day activities of the During these initial stages of the firm’s life, the
organization’s personnel. At this stage, it becomes leader’s behavior and personality are showcased to
necessary to formally define the firm’s cultural the employees through day-to-day interactions. In
values and the behavior expected from its particular, during these first days, week and
employees. months, everyone sees how the leader determines
Most important, it becomes crucial to clearly how things should be done.
communicate these definitions to the personnel. For example, a disciplined entrepreneur might
Using various management methods and tools establish a culture based on the timely delivery of

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 37

SMALL BUSINESS

products and honoring of FIGURE 1 Components of Organizational Values

promises to clients. A less disci-
plined entrepreneur, more
accepting of client deliveries Values Mission Vision Policies Objectives
being routinely delayed, might
be sending a dubious message
to personnel that negatively
influences the firm’s perfor-
mance in relation to clients and the marketplace. pany culture, offering its clients the option of long-
Some of the leader’s values and characteristics, term financing to buy its products.
although not documented at this point, become Although we have to consider cultural differ-
rules that are followed by the personnel, which ences between Brazilians and North Americans, it
eventually can turn into characteristics of the firm is worth noting that some North American authors
itself. These rules become the common values. For have named this company culture factor as “cul-
example, the leader might subscribe to the mantra tures of devotion.”2 Similar successful business
“the client is always right”—that is, any customer cultures are found in other North American corpo-
complaint or claim will result in a change of mer- rations such as IBM and the Walt Disney Co.
chandise without hesitation.
Others leader might follow different mantras Developing and Disseminating
that are quickly adopted companywide: The Firm’s Culture
• “Attend to clients quickly and efficiently.” When a small company succeeds and grows, the
• “We sincerely believe that the quality of our firm’s leaders must delegate more activities and
products is the best in the market.” responsibilities to others within the organization.
• “Don’t sell if the client doesn’t pay on time or Intuitive methods of management and leadership
at all.” from the early days might no longer meet the
• “Maintain an informal and agreeable working firm’s needs, and more must be managed formally.
atmosphere. Have fun wherever possible.” Leaders can contribute significantly to this part
of the firm’s development if they can express val-
Leadership and the Formation ues and ideas to help guide the efforts of person-
Of the Small Business Culture nel. Ideas that describe part of the culture are
The values perceived by the firm’s personnel typically known as organizational values and are
tend to become common factors in the personnel’s expressed by concepts such as values, mission,
behavior. For example, a salesperson might make vision, policies and objectives. Typically, these con-
the decision to accept the return of a product from cepts are established by the leadership and adopt-
a customer without talking with his superior. The ed by the firm.
salesperson knows this is the behavior the firm The hierarchy and the relationship among these
expects, even though the rule might not be written organizational values are represented in Figure 1.
anywhere in work instructions. The subtle yet important differences among these
These values form the basis of the firm’s culture concepts tend to be seen as subjective. For instance,
and can become important factors that generate the vision might be expressed with the mission of
good long-term performance. For example, the firm. A better understanding, expression and
Magazine Luiza, a seller of furniture, consumer dissemination of these organizational values can
electronics and appliances in Brazil, has a customer help leaders guide and achieve compromise
based culture. Its salespeople have incentives to among their subordinates.
build personal relationships and trust with clients
to establish future sales. Values of a Firm
Casas Bahia, the largest retail chain store in The National Quality Award of Brazil3 and the
Brazil, is also known for its strong, respected com- regional São Paulo Management Quality Award,4

38 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

similar to the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige solution provides the most economical solution
National Quality Award, offer definitions to clarify for the client.
each of the concepts surrounding organizational Vision: Defined as “desired future state of an
values. Definitions and examples of application of organization. Vision intends to provide direction to
the concepts are described below: the organization.”9 Incom, an ISO 9001 certified
Organizational values: Defined as “the expecta- small manufacturer of technical plastics in São
tions, behaviors and principles that embody how Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo, wrote its vision
the organization and its people are expected to “to be a reference in industrial management.”10
operate and upon which all the organizational rela- Through this vision, Incom’s leadership is grow-
tions are based.”5 ing the business by incorporating other small busi-
An example of one company’s organizational nesses that are relentlessly improving with modern
values comes from Richards Co., a medium-sized
clothing manufacturer that employs about 550 peo-
ple and operates 45 stores in Brazil. Richards for-
mulated its organizational values as the “values of
our ideal of life: adventure, romance, vitality, The values perceived by
dreams, lyrics, elegance and refined sensuality.”6
It is possible to recognize these values, originally the firm’s personnel tend
crafted by the founder of the firm, Ricardo Dias da
Cruz, by visiting any Richards store: The atten- to become a common
dants are youthful and informal. The stores’ interi-
or decorations are light and fun. The atmosphere is factor in the personnel’s
casual. The clothing is relaxed and stylish. In other
words, the organizational values are prevalent in behavior.
the people, products, culture and actions of the
firm.
Mission: Defined as “the purpose of an organi-
zation, its fundamental focus of activities and the management techniques and tools. Incom, with
social needs it proposes to meet.”7 Eskelsen is a two plants and 300 employees, has incorporated a
small Brazilian business located in Lorena, São line of cosmetic and perfume plastic packaging,
Paulo, that recovers and recycles tires. The ISO customized for each client. This has increased the
9001 certified business works with various auto- price of Incom’s products and expanded sales.
mobile, truck and bus companies in regional mar- Policies: Defined as “a definite course or method
kets. Its mission reads: “To increase the value of the of action selected to guide and determine present
assets of our clients (cars and trucks) providing and future decisions.”11
economy and safety by means of products and ser- An example of a company policy comes from
vices of quality.”8 ABC Expurgo of São Bernardo do Campo, São
Eskelsen’s mission to increase the assets of its Paulo. The company provides insect control ser-
clients has generated plans of action to attain this vices for homes and businesses. Its policy reads:
objective and direct the efforts of the firm’s person- “ABC is engaged in: attending requirements,
nel. For example, Eskelsen has offered consulting with emphasis on speed and information delivery;
services to clients on extending the life expectancy of continuously improving its quality management
truck and bus tires. system and developing its human resources and
As a standard service, the business selected a applied specialized technologies; and providing
technical solution for recycled tires and tire reliability in the planning, execution and output of
bands for specific vehicle loads and road pave- every process.”12
ments. This is based on a cost-benefit analysis of In this policy statement, several objectives are
the client needs. Besides recovering the tires, the defined and deployed throughout the firm, trans-

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 39

SMALL BUSINESS

lating into measurement FIGURE 2 Deployment of Vision

indicators and targets. Throughout Entire Organization
Improvement projects are
established to attain tar-
Main leadership
gets, and personnel perfor-
Area managers and coordinators
mance levels are measured
Supervisors and operators
by comparing results to the Projects
Mission Objectives
planned targets. Plans of action Measuring
and vision
Objectives: Defined as indicators
“qualitative decisions
Objectives
derived from strategies that Policy deployment
direct actions to be taken by Performance and results
the firm.”13
Oxipira is a small whole-
saler of equipment and Source: Adapted from Grace Duffy’s “Quality From Scratch: A Model For Small Business,”
consumables for steel plate Quality Progress, July 2004, pp. 27-35.
cutting in Piracicaba, São
Paulo. A few years ago, the
28-employee business had an objective to Defining the firm’s values might be achieved
develop and manufacture high quality auto- through workshops. There, leaders can discuss the
matic sheet metal cutting machines. Oxipira subjects broadly and define the organizational val-
had based this objective on its vast experience ues, mission, vision, policies and the objectives of
with this technology. the firm. Usually the values are in effect for a peri-
By the end of 2005, this objective had started a od of more than five years.
new process—the manufacturing and sale of Meanwhile, review and reconsideration might
steel cutting machines. As a result,
more than 40% of Oxipira’s sales this
year have come from this new activity.14
FIGURE 3 Systematic Cycle
Establishing, Disseminating Of a Firm’s Values
Organizational Values
When the need arises to formalize
organizational values to direct the
efforts of a firm and its people, or to Re-establish,
submit to the requirements of standards confirm, and reinforce
the firm values
such as ISO 9001, it is the responsibility
(every four years)
of leadership to determine these values.
Defining these values is usually a
participative process involving the Disseminate— Disseminate—
firm’s personnel in discussions con- everyday practice of everyday practice of
the firm values the firm values
ducted by the leaders. These discus-
(continuous) (continuous)
sions focus on issues such as: the
reason for the existence of the firm;
the perceived values that characterize Review and
its behavior; the history of successes reinforce the
firm values
and failures; and expectations in view
(every two years)
of the internal and external environ-
ment.

40 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

be necessary to reinforce the values and keep up ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

with the changes in the business environment. The author thanks Osmar Caramori and Rosana Grier for
Once the firm’s values have been established, it is assistance in writing this article.
the responsibility of its leadership to disseminate
them throughout the firm—ensuring comprehen- REFERENCES

sion and commitment—and to clarify the desired 1. James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, Built to Last—
and expected direction. It is common that the firm’s Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, translated, Editora
objectives, as determined in the workshops, will Rocco Ltd., 1995.
require projects and plans of action for achieve- 2. Ibid.
3. Fundação Nacional da Qualidade, Prêmio Nacional da
ment.
Qualidade—Criteria for Excellence, www.fnq.org.br, 2005.
The deployment of these projects and plans of
4. Prêmio Paulista da Qualidade da Gestão, Regulamento
action is an important mechanism for the dissemi-
750 Pontos, www.ppqg.org.br.
nation of the values established by the leadership. 5. Ibid.
Figure 2 shows the deployment of the mission and 6. Richards, www.richards.com.br.
vision of a firm, starting from the leadership and 7. Fundação Nacional da Qualidade, Prêmio Nacional da
involving all levels of the organization. Qualidade—Criteria for Excellence, see reference 3.
8. Eskelsen Pneus, www.eskelsen.com.br.
Reviewing, Updating 9. Fundação Nacional da Qualidade, Prêmio Nacional da
Organizational Values Qualidade—Criteria for Excellence, see reference 3.
The values established by the leadership are long 10. Incom, Strategic Planning Report, SBC, www.incom.
com.br, 2005.
lasting, perhaps more than five years. Nevertheless,
11. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, G&C Merriam Co., 1964.
as external market conditions, technologies, gov-
12. ABC Expurgo, www.abcexpurgo.com.br.
ernment policies and regulations change with time,
13. Prêmio Paulista da Qualidade da Gestão, Regula-
it is necessary for leadership to review the organi- mento 750 Pontos, see reference 4.
zational values periodically. 14. Oxipira Automacão, www.oxipira.com.br.
These reviews might be made in workshops
every two years to discuss, reinforce and update—
when necessary—the firm’s values. This process SAVIO CAPELOSSI FILHO is the direc-
reinforces the firm’s core values, their dissemina- tor of Magna Consultoria, a business
tion and the compromises of the leadership and of management consulting firm based in
the personnel with the firm’s values. São Paulo, Brazil. He earned a degree
Figure 3 shows a process of establishing and in chemical engineering at Faculdade de
reviewing the firm’s values. Engenharia Industrial in São Bernardo
The long-term success and the distinction of a do Campo and specialized in business
small business in the market are influenced by the management. He is a member of ASQ.
alignment and compromise of the personnel with
the directives and objectives its leadership gives.
These directives can be translated as the values of
the firm.
When the small firm grows, these directives—
initially informal and disseminated by direct lead- Please
ership with personnel—tend to lose the power of comment
alignment of the earlier times.
If you would like to comment on this article,
To face this problem, leadership might apply a
please post your remarks on the Quality Progress
method to formulate, disseminate, review and rein-
Discussion Board at www.asq.org, or e-mail
force the firm’s values over time, ensuring their
positive influence and power of mobilization in the them to editor@asq.org.
firm’s day-to-day activities.

