Quality Assurance--5 tips

What is not QA?

Srinivasan Nenmeli-K

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 What is not Quality Assurance?

Dear Friends,
Firstly , let me answer this question.
Even after half a century of Deming's, Juran's and
Feigenbaum's work ,there is still mix up in the minds of
practising engineers and managers about: "What is QA?"
Testing and inspection are not QA work.They are 'quality
control' work ---just QC.
They are needed, but as you 'install' QA programs, QC must
decrease--period.
QC is "finding defects and fixing it"--defect detection in the
first place..That is not QA!
You will do QC at various stages mainly to weed out defectives--
defective products...Won't you like to reduce this weeding
work? That is achieved by QA.[in many industries, the QC and
QA roles are mixed up.QA peopleQA NKS
do only never ending QC 2
 What is Quality Assurance?
● QA is Defect prevention, not defect detection.
● QA is process oriented, not just product oriented
● QA is finding the causes and installing 'prevention
systems'
● QA requires training of all employees at various jobs
● QA focuses on 'customer satisfaction'--not inspector
satisfaction
● QA keeps looking at customer feedback and
responsesQA is delighting the customer,not just
fighting your competitior.
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 The key to QA
● There is only ONE KEY for quality assurance or
defect prevention.
● Focus on the process--whether done by humans or
machines or your computer-software in the
machine.
● Take a simple example.You have a small bakery to
make cakes. The major processes are:
● getting the ingredients of proper quality or inputs
● mixing the dough
● baking
● What are the critical factors
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in each?Take baking: 4

● Are you setting limits on baking temperature and

 Process control

● Process control is what you do in QA.

● Keep this in mind always....not product control.
● Control the process in so many ways.
Here are the 5 tips
● The first and foremost method is: Standardise--
revise the standards if they are not suitable now.
● Train people in quality concepts
● Train people in specific skills/tasks
● Analyze the defects,find the causes and rectify them
● Listen to the customer
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 The Deming Cycle-The PDCA cycle

● Edwards Deming introduced a simple,but basic cycle of work

for QA---Plan,Do,Check and Act..the PDCA cycle.You repeat
this cycle over and over again for 'Continuous improvement'.
● Every QA work requires some planning,then 'do'--create a new procedure
or method ,then 'check' against the initial objective of this task;if it is
okay, 'act' -- a better word is 'implement' which means institute or install
the new procedure.
● You repeat the cycle,take on other QA tasks.
● Deming gave this cycle as a simple program to follow:Note
that the step 'check' is very important.
● Deming believed in 'continuous improvement'.Quality
improvement is a long journey--not a quick fix to today's
problems.That is why commitment from top management is
essential for any QA program.
● The Japanese believed in Deming.!It
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is remarakable how this6
 Tip 1 -Standardise

Juran once remarked that most developing countries

have very few standards and use them very little.!
Take a simple example: You know that there should be a ramp
for wheel chairs at the entrance to hospitals/clinics.Do you
have a standard for their width and slope? If it exists, do you
insist on using it?
--Write simple clear standards for many process
features ,train people in using it...this may add slightly
to the cost ,but you will benefit enormously over the
years.
--Review and update the standards.
--Pick up standards from others--even your
competitors. QA NKS 7
Tip2- Train Employees in Quality Concepts

Almost every one has heard about and use the word 'quality'.We 'expect'
quality from others.But very few have clear concepts about quality.

What the quality gurus did was to focus on the concepts--techniques came
later.

Quality is achieving 'customer satisfaction'--not just meeting

specification,getting more orders or satisfying your boss.

All employees, right from your janitor, must learn the quality concepts
--from articles,books, short lectures,informal discussion groups,training
sessions and so on----not just from posters which may be misleading or
misunderstood.

The employees must become 'quality conscious'--otherwise they create more

defects which they should clean up or some one has to do...this adds to cost.

They must all learn to use the magnificent

QA NKS seven QC tools in a routine 8
manner---not just your QA/QC team' alone use them. {this is what Quality
 Tip3 Train Employees

Training for specific skills/knowledge is an essential

means in any QA program.
Be specific in any training program with well-stated
objectives for training---
Apply QA principles to training too.
Get feedback from employees on training over short
and long period.Many training programs have long
range effects.
How much training? One week or 2 weeks per year or
more...You decide based QA
onNKSyour needs and present 9
 Tip4-- Analyse and learn from defects

1 Collect data about

defects/faults/mistakes..analyse them---
use simple 'seven QC tools'- like
histograms,checksheets....
2 Find the root causes--discuss with
concerned people--this is a difficult step--
don't go by politically correct reasons
given by 'yes' men.
3 You may discover 'Pareto rule'.80%of
defects come from 20% or a few causes--
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 Tip 5 --Listen to customers

Customers always want better things for less

money.QA programs should work towards that.
Customer feedback and its scrutiny is the most
important step.
Most customer needs can be met by simple
design changes.
Special needs should be studied.This may lead
to new product lines.
Make your product fail-safe and failure -proof.
Discuss with really bad customers!
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Document carefully the customer complaints
 Effectiveness of QA

How to measure QA effectiveness?

This is really easy .
With effective QA, QC should decrease.Defects should
come down,especially the critical and major ones.
You must be able to reduce testing and inspection staff
and costs.
Customer complaints must drop exponentially--except
positive comments.
In Hardware items,you must be able to increase
warranty period, reduce maintenance costs for
customers.
Customers must be happy and increase--the market
share should go up. QA NKS 12
        

Besterfield et al ---Total Quality Management

[Easy to read,simple,clear classic text book]

J M Juran The Quality Handbook

[ The standard reference book for all times]

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 CONTACT

If you liked this presentation,though brief,

contact me for further details and useful
tutorials/presentations.
emailID: nksrinivasan@hotmail.com

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