Module 5 - Quality Gurus

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PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG MAYNILA

(University of City of Manila)


College of Engineering and Technology

QUALITY GURUS
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (CIVCM 0425)

Submitted by
Rivero, Angelica (2018-00502)
Villanueva, Jan Aaron P. (2019-02084)

Engr. Vien Carlo M. Amora, MSCE


Instructor

March 13, 2023


Submission Date
Table of Contents

Eliyahu M. Goldratt .................................................................................................... 1

Walter Shewart .................................................................................................... 2

W. Edwards Deming .................................................................................................... 3

Joseph Juran .................................................................................................... 7

Arman Feigenbaum .................................................................................................... 10

Philip Crosby .................................................................................................... 12

Kaoru Ishikawa .................................................................................................... 15

Genichi Taguchi .................................................................................................... 20

Dr. Shingo Shigeo .................................................................................................... 23

Masaaki Imai .................................................................................................... 25


ELIYAHU M. GOLDRATT (1947–2011)

was an Israel-born physicist who became a business


management guru. He is the creator of the Theory of
Constraints (TOC), which is regarded as one of the
most significant advances in the practical aspect of
making organizational decisions in conditions
characterized by constraints. It provides a practical
framework for managing enterprises with a holistic
and focused approach and does away with conflicts
between local operating-level decisions and global
objectives and goals of a company.

Theory of Constraints (TOC)

The theory of constraints states that bottleneck limits process performance. TOC identifies
constraints and restructures the rest of the organization around it by providing a ‘five-focusing
steps’ methodology. These 5 steps, also called the Process of On-going Improvement (POOGI),
are as follows:

1. Identify the system’s constraint.


2. Exploit the constraints.
3. Subordinate everything to the constraint
4. Elevate the constraint.
5. Prevent inertia from becoming the constraint.

The process must be reapplied, perhaps many times. It is very important not to let inertia
become a constraint.

1
WALTER SHEWART (1891-1967)

was a statistician at Bell Labs and is considered by


many to be the founder of the modern quality
movement, and an innovator in the application of
statistics to quality.

• He is often referred to as the “grandfather of


quality control.”
• He studied randomness and recognized that
variability existed in all manufacturing processes. He
developed what came to be known as the Shewart
cycle; Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) or Plan-Do-Check-
Act (PDCA) to manage the effects of variation.
• He developed quality control charts that are presently used to identify whether the
variability in the process is random or due to an assignable cause such as unskilled
workers or equipment not being calibrated.
• “Eliminating variability improves quality.”
• His work created the foundation for statistical process control measures used today.

Shewhart’s principle was that bringing a process into a state of statistical control would allow
the distinction between assignable and chance cause variations. By keeping the process in
control, it would be possible to predict future output and to economically manage processes.
This was the birth of the modern scientific study of process control.

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W. EDWARDS DEMING (1900-1993)

• He is often referred to as the “father of quality


control.”
• The Deming Prize, the highest award for quality
in Japan, is named in his honor.
• Known for his 14 Points (a new philosophy for
competing based on quality), for the Deming Chain
Reaction and for the Theory of Profound Knowledge.
• He modified the Shewhart PDSA (Plan, Do,
Study, Act) cycle to what is now referred to as the
Deming Cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act).

The PDCA Cycle

A modified Shewart cycle. It is one of the


most crucial quality control tools for assuring
continuous improvement. The concept of the
cycle was from the importance of constant
interaction of the four stages of Design,
Production, Sales and Research. This was
later extended to all phases of management
and modified as the “PDCA” cycle: Plan, Do,
Check, Action, which corresponded to
specific managerial actions. The model
provides a framework for the improvement of
a process or system.

General Application in
Original Stage Description
Management
Detection of problem and its causes
Design Plan
which arose in product design
Collection of correct data about the
Production Do problem and sorting it statistically.
Implementation of the procedure.

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Evaluation of the results after the
implementation of procedure. If the
Sales Check
target is not achieved, going back to
‘plan’ and ‘do’ is a must.
The transition to another cycle with
Research Action planning an improvement to the
previous one.