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 41

EDUCATION

Don’t Throw Out

The Baby With
The Bath Water
by Frederick G. Dreier

In 50 Words he period of public school accountability

Or Less
• To avoid eliminating effective programs in the
name of continual improvement, a Colorado high
T prompted by the No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) Act and state accountability sys-
tems has put public schools under an academic
microscope.
school developed an assessment tool to measure High dropout rates, low test scores and a less
than rigorous curriculum in many high schools
quality.
across the country have alarmed local, state and
national leaders. The failure of many high schools
• Professional learning communities focused to meet the academic demands of state and federal
on targeted areas by formulating goals and accountability systems has been a vital catalyst in
the recent movement to reform high schools.
objectives.
Many schools are struggling to make adequate
yearly progress as required by NCLB, while others
• Among improvements, the process increased staff are being sanctioned by their state’s accountability
empowerment and collaboration while focusing system for ongoing low test scores. As a result,
schools are expected to assess the quality of educa-
on staff development.
tional delivery and make changes that will engen-
der student academic success and establish a
process for continual improvement.1
Planning high school reform to meet the future

42 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

needs of our graduates and society will require a sources of evidence, not just tests alone.6
creative construct of what a high school of the Realistically, every low performing high
future should look like, a clear vision of a quality school, as ineffective as it might seem, has ele-
school and a keen focus on student achievement. ments of good. So, short of throwing the baby
out with the bath water for the sake of reform,
Intelligent Redesign Theme thus destroying programs that are highly effec-
The quality of America’s high schools can be tive, it is vital that high schools develop an
viewed on a continuum. As author Leon Botstein assessment process to measure the level of quali-
puts it, “With more than 18,600 high schools, you ty in key areas. The sole purpose should be con-
can find the good, the bad and the ugly.”2 He rec- tinuous improvement while not diminishing
ommends intelligent redesign as the theme programs and practices that work well.
behind change. Berthoud High School in Berthoud, CO,
Accordingly, several school leaders have cau- recently developed an assessment tool to mea-
tioned against reinventing the wheel without a sure the level of quality in several educational
clear vision of what future high schools should areas and a process for developing professional
look like.3, 4 Education writer Lynn Olson sug- learning communities (PLCs) focused on the tar-
gests there is no silver bullet when targeting geted areas.
high schools for reform, 5 while Stephen
Raudenbush, a professor of education and sta- Commitment to Reform
tistics at the University of Michigan, emphasizes Starting in 2002, the Thompson R2-J School
that measuring for quality requires several District in Loveland, CO, initiated the process of

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 43

EDUCATION

examining the quality of its high schools. The results in professional growth for staff,
process, referred to as “high schools of the impacts student achievement and promotes
future,” was to unfold in three phases, which collaboration and reflective practices.
would ultimately lead to implementation during After establishing the guiding principles, the
the 2007-2008 school year. next phase in the high schools’ processes required
During phase one, district high school princi- input from the staff at each of the district high
pals and assistant principals examined research schools. The district high schools vary in size, cul-
and attended conferences on high school reform. ture, demographics and level of academic success,
High school administrators, under the leadership as measured by the Colorado Student Assessment
of the district, collaborated to establish five guid- Program (CSAP) and federal mandates related to
ing principles on which the program would focus. adequate yearly progress.
Therefore, each school structured its own assess-
ment process to determine what level of education-
al quality it had mastered relative to each of the
five guiding principles. To assist in this process,
The structure of the the Thompson district superintendent, Daniel P.
Johnson, established a guide for assessing quality.
assessment tool called He provided in-service programs for district
administrators on the process of sustaining change
for a quality rating of and assessing quality in schools, using materials
from his book Sustaining Change In Schools: How to
each guiding principle. Overcome Differences and Focus on Quality.9

Assessment Tool
One of five high schools in the Thompson
In formulating the five guiding principles, we District—Berthoud—took the lead in assessing
identified 35 elements of success and aligned quality by creating a tool (see Figure 1) to rate its
them with the five principles. With some excep- level of educational quality relative to the five
tions, the basic ingredients of the five guiding guiding principles.
principles and elements of success originated The target stakeholders for the assessment
from key high school reform publications, such as included Berthoud High School teachers, high
Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution7 school seniors, members of the school improve-
and Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High ment team and Berthoud parents. The structure
School Reform.8 of the assessment tool called for a quality rating
The five guiding principles say that Thompson of each guiding principle. The tool also invited
district high schools will: the respondents to recognize which elements of
1. Build partnerships with its communities to success listed with each guiding principle were
prepare all students for success with a variety perceived as Berthoud High School strengths or
of postsecondary and civic responsibilities. areas that needed improvement.
2. Create learning communities that support To assist the stakeholders in assessing the level
and foster meaningful relationships, transi- of quality in each of the five principle areas, a
tions and strong academic performance. rubric was constructed to define what a poor and
3. Collaborate with stakeholders to create a rig- exemplary high school might look like relative to
orous, relevant and articulated curriculum to each of the five guiding principles (see Tables
develop students who are critical thinkers 1-5, pp. 46-48). The respondents were to select
and lifelong learners. what level of quality they perceived for Berthoud
4. Offer rigorous and relevant education by High School on a scale of one to 10—one repre-
offering educational options for all students. senting poor quality and 10 being exemplary.
5. Provide data driven staff development that Each stakeholder group, except for the parents,

44 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 FIGURE 1 Berthoud High School Quality Assessment Tool

Rate Berthoud High School’s level of quality for the following guiding principles as defined in its “high schools of the future process”
(1 = poor; 10 = exemplary). Place an X in the box that represents your estimate of the level of quality.

1. Berthoud High School will build partnerships with our communities to prepare all students for postsecondary success and civic responsibility.
(Elements of success supporting this principle: higher education and business partnerships; school to life opportunities; educational options; and
personal and career academic plans.)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Are there elements of success listed under this principle that you consider Berthoud’s strength or elements that need strengthening? Please comment:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Berthoud High School will create learning communities that support and foster meaningful relationships, transitions and strong academic
performance. (Elements of success supporting this principle: support of student academic needs; staff collaboration and coordination; targeted
class size; school climate, culture or caring staff; character education; celebrate diversity; and learning styles.)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Are there elements of success listed under this principle that you consider Berthoud’s strength or elements that need strengthening? Please comment:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Berthoud High School will collaborate with stakeholders to create a rigorous, relevant and articulated curriculum to develop students who
are critical thinkers and lifelong learners. (Elements of success supporting this principle: relevancy in curriculum and instruction; integrated
curriculum and instruction; preK-16 continuity in curriculum; critical and creative thinking applications; and fostering of adaptability.)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Are there elements of success listed under this principle that you consider Berthoud’s strength or elements that need strengthening? Please comment:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Berthoud High School will offer a rigorous and relevant education by offering educational options for all students. (Elements of success
supporting this principle: learning styles; educational options; supporting student academic needs; and personal career and academic
planning.)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Are there elements of success listed under this principle that you consider Berthoud’s strength or elements that need strengthening? Please comment:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Berthoud High School will provide data driven staff development that results in professional growth for staff, impacts student achievement
and promotes collaboration and reflective practices. (Elements of success that support this principle: critical and creative thinking applications;
fostering of adaptability; professional development plans; use of data analysis; and staff collaboration.)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Are there elements of success listed under this principle that you consider Berthoud’s strength or elements that need strengthening? Please comment:
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

was independently organized into groups of five of quality for each of the five principle areas.
to eight individuals. After reviewing the rubric, An important objective of each group was to
each group was asked to discuss the characteris- come to consensus on the rating for each guiding
tics of the rubric as it related to Berthoud High principle. Only high school seniors were selected
School and use the survey tool to assess the level to be in the student stakeholder group because of

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 45

EDUCATION

their length of experience. TABLE 1 Poor and Exemplary High

Because it was difficult to gather enough parents Schools Contrasted by
in one location at the same time, parents were sur- Guiding Principle No. 1
veyed differently. The survey was mailed to 40 sets
of randomly selected parents from all four grade
levels. Included with the parent survey was an Berthoud High School will build partnerships with our commu-
explanation on how to use the tool, a glossary of nities to prepare all students for postsecondary success and
terms and a copy of the rubric. civic responsibility.

Shared Quality Assessment Poor quality: High quality:

The most exciting result of this process was the • The high school does not • The high school has suc-
level of discussion and collaboration among all the communicate with local col- cessfully communicated
stakeholders. Walls that often separated high leges and universities to pro- with the local colleges and
vide concurrent educational universities to provide con-
school teachers, individually and by department, opportunities for students. current opportunities for stu-
disappeared. Within their groups, teachers and • The school views partner- dents in both the vocational
other stakeholders debated, justified and critically ships with higher education and academic areas.
assessed where Berthoud High School fit on the and business as a waste of • Students, during their junior
quality continuum and why. time. and senior years, can take
The remarkable result of the assessment was that • The high school is indifferent college classes at the local
to community attempts to college and university and
it gave all stakeholders a voice to critique, analyze, begin establishing a bridge
form partnerships with the
compare and identify areas of strength and areas to school to help support stu- between high school and
strengthen. The assessment also gave everyone an dent career and academic postsecondary options.
opportunity to listen to what others were saying plans. • The high school understands
about the quality level of education at Berthoud • The high school offers a rigid that students learn in differ-
High School. and nonflexible curriculum ent ways and is constantly
that is designed to meet the attempting to create educa-
More importantly, however, it gave all involved tional options for students.
basic academic needs of
a chance to identify the areas to strengthen and to students. • A successful business part-
explore strategies for forging ahead. • Parents are limited in their nership provides financial
ability to assist with their assistance and internships
Choosing Five Areas child’s education and find for students, and assists
For Improvement Effort Focus that approaching the school with career transitions and
administration and teachers planning.
All group ratings were near or above seven points
is filled with barriers and • The school climate recog-
on a 10-point scale for all guiding principles. The roadblocks. nizes the importance of par-
overall measure of educational quality, as viewed • The staff’s general feeling ents in supporting their child’s
from the Berthoud High School stakeholders rela- about struggling students is, education and encourages
tive to the five guiding principles, is moderately “If they don’t get the materi- parents to volunteer or assist
al—too bad.” in ways that are productive
high and just short of exemplary in some principal
and nonintrusive.
areas (see Figure 2 at www.asq.org/qualityprogress).
• The staff openly attempts to
Notwithstanding, the stakeholder’s level of per- connect with their students
ceived quality is supported by other Berthoud beyond the classroom by
High School academic measures that are often used being visible at extracurricu-
to assess levels of quality in high schools. These lar activities and communicat-
ing a caring and supportive
include CSAP and American College Test (ACT)
feeling at all times.
scores (all above the Colorado state average), low
dropout rates, and the high percentage of students
that graduate and go on to college from Berthoud
High School.

46 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 TABLE 2 Poor and Exemplary High TABLE 3 Poor and Exemplary High
Schools Contrasted by Schools Contrasted by
Guiding Principle No. 2 Guiding Principle No. 3

Berthoud High School will create learning communities Berthoud High School will collaborate with stakeholders
that support and foster meaningful relationships, transitions to create a rigorous, relevant and articulated curriculum to
and strong academic performance. develop students who are critical thinkers and lifelong
learners.

Poor quality: High quality:

• Teachers are generally isolat- • Teachers frequently meet in Poor quality: High quality:
ed from one another and professional learning com- • There is very little focus on • Teachers meet frequently to
rarely, if ever, get together to munities targeting continual developing a meaningful and discuss the importance of
discuss best teaching prac- improvement of teaching relevant curriculum. providing a rigorous, rele-
tices and student results. and learning. • Students are placed in abili- vant and meaningful learn-
• Professional development • Collaboration is embedded in ty groups with little opportu- ing experience for students.
for administrators and the core values of the school nity to explore interests or • From discussions of rigor
teachers is not aligned with through a strong team com- experience a more chal- and relevance, school cur-
any particular plan and mitment to student success. lenging curriculum. riculum becomes more
especially does not corre- • Professional development • High school departments open to students in limited
spond to student academic planning involves a partner- rarely explore cross curricu- ability groupings.
needs. ship between school leader- lar opportunities to integrate • Curriculum development is
• Students feel as though the ship and teachers, and is and strengthen curricular always focused on offering
staff does not care about devoted to improving the offerings. the best possible learning
them and rarely connects on practice of teaching. • Both inter and intradepart- experience for all students.
a personal level. • Students feel as though the mental discussions of com- • Advanced placement, inter-
• Students are left out of any staff cares about them and mon assessment tools rarely national baccalaureate and
decision-making process will actively participate in occur. honors offerings are avail-
and are rarely asked for their their success. • There is very little profes- able to all students who
opinion about school mat- • Each staff member feels val- sional development that value rigor and relevance.
ters. ued for the contribution he or helps teachers understand • The school has an ongoing
• There is very little effort on she makes in support of stu- how technology integration plan to provide staff devel-
the part of the receiving high dent success. can assist in positive teach- opment at various levels of
school to help ninth graders • Incoming ninth graders are ing and learning. expertise to help teachers
feel welcome to their new welcomed by the school effectively integrate tech-
school. staff and feel comfortable nology into their curricula.
prior to their first day of
school.

