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Quality Engineering Productivity - The Future of Quality
Quality Engineering Productivity - The Future of Quality
Engineering Productivity
DMAIC DMADV
• Define the project goals and • Define the project goals and
customer (internal and external) customer (internal and external)
requirements. requirements.
• Measure the process to determine • Measure and determine customer
current performance. needs and specifications;
benchmark competitors and
• Analyze and determine the root
industry.
cause(s) of the defects.
• Analyze the process options to
• Improve the process by
meet the customer needs.
eliminating defect root causes.
• Design (detailed) the process to
• Control future process
meet the customer needs.
performance.
• Verify the design performance
and ability to meet customer
needs.
The world keeps changing….
• Quality management will therefore always
need to be improved and adapted to the
changing circumstances.
America’s Imperative
• U.S. Council on Competitiveness, Dec. 2004
“Innovate America: Thriving in a World of Challenge and Change”
• Challenge to long-term global economic
leadership
• Resolved: Innovation will be the single most
important factor in determining America’s success
through the 21st century
• America’s Task: For the past 25 years, we have
optimized our organizations for efficiency and
quality. Over the next quarter century, we must
optimize our entire society for innovation.
Good News, Bad News
• Bad News: The Council believes, “the manufacturing
strategies introduced over the past two decades of lean,
Six Sigma-esque continuous productivity and quality
improvement are no longer a source of meaningful
competitive advantage.”
What?!
• Good News: We know better than that.
• Unfortunately, the image of our work is our problem.
• Broadening our focus and using more appropriate terms
that better reflect what we do will put quality
professionals in a better position to be part of the
solution.
Six Sigma vs. Systematic Innovation
• Six Sigma: focuses on more than just quality
– Six Sigma applications have evolved to focus on increasing
productivity, reducing cycle time, etc.
• Economists call applications “innovations”
• Not directly related to defect reduction
– Think broader, what we are really doing is improving an
organization’s competitive position, better satisfying our
customers and reducing costs→ INNOVATION!
• Quality improvement is about process and product
innovation.
– It is about improving anything: product designs, process designs,
radical changes, incremental changes or even new ways of
managing.
Innovation
• Innovation as an economic concept includes
development of new:
– Products and services
– Methods of production or provision
– Methods of transportation or service delivery
– Business models
– Markets
– Forms of organization
• Stereotypically innovation is considered a
product of genius, a flash of light
• Innovation can be systematically planned and
organized
Systematic Innovation
• The scientific approach to problem solving has
been with us since Shewhart’s days
– Foundation for the quality profession
• Six Sigma body of knowledge can, with minor
adjustments to scope and terminology, be
applied to systematize the innovation process
• Guides upper management to realize the
strategic importance of our work, leading to
better recognition
Economic Focus
• Ultimate quality award is improved bottom
line profitability (Bisgaard & Freiesleben 2004)
• More than defects and operations
management
• Transition from TQM to Six Sigma:
– Evaluate cost of poor quality
– Project savings
Preparing for the
Future of Quality
Engineer 2020
• National Academy of Engineering began a study in 2001
to prepare for the future of engineering
– “What will or should engineering be like in the year 2020?”
– “How can engineers best be educated to be leaders, able to balance
the gains afforded by new technologies with the vulnerabilities created
by their byproducts without compromising the well-being of society and
humanity?”
• How they performed the study:
– Scenario-based planning was used that eliminated the need to gain
consensus on a single view of the future.
– The study provided multiple opportunities that can help devise
strategies that can adapt to changing conditions.
Engineer 2020
• Results reveals some implications to
Engineering Education:
– Broadly educated engineers who view themselves as
global citizens.
– Leaders in business and public service.
– Ethically grounded.
– Five or six year professional degree.
– Case histories incorporated into the curriculum.
Attributes of Future Engineers
System Perspective
Strong Analytical Skills
Practical Ingenuity
Creativity to Synthesize
Mutual respect
Social context / global citizen
Customer focus
Case-based learning
Attributes of Future Engineers
Communication
Team work, multi-disciplinary teams
Leadership
Ethical
Professional
Agility, Resilience, Flexibility, Receptive to change
Lifelong learning
Departmental Reform Grant