Quality Control

Circle
By Kunto Antariksa , AT., MM.
Managing
Quality
Process
 • Quality circles first appeared in Japan by Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa
(1915-89) known as “Father of Quality Circle” for his role in
starting Quality Control Circles(QCC) in Japan in the 1960s to
improve Quality, Productivity, and the work environment.
• The purpose of a Quality Circle is to build towards a good
What is relationship within employees, so they will show more interest
and devotion in the work they do. This will result in increased
quality circle quality, productivity and cost reduction.

? • Quality circles goals are primarily about identifying problems

to then lead to suggestions for solutions of these problems.
• Quality circles subject is to offer employees the opportunity to
use all their experience, knowledge and creativity to bring
improvement into their activities.
 • To contribute to a quality circle, it is recommended to first
create a quality control group within the organization, which is
represented by managers that know production, quality
control and process planning. This control group’s task is to
follow the quality circle.

How to • A facilitator will also need to be appointed, as well as a chair

who is capable of getting all conversations in the circle to run
implement smoothly. Apart from the responsibility to lead a quality circle,
they need to give each employee the opportunity to

the quality participate in the discussion and motivate them to come up

with creative ideas. The chair is in close contact with the
facilitator.
circle • The facilitator functions as a link between top management,
the quality circle and its members and middle management.
They coordinate training courses, so all employees know the
ins and outs of working in a quality circle. Another task of the
facilitator is to create support and get support from everyone
involved with the quality circle.
 • Quality Circle is a voluntary group of 4 to 6
members.
• Members are usually from one section or
department.
Quality Circle • One senior member acts as a facilitator
definition • Identify a problem in the work area, meet
and discuss the problem regularly, ideally
once a week.
• Identify and implement solutions in a
standardized methodology.
 Training on problem-solving tools and techniques like 7 QC tools,
8D, 5Whys, and Poka-Yoke, etc. must be given to the workforce
for effective implementation of QC Circles projects in an
organization. The quality circle steps include:

How does • Step 1: Training on 7 QC tools and Poka-Yoke

• Step 2: Forming and naming quality circles-
the QC circle • QC circles are formed with 4 to 6 members.

work? • One member acts as a leader by rotation.

• One supervisor acts as a facilitator.
• Step 3: Identify Quality Circle themes
• Step 4: Select a project based on priority.
• Step 5: Find the best solution using standardized
methodology.
 • Defining the Problem
• Analyzing the Problem
• Identifying the Cause
• Finding out the Root Cause
Quality Circle • Data Analysis on Root Cause
Steps • Developing Solution
• Foreseeing Possible Resistance
• Trail, Implement and Checking Performance
• Regular Implementation
• Follow – up / Review
 Once the Quality Circles are initiated in any organization, it is the responsibility of the
top management to nurture them and pay attention to all relevant aspects related to
QC project.

The QC member should attend the meeting regularly, punctually, and work in groups in

Guidelines the desired manner.

Circle members should participate actively in the discussions and learn the techniques

for Quality
and new things taught to them.
Training on 7 QC tools and kaizen must be given to all circle members.

Circles The circle must select the leader from within its own members.
A circle must have one facilitator and QC administrator who guide and support QC

Success
projects.
The Quality Circle meeting’s discussion points must be maintained in a record book
and should be verified by the coordinator in the organization for correction and
effectiveness.
Circle follows the agenda without wasting time and listening to others while putting
their points of view and suggestions.
Quality circle members must maintain proper records about their activities.
 Deming’s quality circle

• Dr. W. Edwards Deming , in particular, had laid out a particular set of

rules and checklist called the Deming Cycle, to be followed to
continually improve quality standards of the company.
• Deming Cycle can be defined as a set of four, logically connected,
repetitive steps – Plan, Do, Check (Study), Act – that help in continuous
quality improvement and learning.

The four steps of the PDCA Cycle (or Deming Cycle) are ;

• Plan: Find and note down opportunities; Analyze problems that are
present; Plan changes and steps to be made to your findings and
problems
• Do: Implement the solution (ideally, on a smaller scale or a controlled
testbed) & note down observations and findings
• Check (Study): Study your findings and observations from your “testing”
phase & make changes to the steps as necessary
• Act: Implement or improve the process
 • This stage involves planning the end goal and the process
to be followed to reach it. In case you are looking to
improve or solve a problem in an existing process, this is
where you gather all the necessary information and steps
that might help resolve the issue.

• This stage involves a lot of analysis to find out the causes

Plan and fixes for the issues you are currently facing.

• Example: You are a car manufacturer and find out that

customers complaining about the constant failure of just
one plastic button on the dashboard. Your goal is to fix
the problem and the planning stage involves in you
gathering necessary information such as the source of
plastic. You plan on trying out plastic sourced from a
different provider.
 • This stage involves implementing the fixes and solutions
that materialized during the planning stage. As a
precautionary measure, it is recommended to implement
the changes on a smaller scale, as a test, to find out
whether the solution proves to be useful or not.
• This is where you can benefit from setting up and
implementing your changes in a small, controlled test
Do environment. This not only helps give provide insight into
the effectiveness of changes but also better understand
“why” the outcome improved.
• Example: You run a set of trial runs of manufacturing the
plastic button with plastic sourced from different
vendors. You do this on a small scale and do not include
it in the main assembly line to not disturb the existing
process and manufacturing.
 This stage involves checking the results obtained from your trial runs for
changes and improvements. If there are still issues or problems arising,
then find out the causes and come up with a better solution.
It is advisable to ask the following questions –
• “Will the proposed changes work on a larger scale?”
• “Did the changes work?”

Check • “Why did the changes work?”

• “Is there more opportunities?”
• “Can the plan be further refined?”

Example: You find out buttons manufactured from the current supplier of
plastic to have high chances of deformations and failures from the test run.
You find out the buttons produced from a different vendor to fit your
requirements and so you decide to use a different plastic vendor for all
assembly lines.
 • This is the final phase were the recommended changes and
tested processes are finally implemented in their entirety.

• But, though this is the final process the cycle does not end
here. In case there are further changes to be made,
observations from this step are to be taken and the cycle is to
be restarted once again.

Act • This PDCA Cycle is to be followed until all the necessary

expectations are met and there is no necessity of further
changes down the line.

• Example: You start using plastic sourced from a different

vendor for manufacturing your buttons on the main assembly
lines and find the number of complaints on faulty buttons to
decrease drastically.
Never stop to improved
Thank You