From the survey, specific areas were identified as feeder middle school in areas of curriculum
areas to strengthen (see Table 6 at www.asq.org/ and transition.
qualityprogress). From these, Berthoud High School 2. Increase interdepartmental collaboration time.
teachers were asked to select five or six areas and 3. Develop more relevant staff training by de-
initiate the planning process to increase quality in partment.
each. 4. Improve the consistency of student expectations.
The five areas on which Berthoud teachers chose 5. Expand college preparation and planning for
to focus their improvement efforts were: students.
1. Continue to strengthen articulation with the Within the last two years, more than half the

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 47

EDUCATION

TABLE 4 Poor and Exemplary High TABLE 5 Poor and Exemplary High
Schools Contrasted by Schools Contrasted by
Guiding Principle No. 4 Guiding Principle No. 5

Berthoud High School will offer rigorous and relevant edu- Berthoud High School will provide data driven staff
cation by offering educational options for all students. development that results in professional growth for
staff, impacts student achievement and promotes
collaboration and reflective practices.
Poor quality: High quality:
• Test scores show a distinc- • Student and staff diversity is
tive academic gap between seen as a strength and is Poor quality: High quality:
the school’s ethnic and recognized or celebrated at • School staff development • Staff development always
racial groups. all levels of the organization. rarely focuses on student focuses on student learning.
• The school climate fosters • If an academic achievement learning. • Student academic data are
neither academic adaptabili- gap exists, the staff works • Student academic data are constantly assessed to
ty, social adaptability nor sup- to understand the issues rarely analyzed to assist assist teachers in better
port. around the problem and teachers in measuring learn- understanding the learning
• School systems do not sup- establishes a plan to effec- ing; instead only classroom needs of students.
port academic or career plan- tively reduce the gap. management and teaching • School strategic plans are
ning, and rarely attempt to • To assist students who practices are emphasized. crafted to ensure continuous
create appropriate and rele- struggle academically, edu- • There is no plan for continu- improvement of teaching
vant educational options for cational options are provid- ous improvement or school and student learning.
students. ed and include recovery or effectiveness. Rarely are • Criteria for measuring school
• In staff development plans, tutorial programs and com- decisions based on solid effectiveness are in place
there is much emphasis on mon assessment tech- academic research. and frequently reviewed to
managing students rather niques to measure student
• School staff does not believe ensure a quality program.
than exploring research on growth.
that it is the school’s respon- • The school staff strongly
learning styles, best teach- • To best address the various sibility to promote and teach believes that it is the
ing practices and differenti- learning abilities of students, character education, instead responsibility of all adults to
ated instruction. staff development focuses believing this should be mold the character of stu-
• Student success is mea- on individual learning taught at home. dents, and participates in
sured by graduation rate and styles, brain based learning
• “Sit and listen” is the planning and reviewing char-
does not include a focus on and differentiated instruc-
favored teaching technique, acter education programs or
success after high school. tion.
with few opportunities for classes.
• Student success is mea- students to critically think • Classroom instruction is
sured using a variety of cri- about course material and based on meeting the edu-
teria including graduation how it can be integrated into cational needs of students
rates, percentage of stu- previous and future learning. and reflects the learning
dents that attend postsec-
needs of all students.
ondary education programs
and scores on national and • All students are encouraged
state tests, to name just a to be critical thinkers—a
few. trait that is vitally necessary
to function effectively in a
democratic society.

teachers at Berthoud High School were trained in of the plans were to improve quality in each of the
forming and using PLCs to address specific issues. selected areas.
With the quality findings in hand, Berthoud teach- At this point in the quality process, many of the
ers were asked to form individual groups focused PLCs had identified two or three goals including
on developing strategic action plans. The objectives strategies and timelines in their action plans. The

48 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

next step in the process was to launch each of the population of ninth and tenth graders who are
action plans during the 2006-2007 school year, not proficient or who are only partially proficient
with follow-up plans to measure our success at on the CSAP test.
continuous improvement. Likewise, in the area of staff development, 50%
of 2006-2007 staff development is being dedicated
Results and Actions to effective teaching strategies specific to depart-
Berthoud High School administration and mental course work. Each department is planning
teachers have recognized several positive results to add a minimum of 10 new lessons, turnkey
from the quality study. strategies or activities to its resources.
First, the new assessment tool and process is a In another targeted area, Berthoud High School
valuable means of quality review and future plan- teachers are examining ways to strengthen con-
ning for schools. This process has increased the sistency of student expectations. This year, teach-
level of collaboration within and among Berthoud ers identified three key student behavioral issues
High School staff and, as a result, teachers meet
more often in meaningful and directed conversa-
tions about school improvement and student
achievement.
Staff has a new sense of energy resulting from Staff has a new sense
the empowerment of collaboration. Prior to the
quality process, teachers met occasionally to dis- of energy resulting from
cuss targeted student achievement and continu-
ous improvement. Staff will occasionally suggest the empowerment
that a PLC be organized to manage issues or
problems. of collaboration.
The quality assessment process revealed that
Berthoud High School is perceived by its stake-
holders to provide a high level of quality in each
of the five principal areas. At the same time, it has to strengthen. The same PLC group that is target-
areas that could be strengthened. ing consistency of student expectations is also
The assessment process established the founda- studying successful feeder school transition mod-
tion to allow action. Five PLCs formulated several els and planning visits to schools known for
goals or objectives to address the areas that need- exemplary programs.
ed strengthening. For each goal or objective, stra- Through the quality process, Berthoud High
tegies were crafted, timelines were developed and School is focused on providing more college
needed resources were defined. preparation and planning for students.
For example, to strengthen articulation with This spring, Berthoud High School completed
the feeder middle school, Berthoud High School the initial planning for the math and science focus
teachers are meeting regularly with the feeder program. It continues to establish partnerships
middle school staff to discuss teaching strategies with industry and higher education to support
that benefit students who are not proficient or resource and professional development needs for
who are only partially proficient in language arts the program.
and mathematics, as determined by CSAP test Along these lines and in partnership with the
scores. local community college, Berthoud High School
Furthermore, Berthoud High School teachers is establishing a higher education outreach center
have increased interdepartmental collaboration on the high school campus to support the math
aimed at establishing strategies to improve the and science focus program and to provide an
reading and writing skills of an identified target associate of arts degree option for Berthoud High

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 49

EDUCATION

School students. 3. Kilmer, “Continuous Quality Improvement: A

Finally, a PLC is developing a database of Roadmap for Rural School Improvement,” see reference 1.
Berthoud High School graduates to determine 4. Botstein, “Intelligent Redesign,” see reference 2.
their satisfaction with their high school career 5. Lynn Olson, “States Target High Schools for Change,”
Education Week, Vol. 25, No. 22, 2006, p.1.
and the college preparation they received.
6. Stephen Raudenbush, Schooling, Statistics, and Poverty,
Institutionalizing Continuous Educational Testing Service, Policy Evaluation and Research
Improvement Center, Policy Information Center, Princeton University, 2004.
7. Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution,
Without this quality assessment process, National Assn. of Secondary School Principals, 1996.
Berthoud would have been unable to make 8. Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Re-
well-informed decisions about its ability to form, National Assn. of Secondary School Principals, 2004.
institutionalize continuous improvement and 9. Daniel P. Johnson, Sustaining Change in Schools: How to
plan for its future. Overcome Differences and Focus on Quality, Assn. for
From the quality assessment, Berthoud High Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2005.
School defined its strengths and what areas need
strengthening. So, the reform target was in focus. FREDERICK G. DREIER is principal of Berthoud High
In many areas, Berthoud High School already School, Berthoud, CO. He was assistant principal at the
was doing quite well. Hence, our process has
time he wrote this article. Dreier earned a doctorate in
become our own intelligent redesign. Consistent
anthropology from Washington State University. He is a
with the headline of this article, we are keeping
member of ASQ.
the healthy baby and discarding the old bath-
water.
Please
REFERENCES comment
1. Lloyd C. Kilmer, “Continuous Quality Improvement:
A Roadmap for Rural School Improvement,” paper present- If you would like to comment on this article,
ed at the annual meeting of the National Rural Education please post your remarks on the Quality Progress
Assn., Charleston, SC, 2000. Discussion Board at www.asq.org, or e-mail
2. Leon Botstein, “Intelligent Redesign,” School Adminis- them to editor@asq.org.
trator, Vol. 63, No. 1, 2006, pp. 10-15.

W rite an article for the top publication

in the quality field. Go to Quality Progress
magazine’s 2008 editorial planner at
www.asq.org/qualityprogress for topic ideas.

50 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

LEAN SIX SIGMA

Deployment:
Start Off on
The Right Foot
by
by Robin
Robin Gates
Gates

many challenging issues that come with it.

A
ristotle advised, “Well begun is half
done.”1 A thoughtful plan addressing Business executives and leaders planning or
critical issues makes any project deploy- starting lean Six Sigma deployment projects can
ment easier and produces better results. This benefit greatly from a little preparation and pre-
includes any lean Six Sigma deployment and the work.
Although geared toward large private sector
organizations of 500 or more employees, the
deployment management issues and principles
In 50 Words detailed throughout this article are relevant to pub-
Or Less lic sector organizations and can also apply to small-
er organizations with the appropriate adjustments.
• The decision to deploy lean Six Sigma should
Making the Deployment Decision
not be taken lightly. Difficult questions must
Deployment starts with the decision to do some-
be answered before starting the journey. thing. Deploying lean Six Sigma is difficult and
should not be undertaken casually. Success is more
• Identifying internal customers early on and likely if certain conditions are met. Here are four
questions to ask when deciding whether to deploy
staying connected is critical for success
lean Six Sigma.
during project deployment. 1. Is there a compelling reason for deploying
lean Six Sigma? A simple, compelling and moti-
• Four different deployment models can be used vating reason for deploying lean Six Sigma pro-
vides the driving force for overcoming the initial
when mapping a course of action.
deployment barriers. Many people will need

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 51

LEAN SIX SIGMA

convincing to get on board. Most will not accept • Revenue generation: increasing sales or output.
that it is the right thing to do on blind faith . Lean Six Sigma goals should guide early deploy-
The reason can be dramatic, such as poor finan- ment decisions. For example, a deployment focused
cial performance or rapidly falling customer solely on saving money looks different from one
satisfaction. It can be that new competitors are that also is expected to improve strategy execution.
threatening your future. A burning platform—a Early agreement between the CEO and executive
crisis that demands action—can be a powerful team on goals simplifies planning and reduces the
motivator, but it is not essential. Many healthy risk of a false start.
companies have successful deployments but com- One energy equipment and services company
monly a threat or opportunity gets their attention focused deployment on improving customer rela-
and pushes them to action. tionships after key customers told the incoming
2. Are there specific goals for lean Six Sigma? A CEO that the company was hard to do business
burning platform or a determined CEO provides the with.
push for lean Six Sigma. But a pull is needed, too. A manufacturer of advanced materials made
Goals are needed to help paint an appealing picture changing the behavior of all employees the prima-
describing how the future organization will be bet- ry objective. It wanted Six Sigma to be the common
ter. The goals should be specific and reflect the busi- business improvement language and the way of
ness case for deployment. life for every employee, not just the Green Belts
Some common goals are: (GBs), Black Belts (BBs) and Champions.
• Business transformation: fundamentally 3. Is there strong executive leadership for lean
changing culture and management. Six Sigma? There is no substitute for leadership. A
• Strategic execution: turning strategy into high level executive (CEO, COO or a key business
results more effectively. unit executive) is needed to maintain the focus on
• Problem solving: adopting a common method deployment, hold executives accountable for get-
organizationwide. ting results from lean Six Sigma and to break down
• Cost savings: reducing costs while meeting organizational barriers. A superstar CEO isn’t nec-
customer requirements. essary, but there should be no doubt about the
sponsoring executive’s
determination to make
lean Six Sigma work.
FIGURE 1 Example of “Critical To” Tree
Anything less greatly
increases deployment
CEO satisfaction with lean risk.
Six Sigma deployment 4. Is lean Six Sigma
right for the problems
that need fixing?
Sometimes organiza-
Quality Delivery Cost
tions start lean Six
(55%) (35%) (10%)
Sigma hoping to solve
all their problems. Lean
Six Sigma is an execu-
$10 million in hard Annual deployment costs tion method not suited
90% of projects directly
financial benefits will must not exceed 10%
improve earnings.
be realized in 2008. of annual project benefits.
to solve problems such
as poor leadership, fail-
ing business strategy or
All employees regularly All managers will be financial restructuring.
exhibit appropriate use of certified Green Belts The process capability
the lean Six Sigma method. or Black Belts by 2008. understanding provided
by lean Six Sigma can

52 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

help address those woes, but
can’t solve them.
Address these other problems
separately and consider fixing
them before deploying lean Six
Sigma. Asking this question at
the start pushes executives to
better understand how lean Six
Sigma works and helps focus it
on the appropriate problems.
For example, one company
found it lacked a widely accept-
ed business model. It realized it
needed to fix that situation sep-
arately before lean Six Sigma
could deliver all the anticipated
benefits.