The Deming Chain Reaction

was first presented in 1950 in Japan after World War II. It illustrated Shewart’s concept that
productivity and quality improved as variation reduced. According to Deming, there are 7
deadly sins which affect quality such as: (1) lack of constancy of purpose, (2) emphasis of
short-term profits, (3) over-reliance on performance appraisals, (4) mobility of management,
(5) overemphasis on visible figures, (6) excessive medical costs for employee healthcare, (7)
excessive costs for warranty and legal costs.

The Deming chain reaction:

Theory of Profound Knowledge

states that a production system is composed of many interacting subsystems. It is the


management’s responsibility to set the purpose for the system and to optimize it. Deming
advocated improving the system rather than criticizing the workers. He believed that workers

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were already doing their best with the systems that the management provided. However, doing
one’s best without direction led to poor results. “A bad system will beat a good person every
time.”

Deming’s 14-Point Methodology

It is a set of management practices to help companies increase their quality and productivity,
making it a core concept in implementing total quality management.

Create constancy of purpose for continual improvement


of products and service and allocate resources to cater
1 Constancy of Purpose to long term needs rather than short-term profitability
with a plan to become competitive, stay in business and
provide jobs.
The New Philosophy Adopt the new philosophy for one can no longer accept
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delays, mistakes, and defective workmanship
Cease Dependence on Eliminate the need for mass inspection as a way to
3 Inspection achieve quality by building quality into the product in
the first place.
End the practice of awarding business contracts solely
End Lowest Tender
4 on the basis of price tags. Instead, go for meaningful
Contracts
measures of quality along with price.

Search continually for problems in order to improve


5 Improve Every Process every activity in the company because better quality
leads to increased productivity and decreased costs.
Institute Training on the Institute modern methods of training on the job,
6 Job including management to make maximum use of all
employees.
Institute Leadership Adopt and institute leadership, which is aimed at
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helping people do a better job.
Encourage effective two-way communication and other
8 Drive out Fear
means to drive out fear throughout the organization
Breakdown barriers between people in different
9 Breakdown Barriers divisions of the organization. They must work in teams
to tackle problems that may be encountered.
Eliminate use of slogans, posters and exhortations
Eliminate Exhortations demanding zero defects and new level of productivity
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from the workforce, without providing commensurate
methods.
Eliminate work standards that prescribe numerical
Eliminate Arbitrary
11 quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for people
Numerical Targets
in the management.

5
Permit Pride of Remove the barriers that rob hourly workers and people
12 Workmanship in the management of their rights to pride of
workmanship.
A workforce rooted in knowledge will always enable an
13 Encourage Education
organization to be competitive.
A clearly defined commitment by the top management
to constantly improve quality and productivity and
Top Management’s
14 reinforcement of obligations to implement all these
Commitment
principles is always beneficial to the workforce and the
organization.

6
JOSEPH M. JURAN (1904-2008)

Born in Romania in 1904 before emigrating to


Minnesota in the US in 1912, from an early age Dr.
Joseph M. Juran displayed a keen interest in learning
and developing skills. Joseph Juran assisted the
Japanese in their reconstruction processes after World
War II. He is often called the father of quality.

Juran first became famous in the US as the editor of


the Quality Control Handbook (1951), and later for
his paper introducing the quality trilogy—quality
planning, quality control and quality improvement.

• Quality planning provides a system that is capable of meeting quality standards.

• Quality control is used to determine when corrective action is required.

• Quality improvement seeks better ways of doing things.

Questioning which aspect of the quality trilogy is most critical is similar to asking which leg
of a stool is the most important. The stool (and the quality system) cannot function effectively.
without all three. Juran defined quality as “fitness for use” and developed the concept of cost
of quality.

Quality Trilogy

The Juran Trilogy, published in 1986, identified and was accepted worldwide as the basis for
quality management. Juran developed the idea of the quality trilogy to bring continuous
improvement in the process. The elements of the trilogy are quality planning, quality
improvement and quality control. Every element of the trilogy is equally important as quality
will not be guaranteed if an aspect of the trilogy is missing.

