Intended learning outcomes: Identify changing definitions of terms over time in quality assurance and quality management.
Quality assurance as it was used originally corresponds to today’s term quality inspection (see Section 18.2.4).
Use of the term quality assurance — like use of the term quality management — has changed over time as shown in Figure 18.2.6.1.
Fig. 18.2.6.1 Changing definitions of terms over time (Source: [Verb98]).
- Up until 1987, the term quality assurance was used as generic term for all activities with regard to quality.
- After 1987, the term quality management was introduced as the wider term. Quality
assurance was now used for concrete quality management system demonstration.
Quality assurance can be understood today as active risk management for the purpose of reducing the probability of quality defects and of mitigating the consequences of defects (passive risk management would be insuring or covering against risk).[note 1802]
Quality assurance as defined today first of all involves quality inspection to determine whether the quality targets for the individual quality characteristics are actually met. Such inspection measures include:
- Tests of incoming goods to ensure that procured goods are free of defects
- Supplier ratings, based on delivery quality
- Design reviews during the R&D process
- Early warning systems that detect defects in new products at an early stage
- Testing of administrative processes, in particular of completeness of information and delivery reliability
In an analogy, the task in the Do phase of the PCDA cycle or of the Improve phase in the Six Sigma method is implementation of one or more of the solutions found. After this, quality assurance means a check providing statistical evidence that the solutions are achieving the desired results.
For the quality assurance step, all of the tools used in quality control (see Section 18.2.4) are available. For quality assurance of organizations or of complex sequences of processes — especially whole business processes — evaluation methods in the form of assessments stand in the foreground. Assessments are used in the evaluation of the quality management system itself. They will be discussed in connection with TQM models in Section 18.3.
As for any type of organization, quality assurance must also not be simply a control mechanism; the point is to enable and motivate people appropriately to deliver defect-free products and processes. The focus today is usually on self-inspection. To avoid unnecessary slowing down of the value-adding processes, quality tasks, as far as possible, should be carried out by the same persons who are also responsible for the operational added value. For this, they require training in the relevant quality techniques.
To complement self-inspection, third parties (superiors, other internal parties, or external parties) conduct suitable inspections. The task of a company-wide post for quality is to advise the persons accountable for producing the goods and services as to selection of the quality assurance tools and, in difficult cases, to take on an advising and coordinating function in the quality assurance process.
Course section 18.2: Subsections and their intended learning outcomes
18.2 Quality Management Tasks at the Operations Level
Intended learning outcomes: Produce an overview on the Deming Cycle (PDCA Cycle) and the Shewhart Cycle as well as the Six Sigma Phases. Present the phases of quality planning, control, assurance, and activation of the Deming Cycle. Describe the Six-Sigma phases of define, measure, analyze, improve, and control. Differentiate between continual improvement and reengineering.
18.2.1 The Deming Cycle (PDCA Cycle) and the Shewhart Cycle
Intended learning outcomes: Produce an overview on The Shewhart cycle developed in statistical quality control. Present the Deming cycle. Describe quality management tasks in the Deming cycle.
18.2.2 DMAIC — The Six Sigma Phases
Intended learning outcomes: Present DMAIC, the Six Sigma phases. Describe the tasks in the Six Sigma phases. Differentiate between DMAIC, RDMAIC, DMAICT, and DMADV.
18.2.3 Quality Planning: PDCA Plan Phase — DMAIC Define Phase
Intended learning outcomes: Identify the cause of differences between stakeholders’ expectations and actual product or process characteristics.
18.2.3b Quality Planning: Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
Intended learning outcomes: Explain quality function deployment – the house of Quality and 10 steps of implementation.
18.2.3c Quality Planning: First-Pass Yield (FPY), SIPOC diagram and Critical-to-Quality (CTQ) matrix
Intended learning outcomes: Explain the first-pass-yield thinking. Describe the SIPOC diagram and the CTQ matrix.
18.2.4 Quality Control: PDCA Check Phase, Part 1 — DMAIC Measure Phase and Analyze Phase, Part 1
Intended learning outcomes: Produce an overview on tools used in quality control in their original usage stemming from production engineering. Identify deliverables of the Measure phase as well as the Analyze phase.
18.2.5 PDCA Do Phase — DMAIC Improve Phase
Intended learning outcomes: Produce an overview on tools of the jidoka concept, such as Andon (or a visual control system in a job shop) and Poke yoke (or fail-safe techniques).
18.2.6 Quality Assurance: PDCA Check Phase, Part 2 — DMAIC Measure Phase and Analyze Phase, Part 2
Intended learning outcomes: Identify changing definitions of terms over time in quality assurance and quality management.
18.2.7 PDCA Activation Phase — DMAIC Control Phase
Intended learning outcomes: Produce an overview on tools used in quality activation. Identify deliverables of the Control phase.
18.2.8 Project Management, Continual Improvement, and Reengineering
Intended learning outcomes: Differentiate between continual process improvement and (business) process reengineering.