Understanding Deployment The value in developing a CT tree is that it can

Customer Requirements provide clarity and garner stronger executive sup-
A deployment is like other business processes in port. Agreement is easy when expectations are
which customer requirements should come first. vague. Getting specific and measurable specifica-
The value of the deployment is determined by tions flushes out misunderstandings, hidden agen-
what the customer sees and is willing to pay for.
Understanding internal customer requirements
is a good place to use some lean Six Sigma tools.
Developing a “critical to” (CT) tree for the deploy- A superstar CEO isn’t neces-
ment will help go beyond general deployment
goals and determine specific and measurable per- sary, but there should be no
formance specifications. Figure 1 shows an exam-
ple of a CT tree that illustrates specific metric goals doubt about the sponsoring
for a lean Six Sigma deployment.
The following are steps for developing a CT tree. executive’s determination to
• Identify the deployment customers—those
who make the decision to pay (allocate organi- make lean Six Sigma work.
zation resources) for lean Six Sigma or have
the power to affect that decision.
• Go through a structured process (for example,
interviews or focus groups) to thoroughly das and wishful thinking. Review any requirements
understand customer requirements. Use the with customers annually and adapt to maturing
standard quality, delivery and cost categories. expectations, keeping the deployment fresh and rel-
• Get measures and specifications. If saving evant. Designing the deployment will be easier
money is expected, find out how much and with unambiguous expectations.
by when.
• If culture change is required, determine what Selecting the Deployment Model
this means to the customer and how it should The deployment model is the deployment’s
be measured. Customers won’t always know basic scope, scale, structure and focus. There is no
what they want, so use this process to help one right deployment model. Organizations are
them figure it out. served best by a deployment model appropriate

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 53

LEAN SIX SIGMA

for them. Each of the four generic deployment It can take years to turn a business unit deploy-
models highlights issues that must be considered: ment into an organizationwide effort because the
1. Organizationwide: This is the conventional pilot deployment must prove itself first. For exam-
Big Bang deployment model. It is top-down driven ple, a chemical manufacturer was successful in
with strong central management. All parts of the starting with a business unit deployment. Based on
organization participate. This deployment quickly its success, the manufacturer expanded the deploy-
gets to critical mass and produces results. Cross ment companywide, adding 18 months to the
functional processes can be improved because all deployment.
functions are included. Strong executive leadership 3. Targeted: The targeted model focuses deploy-
helps remove deployment barriers. This deploy- ment on a specific problem or group of problems.
ment approach can transform the business because The approach can involve many parts of the orga-
of its scope and scale. nization or just one.
The disadvantage of this model is that it requires This model can be implemented quickly and
powerful leadership, clear focus and persistence—all yield rapid results. The problem provides the
uncommon characteristics for most organizations. impetus for action and a sharp focus. Little infra-
The model uses many resources and crowds out structure might be required because the scale tends
other initiatives. A strong deployment team is essen- to be small. The change management workload is
tial. It is the most challenging model to execute. greatly reduced.
Research suggests this model has the greatest Resources such as BBs can be centralized and
impact and is most sustainable. Organizations are assigned where needed. Contractors and project
notoriously hard to change. A comprehensive, fast employees can be used more extensively. It can
paced deployment with strong, committed leader- demonstrate quickly that lean Six Sigma works.
ship gets the priority and creates the momentum This approach is unlikely to transform the busi-
essential to overcome the natural inertia of organi- ness because of the narrow focus. Once the immedi-
zations. ate problem is solved, the effort can be disbanded
2. Business unit: This model deploys lean Six easily. Expanding the effort organizationwide is dif-
Sigma in one part or business unit within the larger ficult because the supporting infrastructure has not
organization. It has many characteristics of an been built.
organizationwide deployment, only on a smaller 4. Grass roots: In this approach, a small group
scale. An advantage is a smaller, simpler support- far down in the organization deploys lean Six
ing infrastructure for functions such as training Sigma. This model is easily started, often with an
and project tracking. There is less complexity in a enthusiastic advocate and a specific problem to
business unit. solve. Little infrastructure is needed because of
The smaller scale makes the selling and adoption the small scale. Visible success can create interest
easier. This can be a way to start in highly skeptical in lean Six Sigma elsewhere in the organization.
organizations that need proof it will work. Strong This type of guerilla, “fly under the radar”
business unit leadership is needed, but early CEO deployment has many disadvantages and rarely
leadership is less critical. leads to a broader deployment:
Disadvantages include: • Often missing is top level leadership to make
• Impact on the organizational culture is less- deployment a priority and provide resources.
ened. • Lean Six Sigma knowledge is localized and
• Cross functional improvement opportunities there is often little or no infrastructure to sup-
are often lost as teams find it difficult to reach port expansion.
across functional or business unit lines to • Cross functional work is difficult because of
improve processes. the narrow scope.
• Using BB assignments to develop leaders is • Results are often so small relative to the entire
constrained because exposure is limited to organization that capturing top executive
the business unit and fewer promotional attention is difficult.
opportunities exist.

54 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

Deployment and Results Focus on What Matters Most
Accountability Maintaining a focus on what matters is a chal-
Accountability is another deployment issue that lenge for management initiatives. Too often you
must be resolved early. This is often determined hear the story of the quality team completing a
along with the deployment’s organizational struc- textbook project and solving a problem that no one
ture. Two aspects of accountability should be con- cared about. Nothing is more deadly to a manage-
sidered: ment initiative than irrelevance.
1. Accountability for results: This should be Plan from the start to keep lean Six Sigma rele-
placed with managers and executives. They are vant. The easy, low hanging fruit projects will be
accountable for business results, and lean Six depleted quickly. Developing the next generation
Sigma projects are part of getting results. Line of projects will be more difficult. Early action can
managers and executives will quickly marginalize avoid assigning mediocre projects to BBs just to
lean Six Sigma if they are not accountable for its keep them busy.
project benefits. Keeping lean Six Sigma relevant is about project
Many organizations tie a significant portion of development and selection. To find relevant pro-
variable compensation to attaining lean Six Sigma jects, begin with the top business goals (for exam-
improvement goals to reinforce this accountability. ple, decrease unit costs or increase sales).
Executive accountability for project results leads to Perform a critical to quality (CTQ) flow down to
assigning key project resources, primarily BBs, to the level in which a project can be properly scoped.
them. This aligns accountability for results and the Through this process, the transfer function [y=f(x)]
resources to achieve them. is determined and dependencies for a particular
2. Accountability for deployment execution: business goal identified. The result is a direct link
This addresses the need to have someone responsi- from what the executives care about to specific pro-
ble for deployment policies, procedures, training, jects. The CTQ flow down concept is illustrated in
GB or BB selection and project tracking. Generally, Figure 2.
these functions should be centralized to be efficient. CTQ flow downs are simple in concept but com-
This individual should report to someone high in plex in execution. Often, important data go miss-
the organization to get the perspective to tie ing, business processes are poorly defined, and the
deployment to strategy, and the power to address business model is obscure. Projects might be need-
cross functional opportunities. Reporting to the ed to collect data and define processes.
CEO or COO is a good option.
Assigning accountability
can be challenging because
many organizational forces
FIGURE 2 CTQ Flow Down for Project Selection
fight against clarity. However,
getting a workable resolution Output (business goal; for example, grow profits 10% )
Company Inputs
to these two aspects of lean Y = X1 X2 X3 X4 X5
level
Six Sigma accountability is Production costs (for example, decrease production costs by 15%)
necessary for a sustainable
Y = X1 X2 X3 X4 X5
deployment.
A Midwest energy compa- Product/program (for example, reduce the cost to produce product XYZ)
ny developed performance Y = X1 X2 X3 X4 X5
contracts—including Six Process (for example, cut supply costs by 12% for product XYZ)
Sigma goals—for all its execu-
Y = X1 X2 X3 X4 X5
tives. General Electric and
many other companies have Subprocess (for example, reduce warehousing costs)
Project
tied executive incentive com- Y = X1 X2 X3 X4 X5
level
pensation to Six Sigma suc- Project focus (for example, double inventory turns)
cess as well.

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 55

 Constructing flow downs must involve top man- • Do they support the lean Six Sigma initiative?
agers, because they possess the necessary perspec- • Do they have the resources and business
tives and business knowledge. Getting top knowledge to support the deployment?
management engagement is tough, but the result is The matrix in Figure 3 can be used to display the
often a flood of excellent projects. This is where results of the assessment. Change management
assigning executives accountability for project challenges are readily apparent. The assessment
results can pay off. provides a simple roadmap from which to start
Organizations have adopted a variety of ways to facilitating change and to overcome resistance.
keep projects relevant. Many use project selection Winning over skeptics requires personal contact
committees with top executive members to ensure and diplomacy. The root causes of resistance need to
projects align with company goals and strategies. be understood and actions taken. Many people will
Many organizations also provide specific training become supporters if they feel their concerns are
to Champions on project identification methods. heard and positive steps are taken. Some will resist
Monitor the project identification process by get- regardless, but most can be won over if engaged
ting frequent feedback from executives. Ask whether early before resistance becomes entrenched.
they believe the projects are the right ones. See
whether they are excited about attending project Talent Management
report outs or are just attending these meetings out Talent management is a powerful way of spread-
of obligation. ing the lean Six Sigma way of thinking throughout
the organization. Cultural transformation occurs
Change Management when high potential employees become full time BBs
The challenge of making changes is not new. for 18 to 30 months and then go back into the organi-
Niccolo Machiavelli noted, “There is nothing more zation in leadership positions in which they apply
difficult to arrange, more doubtful of success, and lean Six Sigma principles in day-to-day management.
more dangerous to carry through than initiating It is common advice to get the top performers
change…”2 for lean Six Sigma deployments. But less is said
The ability to manage change rather than master about how to do this on a sustained basis. There
tools determines lean Six Sigma success. Lean Six are many talent management issues such as defin-
Sigma deployments disrupt and threaten organiza- ing high potential employees, procedures for plac-
tions by emphasizing data and measures over ing people in selected positions, and managing
opinion, highlighting performance problems with perceptions and expectations.
projects and making process owners accountable For example, Honeywell recruited top perform-
for better results. ers to become BBs through its talent management
Develop a change management plan early. Avoid process. Its objective was to take leaders and give
putting this off in the rush to select the first BBs and them Six Sigma skills. This helped Honeywell revi-
start projects. There is an extensive body of knowl- talize its Six Sigma deployment. As part of a lead-
edge on change management and many good books ership development plan, another company took
on the subject.3 Build on what is known about how its top-tier performers and systematically deter-
people and organizations react to change, what peo- mined who should become BBs and when that evo-
ple need to hear, the role of leaders during change lution should take place.
and how to communicate about change effectively. Many organizations do not have a formal talent
Start with a quick assessment of the stakeholders management process to identify high potential
and their parts of the organization. Identify the employees and facilitate career development. Some
stakeholders (executives, managers, key staff and organizations might have programs that don’t
the lean Six Sigma deployment team) and ask: work well. A rudimentary talent management
• Do they understand the value proposition for process might be needed to supply the talent for
deploying lean Six Sigma? the deployment.
• Do they understand the basic plan for deploy- There will be challenges here. Managers might
ing lean Six Sigma? not identify their stars for fear of losing them. It is

56 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

not uncommon to find dis- FIGURE 3 Change Management Assessment Matrix
agreement among managers on
who is a top performer. One Understand Resources and
Understand value Support for
person’s star might be anoth- deployment knowledge
proposition? deployment?
er’s underperformer. Filling plan? available?
jobs might not be transparent, Executives
making it difficult to place BBs. Executive 1 Ready
Start working with HR early to Executive 2 Concern
develop these policies and Executive 3 Obstacle
processes. Management
Manager 1
Hard Work Pays Off Assessment
Manager 2
Deploying lean Six Sigma can questions Assessment
Manager 3
produce fantastic results that
Employees
are worth all the hard work.
The risks with lean Six Sigma Department 1
deployment are not technical. Department 2
The methods work and the deci- Department 3
sions about tools, terminology Project Team
Stakeholders
and training are relatively Member 1
minor. Member 2
It is the ability to address the Member 3
broader issues of managing
change, securing leadership
commitment, managing talent
Companies are Honing Their Performance, McGraw-Hill,
and getting the right accountability that will make
2000.
the difference between a deployment that lasts and
Snee, Ronald D. and Roger W. Hoerl, Leading Six Sigma—
one that become another forgotten management
A Step-by-Step Guide Based on Experience with GE and
initiative.
Other Six Sigma Companies, Financial Times Prentice
Hall, 2003.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author thanks Brian Boyette from Avior Group and ROBIN GATES is a management
Lonnie Basal from Clipper Windpower Inc. for their assis- consultant based in Middleton, WI.
tance during the preparation of this article. He holds a master’s degree in public
policy and administration from the
REFERENCES
LaFollette Institute of the University
1. Aristotle, Politics, translated by Benjamin Jowett,
of Wisconsin-Madison. Gates is a
Batoche Books, 1999, p. 113.
2. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, translated by George member of ASQ.
Bull, Penguin Books, 1975, p. 51.
3. John P. Kotter, Leading Change, Harvard Business School
Press, 1996.
Please
BIBLIOGRAPHY comment
Eckes, George, Making Six Sigma Last—Managing the Balance If you would like to comment on this article,
Between Cultural and Technical Change, John Wiley & Sons, please post your remarks on the Quality Progress
Inc., 2001. Discussion Board at www.asq.org, or e-mail
Pande, Peter S., Robert P. Neuman and Roland R. Cavanagh,
them to editor@asq.org.
The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola and Other Top

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 57

HEALTHCARE

Benchmarking
In Hospitals: More
Than a Scorecard
by Victor E. Sower

Benchmarking Outcome Measures

I
f you look at many hospitals’ websites and TABLE 1
other resources they make publicly available,
you will often see charts, graphs or tables Item Our hospital National average
showing hospital performance on some metric Overall patient satisfaction 84.9 82.5
compared with a national standard. Check-in 82.0 79.0
An example is Table 1, which was taken from a Nurses 79.3 84.4
hospital website and compares patient satisfac-
Doctors 84.1 85.4
tion in numerous areas with the national average.
Tests 85.5 85.8
The hospital highlighted the areas in which it
exceeded the national average. Family or friends 88.9 85.5
Waiting time 83.6 87.5

Black: Our hospital lower than national average

Blue: Our hospital higher than national average
In 50 Words
Or Less
• Benchmarking should not just involve comparing The term “benchmarking” is often mentioned in
your hospital with national averages; it should hospital quality literature, but the process of bench-
marking is often misunderstood. True benchmark-
involve looking at best in class hospitals and ing is not simply comparing outcome measures
finding out what they do. with industry averages.
ASQ defines benchmarking as “a technique in
• Hospitals shouldn’t limit their benchmarking to which a company measures its performance against
that of best in class companies, determines how
just the healthcare industry; there’s much to those companies achieved their performance levels
learn from the service industry, too. and uses the information to improve its own perfor-