Quality Planning Quality Control Quality Improvement


Establish quality goals Choose control subjects Prove the need
Identify customers Choose units to measure Identify projects
Discover customer needs Set goals Organize project teams
Develop product features Create a sensor Diagnose the causes

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Develop process features. Measure actual performance Provide remedies, prove that
the remedies are effective
Establish process controls, Interpret the difference. Deal with the resistance to
and transfer the resulting Take action on the change and control to hold
plans to the operating forces difference. the gains

Juran propounded the following message on quality:

• Quality control must be an integral part of management.


• Quality is no accident.
• Quality must be planned.
• There are no shortcuts to quality.
• Use problems as sources of improvement.

Juran’s 10 Points Theory for Quality Improvement

1. Build awareness regarding the need and offer an opportunity for improvement
2. Set goals for improvements
3. Organize paths to reach the goals (establish a quality council, identify problems, select
projects, appoint teams, designate facilitators, etc.)
4. Provide training
5. Carry out projects to solve problems
6. Report progress
7. Give recognition
8. Communicate results
9. Keep score
10. Maintain momentum by making annual improvements part of the regular systems and
processes of the company

Cost of Quality

Juran developed the concept of cost of quality. The cost of quality (or the cost of not getting
it right the first time) should be recorded and analyzed and classified into failure costs,
appraisal costs and prevention costs. Juran divided quality costs into good and bad:

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1. Good Quality Costs – costs of prevention

a. Prevention Costs - are those costs or activities that are specifically designed to
prevent poor quality in products.

b. Appraisal Cost - are associated with any activity specifically designed to measure,
inspect, evaluate, or audit products to assure conformance to quality requirements.

2. Bad Quality Costs – costs which could be avoided if the products and processes were
perfect.

a. Internal Failure Costs - are any cost incurred due to the failure of a product to
meet a customer requirement where the non-conformance was detected prior to
shipment to the customer.

b. External Failure Costs - Costs are any cost incurred due to the failure of a product
to meet a customer requirement where the non-conformance was detected after
shipment to the customer.

Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle – also widely known


as the 80/20 rule – follows the observations
of economist Vilfredo Pareto, whose
studies showed that 80% of the land in Italy
was owned by 20% of the population. Juran
realized that this same 80/20 rule could also
be applied to quality issues; he coined the
phrase “the vital few and the trivial many”
to convey that a small percentage of root
causes can result in a high percentage of
problems or defects.

9
ARMAN FEIGENBAUM

Armand Feigenbaum8 is credited with the creation of


the idea of total quality control in his book Quality
Control-Principles, Practice, and Administration
(1961) and in his article “Total Quality Control”
(1956). The Japanese version of this concept is called
Company Wide Quality Control, while it is termed
Total Quality Management (TQM) in the US and
elsewhere. He was also the first to classify quality
costs as costs of prevention, appraisal, and internal and
external failures.

Feigenbaum’s philosophy is summarized in his “Three Steps to Quality,” which has been
described below.

1. Quality leadership

• This is evident when the management emphasizes on sound planning rather than
reacting to failures. The management must maintain a constant focus and lead the
quality effort.

2. Modern quality technology

• The traditional quality development processes cannot resolve 80 to 90 percent of quality


problems. This task requires the integration of office staff, engineers as well as the
shop-floor workers who continually evaluate and implement new techniques to satisfy
customers in the future.

3. Organizational commitment

• Continuous training and motivation of the entire workforce as well as an integration of


quality in business planning stage indicates the importance of quality and provides the
means for including it in all respects of the organization’s activities.

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Key Elements of Feigenbaum’s Philosophy of Quality Control

1. Total quality control refers to a system of integrating quality development, maintenance and
improvement efforts in an organization that will enable engineering, marketing, production,
and service to function at optimal economic levels while achieving customer satisfaction.

2. The “control” aspect of quality control should involve setting quality standards, appraising
performances relative to these standards, taking corrective action when the standards are not
met and planning for improvement in the standards.

3. Factors that affect quality can be divided into two major categories—technological and
human. The human factor is the more critical factor.

4. Operating quality costs can be divided into four categories: Prevention costs, appraisal costs,
internal failure costs and external failure costs.

