Quality: A Business Perspective In quality management, the ratio of improvement effort to benefits varies greatly. Sometimes, a single change in a process will bring a lot of benefit. Other times, three or four changes in a process have to come together to produce one change in results. 1By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori

Quality: A Business Perspective We can understand this best if we visualize our business as a series of pipes containing products, information, and money. If one main pipe is broken in just one place, then fixing it will make a big difference. If the same pipe is clogged in five different spots, then we have to clear all five clogs before things get moving and we see increase in flow or productivity. Also, once we have fixed all pipes and cleared out the main ones, we will see less improvement in overall flow as we get down into the details and clear out small pipes that are only partly clogged. 2By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori

Quality: A Business Perspective If the results are incrementally lower over time, why should a company stick with quality management? There are three reason: When we don’t spiral upwards more quality, we quickly spiral down towards less. It is hard, if not impossible to stay on a plateau. Maintaining quality in a world of human error, mechanical failure, and general change requires constant checking. That constant checking- if we do it- naturally leads to some degree of improvement. Without that constant checking, quality is sure to degrade. 3By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori

Quality: A Business Perspective If our competitors keep the focus on quality in an effective way, we will fall behind fast – particularly in market share. A steady commitment to quality solves other problems, such as customer retention and employee retention, reducing cost of sales and cost of operations. 4By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori

Quality: A process Flow Perspective 5By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori

Quality: A process Flow Perspective By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori6

Mapping the five stages of our quality management framework to SIPOC model Quality definition comes before the definition of processes. Quality planning includes defining what processes are required to deliver the product to meet or exceed specifications. Quality control in the broad sense including all forms of checking, ensures that outputs and processes meet requirements, that defective output is reworked or scrapped, and that all seven aspects of processes are adjusted and restored to work within tolerances. By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori7

Quality assurance includes activities to evaluate and improve processes, re-engineer work to eliminate unnecessary processes or steps, ensure effective communication and mutual understanding throughout the SIPOC chain, and auditing and review to ensure all processes are maintained to standard and improved. Delivering quality means carrying the SIPOC chain all the way through to the customer’s receipt of the product or service, to the customer’s perception that he or she has indeed received value and quality in the product, service, and contact with the company. By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori8

Does Quality Flow through your company? Take some time to sketch out a rough flow of the work of your company. Focus on movement of products and information, not on the reporting hierarchy. Then look over the five stages of quality management. Then write down your answers to these questions: By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori9

Which departments have the most, and the fewest, problems? Which vendors provide the least, and the most, reliable raw materials and components? Which customers are most and least satisfies? Of the five stages of quality management, which one could most use improvement? Does your company, or one particular area, need a quality improvement program? If you could go make one change to fix one thing today, what would that be? By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori10

Defining Quality: Requirements Elicitation By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori11 Here are some excellent practices for obtaining good requirements: 1. Define your goal clearly at the start. * Are you seeking to define a new product? * Are you seeking to learn about what customers do and don’t like about your current product? * Are you seeking to compare customer opinions of your product or service and your competitors? * Are you seeking to determine what specific changes to your product or service the customers most want?

2. Make it interactive. We learn more by letting customers try out or taste or play with a sample or prototype than we do by asking questions. We want the customers focused on the product, not on us. If a prototype or sample isn't possible, then we should use pictures, charts, and diagrams. 3. Record everything. If possible, videotape or audiotape the sessions. If not, have two note takers so you lose as little as possible. 4. Use industry best practices, such as focus groups and structure requirements elicitation methods. 5. Learn and use good survey design. Good surveys are harder to make than you would think. By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori12

6. Study your results. Don’t just gather a lot of data and ignore it. Put it all together and learn what you need to know. Quality management demystified will help with many analytic tools, the most important of which is plan, do, check, act (PDCA). 7. Check and test your results. If you have a limited set of customers, or customer representatives (such as a marketing department), have them check and improve what you come up with from the sessions before it goes final. Otherwise, use multiple methods, such as a survey, a focus group, and a limited pilot product launch before you go into full production. By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori13

Planning for Quality By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori14

Quality Assurance By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori15

Delivering Quality: Customer Delight By Dr. Tahseen Al-Doori16