58 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

mance. Subjects that can be benchmarked include Benchmarking can be a
strategies, operations and processes.”1
Doing a simple comparison with a national aver- valuable tool in moving
age is more like a scoreboard showing who is win-
ning. It only answers the question “Am I above or beyond national average
below average?” This doesn’t tell the hospital how
to improve operations. The approach might be of performance to best in
interest to the general public, government and
accreditation agencies, but it is of limited value as class performance.
input to a hospital’s process of continuous quality
improvement (CQI).
Ask yourself which would contribute more to
your CQI program: knowing your hospital is
slightly above average nationally in controlling best hospitals use, we must approach improvement
Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus by reinventing the wheel. We are doomed to make
(MRSA) or understanding the processes that the the same mistakes other hospitals have made and
University of Virginia Hospital used to achieve learned from.
best in class MRSA control?2 A problem with national averages is that we
There is value in comparisons with national don’t even know which hospitals are the best per-
averages. Residents of the hospital’s service area formers and we don’t know what best in class per-
can judge the quality of the hospital compared formance is. National averages provide no measure
with national averages. The hospital’s quality of variation in performance and no information
director and quality improvement teams can use about the level for best in class performers. Varia-
this information to determine which areas most tion in performance can be a bigger problem than
need improvement. The improvement efforts’ average performance.
progress can be monitored over time to determine The Nebraska Medical Center’s interventional
whether the actions taken are effective in closing radiology department undertook a project to
the gaps between a hospital’s performance and improve major problems in treatment delays,
national averages. which were creating patient dissatisfaction and
However, for all its usefulness, comparison with patients’ seeking treatment elsewhere.5 The
national averages is insufficient. Meeting the nation- department found it took an average of 1.4 calls
al average does not equate excellence. It might not to schedule an appointment. Further analysis
even equate sufficiency. revealed the standard deviation was 0.989 calls,
A Canadian study found that 7.5% of patients with a maximum of seven calls.
experienced at least one adverse event because of After several improvement projects had been
medical errors in 2000.3 If your hospital has a med- completed, the average was still 1.4 calls.
ical error rate of 7%, it is better than the national However, the standard deviation had been
average. Is that sufficient? Wouldn’t it be better to reduced to 0.52 calls with a maximum of three
know what the error rate is at the best hospitals? calls. If they had used a comparison to national
Wouldn’t it be even better to understand how averages, the significant improvement in this
those best in class hospitals achieved the bench- process would not be visible.
mark standard medical error rates? Benchmarking is an improvement process in
The Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety which an organization measures its performance
Survey found that 50% of hospitals do not have against that of best in class organizations within or
procedures to prevent bedsores.4 If your hospital outside its industry, determines how those organi-
has any such procedures, you are above the nation- zations achieved their performance levels, and uses
al average. Is that sufficient? Wouldn’t it be better that information to improve its own performance.
to know what the procedures are at the hospitals Benchmarking can be a valuable tool in moving
with the lowest incidence of bedsores? beyond national average performance to best in
Without information about the processes that the class performance.

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 59

 HEALTHCARE

Best In Class processes, which are alike for all industries.”7

While it is useful to discuss improvement efforts For example, hospitals share several processes
with other hospitals that are nearby, easily accessible with hotels. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., which
or otherwise convenient, to aspire for excellence you received a Baldrige award in 1992, has approaches
must compare yourself with excellent hospitals. One to employee training, room service, custodial ser-
such best in class hospital is Robert Wood Johnson vices, customer orientation and quality metrics
(RWJ) University Hospital in Hamilton, NJ. that hospitals could learn from. Disney is well
RWJ received a 2004 Malcolm Baldrige National known for employee training and customer orien-
Quality Award. It had a quality program in place tation—both important to hospitals. Both of these
in 1999 that was based on five pillars of excel- organizations were used as benchmark standards
lence—service, finance, quality, people and growth. by Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo,
But, looking for ways to better serve its customers, MI—also a Baldrige recipient.8
the hospital’s management decided to use the Benchmarking is not just copying what other
Baldrige criteria as a “framework for leadership successful organizations are doing. It involves
and acceleration of [its] quality journey.”6 not just understanding what best in class organi-
One of RWJ’s achievements is best in class ser- zations’ goals are and how they have achieved
vice in its emergency department (ED). Its 15/30 those goals through process and operations
program guarantees every patient will see a nurse improvement; it is also taking that information
within 15 minutes and a doctor within 30 minutes back to your own organization to determine how
of entering the ED. RWJ backs this program with to achieve comparable results given your unique
an extraordinary guarantee—if it fails to meet the internal and external conditions. This process
guarantee, the ED portion of the bill will be waived will make yours a better hospital.
upon patient request. The hospital’s payout is less
REFERENCES
than 1%, indicating it has a process in place to
achieve the desired results. Patient satisfaction 1. “The Quality Glossary,” Quality Progress, June 2007.
with ED increased from 85% in 2001 to 90% in 2. Thomas G. Dolan, “Staph Infections—Stealthy Killers,”
Radiology Today, May 2006.
2004. Because 70% of the hospital’s inpatients
3. Anne McIlroy and Rod Mickleburgh, “Hospital Errors
enter through the ED, this program has con-
Kill Thousands in Canada, Study Estimates,” The Toronto
tributed to overall hospital success. Globe and Mail, May 24, 2004.
Another hospital has an average time from enter- 4. Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey, 2005,
ing the ER to seeing a physician of 47 minutes. The www.leapfroggroup.org.
graph on its website shows this is better than the 5. Jennifer Volland, “Quality Intervenes at a Hospital,”
national norm of about 55 minutes. Clearly, this is Quality Progress, February 2005.
an above average hospital. But it is not best in class. 6. Dave Nelsen, “Baldrige—Just What the Doctor
It should benchmark against RWJ’s best in class Ordered,” Quality Progress, October 2005.
performance—not the national norm. 7. Joseph Juran, foreword to Curing Health Care, by
Donald Berwick, A. Blanton Godfrey and Jane Roessner,
Inside or Outside the Industry Jossey-Bass, 1990.
8. Michele Serbenski, executive director, corporate effec-
While numerous hospitals have been recog-
tiveness and customer satisfaction, Bronson Healthcare
nized for excellence—four have received the Group, personal communication, Oct. 3, 2006.
Baldrige award since 2002—other hospitals need
not restrict their searches for benchmarking part-
ners to other hospitals. Joseph Juran wrote, “As
VICTOR E. SOWER is a professor of management at Sam
the health industry undertakes … change, it is
Houston State University in Huntsville, TX. He earned a
well advised to take into account the experience
of other industries in order to understand what doctorate in operations management from the University of
has worked and what has not. The health indus- North Texas in Denton. Sower is a senior member of ASQ,
try is different … however, the decisive factors in a member of the Health Care Management Division, a
what works and what does not are the managerial Quality Press reviewer and a certified quality engineer.

60 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

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CAREER
CORNER

Adapt to Today’s Risk Based Environment

by Hank Lindborg

ot long ago, during a discus- the topic of this column, for which I tion and rigorous preparation.

N sion about innovation, a non-

traditional student of mine
told me that if my ideas were more
than 18 months old, they were proba-
interviewed Greg Hutchins, another
regular “Career Corner” columnist. In
“Value Added Auditing is a risk
control method for managing, plan-
ning, conducting and reporting per-
formance, operational, homeland
bly out of date. security and forensics audits,”
Her successful experience in mining Many firms now Hutchins says. “More clients want
innovation and applying lessons demand audits that higher levels of operational assur-
learned in new situations—sometimes ance and attestation than provided
for new employers—prepared her for add value. by an ISO 9001 systems audit.”
continual change in her profession. Hutchins notes that the Sarbanes-
She’s what I call an “adaptive profes- Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002, which
sional,” one whose practices include requires the CEO and CFO to person-
understanding an established body of future QP “Career Corner” columns, I ally certify their responsibility for
knowledge, membership in profes- plan to report conversations with internal controls, and for disclosure to
sional associations and gaining pro- thought leaders on values, ethics and mitigate financial risk, has migrated
fessional certifications. education. to information systems so that ade-
Rather than becoming disoriented quate security controls exist to pre-
in new environments, adaptive pro- Risk Based Assessments vent the theft or corruption of data.
fessionals develop a career path of Hutchins, a consultant with Qual- “Overall, after the 9-11 attacks,
deepening engagement. ity Plus Engineering in Portland, OR, companies have required higher lev-
Professions themselves often evolve, is also the author of many books els of assurance, assessment and
spiraling in new directions that require and articles on quality, including reporting using technology subject
vision grounded in clearly defined the Standard Manual of Quality matter experts.”
frameworks and competencies. The Auditing. 1 As the developer of risk Hutchins points out that compa-
intersections of auditing and areas such based Value Added Auditing, a term nies are looking for the same level of
as risk management, social responsibili- which he has registered as a service due diligence for operational, IT, and
ty and education are examples. mark, he offers insight into how security assessments as they get
The most dramatic example is risk, new challenges require both adapta- from CPAs during financial audits.

ENGINEERING

Schwan's Global Supply Chain, Inc. is a manufacturing cooperative of The Schwan Food Company’s family of businesses. The group oversees and unifies all aspects of the
company’s production processes – from the procurement of raw materials to the manufacturing of product to delivery at company distribution centers. We currently have the
following opportunity within our facility in Salina, KS:

Process Improvement Analyst

This position is responsible for identifying, developing, evaluating or adapting innovative food processes and equipment that create new business opportunities. Ensure
successful scale up of plant products into the manufacturing environment. Create new opportunities for increased capacity or operational improvement methods from idea to
implementation. Provide process parameters for the development of preliminary capital proposals for equipment and facilities, based on business plans, specifications, capacity,
capability and attainment required for new or existing production lines. Develop proposals that include return on investment, benefits and alternatives for special projects. Assist
in resolving choke point analysis and processing issues in our manufacturing facilities.
The successful candidate will have a Bachelor's degree in Engineering or equivalent and 3 to 5 years’ experience. A working knowledge of MS Office, MS Project and AutoCAD
software; an understanding of general industrial process and control systems; and an ability to work independently with minimal supervision and successfully leverage internal
and external resources are required. Must be able to multi-task, prioritize, meet budgets and deadlines and maintain confidentiality while exhibiting effective communication
and problem-solving skills. Experience in the frozen food, bakery or consumer packaged goods industries, Six Sigma, Lean and HPO preferred.

Qualified candidates please apply to www.schwansjobs.com and reference requisition number 07-20994.
Promoting Diversity, our people and our products. EOE

62 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 Q
What’s in it for You? tion. Quality departments and organi-
How relevant is such an approach zations will soon be moving to risk
to quality professionals today? management and risk assessments.” W h o ’s Who in
Hutchins notes that as companies
demand more than checklists, the Lessons for Adaptive Individuals
International Organization for Stan- To prepare yourself to take advan-
dardization (ISO) has developed new tage of this change in quality and
security standards, such as ISO 28000 quality auditing, here are some tips:
series (supply chain security) and ISO • Focus on company or client needs
27000 series (information security). during times of change. Hutchins We’re not necessarily look-
“Quality auditors and operational took his knowledge of audit sys-
auditors need to understand how to tems and harmonized it with ing for the next Joseph
conduct these assessments if they growing demands for risk control.
want to expand their career opportu- • Learn to provide greater assur- Juran or W. Edwards
nities,” says Hutchins. SOX is a statu- ance through rigorous competen-
tory requirement, he adds, while an cies. In his final active years in Deming—someone who
ISO 9001 audit might be contractual quality, Joseph Juran encouraged changed the face of quality
or voluntary. quality professionals to “look to
“For this reason, ISO auditors have finance” for performance models. throughout the world.
to pay attention,” Hutchins says. “ISO Hutchins likens the due diligence
9001 audits may go to a first, second of Value Added Auditing to that
or third level manager. SOX internal of financial audits conducted by
and operational audits go to the board CPAs. We’re looking to profile an
of directors.” • Develop a value proposition. everyday quality profes-
So, Hutchins explains, as the level Philip Crosby measured the
of risk to corporations and govern- importance of quality in an orga- sional committed to the
ments increases, audits become cen- nization by the management level
tral to survival. More is required of attained by quality professionals. profession. A person striv-
auditors, who must be prepared tech- More recently, ASQ has focused
on engaging top management in
ing to make a difference in
nically and interpersonally to deal
with top management and boards. quality. Hutchins’ approach to risk his or her own world and
Hutchins lists five advantages of gets the attention of CEOs and
audits that add value: boards. influencing others along
1. The approach complies with many
federal and state assurance and REFERENCE the way.
auditing statutes and standards. 1. Greg Hutchins, Standard Manual of Quality
Auditing, Prentice Hall, 1992.
2. They can be used for in-depth
forensics analysis. HENRY J. LINDBORG is executive director Send us your nomination
3. They follow a risk based and and CEO of the National Institute for Quality
process approach. Improvement, which provides consulting in for “Who’s Who in Q” so
4. They can be used for a high level strategic planning, organizational development
of operational assurance and and assessment. He holds a doctorate from the we can recognize that per-
investigation, if required. University of Wisconsin-Madison and teaches
in a leadership and quality graduate program.
son’s hard work and dedi-
5. They can be used for homeland
security and other high level due Lindborg is past chair of ASQ’s Education
Division and of the Education and Training
cation and give him or her
care and due proficiency assess-
Board.
ments. a little face time. E-mail
Who now performs such audits?
Hutchins says his consultancy Dave Nelsen, QP assistant
employs engineers and scientists to Please editor, at dnelsen@asq.org.
conduct operational assessments for a comment
range of clients, but he expects his
framework to have broad influence. If you would like to comment on
“All quality organizations and audi- this article, please post your remarks
tors must demonstrate value,” he on the Quality Progress Discussion
says. “Audits that add value are a nat- Board at www.asq.org, or e-mail
ural extension of quality and ISO 9001 them to editor@asq.org.
auditing. You can see that more ISO
standards are moving in this direc-