5. It is important to control quality at the source.

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PHILIP B. CROSBY (1926-2001)

Born in 1926, Philip B. Crosby was an author and


businessman who contributed to management theory
and quality management practices. He wrote the best-
seller Quality is free in 1979. He started his career in
quality much later than Deming and Juran. He
founded Philip Crosby and Associates, which was an
international consulting firm on quality
improvement. In the 1980s his consultancy company was
advising 40% of the Fortune 500 companies on quality
management.

He established the Absolutes of Quality Management, which states that the only performance
standard (that makes sense) is zero defects, and the basic elements of improvement.

Zero Defects:

The Zero Defects theory states that there is no existence of waste in a project. Waste refers to
anything that is unproductive i.e., processes, tools, employees, etc. Anything that is not adding
any value to a project should be eliminated, thereby leading to the elimination of waste.
Eliminating waste leads to process improvement and consequently lowers costs. The zero
defects theory is the concept of doing it right the first time to avoid cost and time spent later in
the process of project management.

According to Crosby, zero defects was not just a manufacturing principle but an all-pervading
philosophy that ought to influence every decision that we make. Managerial notions of defects
being unacceptable and everyone doing ‘things right the first time’ are reinforced.

Four Absolutes of Quality:

The essence of Crosby’s teachings is contained in what he calls the “four absolutes of quality.”
Crosby defined Four Absolutes of Quality Management, which are:

1. The First Absolute: The definition of quality is conformance to requirements, not goodness.

• Mr. Crosby defined quality as conformity to certain specifications set forth by


management and not some vague concept of "goodness." After setting requirements,

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management must insist that they must be met every time. You want employees to do
it (the requirements) right the first time, you must have to tell them what it (the
requirements) is.

2. The Next Absolute: The system of quality is prevention, not appraisal.

• Prevention is better than correction, detection, or appraisal. In the whole process, you
need to analyze what can go wrong and then take preventive action. By that, it can
minimize the error, damage, and problem.

3. The Third Absolute: The performance standard is zero defects.

• Here Crosby is stating that nothing less than perfect quality must be the aim. Setting
targets below 100% is the start of downward.

4. The Final Absolute: The measurement of quality is the price of non-conformance to


requirements, not quality indices.

• This measure looks for the cost of failure—when something is done incorrectly and
does not meet the requirements. Most failure costs (PONC) are caused when
management does not set achievable requirements and does not insist that all employees
take requirements seriously. Some PONC examples might be as follows:
• a. When a component must be reworked to the design requirements because the
manufacturer has made an error.
• b. When a builder or remodeler must redo work that does not meet the buyer’s
requirements.
• c. When a hotel room is unclean, and the customer cancels his or her stay as a result.

Based on these premises, he developed a 14-step methodology.

Crosby’s 14 Steps:

1 Management commitment To clarify the management’s stand on quality.


2 Quality improvement team To run the quality improvement program.
To display current and potential non-conformance
3 Quality measurement problems in a manner that permits objective evaluation
and corrective action.
To define the ingredients of the cost of quality and
4 Cost of quality
explain its use as a management tool.

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To provide a method of raising personal concern among
the personnel in the company towards the conformance
5 Quality awareness
of the product and service, and the reputation of the
company on the issue of quality.
To provide a systematic method of resolving the
6 Corrective action
problems identified through actions taken previously.
To examine the various activities that must be conducted
7 Zero defects planning in preparation for formally launching the zero defects
program.
To define the type of training that supervisors need to
8 Supervisor training actively carry out their roles in the quality improvement
program.
To create an event that will let all employees realize,
9 Zero defects day through personal experience, that there has been a
change.
To turn pledges and commitments into action by
encouraging individuals
10 Goal setting
to establish improvement goals for themselves and their
groups.
To give individual employees a method of
communicating to the
11 Error cause removal management, the situations that make it difficult for
employees to meet the pledge to
improve.
12 Recognition To appreciate those who participate
To bring together professionals in the domain of quality
for planned
13 Quality councils
communication on a regular basis with the workforce and
management alike.
To emphasize that the quality improvement program
14 Do it over again
never ends.

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KAORU ISHIKAWA (1915-1989)

Professor Kaoru Ishikawa was born in Japan in 1915.


