The Quality Gurus

Quality Management
There are a number of writers whose work dominates the quality movement.
Their ideas and approaches have stood the test of time and have come to from a
body of accepted knowledge, to lead and advise their own movement in quality.
They have become known as gurus.

Many of the gurus appear to present different theories of quality management.
In reality they are all talking the same language but they use different dialects.
Quality has to be managed - it does not just happen.

Task:
Consider the strengths, weaknesses and different perspectives of each guru.
Remember that none of their views are right or wrong, they are simply
different, formed from the differing backgrounds, knowledge and experiences of
the various writers. Each is based on the particular gurus view of the world and is
valid from his theoretical and practical perspective.
Crosby Philip B. - American, engineer, quality control in
manufacturing
Deming W. Edwards - American, considered a founding father, PhD
Physics, keen statistician trained by Shewhart, major contributor to
Japan - honoured
Feigenbaum Armand V - originated TQC, works discovered by Japan
early 50s, PhD MIT
Ishikawa Kaoru -Japanese chemist, PhD engineering, father of QCs,
started 49
Juran Joseph M - naturalised American, engineering (1924) and
statistical background, worked with Japan 50s, honoured by Japan
Oakland john S - British, chartered chemist, ex Prof
Shingo Shigeo - Mech engineer, Japanese, 45
Taguchi Genichi - textile engineer, Japanese, studied experimental
design techniques, 80s work adopted in USA
Philip B. Crosby
Five Absolutes of Quality Management

Quality is defined as conformance to requirements, not as goodness nor
elegance - i.e. quality is an essentially measurable aspect of a product or
service and that quality is achieved when expectations or requirements are met
There is no such thing as a quality problem - i.e. poor management creates the
quality problem
It is always cheaper to do it right first time - i.e. quality needs to be designed
into a product, not that flaws should be inspected out.
The only performance measurement is the cost of quality - i.e price of non
conformance, cost of quality is always a measurable item, quantitative
approach
The only performance standard is zero defects - i.e. perfection is the target,
quantitative approach to quality
Three Essential strands:

a belief in quantification
management leadership
prevention rather than cure


Assumptions:

management process as the key driver of quality - conformance to
requirements are defined and communicated amongst all stakeholders
zero defects is an achievable objective
it is possible to establish a company that does not start out expecting
mistakes - is this realistic? Customers Product volume or quality
requirements?
The 14 Steps
Step 1: Establish management commitment - it is seen as vital that the whole
management team participates in the programme, a half hearted effort will fail.

Step 2: Form quality improvement teams - the emphasis here is on multi-
disciplinary team effort. An initiative from the quality department will not be
successful. It is considered essential to build team working across arbitrary
and often artificial organisational boundaries

Step 3: Establish quality measurements - these must apply to every activity
throughout the company. A way must be found to capture every aspects,
design, manufacturing, delivery and so on. These measurements provide a
platform for the next step.

Step 4: Evaluate the cost of quality - this evaluation must highlight, using the
measures established in the previous step, where quality improvement will be
profitable.

Step 5: Raise quality awareness - this is normally undertaken through the
training of managers and supervisors, through communications such as videos
and books and by displays of posters etc.

Step 6: Take action to correct problems - this involves encouraging
staff to identify and rectify defects or pass them on to higher
supervisory levels where they can be addressed.

Step 7: Zero defects planning - establish a committee or working group
to develop ways to initiate and implement a zero defects programme.

Step 8: Train supervisors and managers - this step is focussed on
achieving understanding by all managers and supervisors of the steps
in the quality improvement programme in order that they can explain it
in turn.

Step 9: Hold a zero defects day to establish the attitude and expectation
within the company. Crosby sees this as being achieved in a
celebratory atmosphere accompanied by badges buttons and balloons.

Step 10: Encourage the setting of goals for improvement. Goals are of
course of no value unless they are related to appropriate timescales for
their achievement.
Step 11: Obstacle reporting - this is encouragement to employees to
advise management of the factors which prevent them achieving error
free work. This might cover defective or inadequate equipment poor
quality components etc.

Step 12: Recognition for contributors - Crosby considers that those
who contribute to the programme should be rewarded through a formal
although non-monetary reward scheme.

Step 13: Establish Quality councils - these are essentially forums
composed of quality professionals and team leaders allowing them to
communicate and determine action plans for further quality
improvement.