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 63

STATISTICS
ROUNDTABLE

It’s Not Always What You Say,

But How You Say It
by Lynne B. Hare

hen my daughter Jennifer extremely useful in the analysis and

W
TABLE 1 Sample
was in third grade, her interpretation of data generated by Interlaboratory
teacher, Mrs. M., gave her interlaboratory studies. For these Study Data
an assignment to divide the number studies, Youden recommended that
12: first by six, then by four, then two nearly identical samples be pre-
three, two, one and zero. She came to pared, divided and sent to each of the Laboratory Replicate 1 Replicate 2
me and said, “Daddy, I can do them participating laboratories. The result- A 57.9 70.9
all but the last one. How many times
B 57.3 71.1
will zero go into 12?”
“Hold out your hand,” I said. “Now C 67.9 77.9
I’m going to put nothing in it. Now Youden plots can D 84.0 78.9
I’m going to do it again. How long do
you suppose I can keep doing that?”
make data analysis, E 84.0 55.3
F 58.1 57.6
“Forever!” she exclaimed. interpretation more
“Then that’s how many times zero G 61.9 55.3
will go into 12.” understandable. H 39.2 33.9
Jennifer put “forever” in the blank
I 56.4 58.8
provided on Mrs. M.’s homework
sheet. Two days later, she got her J 45.3 51.6
paper back with that one marked ing data was used to check laboratory K 63.0 62.7
wrong. She bristled. Ever since I’ve alignment. Table 1 shows a sample L 60.9 75.6
known her, she has spoken truth to data set. The tabled numbers are
power. True to form, she accosted scaled from an actual interlaboratory M 35.4 112.7
Mrs. M. after school. Mrs. M. said the study of vitamin A analysis. N 81.7 77.6
answer was zero. Jennifer started to While the study design is simple O 58.9 60.5
explain how it wasn’t: “Here, Mrs. enough, Youden was disappointed
P 51.9 55.8
M.,” she said, “hold out your hand.” with statistical statements based on
Mrs. M. was having none of that.
Jennifer, unwilling to accept a
rebuke, played her trump card. As
Mrs. M. was heading back toward the FIGURE 1 Youden Plot of Sample Interlaboratory Study Data
front of the room, Jennifer said, “The
answer is ‘forever.’ My daddy is a 120
numbers doctor, and he said so!” M
110
Saying It the Right Way
Being right isn’t always enough. 100
Quite often, the way we are right
makes the difference. Evidence to that 90
Replicate 2

effect is taken from Jack Youden, 80 L

C ND
beloved chemist and statistician who BA
served at the National Bureau of 70
Standards, now the National Institute K
IO
for Standards and Technology, from 60 P F G E
1948 until his death in 1971. As his J
colleagues attest, he seemed always 50
to know the right thing to say to per-
suade others toward his point of 40 The letter adjacent to the plotting
H
view. symbol designates the laboratory.
Among his many contributions to 30
the statistical body of knowledge is 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
the Youden plot, which has proven Replicate 1

64 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 Youden’s Theory
the analysis of variance, calcu-
Resonates With
lation of variance components
and other summary figures
typically generated by statisti-
Modern Statisticians
cians. Not that statisticians’
hearts aren’t in the right
place—perish the thought!— The scientific world is better for having theoretical underpinnings for all
but chemists just didn’t tools and techniques.
understand what the statisti-
cians were talking about. In his unpublished manuscript, “Youden’s Legacy in Metrology,” my
His invention, which we
friend, Mark Vangel, assistant professor in radiology at Harvard Medical
now call the Youden plot, is
simply constructed. On a School and statistician at Massachusetts General Hospital, pointed out,
sheet of graph paper—re-
“Youden would not have much use for this [following] theory, but it is
member that?—mark off con-
venient increments spanning interesting, and it can aid in the construction and interpretation of the
the range of the data, first on
the horizontal axis and then plots.
the same on the vertical axis. “We model our measurements as follows with two different means for
Each laboratory’s plotted
point is the intersection of its the two replicate materials and a common random laboratory effect.
first replicate value on the Within and between-lab components of variance are assumed to have
horizontal axis and its corre-
sponding second replicate normal distributions. The p pairs of measurements can then be regarded
value on the vertical axis. as a sample from a bivariate normal distribution.
Therefore, the graph will
show as many plotted points “From the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix, we see that the points
as there are laboratories.
should fall in an ellipse tilted at a 45° angle. With a little further effort, we
Figure 1 displays the data in
Table 1 and the features of the can construct confidence and prediction ellipses, and we can show that
Youden plot.
the squared ratio of the major to the minor axes of these ellipses is pre-
In Figure 1, the proximity of
the laboratory’s plotted point cisely the F-statistic for the hypothesis that the between-lab variance is
to a diagonal line with slope 1
and intercept zero shows zero.”
agreement of replicates. It is gratifying that Youden’s insight and the modern statisticians’ theo-
Notice that laboratory M, and,
to a lesser extent, laboratory E, ry agree.
show high variation between
duplicates. From his writings,
it is clear Youden would share —Lynne B. Hare
these results confidentially to
the respective laboratories and
offer them a second opportu-
nity. That’s good statistical
bedside manner. obvious outliers were removed. (I tions anticipated to fall within a
Youden also needed a device to used the means calculated with bivariate normal distribution.
show deviations from the central results of laboratory M removed.) Youden recommended that a multi-
value by more than chance alone The radius of the circle is based on a ple of 2.5 to 3 be used to contain most
would allow. His choice of devices multiple of the within-laboratory of the plotted points if there were no
was the circle centered at the inter- standard deviation, depending on differences among laboratories, and
section of the replicate medians after the desired percentage of observa- he wasn’t too picky about the exact

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 65

STATISTICS
ROUNDTABLE

multiple. (I used a multiple of 2.45 tial systematic errors incorporated in Metrology,” unpublished manuscript,
times the pooled within-laboratory their techniques.”1 ASQ Statistics Division Fall Technical
standard deviation of 7.48 to arrive at This is better than saying the analy- Conference, October 2000.
a radius of 18.3 following one of his sis of variance followed by the multi-
examples: 2.45 standard deviations ple comparisons test shows that LYNNE B. HARE is direc-
tor of applied statistics at
should contain about 95% of the plot- laboratories D, H and N are in need of
Kraft Foods Research and
ted points assuming no differences further work. The point is that Development in East
among laboratories.) Youden found a way the client would Hanover, NJ. He received
Laboratories D, H and N show rea- understand and would be motivated a doctorate in statistics
sonable agreement between replicates, to action. from Rutgers University,
but also clear departure from the The world will always have its New Brunswick, NJ.
expected value based on the combined share of Mrs. M.’s, but for people will- Hare is a past chairman
findings from all the laboratories, M ing to listen, a simple, graphical of ASQ’s Statistics Division and a fellow of both
excluded. Again, Youden demonstrat- approach that avoids jargon will win ASQ and the American Statistical Assn.
ed excellent statistical bedside manner the day.
by making individual copies of the
plot with the identity of the errant lab- REFERENCE
oratory hidden to all but it. 1. William John Youden, “Graphical Diagnosis Please
“When the points lie closely along of Interlaboratory Test Results,” Industrial Quality
Control, May 1959, Vol. 15, No. 11. Reprinted in
comment
the 45° line, the conclusion may be Precision Measurement and Calibration—Statistical
drawn that many of the laboratories Concepts and Procedures, Special Publication 300, If you would like to comment on this
are following rather carefully their Vol. 1, Feb. 1960. article, please post your remarks on
own versions of the test procedure,” BIBLIOGRAPHY the Quality Progress Discussion
Youden wrote. But when points lie Cornell, J.A., “Youden Address—Remem- Board at www.asq.org, or e-mail
outside the circle, “The laboratories bering Jack Youden,” ASQ Statistics them to editor@asq.org.
responsible for these points almost Division Newsletter, Winter 2007.
certainly have somehow got substan- Vangel, Mark G., “Youden’s Legacy in

CALL FOR ARTICLES

Software Quality Professional is seeking articles relevant
to the Certified Software Quality Engineer (CSQE) Body
of Knowledge, which includes:

• General quality knowledge and standards.

• Program and project management.
• Leadership and ethics.
• Software metrics, measurement and analytical methods.
• Software quality management.
• Software verification and validation
• Software engineering processes.
• Software configuration management.

Visit www.asq.org/certification/software-quality-engineer/bok.html for more details. Author

guidelines are available at www.asq.org/pub/sqp/author/index.html. To discuss a possible
journal topic, please e-mail sqp_editor@sas.com. Deadlines occur quarterly.

66 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

STANDARDS
OUTLOOK

ISO 14001 Hits 10-Year Mark by Susan L.K. Briggs

Relevance to Smaller

I
t has been 10 years since the ISO example, have penetrated the SME
14001 standard on environmental Organizations market, challenging ISO 14001 as
management systems (EMSs) was ISO 14001 is intended to apply to any the brand of choice.
first published. type of organization anywhere, regard- To address this last issue, work has
ISO 14001 took many years to devel- less of size, or geographical, cultural or begun on a new standard, ISO 14005,
op, but since being issued, it has been social conditions. However, even since Environmental Management System—
widely used in both the public and pri- the 2004 revision, small business repre- Guide for the Phased Implementation of
vate sectors, exceeding the adoption sentatives contend the document still an Environmental Management System
rate of ISO 9001. State and national pro- does not foster acceptance by small and —Including the Use of Environmental
grams have been established to assist, medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Performance Evaluation.
recognize and encourage EMS program Phased implementation has provid-
implementation. The number of ISO ed mixed results to date, with few
14001 certified organizations is now Changes are essential organizations completing the entire
more than 21,000, with almost 9,000 cycle. Also, the committee draft of this
certificates issued in North America for keeping the new document does not address the
alone. SME concerns.
Organizations that have certified to environmental ISO 14001 is strong medicine for a
ISO 14001 attest to multiple benefits: management small business. To make it more palat-
• Enhanced environmental aware- able requires ISO 14000 stakeholders to
ness/accountability at all levels of standard relevant. become better ambassadors to SMEs.
the organization.
• Improved regulatory compliance. Credibility of Certificates
• Enhanced operational controls Key findings from a 2005 global sur- Users of accredited certification are
and procedures. vey of 2,500 SMEs and their represen- increasingly saying that certified orga-
• Reduced environmental footprint tatives include the following: nizations are not delivering expected
in terms of environmental emis- • Few SMEs operate under formal outputs. These users want verification
sions, discharges and waste. systems, and most believe their that an EMS results in improved per-
• Improved internal communica- environmental issues are limited formance, not just conformance to
tions and external partnerships. and of small scale. requirements during a certification
• Continual system improvements • ISO 14001 is regarded as generat- audit. Because there is inconsistency
resulting from EMS objectives, tar- ing more paperwork—and cost— in results, users are questioning the
gets, programs, periodic audits without improving productivity. value of accredited certification.
and management reviews. • ISO 14001 is viewed by SMEs as To address this concern in late 2005,
Myriad supporting standards and synonymous with certification, the ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation
guidance documents have been devel- which can cost more to accom- Board (ANAB) began encouraging an
oped in the wake of ISO 14001, plish than an SME nets in a year. increased focus by both accreditation
including those covering auditing, • Many small businesses do not and certification bodies on the out-
performance evaluation, life cycle believe they have the knowledge puts (results) of certified organiza-
assessment, communication, green- or resources to implement an tions during EMS audits.
house gas emissions and product effective EMS unaided. In particular, ANAB called for audi-
labeling. The ISO 14001 framework • Market incentives from either the tors to focus on information regarding
has been the basis for several occupa- public or private sector are insuffi- the trends of environmental perfor-
tional health and safety management cient to attract SMEs. mance, legal compliance, pollution
systems such as OHSAS 18001, • Improved compliance is an impor- prevention and continual system
RC14001 and Z10. tant benefit of ISO 14001 imple- improvement. When the information
ISO 14001 has been revised once in mentation, even though some indicates no improvement or, even
this 10-year period. Change to the national environmental regulatory worse, a negative trend, the audit
core requirements was limited. The agencies have dismissed ISO team should determine what the
focus instead was on increasing com- 14001 implementation as a driver. client is doing to identify why its
patibility with ISO 9001 and clarifying • A single integrated standard management system is failing.
language to ease implementation and would be well received by those in ANAB is not stopping there. It is
enhance environmental protection. the small business market, but looking further at what it can do to
But several criticisms will need to some said this could result in cost- increase stakeholder confidence and
be addressed in the next 10 years to ly reworking of existing systems. maintain the credibility of an ISO
ensure ISO 14001 maintains its rele- • Alternative approaches, a step-by- 14001 certificate. For example, the
vance and continues its growth. step approach to certification for underlying competitiveness of the

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 67

STANDARDS
OUTLOOK

?
certification industry can drive audi-
tors to cut audit durations. This can
give one auditor an advantage over
others who conform to the Interna-
Questions About Standards
tional Accreditation Forum guidance.
ANAB also noted that organizations Send your general questions about quality and environmental management
view nonconformances (NCRs) as system standards and their derivatives to standardsquestions@asq.org.
negative and therefore exert pressure
on auditors to minimize the number of Include your daytime phone number and e-mail address. The questions
NCRs issued during an audit. ANAB
is exploring strategies for addressing will be submitted to one of QP’s regular “Standards Outlook” columnists.
these and other weaknesses in the cer-
Look for answers to appear in future issues of QP.
tification process to ensure better and
more consistent audits.