He is a Japanese organizational theorist, a Professor
at the Faculty of Engineering at The University of
Tokyo and considered the “father of Japanese
Quality” for his creation of innovative developments
in quality management.
He wrote 647 articles and 31 books, including two
translated into English: "Introduction to Quality
Control" and "What Is Total Quality Control? The
Japanese Way".

Ishikawa was the first quality guru to emphasize the importance of the “internal customer,” the
next person in the production process. The essential idea is to enable employees of all
departments to come together to solve problems. Staff members must consider themselves as
service providers. Otherwise, the staff members are in constant struggle with line management,
and nothing gets done.

He is best known for: the Ishikawa diagram; Seven basic quality tools; Quality circles and
Company-wide quality control.

1. Ishikawa Diagram

He is well known for coming up with the concept for the fishbone-shaped diagram, known as
the Ishikawa or cause and effect diagram, used to improve teams’ performance in determining
potential root causes of their quality problems.

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1.1 Types of Ishikawa Diagrams:

a. The 6Ms Ishikawa diagram

• The 6M diagram organizes


information into six categories: man,
machine, material, method, mother
nature, and measurement. It is most
used in the manufacturing industry.
For instance, it could be used to
identify bottlenecks slowing down the
manufacturing process in a candle
business.

b. The 8Ps Ishikawa diagram

• The 8P diagram organizes information


into eight categories: procedures,
policies, place, product, people,
processes, price, and promotion. It is
most used in the service industry. For
instance, it could be used to improve
the efficiency of a housekeeping
business.

c. The 4Ss Ishikawa diagram

• The 4S diagram organizes information


into four categories: suppliers,
systems, surroundings, and skills. It is
most used in the service industry. For
instance, a restaurant could use it to
determine why the number of
customers has declined over the past
year.

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d. Simple fishbone

• A simple fishbone diagram has no


predetermined causes or categories of
causes. This is useful for organizations
that want to create and set their own
unique affinities. For instance, a
software company will have very
different affinities to a pet food
manufacturer.

e. 3Ms/Man machine material fishbone

• The 3M diagram, also known as the 'man, machine, material' fishbone, organizes
information into three categories: manpower, machinery, and materials. It is most used
in the manufacturing industry. For instance, it could be used in a food processing plant
to determine why product quality has declined.

2. Seven Basic Quality Tools

Ishikawa said that seven basic tools were “indispensable for quality control.” These are Pareto
analysis, fishbone diagrams, stratification, tally charts, histograms, scatter diagrams and
control charts. Ishikawa argued that with these tools, managers and staff could tackle and solve
the quality problems facing them.

Cause-and-effect diagram Identifies many possible causes for an effect or problem


1
and sorts of ideas into useful categories.
Check sheet A structured, prepared form for collecting and analyzing
2 data; a generic tool that can be adapted for a wide variety
of purposes.
Control chart Graph used to study how a process changes over time.
Comparing current data to historical control limits leads
3 to conclusions about whether the process variation is
consistent (in control) or is unpredictable (out of control,
affected by special causes of variation).
Histogram The most used graph for showing frequency distributions,
4
or how often each different value in a set of data occurs.
Pareto chart A bar graph that shows which factors are more
5
significant.
Scatter diagram Graphs pairs of numerical data, one variable on each axis,
6
to look for a relationship.

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Stratification A technique that separates data gathered from a variety of
7 sources so that patterns can be seen (some lists replace
stratification with flowchart or run chart).

3. Quality Circles

Quality Circle is a small group of employees working in the same area or doing the same job.
This group regularly meets for one hour every week to identify and collectively resolve the
problems in the work area. They use Seven Basic Quality tools to understand the causes and
propose solutions.

4. Company-wide Quality Control

Ishikawa emphasized on quality as a way of management. He influenced the development of


participative, bottom-up view of quality, which became the trademark of the Japanese approach
to quality management. He suggested the following benefits of the Company-wide Quality
approach.

1. Product quality is improved and becomes uniform. Defects are reduced.


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 rationalized.
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 installation of equipment and facilities are done more rationally.
15. Human relations are improved.