Step 14: Do it all over again - achievement of quality is an ongoing
process.
Possible Strengths:
clarity
recognition of worker participation
rejection of a tangible quality problem, acceptance of the idea of solutions
Crosbys metaphors - vaccine (integrity; dedication to communication and
customer satisfaction; company wide policies and operation which support
the quality thrust) and maturity
Crosbys motivational style

Perceived Weaknesses:
danger of misdirected effort from blaming workers (in question)
emphasis on marketing more than recognition of barriers
the management and goal orientation of the 14 step programme as failing
to free workers from externally generated goals
potential for zero defects to be interpreted as zero risk
ineffectiveness in coercive power structures
charismatic/evangelical style - lack of substantial underpinning?
W. Edwards Deming
Approach can be seen as founded in scientific method - urged
management to focus on the causes of variability in manufacturing
processes. First belief in causes. Common causes are those which arise
from the operation of the system itself and are a management
responsibility. Special causes are seen as those relating to particular
operators or machines and requiring attention to the individual cause. Use
of SPC charts as key method for identifying special and common causes
and assisting diagnosis of quality problems. Eliminate the outliers which
arise from special causes then concentrate on the common causes to
further improve quality. Second belief is the quantitative approach to
identifying problems. Third belief was Deming, Shewhart or PDCA
cycle - Plan, Do, Check, Action. Two further beliefs systematic and
methodical approaches; needed for continuous quality improvement
action.
www.deming.org.

Seven Deadly Sins of Western Management
Lack of constancy - flavour of the month
Short term profit focus - manipulate the books for a quarter
Performance appraisals - nourish short-term performance
Job-hopping - destroys teamwork, short term orientation of
organisation
Use of visible figures only a lot of hidden benefits, spin-offs
Excessive medical costs
Excessive costs of liability

Summarising:
quantitative, statistically valid, control systems
clear definition of those aspects under the direct control of staff
a systematic, methodological approach
continuous improvement
constancy and determination
quality should be designed in to both the product and the process

Assumptions:
Management are seen to be responsible and capable of eliminating the
common causes
Statistical methods properly used will provide quantitative evidence to
support changes
continuous improvement is both possible and desirable
prime role of the service sector rests in enabling manufacturing to do
its job

Methods:
the PDCA cycle
statistical process control - 94% belong to the system
14 principles of transformation
7 point action plan

Demings 14 points for Management

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with
the aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.
2. Adopt a new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western
management must awaken to their challenge, must learn their responsibilities,
and take on leadership for change.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for
inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first
place.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead,
minimise total cost. Move towards a single supplier for any one item, on a
long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to
improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Institute leadership (see point 12). The aim of leadership should be to help
people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Leadership of
management is in need of overhaul, as well as leadership of production
workers.
8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design,
sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of
production and in use that may be encountered with the product or
service.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking
for zero defects and new levels of productivity.
11. a) Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute
leadership.
b) Eliminate management by objectives. Eliminate management by
numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.
12. a) Remove barriers that rob the hourly workers of his right to pride of
workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from
sheer numbers to quality.
b) Remove barriers that rob people in management and in
engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means
abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by
objective, management by the numbers.
13. Institute a vigorous programme of education and self improvement.
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the
transformation. The transformation is everybodys job.

The Seven Point Action Plan

1. Management must agree on the meaning of the quality programme, its
implications and the direction to take
2. Top management must accept and adopt the new philosophy
3. Top management must communicate the plan and the necessity for it to
the people in the organisation
4. Every activity must be recognised as a step in a process and the
customers of that process identified. The customers are responsible for
the next stage of the process
5. Each stage must adopt the Deming or Shewhart Cycle - Plan, Do,
Check, Action - as the basis of quality improvement
6. Team working must be engendered and encouraged to improve inputs
and outputs. Everyone must be enabled to contribute to this process
7. Construct an organisation for quality with the support of knowledgeable
statisticians
Principal strengths :
the systematic logic, particularly the idea of internal customer-supplier
relationship
management before technology
emphasis on management leadership
the sound statistical approach
awareness of different socio-cultural contexts

Weaknesses:
lack of a well defined methodology - suggests what to do without indicating
very precisely how to do it
the work is not adequately grounded in human relations theory
as with Crosby the approach will not help in an organisation with a biased
power structure
Armand V. Feigenbaum
A commitment to a systemic total approach and an emphasis on
designing for quality rather than failure be inspected out and involving all
departments.