Compatibility With Other

Management Systems
The two technical committees (TCs) dards (MSS), the TMB established the and objectives in their TC 207 strategic
responsible for the quality and EMS Joint Technical Coordination Group plan to address each of these issues
standards have always worked (JTCG) and the Strategic Advisory (see Table 1). The committee was
together to improve compatibility and Group on MSS (SAG-MSS). expected to affirm or revise the goals
avoid conflicting requirements in the The JTCG acts as the main coordina- and objectives at its June meeting in
ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 standards. tion body for MSS activities and repre- Beijing.
In 2004, the ISO’s technical manage- sents the views of the respective TCs. The upcoming process of revising
ment board (TMB) instructed the two The SAG-MSS represents the user ISO 14001 will start in 2008 and will
TCs to better align the two standards. community and advises on strategic no doubt address some of these
The resolution stated that future revi- management trends and their potential issues. Those who have interest in set-
sions of ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are to impact on the development of MSS ting the direction for ISO 14001 and
have common elements, described by documents. environmental management during
common text and terminology. The JTCG will be building on the the next 10 years are invited to join the
To support this alignment, the TMB draft joint vision, expanding the align- U.S. technical advisory group and
proposed that the two subcommittees ment strategy to other MSSs and help chart the course. To join, contact
align the development schedules of incorporating user needs to ensure ASQ at standards@asq.org.
the two standards. A draft joint vision their market relevance.
was created to respond to this resolu- There are several concerns with this SUSAN L.K. BRIGGS
tion. In addition, a structure with a initiative: is director of environ-
• User feedback attesting to prob- ment, health and safety
systems based approach was proposed
for Textron Systems,
to replace the current plan-do-check- lems with implementing multiple
Wilmington, MA. She
act and process approach structure. MSSs is lacking.
holds a bachelor’s degree
To further the alignment of the full • No one has confirmed whether in natural science and
suite of management system stan- impacted organizations will realize statistics from Harvard
sufficient value to make revision of University. Briggs served
their current systems to conform to as a U.S. expert on the ISO TC 207, subcom-
TABLE 1 ISO/TC 207 Goals a restructured, aligned standard mittee 1, working groups revising ISO 14001
worthwhile. and ISO 14004 and drafting ISO 14005. She
Ensure that International Organization • It will be difficult to achieve total currently chairs subtag 1 of the U.S. technical
for Standardization technical alignment among many diverse advisory group to TC 207. She is a member of
committee 207 (ISO/TC 207) is aware ASQ and an ASQ certified quality engineer,
technical management standards,
of relevant international policy auditor and manager.
particularly with the mandate to
developments and trends. use common text. Some users want
Ensure market needs are served. technically specific information and
Ensure global participation in the even prefer information customized Please
to their industry, rather than generic
comment
development, revision, acceptance
and use of the ISO 14000 standards. information that applies to a broad- If you would like to comment on this
Ensure the continual relevance and er spectrum of industries. If com- article, please post your remarks on
quality of ISO/TC 207’s standards. mon text is mandated, the aligned
the Quality Progress Discussion
standards are unlikely to meet the
Protect the TC 207 brand and the integrity Board at www.asq.org, or e-mail
needs of these users.
of the use of the ISO 14000 series. them to editor@asq.org.
Ensure the compatibility of ISO 14001 with Next 10 Years
other management system standards. TC 207 leaders established goals

68 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

LEAN
LESSONS

Lean Kaizen in the 21st Century by George Alukal

L
ean kaizen and kaikaku (incremen- intervention corrects the situation. technique. Employees were given
tal and breakthrough improve- Producing what was needed—when practical training so that instead of
ments, respectively) have helped it was needed—mandated building deduction, they are able to get to the
Toyota become a global giant, stay quality into the process. Through con- actual root cause.
consistently profitable and increase tinuous lean kaizens, the concepts of Taiichi Ohno, the father of TPS, was
market share year after year. jidoka (autonomation or human based a proponent of the five whys method
The Toyota Production System automation) and quality at the source to root out problems and fix the
(TPS) played a big role, evolving by process for good. Defective processes,
rigorously using practical problem as we know, lead to defective products.
solving and continuous improvement Besides the root cause analysis tool
techniques. Toyota learned early on
Toyota’s emphasis on of five whys, the Ishikawa diagram
that increasing productivity as the problem solving and (the fishbone diagram) was also wide-
only goal does not work. Just-in-time ly used to drill down to the true
(JIT) manufacturing resulted directly incremental and cause. Other simple and beneficial
in less overproduction, inventory and breakthrough techniques used were the process
the other wastes of lean. map, Pareto chart, histograms, run
JIT manufacturing helped Toyota improvements serve chart, scatter diagram, spaghetti dia-
transform from a traditional “push” gram and check sheets, along with
company—based on forecasts and mul- as valuable quality different matrices, charts and graphi-
tiple scheduling—into a customer benchmarks. cal tools.
demand based “pull” system. Lean Spaghetti diagrams were used to
efforts created and further refined use- understand any path taken by an
ful tools such as the andon (visual dis- operator that didn’t result in value, as
play boards or lights), kanban (in- were incorporated. This required well as any other needless product
formation signals to trigger production, using poka yoke techniques wherever and information throughout the com-
replenishment and conveyance), poka possible, and also empowering work- pany. After all, in traditional facility
yoke (error proofing) and heijunka (a ers to be responsible for the quality of settings, the movement of manpower,
method of leveling production batch their own work. tooling, materials and information
size and variety). At Toyota, line workers were often can look like a bowl of spaghetti.
Toyota also focused a laser beam on trained as problem solvers and Benchmarking was used to set
the human side of lean in changing inspectors of their output where need- aggressive goals for kaizen projects.
the internal culture to a team based ed. They were provided the necessary Another technique used in Toyota’s
environment in which people—as if tools and standards. Process controls, lean kaizens was the analysis of internal
by second nature—followed proven such as the use of statistical control versus external time/steps. Internal
standards. Each lean tool and tech- charts, were emphasized. tasks can be done only when a machine
nique became an integral part of daily Various visual controls were generat- is stopped, whereas external steps can
work life. Workers were encouraged ed and implemented with the help of be accomplished in tandem with a
to be thinkers and problem solvers the process owners themselves. machine producing value added work.
instead of mere rote doers. Standard work was the cornerstone for Kaizens were handled using the
The lean kaizen culture requires identifying when things went wrong. plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. The
employees to use their heads instead Consistency and uniformity of value approach that the kaizen team came up
of just their hands. This emphasis on adding work performed the same way with was the plan step. Implementing
creativity and idea generation eventu- by everyone, across shifts, resulted in the plan was the do step. Monitoring
ally led the company to drastically high quality and predictability. performance versus plan was the
reduce various wastes (muda) and Focused thinking about what went check step. Taking midcourse correc-
total lead times. wrong or how to improve the process tion if the performance does not meet
led to additional kaizen opportunities. the plan, or standardizing at the
Toyota’s Emphasis on Quality Items that were running smoothly and improve level if the targets are met
Simply reducing the quantity or met the standard did not require any was the act step.
batch size to decrease the wastes of further control or extra people to The standardize-do-check-act
excess inventory and overproduc- inspect the product or to maintain the (SDCA) cycle was relevant for prob-
tion—without paying attention to line. lem solving efforts. While monitoring
defects—does not necessarily result in Toyota believed in simple tools and (checking) routine work being done to
the ability to meet customer require- solutions wherever possible. There a set standard, if we found that some-
ments in quality, cost or delivery. If a was a great focus on rapid root cause thing was wrong, we needed to solve
quality problem is detected, the line is analysis and permanent problem solv- the problem and bring the process
immediately stopped and human ing through the use of the five whys back to the standard. Thus PDCA was

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 69

LEAN
LESSONS

used for continuous improvement mental improvements) as well as Quality, cost and delivery are the
efforts, and SDCA was tied closely to kaikaku/kakushin (breakthrough/revo- three most important metrics in a cus-
problem solving activities. lutionary improvements) are neces- tomer’s purchasing decision. On the
Toyota takeaway: Standardize first sary to stay competitive in the global quality metric, Toyota focuses on
by using SDCA. Improve using marketplace. Deeper and wider use of defect prevention rather than detection
PDCA. The A3 reports used exten- TPS or lean results in further cost and after the fact. Autonomation and error
sively at Toyota were visual presenta- cycle time reductions. The aim is to proofing are used throughout the com-
tions of the problem statement, become and remain the benchmark for pany. Workers are empowered and
current state, improved future state, quality, cost and delivery. encouraged to stop the line if there is a
implementation plan and perfor- possibility of a defect. Quality at the
mance against plan displayed right at Toyota Way Today source (self-inspection) rather than
the point of use. And Tomorrow acceptance sampling by the inspection
Toyota wrote down its philosophy in department is the norm. To assist the
Toyota’s Current The Toyota Way to train its overseas empowered operator in making correct
Lean Kaizen Strategy employees. The kaizen method is the decisions, tools such as control charts,
Toyota’s strategy to remain prof- foundation of the way, emphasizing effi- visual controls and work standards are
itable and increase global market ciency, problem solving and continuous provided at the point of use.
share focused on lasting cost reduc- improvement. The final goal of TPS is The extensive use of standard work
tions without compromising quality, neither lean nor kaizen, but to meet busi- is another key at Toyota for training
features, availability or customer sat- ness objectives, such as profits, market new and transferred employees,
isfaction. High quality is the mini- share, customer loyalty and simply working toward and meeting a set
mum requirement just to play in the being the best. TPS also emphasizes the standard, problem solving and contin-
extremely competitive international importance of enriching society through uous improvement (kaizens).
marketplace of the 21st century. the company’s mission and planning Toyota has become a global giant,
As competition has become global, around the long-term view, rather than and by many measurements, the No. 1
the need for the transfer of the lean just next week or next quarter. automotive firm in the world. Indeed,
techniques to the point of production Visual management at Toyota is the continual, rigorous application of
and point of use has also increased. emphasized even more in the lean TPS has enhanced Toyota’s profitabili-
Lean kaizen training and application, kaizen environment of the 21st century. ty, productivity and market share.
along with institutional knowledge For example, problems and defects are
management, has helped Toyota visible to all groups so teams can gather NOTE

maintain continuous learning and and solve issues, rather than hide prob- This article was adapted from a chapter of
Lean Kaizen (George Alukal and Anthony Manos,
innovation within its organization. lems. The shared vision and purpose of ASQ Quality Press, 2006), pp. 21-26.
At Toyota, suppliers have also been all employees helps in promoting team-
brought into the fold. To produce better work rather than creating competitive-
GEORGE ALUKAL is the
goods more cheaply, supplier collabora- ness. Instead of blaming or humiliating
vice president of quality
tion and long-term partnering are individuals, problems are mutually
and process improvement at
essential. Lean logistics and lean supply owned by all, so the best solution can be CMC, a management ser-
chain play an increasingly important found immediately. vice firm based in Chicago.
role. Suppliers are taught lean kaizen Toyota managers practice gemba, He earned an MBA from
techniques through TPS. The value of visiting the manufacturing floor Northwestern University.
shifting the suppliers’ focus from just rather than simply managing or prob- A fellow of ASQ, Alukal
the original equipment manufacturer lem solving from their desks. In turn, was the first chair of ASQ’s Lean Enterprise
(Toyota) to the end consumer (the car a constant drive for improvement is Forum and is a co-instructor of the society’s
buyer) is emphasized. propelled through: lean and kaizen courses. He is certified quality
The future belongs to the nimble • A passion for continuous innova- engineer, auditor and manager, Baldrige exam-
iner and ISO 9000 lead assessor.
firm that anticipates and understands tion.
the wants and needs of the end user • A sense that anything and every-
and incorporates them into its prod- thing can be improved.
ucts. Today, this continuously evolv- • A belief that if you become con-
ing future requires the organized use tent after one achievement, com- Please
of incremental and breakthrough con- petition will surely overtake you comment
tinuous improvement methods next time. If you would like to comment on
through lean kaizens. Toyota takeaway: Alignment of the
this article, please post your remarks
Toyota takeaway: Partner with sup- person’s goals with the company’s
pliers for the long term and help them objectives provides the shared pur- on the Quality Progress Discussion
develop their strengths. More frequent pose. An internal culture nurtures an Board at www.asq.org, or e-mail
JIT deliveries of small quantities are obsession to be the best in quality, reli- them to editor@asq.org.
possible if the supplier is strong, com- ability, cycle time, costs and crafts-
mitted and close by. Kaizens (incre- manship.