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Some of the key elements of his philosophy are:
1. Quality begins with education and ends with education
2. The first step in quality is to know the customers’ requirements
3. The ideal state of quality control occurs when inspection is no longer necessary
4. Remove the root cause, not the symptoms
5. Quality control is the responsibility of all workers and all divisions
6. Do not confuse means with the objectives
7. Put quality first and set your sights on long-term profits
8. Market is the entrance and exit of quality
9. Top management must not show anger when facts are presented by subordinates
10. Ninety-five percent of problems in a company can be solved with simple tools for
analysis and problem-solving
11. Data without dispersion information (variability) are false data

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DR. GENICHI TAGUCHI

is a Japanese quality expert known for his work around


product design.

• developed approaches to assess outside


influences (which he referred to as noise) on processes
that he used to establish the signal-to-noise ratio as a
measure of the quality of a process.
• developed the idea of robustness, which is the
ability of a process or product to perform even in the
face of uncontrollable outside influences (noise).
• devised a quadratic function, referred to as the Taguchi Loss Function, which quantified
the loss to society of the variation in processes which resulted in products not being
produced exactly at the target values.
• developed the Taguchi Method, an approach using orthogonal arrays and linear graphs
to understand and to optimize the performance of processes.

Robust Design

It is used to find the appropriate control factor levels in a design or a process to make the system
less sensitive to variations in uncontrollable noise factors.

Design of Experiments

It is an engineering approach that focuses on developing robust design that enables products to
perform under varying conditions. It is used to quickly gather information on the effects of
control factors on product performance. It can also be used to determine the interaction between
control and noise factors. The 5 steps in Taguchi’s approach include:

1. Planning experiments (Brainstorming)

This is a necessary first step in any application. The brainstorming should include
individuals with first-hand knowledge of the project.

• Determine what one is after (cost, supplies, etc.) and how to evaluate it. When
there is more than one criterion of evaluation, one needs to decide how each
criterion is to be weighted and combined for overall evaluation.
• Identify all influencing factors and those to be included in the study.

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• Determine the factor levels.
• Determine the noise factor and the condition of repetitions.

2. Designing experiments

Using the factors and levels determined in the brainstorming session, the experiments
can be designed and the method carrying them out can now be established.

• Select the appropriate orthogonal array.


• Assign factor and interaction to columns.
• Describe each trial condition.
• Decide the order and frequency of repetition of trial conditions.

3. Running the experiment


4. Analyzing results
5. Running confirmation experiments

Taguchi’s Approach (8 Steps of Parameter Design)

1. Identify the main functions, side effects and failure modes.


2. Identify noise factors and the testing conditions for evaluating loss of quality.
3. Identify the quality characteristics to be observed and the objective functions to be
optimized.
4. Identify the control factors and their alternate levels.
5. Design the matrix experiment and define the data analysis procedure.
6. Conduct the matrix.
7. Analyze the data, determine optimum levels for the control factors and predict
performance under these levels.
8. Conduct the verification experiment and plan future actions.

Taguchi Loss Function

It is used to determine the losses suffered by the user when the product performance deviates
from its real performance. It is represented by the equation:

L = C(X − T)2

where L = total loss,

C = a cost constant,

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X = actual average value of quality characteristic and

T = target value of quality characteristic.

The smaller the value of this social loss, the more desirable the product is. This theory also
suggests that quality losses vary as the square of the deviation from target.

A visual representation of Taguchi’s quality loss function

The loss described in this theory can be categorized into three types namely:

• Loss incurred by the company, such as, in terms of increased scrap, rework and
warranty costs, damage to the company’s reputation and loss of market share.
• Loss incurred by the consumers, such as, in terms of short product life, increased
maintenance and repair costs.
• Loss incurred by society in general, such as, in terms of pollution, safety, etc.

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DR. SHINGO SHIGEO (1909-1990)

was perhaps the greatest contributor to modern


manufacturing practice. While he is not as well-
known as the others in the field of quality, his
teachings and principles have formed the backbone
of efficient engineering practices. His teachings
include the theory of ‘Just in Time’ (JIT), theory of
‘Single Minute Exchange of Dies’ (SMED), and
theory of ‘Zero Quality Control’ (ZQC).