Suggests that many quality problems can be eradicated from both the
products and the manufacturing process by paying attention to the quality
issue from the conception of the idea, right through to delivery of the first
and subsequent items.

Defines quality as best for the customer use and selling price.

A recognition of and reliance on the human aspects of the organisation
with statistical methods being used as necessary.

Assumptions:

explicit assumption of a world composed of systems
human relationships are a basic issue in quality achievement
continuous improvement is both desirable and achievable - but has potential
for conflict and contradiction - if customer expectations on performance and
price are met then quality by definition has been achieved - end of process
Total Quality System.

The agreed company-wide and plant-wide operating work structure, documented
in effective, integrated technical and managerial procedures, for guiding the co-
ordinated actions of the people, the machines and the information of the company
and plant in the best and most practical ways to assure customer quality
satisfaction and economical costs of quality.

Four Steps to quality:

Step 1 Set quality standards.
Step 2 Appraise conformance to standards.
Step 3 Act when standards are not met.
Step 4 Plan to make improvements.

A tool of measurement used is operating quality costs.
prevention costs - including quality planning.
appraisal costs - including inspection costs.
internal failure costs - including scrap and rework.
external failure costs - including warranty costs and complaints.
Principal strengths:
a total or whole approach to quality control
emphasis on the importance of management
socio-technical systems thinking is taken into account
participation is promoted
reliance on statistics where appropriate is a useful guide encouraging
managers to use discretion in their choice of measurements - quite selective
about what it is useful to measure and when

Principal weaknesses:
the work is systemic but not complementarist
the breadth of management theory is recognised but not unified
the political or coercive context is not addressed
approach provides little value for service based organisations
as with Deming what but not how
Kaoru Ishikawa
Systemic or holistic approach advocated by Company-Wide Quality -
everyone involved in or affected by the company and its operations should
be involved in the quality programme

Participation, active and creative co-operation between those affected - an
atmosphere where employees are continuously looking to resolve
problems; greater commercial awareness; a change of shop floor attitude
in aiming for ever increasing goals - all qualitative - cultural requirements

Emphasis on communication through simplicity of analysis and method
and commonality of language - language of the shop floor
Assumptions:

interrelatedness, a total or systems view.
a fully participative approach can be adopted (without reward).
the quality activity takes place in an organisational environment which
is free from politics and power relations between participants.
effective communication.
simplicity in techniques and method is useful (arrogant?).

Ishikawas overarching method is company-wide quality control. This he
sees as being supported by the Quality Circles technique and the 7
tools of quality control.

Fifteen effects of company-wide quality
control:

1. Product quality is improved and becomes uniform
2. reliability of goods is improved
3. cost is reduced
4. quantity of production is increased and it becomes possible to make rational
production schedules
5. wasteful work and rework are reduced
6. technique is established and improved
7. expenses for inspection and testing are reduced
8. contracts between vendor and vendee are rationalised
9. the sales market is enlarged
10. better relationships are established between departments
11. false data and reports are reduced
12. discussions are carried out more freely and democratically
13. meetings are operated more smoothly
14. repairs and installations of equipment and facilities are done more rationally
15. human relations are improved
Quality circles are the principal method for achieving participation composed of
between 4 and 12 workers from the same area of activity . Their function is to
identify local problems and recommend solutions - aims are:

to contribute to the improvement and development of the enterprise
to respect human relations and build a happy workshop offering job
satisfaction
to deploy human capabilities fully and draw out infinite potential
Cornerstones to successful quality circles: J. Gilbert
top management support
operational management support and involvement
voluntary participation of the members
effective training of the leader and members
shared work background
solution oriented approach
recognition of the quality circles efforts
have an agenda and minutes and rotating chairmanship
keep to the time allowed for the meeting
members should inform bosses of meeting times
make sure that quality circles are not hierarchical
Seven tools of quality control: taken together they are a set of pictures of quality,
representing in diagrammatic, or chart form, the quality status of the operation
or process being reviewed.

Pareto charts: used to identify the principal causes of problems.
Ishikawa/fishbone diagrams: charts of cause and effect in processes.
Stratification: layer charts which place each set of data successively on top of
the previous one.
Check sheets: to provide a record of quality.
Histograms: graphs used to display frequency of various ranges of values of a
quantity.
Scatter graphs: used to help determine whether there is a correlation between
two factors.
Control Charts: used as a device in SPC.