70 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 QP
TOOLBOX
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www.astsensors.com. tolomatic.com. ess-home.com. QP

QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 71

 QP
REVIEWS
Beyond the Business Process sion making. The author then intro-
duces predefine stage topics such as
Balanced Scorecard Management project selection and proposal, project
Mark Graham Brown, Productivity Press, Ralph F. Smith, John Wiley & Sons, 2006, management, project charter and team
2007, 233 pp., $35 (book). 240 pp., $45 (book). selection. To help tie the financial side
with the technical side Kumar strives to
There are many data mining text- The balanced scorecard (BSC), use common business language, stan-
books with statistical and analytical developed by Robert Kaplan and dard statistical terms and Six Sigma
techniques and methods but few truly David Norton, provides senior man- vernacular throughout the book.
business oriented books with practical agement with a method that translates Although the Six Sigma tools are
knowledge and cases. As a professor strategic objectives into a meaningful well covered, at 464 pages, some sta-
teaching data mining and business set of performance measures. BSC has tistical tools might not be covered in
intelligence, Beyond the Balanced found its place as an enduring man- great enough detail to use with confi-
Scorecard: Improving Busi-ness agement tool and has proven to be dence. Clearly, the author knows his
Intelligence with Analytics is a wel- more than a passing fad. statistics but the reader might need
come addition to those textbooks. In Business Process Management further explanation or research to
The scorecard approach is a good and the Balanced Scorecard: Focusing understand and use some techniques
one for business analytics because Processes on Strategic Drivers, Smith properly.
readers can quantify results and see successfully builds on the legacy of I am pleased to add this book to my
where data are lacking or nonexistent. Kaplan and Norton by taking a narrow- library of Six Sigma resources. The
The balanced scorecard technique is er, process focused view of BSC. book is comprehensive and broadly
enhanced here in several ways: exam- He presents a planning tool similar applicable to virtually any manufactur-
ining the tracking mechanisms for to supplier-input-process-output-cus- ing or nonmanufacturing application.
gathering the data, adding more tomer with feedback loops as the foun- Those new to Six Sigma might strug-
meaningful metrics to the scorecard dation of his strategic process. gle with some of the advanced statisti-
and looking at the external analytics Through a series of business cases, cal techniques, but if used as a
that can enhance and increase busi- Smith develops his strategic planning leader-led textbook it should fit nicely
ness intelligence. method in a manner clearly showing in any educational or preparatory set-
The author divides the book into the value of such a process to any ting.
business segments: the standard rela- organization. James Kotterman
tionship management with customers; The author does a good job of pro- APL Logistics
external metrics that should and can viding the reader with both a refresher Woodridge, IL
be quantified; the internal assets of the on BSC and a fresh view of the sub-
company; operational analytics; strate- ject.
gic and financial analytics important to This book offers a how-to approach
the bottom line; and finally, how to put for those readers with knowledge of Actionable Performance
this together in a comprehensive the subject, but is not meant as a pri- Measurement
tracking mechanism for performance mary resource for a BSC practitioner.
management. There are also good Tim Knight Marvin T. Howell, ASQ Quality Press, 2006,
examples from a variety of industrial Evergreen Park, IL 266 pp., $39 member, $65 list (book and
areas included in the appendix. CD-ROM).
As part of the description of better
Actionable Performance Measure-
analytics, Brown also discusses some Six Sigma Best Practices ment: A Key to Success provides
overused and—in his interpretation—
Dhirendra Kumar, J. Ross Publishing, 2006, methods and advice on how metrics
worthless analytics and why some of
464 pp., $74.95 (book). and performance measures can be
these measures should be dropped.
developed for strategic, tactical and
This is not a book only aimed at the Kumar wrote Six Sigma Best business planning. The importance of
analytics expert or statistician. It is Practices: A Guide to Business Process actionable performance indicators to
accessible to all levels of quality mea- Excellence for Diverse Industries as a actively manage key processes and
surement and performance profes- one-text-fits-all type of book. It’s monitor the resulting organizational
sionals. My recommendation to the designed as a resource for Six Sigma effectiveness is also highlighted.
author would be to expand this book trainers, a textbook for graduate engi- This book is aimed at those begin-
to include more methods for gathering neering and MBA professors teaching ning to structure and implement
and analyzing the data analytics and continuous improvement, and a methods of measurement and track-
perhaps turn this into a comprehen- primer for those preparing for Green ing for business improvement or for
sive business intelligence textbook. Belt or Black Belt certifications. It those wanting to enhance their exist-
I. Elaine Allen
makes a pretty good Six Sigma refer- ing format. Howell offers guidance to
Babson College
ence manual as well. what tools and techniques need to be
Wellesley, MA
The book is generally laid out in the used, how to structure and implement
traditional five-step define, measure, them, and how to create integration
analyze, improve, control order. with an awareness of strategic and
However, Kumar begins by explaining operational issues. He also includes
when to use Six Sigma and why, what detailed examples of their use.
it is and how it relates to financial deci- The author also explains how metrics

72 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

required for Baldrige, balanced score- to help facilitate the calculations dis- R E C E N T R E L E A S E S
cards or Six Sigma can be adopted and cussed in the book.
integrated. Assessment tools are pro- The short list of chapter titles
vided for determining the current level reveals that the book focuses on this The Complete Idiot’s Guide to
of application and understanding. A CD single distribution audit provides com-
including appendixes and a student prehensive coverage of what it is and Lean Six Sigma, Breakthrough
workbook accompanies the book. how one can benefit by using it in real- Management Group with Neil DeCarlo,
This book is easy to read as well as world applications. Alpha, 2007, 400 pp., $19.95 (book).
a good reference text or guide for The book uses a cookbook approach
even the seasoned quality manager. in the discussion of the Weibull distrib-
Denis Leonard, ution. It offers short evaluations of
Veridian Homes methods, formulas and comparisons Improving Healthcare Using
Madison, WI of any competitive approaches. In Toyota Lean Production Meth-
other words, Dodson provides a lot of
how-to, but devotes very little discus-
ods: 46 Steps for Improvement,
The Weibull Analysis sion to Weibull’s merit. second edition, Robert Chalice, ASQ
This book provides a quick refer-
Handbook ence for reliability engineers or quality
Quality Press, 2007, 320 pp., $19 mem-

Bryan Dodson, ASQ Quality Press, 2006, professionals. It is a good reference ber, $32 list (book).
167 pp., $54 member, $90 list (book and book for all practitioners of statistics. I
CD-ROM). would not, however, recommend it to
educators teaching the Weibull distrib- Leading Peak Performance:
The second edition of The Weibull ution.
Analysis Handbook provides readers Lessons From the Wild Dogs of
Shin Ta Liu
with a quick reference to the Weibull Lynx Systems Africa, Stephen Hacker and Marvin
distribution, its origin, characteristics San Diego Washington, ASQ Quality Press, 2007,
and applications. This book also pro-
vides software in an accompanying CD 128 pp., $18 member, $30 list (book).

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QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 73

 QP
CALENDAR
To receive information or to register for ASQ 10-14 ASQ Education Course. 733-4763 or visit www.sme.org/greatlakes.
Education Courses and Conferences, contact Software Quality Engineering. Phoenix.
19-20 Six Sigma in Healthcare
Learning Offerings, ASQ, 600 N. Plankinton
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posites Conference and Exhibition. Troy, ventions and Business Forums at
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visit www.4spe.org.
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24-25 How to Create Well Defined
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lence Refresher. Phoenix. Also offered Forum at 972-661-6420 or e-mail
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10-11 ASQ Education Course. 16-hour information@questforum.org.
ISO 9001:2000 Lead Auditor Training
12-14 ASQ Education Course. 24-27 Quality Expo. Chicago. Call 310-
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74 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

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Professional Services contact Ramona Garcia at 800-248-1946,

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76 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

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 For information on placing an ad,

Professional Services contact Ramona Garcia at 800-248-1946,

or 414-272-8575, or e-mail rgarcia@asq.org

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Professional Services contact Ramona Garcia at 800-248-1946,

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QUALITY PROGRESS I AUGUST 2007 I 79

BACK TO
BASICS

Have You Adequately Defined

Your Situation? by Russ Westcott

ne of the most important criteria are populated with available and per- plans that the organization is ill

O for decision making and prob-

lem solving is the need to clear-
ly define the situation. As critical as
this consideration is, it is frequently
tinent descriptive data in as much
detail as needed.
Not only is the is/is not matrix use-
ful in problem definition and root
equipped to implement. Table 1 is an
example of the is/is not matrix con-
cept used in the initial stages of strate-
gic planning.
ignored or simply done poorly. cause analysis, but it is also extremely Perhaps this simple yet valuable tool
Charles H. Kepner and Benjamin B. can fit into the planning stages of your
Tregoe were the first people I’m aware next project. And maybe it can assist
of to use the is/is not matrix for speci- Using an is/is not matrix you and your team in staying within
fying a problem. Since their book, The keeps projects on track. the boundaries of a project or problem.
Rational Manager: A Systematic Approach
to Problem Solving and Decision Making,1 REFERENCES

the tool has appeared in a variety of helpful in curbing scope creep in a 1. Charles H. Kepner and Benjamin B. Tregoe,
The Rational Manager: A Systematic Approach to
contexts. For example, quality practi- proposed project. When tackling a Problem Solving and Decision Making, McGraw-
tioners have used the tool for root project, it is as critical to know what Hill Book Co., 1965.
cause analysis, project initiation, strati- will be included as well as what will 2. John D. Arnold, The Complete Problem Solver:
A Total System for Competitive Decision Making,
fication of data, and identification of not be included. John Wiley & Sons, 1992.
causes of a situation or event, just to Early in my career, I used the matrix 3. Tom Kendrick, Results Without Authority:
name a few applications.2, 3, 4, 5 Controlling a Project When the Team Doesn’t Report
in defining the outputs of data pro- To You, AMACOM, 2006.
This simple yet powerful tool enables cessing applications with clients. The 4. Peter R. Scholtes, The Team Handbook: How to
the planner or investigator to more is/is not matrix helped avoid the “but Use Teams to Improve Quality, Joiner Associates,
1988.
clearly define the problem, decision or I thought this program was going to 5. Nancy R. Tague, The Quality Toolbox, second
situation being addressed. The matrix give me …” complaint. edition, ASQ Quality Press, 2005.
structure varies with the intended use. A less common but nonetheless crit-
A typical layout can include the fol- ical application of the is/is not matrix RUSS WESTCOTT is pres-
lowing: what, where, when, how is in the strategic planning process. ident of R.T. Westcott and
much (extent) and who. Column Defining what will be included in the Associates, Old Saybrook,
headings can be: is (what is occur- resulting strategic plans and what will CT. He is an ASQ fellow
ring), is not (what is not or might not not (or will be tabled for another time) and a certified quality
occur) and differentiation (what helps prevent the overzealous nomi- auditor and manager of
appears out of place or odd). The cells nation and adoption of strategies and quality/organizational
excellence.

TABLE 1 Example of Is/Is Not Matrix

Example of overview of strategic planning decisions (what will be included and excluded)
Will be Will not be Rationale
What • Incomplete plans from prior period. • Any plan for which a payback period The vision, economic criteria for sustained
• Plans for: exceeds three years. profitability and parameters for growth have been
Business continuance (>4). • Any plan not supporting the vision, carefully established. No more than 10 top level
Process improvements (>3). economic criteria and growth goals. strategic objectives are deemed workable.
Product enhancements (>2).
Product development (1).
Where Strategic planning will commence at an No plans will be formulated without full Sub-SPC meetings might occur as needed,
offsite meeting of the strategic planning knowledge and consent of the SPC. but most of the data collection, analysis
committee (SPC) in June. Monthly and dissemination should occur electronically.
meetings will be scheduled from July
to October.
When First comprehensive strategic plan and Plans that cannot be implemented Avoiding “too much on the plate” is critical.
objectives by end of fiscal year. Plans to feasibly within the three-year period.
be revisited and updated yearly.
Coverage Three-year plan covering plans (see Any action for which a tactical plan cannot Plans might be tabled for consideration in next
above). logically be initiated within the next year. year’s planning sessions.
Who The SPC. People not assigned to the SPC. Specific people might be called on an ad hoc
basis to provide information and expertise.

80 I AUGUST 2007 I www.asq.org

 Register by September 15 and save $50
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The ASQ Service Quality Division’s annual conference will bring you the hottest topics in service quality. This is an
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Richard Norling, president and CEO of Premier Inc., the 2006

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