Theory of Just in Time (JIT)

A philosophy of manufacturing based on planned elimination of all waste and continuous


improvement of productivity. Its principles are:

• having only the required inventory when needed.


• to improve quality to zero defects
• to reduce lead time by reducing setup times, queue lengths and lot sizes; to
incrementally revise the operations themselves
• to accomplish all the mentioned earlier at minimum cost.

Theory of Single Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED)

It is a system for dramatically reducing the time it takes to complete equipment changeovers.
SMED was developed to reduce the fixed costs associated with the setup and changeover of
dies. The basic elements driving the SMED concept is to reduce the setup time of dies, which
directly results in smaller batch sizes for parts. According to Shigeo, the simple steps in
achieving a quick setup and changeover of the dies are:

• Separating internal and external setups as they existed


• Converting internal to external setup
• Streamlining all aspects of the setup operation

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Theory of Zero Quality Control (ZQC)

ZQC technique makes use of the following engineering principles:

• 100 per cent inspections done at the source instead of sampling inspections.
• Immediate feedback from successive quality checks and self-checks.
• Poka-yoke designed manufacturing devices.

The principle of ZQC can be represented by the equation:

Poka-yoke Techniques to Correct Defects + Source Inspection to Prevent Defects = Zero


Quality Control

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MASAAKI IMAI

Masaaki Imai is a quality management consultant,


was born in Tokyo in 1930. He founded Cambridge
Corp., an international management and executive
recruiting firm based in Tokyo, 1962. He is a
Japanese organizational theorist and management
consultant, known for his work on quality
management, specifically on Kaizen.

As a consultant, he assisted more than 200 foreign and joint-venture companies in Japan in
fields including recruiting, executive development, personnel management and organizational
studies. Between 1976 and 1986 Masaaki Imai was President of the Japanese Federation of
Recruiting and Employment Agency Associations.

Masaaki Imai is the Founder of Kaizen Institute which was established in Switzerland in 1985
to help companies implement the practice of kaizen and the various systems and tools known
today as Lean Management. Today Kaizen Institute Consulting Group (KICG) is the leading
global operational excellence consultancy with offices across the globe.

That same year, he published his book on Japanese management; Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s
Competitive Success. This best-selling book has since been translated into 14 languages. Other
books by Imai include 16 Ways to Avoid Saying No, Never Take Yes for an Answer and
Gemba Kaizen published in 1997. The Kaizen Institute operates in over 22 countries and
continues to act as an enabler to companies to accomplish their manufacturing, process, and
service goals.

Kaizen

Over 30 years ago, Masaaki Imai sat down to pen the groundbreaking book ‘Kaizen: The Key
to Japan’s Competitive Success’ (McGraw Hill). Through this book, the term KAIZEN was
introduced in the western world. Today KAIZEN is recognized worldwide as an essential pillar
of an organization’s long-term competitive strategy. Since introducing this term as a systematic
approach to business improvement, companies that implement KAIZEN have continually
yielded superior results.

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The English translation is, broadly speaking, continuous improvement. ‘Kai’ means ‘change’
and ‘zen’ means ‘for the better’. It is a philosophy that helps to ensure maximum quality, the
elimination of waste, and improvements in efficiency, both in terms of equipment and work
procedures.

The concept of kaizen encompasses a wide range of ideas. It involves making the work
environment more efficient and effective by creating a team atmosphere, improving everyday
procedures, ensuring employee engagement, and making a job more fulfilling, less tiring, and
safer.

Five Fundamental Kaizen Principles

1. Know your customer.


• Knowledge of who you're selling a product or service to is how one creates
value.
2. Let it flow.
• This applies to the target of achieving zero waste.
3. Go to gemba (or the real place),
• The literal translation for gemba is “the real place.” In this context, it’s about
leadership and knowing what is happening at every level of the organization.
4. Empower people.
• This one is directed towards teams and having them organized in such a way
that it supports the kaizen principles.
5. Be transparent.
• Data is the strongest determining factor. It’s the metric that measures success.

These five principles lead to three major outcomes: elimination of waste (also referred to
as economic efficiency), good housekeeping, and standardization. Ideally, kaizen becomes so
ingrained in a company's culture that it eventually becomes natural to employees.

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