The approach contains both quantitative and qualitative aspects which taken
together focus on achieving company-wide quality.
Strengths:
emphasis on participation
variety of quantitative and qualitative methods
a whole system view
QCCs are relevant to all sectors of the economy

Weaknesses:
fishbone diagrams are systematic but most systemic problems are often
interacting and far more complex than the fishbone approach will
reveal
QCCs depend upon management support - failure to listen to ideas
there is a failure to address coercive contexts blame culture of the west
rather than opportunity to learn

There does not emerge an overarching methodology which binds together
and integrates all the different strands of his thinking
Joseph M Juran
Quality does not happen by accident, it has to be planned.
management controllable defects account for over 80% of the total quality
problems - quality cannot be consistently improved unless the improvement is
planned.
The emphasis of his work is on planning, organisational issues, managements
responsibility for quality and the need to set goals and targets for
improvement.
avoidance of slogans and exhortations the recipe for action should consists of
90% substance and 10% exhortation, not the reverse.
Quality has become too gimmicky, full of platitudes and supposed good
intentions, but short on real substance - clear reliance on quantitative
methods.
Quality is fitness for use or purpose.

Management is largely responsible for quality.
Quality can only be improved through planning.
plans and objectives must be specific and measurable - establish specific goals
to be reached -identify what needs to be done, the specific projects that need to
be tackled; establish plans for reaching the goals - provide a structured process
for going from here to there; assign clear responsibility for meeting the goals;
base the rewards on results achieved - feed back the information and utilise the
lessons learned and the experience gained.
training is essential and starts at the top.
three step process of planning, control and action.

The Quality Trilogy:
Quality planning: determine quality goals; implementation planning; resource
planning; express goals in quality terms: create the quality plan.
Quality control: monitor performance; compare objectives with achievements;
act to reduce the gap.
Quality improvement: reduce waste; enhance logistics; improve employee
morale; improve profitability; satisfy customers.

Emphasis is in changing management behaviour through quality
awareness, training and then spilling down new attitudes to supporting
management levels.

Assumptions:
There is a quality crisis? Have the quality gurus created the crisis by
driving up consumer expectations. Awareness of costs of poor quality
focused attention on improving quality. Consumers have driven the
quality movement through increasing expectations. Truth probably lies in
a combination of these factors - achievement of quality became not an
ideal to aim for but, like profit, a fundamental requirement for staying in
business.
Both management of the organisation and quality are processes.
Potential for continuous improvement.
Jurans work focuses very clearly on measurement and specific objectives
- tendency to measure those aspects which are easily accessible rather than
those which are most important; how to measure individual customer
expectations, expectations which may vary each time the service is
purchased.

The Quality planning road map:

1. Identify who are the customers (internal as well as external - identify all
possible customers in the chain)
2. Determine the needs of those customers
3. Translate those needs into our language i.e. the organisation
4 Develop a product that can respond to those needs - building quality in
rather than inspecting defects out
5 Optimise the product features so as to meet our i.e. company needs as
well as customers needs - ease of manufacture is becoming accepted as
a design constraint
6 Develop a process which is able to produce the product
7 Optimise the process
8 Prove that the process can produce the product under operating
conditions
9 Transfer the process to operations

Ten steps to continuous quality
improvement
1. Create awareness of the need and opportunity for quality improvement
2. Set goals for continuous improvement
3. Build an organisation to achieve goals by establishing a quality council,
identifying problems selecting a project appointing teams and choosing
facilitators
4. Given everyone training
5. Carry out projects to solve problems
6. Report progress - enables experience and learning to be shared/sense of
achievement
7. Show recognition
8. Communicate results
9. Keep a record of successes - for reference
10. Incorporate annual improvements into the companys regular systems
and processes and thereby maintain momentum
Juran uses a variety of statistical methods - studied under Shewhart. - use of
control charts and Pareto analysis

Strengths:
concentration on genuine issues of management practice
a new understanding of the customer, referring to both internal and external
customers
management involvement and commitment

Weaknesses:
the literature on motivation and leadership is not addressed
workers contributions are underrated
methods are traditional, failing to address culture and politics
most suitable for industrial and manufacturing sectors, limited application in
service organisations

Juran is a practitioner, he deals best with the practice of quality, than the theory
John S Oakland
We cannot avoid seeing how quality has developed into the most important
competitive weapon and many organisations have realised that TQM is the
way of managing for the future.
Quality starts at the top.

