- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Design of Experiments
- Human Resources
- Innovation
- Inspection
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Lean
- Metrics
- Metrology
- Problem Solving
- Basic Quality
- Process Management
- Project Management
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Safety
- Six Sigma
- Social Responsibility
- Software Quality
- Standards
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- AS9000
- Risk Management
- Customer Experience Management
- Food Safety
- Strategic Planning
Mood Righting
U.S. organizations face monumental challenges as a global economy has emerged. Arguably, the global economy is driving competitive forces to levels unimaginable only a few decades ago....
Standards Outlook: World View
The global economy has provided organizations with many opportunities that didn’t exist even 10 years ago. On the other hand, the internet and extensive outsourcing have “flattened” the Earth, presenting organizations with many new risks....
Tool Time
“Does everybody know what time it is? It’s ‘Tool Time’!” On “Home Improvement,” one of the most watched TV sitcoms in the U.S. in the 1990s, Tim and his assistant, Al, demonstrated to their television audience what tools they had and how to use them....
Standards Outlook: What’s Cooking?
The U.S. Federal Drug Administration Food Safety Modernization Act is another milestone in food safety—the latest step to supplement hazard analysis and critical control point programs that have been mandated for a variety of commodities....
Expert Answers: April 2013
Root cause analysis tools ... Calibration data for a fee ......
Apples to Oranges?
Consumers around the world demand safe food. Through the years, retailers and food companies have pushed their suppliers to have food safety systems and improve on them. The drive started with suppliers being required to have third-party good GMP audits....
Career Corner: Out of Hiding
While I was the senior statistician for a manufacturing division of a major aerospace firm, I shared the concept of the hidden factory with a statistical quality control (SQC) training class composed entirely of senior and middle management....
3.4 per Million: Box Paradox
Without any data to support this, I’m willing to wager that anyone who has been employed in a manufacturing or transactional environment for five years has either been directed to or heard someone direct others to “think outside the box.”...
Quality in the First Person: Failure of Inspection
Inspection often occurs at the end of the production line. As a result, the information gained from identifying problem pieces comes too late to make adjustments in the process, let alone isolate places in the process that are causing the problem....
Salary Survey 2012: Facing Tight Times
The more things stay the same, the more quality professionals must look for productive ways to change. For the first time since QP began its annual salary survey, the most important indicator—average salary—has become frustratingly stuck in place....
Career Corner: Trade Your Expertise
Most readers have an idea of what a mentor is. Perhaps you have received counsel or knowledge from an experienced mentor or mentored a person seeking your advice. But there is a lesser-known mentoring relationship—a peer-to-peer relationship....
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 1: Salary by Job Title
Figure 1 includes results for: x Full- time employees, part- time employees, x U. S. employees, Canadian employees, International employees Salary by job title for U. S. respondents / FIgUre 1 46,884 50,558 53,970 56,246 57,718 69,279 70,094 72,261 74,13...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 1, Section 12: Salary by Industry
Transportation and aerospace products 12.8 80,965 24.7 79,706 other products 5.3 78,625 4.7 78,111 Service sector 28.5% $ 90,449 42.8 $ 93,453 Construction services 5.4 90,114 7.0% 85,600 Consulting and other professional, scientific and technical servic...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 2, Section 23: Base Earnings by Education and Training
1 28,000 28,000 Certified manager of quality/ organizational excellence 20,000 275,000 86,193 9 112,391 100,000 Certified quality auditor 12,000 180,000 56,553 17 87,066 96,521 Certified quality engineer 12,000 214,245 71,048 10 96,625 82,500 Certified q...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 2, Section 21: Consultants Overview
annual revenue for full vs. part- time consulting / Figure 2 88,160 130,405 35,024 146,750 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 $ 120,000 $ 140,000 $ 160,000 Self- employed consultants who work part- time in the United States ( 44.2%) Self- em...
Salary Survey 2012: Part 2, Section 22: Base Earnings by Years of Experience
Qp 181 Base earnings by consulting experience for U. S. self- employed consultants / Figure 1 133,145 150,981 122,500 161,818 124,015 43,417 56,500 95,969 93,000 85,700 80,383 37,705 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 $ 120,000 $ 140,000 $ 1...
Quality Around the Clock
It’s in your DNA. It’s how your mind works. It’s what you do. It’s who you are. When you work in quality, you see things differently. You approach problems and scenarios in certain ways. It happens after you’ve signed off....
Standards Outlook: From the Trenches
ISO 9001 and the COSO internal control guidance document used by financial organizations that must comply with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act don’t have a lot in common, but one thing they share is the need to update the current version....
A Service Framework
To help service quality professionals negotiate the unique challenges they encounter, the ASQ Service Quality Division envisaged the Service Quality Body of Knowledge as an umbrella framework....
Standards Outlook: Keep It Clean
Unfortunately, many organizations fail to adequately assess their overall facility environment, forget or are unaware of the need to ensure their buildings are clean and well-organized, and meet organizational and regulatory requirements....