Seven key characteristics of TQM:
1. Quality is meeting the customers requirements.
2. Most quality problems are inter-departmental.
3. Quality control is monitoring, finding and eliminating causes of quality
problems.
4. Quality assurance rests on prevention, management systems, effective audit and
review.
5. Quality must be managed , it does not just happen.
6. Focus on prevention not cure.
7. reliability is an extension of quality and enables us to delight the customer -
services require a different form of reliability - consistency.
Assumptions:
Quality is the only issue for organisational survival - true? Microsoft
oligopoly, no choice for customers, Railtrack, Financial services until
recently undifferentiated - not valid across global markets
Quality must be driven from the top
Errors can always be prevented through planning, design and effective
processes - however robust the technical process may be, actual minute
by minute delivery of service depends very largely on the personal
interaction between customer and supplier - no standard form of words
can cater for the varies of mood, sense and interpretation which
influence the outcome of such transactions and determine whether
customer requirements are met
Quality is an organisation-wide issue - systemic
Involvement of all people through communication, teamwork and
participation

Ten points for Senior Management

1. Long term commitment
2. Change the culture to right first time - EPDCA helix
3. Train the people to understand the customer-supplier relationship - problem
with lower order customer e.g. doctors and nurses
4. Buy products and service on total cost - may save money over time, Mercedes,
stainless steel
5. Recognise that systems improvement must be managed
6. Adopt modern methods of supervision and training and eliminate fear
7. Eliminate barriers, manage processes, improve communications and teamwork
8. Eliminate, arbitrary goals, standards based only on numbers, barriers to pride of
workmanship, fiction (use the correct tools to establish facts) - recognise
measurements that are both meaningful and factual
9. Constantly educate and retrain the in house experts
10. Utilise a systematic approach to TQM implementation

Total Quality Model - Culture, Communication, Commitment/Teams,
Tools,Systems/Customer-Supplier Quality Chain
To support implementation he relies on standard tools for achieving
quality - statistical approaches, quality circles, process analysis and review
etc Also use Quality Function Deployment - systematic approach to
design of a product or service around the expressed requirements of the
customers. It involves members from across the organisation in
converting customer requirements to a technical product or service
specification. The QFD process is intended to ensure that the product or
service meets the customer requirements first time and every time

QFD activities:
1. Market Research
2. Basic research
3. Invention
4 Concept design
5 Prototype testing
6 Final product or service testing
7 After-sales service and trouble-shooting
Strengths:
systematic, methodical approach.
Process based view of organisations.
Capitalises on developments in quality practice.
Participative approach which utilises the literature on teamwork.
stresses the importance of management commitment and leadership.
the generality of Oaklands overarching methodology renders it potentially
useful in service as well as manufacturing industry.

Weaknesses:
ignores many developments in organisation theory, especially the systems
literature.
fails to offer assistance in coercive contexts.
justifies quality in terms of developed economies (the focus on competition).
ignores other aspects of strategy formulation.
does not explain how to obtain the commitment from senior management on
which the whole process relies.
Shigeo Shingo
Started with the scientific management ideas of Frederick Taylor in the
early 19th c (1911) i.e. the economic man theory of motivation, until he
became aware of the methods of Statistical Quality Control. Then in the
70s he came to believe in defect prevention. Shingo believed that
statistical methods detect errors too late in the manufacturing process.
He became focused ion prevention.

he would prefer to be remembered for his promotion of the understanding
necessary behind the concepts of looking at the total manufacturing
process and the elimination of transportation, storage, lot delays and
inspection.

He believed in zero defects but through good engineering and process
investigation and rectification.

Assumptions:
Adhered to a mechanistic approach to organisation throughout his career.
Scientific management to statistical quality control to error prevention through
good engineering. However, while error free may be possible in an engineering
context, in the service sector there are many variables which cannot be controlled
to the extent that Shingos approach requires.

He ignores the human relations aspects of organisations.

Principal contribution to quality is the mistake proofing concept, Poke-Yoke,
Defect=0. This approach stops the production process whenever a defect occurs,
defines the cause and generates action designed to prevent a recurrence.
Alternatively on-line adjustment to the product or process may be made,
enabling continuous process to be managed. Poke-Yoke relies on a process of
continuously monitoring potential sources of error. Machines used in the process
are equipped with feedback instrumentation to carry out this task as Shingo
considered that human personnel are fallible. People are used to trace and resolve
the error causes. Installation of the system is expected to lead over time to a
position where all likely recurring errors have been eradicated. Concept adopted
to some extent in food processing.
Strengths:
on-line real-time control
Poke-Yoke emphasis effective control systems

Weaknesses:
source inspection only works effectively in manufacturing processes -
not so for the service sector
Shingo says little about people other than that they are fallible
Genichi Taguchi
The two founding ideas of his quality work are essentially quantitative. First is a
belief in statistical methods to identify and eradicate quality problems. The
second rests on designing products and processes to build quality in, right from the
outset. Could be seen as the cost of non-quality i.e. the loss imparted to society
from the time the product is shipped. His prime concern is with customer
satisfaction and with the potential for loss of reputation and goodwill associated
with failure to meet customer expectations. He saw that loss not only occurred
when a product was outside its specification but also when it varied from its target
value.
Three stage prototyping method:
system design - involving both product and process - attempt to develop a
basic analytical, materials, process and production framework - functional
design - product design and process design.
parameter design - search for the optimal mix of product variation levels and
process operating levels aiming to reduce the sensitivity of the production
system to external or internal disturbances - monetary loss arising from
variation.
tolerance design - enables the recognition of factors that may significantly
affect the variability of the product. Additional investment, alternative
equipment and materials are then considered as ways to further reduce
variability. - minimising the total sum of product manufacturing and
lifetime costs.
So there is a clear belief in identifying and as far as possible eradicating
potential causes of non-quality at the outset. His approach also relies on
a number of organisational principles:
1. Communication
2. Control
3. Efficiency
4 Effectiveness
5 Efficacy
6 Emphasis on location and elimination of causes of error
7 Emphasis on design control
8 Emphasis on environmental analysis


Quantitative methods provide measurements for control; eradication as far as
possible of causes of failure at the outset; societary cost of non-quality;
systems view of inter-dependence and interrelationship both within the
organisation and with its environment.

Assumptions:
Quality can always be controlled through improvement in design - validity in
service sector must be questioned.
Little or nothing is said about people or the management process which
implies that they are not considered a significant factor in the production of
quality goods.
Seems to assume that the organisation can wait for results - that delays
between product conception and production will be acceptable - while such
delays are to some extent inevitable, they must be minimised in the
contemporary market.
Much of his work has been informed by his background in engineering and
quantitative methods. The adoption of a systemic view, while not apparently
extending to the management process of the organisation, is certainly a step
forward from the work of many of his fellow gurus.
The principal tools and techniques espoused by Taguchi centre around the
concept of kaizen thinking i.e. continuous improvement. His
backward step into the design process helps to ensure a high basic
quality standard. Besides the usual statistical methods, he also adopts
experimental studies, prototyping and the quadratic loss function.

Eight stages of product development i.e. design of experiments.
1. Define the problem.
2. Determine the objective - what output characteristics are to be studied
and optimised through the 4experimental process, and what
measurements are to be taken - may have to run control experiments in
order to validate results.
3. Conduct a brainstorming session - all managers and operators are
involved to determine the controllable and uncontrollable factors
affecting the situation.
4. Design the experiment.
5. Conduct the experiment.
6. Analyse the data.
7. Interpret the results - aims to identify optimal levels for the control factors
which seek to minimise variability and bring the process closest to its target
value. Prediction is used at this stage to consider the performance of the
process under optimal conditions
8. Run a confirmatory experiment may have to revisit stages 3-8

suggested steps fall into the parameter design stage of product development -
Deming's Plan,Do,Check,Action cycle

The quadratic loss function is his principal contribution to the statistical aspects of
achieving quality - it is used to minimise the cost of a product or service
L = c(x - T)
2

+ k
where x is a particular quality characteristic with target T
c is cost of failing to meet target, k represents the minimum
loss to society

May be viewed as a measure of efficiency and of effective utilisation of resources
Strengths:
quality is a design requirement
the approach recognises the systemic impact of quality
it is a practical method for engineers (rather than statisticians)
it guides effective process control

Weaknesses:
usefulness is biased towards manufacturing
guidance is not given on management or organisational issues
it places quality in the hands of the experts
it says nothing about people as social animals