Career Corner: Risky Reputation
Formerly the work of marketers, an organization's image and reputation are integral to quality and risk-based management systems. They are everyone's business in sustaining corporate integrity, and they deserve the attention of quality professionals....
One Good Idea: Survey Fatigue
Who among us has not suffered the endless assault of satisfaction surveys? Society is surveyed out, but that doesn't mean the pursuit of meaningful customer feedback is a waste of time. It's just that the challenge is getting more difficult....
Quality in the First Person: When Is a Cappucino Not a Cappucino?
Understanding unspoken customer needs is a 10 on the Richter scale of customer satisfaction. How can we understand the unspoken needs of customers, when customers themselves are unaware?...
Career Corner: Light Your Fire
It takes the right team members to create an enabled, empowered, motivated, cross functional, self-directed team capable of selecting the most important tasks, and then efficiently and effectively solving the most critical problems....
Follow the Signs
Many change models have been proposed, but one stands out: the transtheoretical model, also known as the health behavior change model. The model originates from directly observing how people really did or didn’t change in response to urgent medical needs....
In the Trenches
Deploying a quality change program is something every organization needs to do sooner or later, whether it involves lean, Six Sigma, the Baldrige criteria, kaizen or any other improvement effort. But managing a change program is a double-edged sword....
Expert Answers: July 2012
Reigniting quality ... Going nuclear...
Quality in the First Person: No Such Thing as Altruism?
It was an argument that got people out of their chairs and yelling, a verbal war that pitted students’ basic moral principles against one another. The professor set the class up for this. At issue was the assertion that there’s no such thing as altruism....
Expert Answers: June 2012
Continuous vs. discrete data ... Get IT under control ... You must measure ......
3.4 per Million: The Significance of Simulation
The certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt body of knowledge, introduced in 2010, included the subject of simulation and, specifically, digital process simulation. This is refreshing because this tool is often omitted from lean Six Sigma training....
On the Right Course
In today's competitive business environment, organizations do not always limit their concerns to those of shareholders and customers....
Valuable Resource
Talent development is addressed in three key components of sustainability management systems: international standards, social responsibility (SR) reporting and performance excellence frameworks....
Fair or Foul?
After Moneyball was published nine years ago, Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane was hailed as a genius for adopting analytics in baseball. His goal was to create a small-budget MLB team that could compete with big-spending teams in the American League....
One Size Fits All
There’s a reason why simple tools endure: They work, regardless of the situation. That’s a characteristic shared by the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence....
Expert Answers: April 2012
The right way to roll out Six Sigma ... Dealing with troublesome auditees....
Career Corner: Should You Blow the Whistle?
Becoming a whistle-blower is no easy choice, even for quality professionals knowledgeable of organizational behavior and accustomed to audit processes with clear guidelines for nonconformance and corrective action....
Standards Outlook: Revised Thinking
COSO developed the internal control integrated framework in 1992 in response to the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s. COSO is now 20 years old and is due for an upgrade to incorporate changes in the financial environment....
Rethinking Design
Design thinking offers several tools and concepts that can complement problem-solving approaches normally taught and used by quality professionals....
A Tangled Web
In simple terms, software as a service is on-demand access to software via the internet. It seemingly eliminates the installation and testing of the software by the customer—or does it?...
Email Matters
It is commonly accepted that 80% of data within an organization is unstructured. Emails are considered a part of the definition of unstructured data. But with the right processes, it is possible to get email under control....
Statistics Roundtable: Right Answer, Wrong Query
Recently, I was reminded of one of my favorite statistics-related quotes from John W. Tukey: “Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often vague, than an exact answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise.”...
Standards Outlook: Complex Relationship
In addition to being required to master a multitude of global requirements, regulatory professionals must address other issues that impede their ability to function expeditiously....
The Power of Positive
In his 2006 book, The World is Flat, Thomas Freidman cites the many challenges globalization puts on corporate life: changing political realities, social entrepreneurship and the effects of the internet....
Expert Answers: February 2012
The best way to eliminate errors ... Adjusting to a new auditor....
Career Corner: Keep Your Toolbox Full
Be aware of all the tools at your disposal to excel at your job. Your career as a quality professional depends on your ability to recall a specific quality tool and apply it when necessary....
Heavy Mettle Victory
After 23 years of service, I retired from Heavymet. Heavymet is a colossus: 65,000 employees in 55 plants in six business units in six countries. I lived in interesting times there. Many asked how I felt about our progress in process management....
Lead On
In today's business environment, any organization that wishes to exceed customer expectations and stay competitive needs effective supplier management. Emotional intelligence plays an important role in dealing with suppliers....
Fail-Safe FMEA
The appropriate use of quality risk management can help organizations comply with regulatory requirements, such as good manufacturing practices or good laboratory practices....
Safe and Secure
Organizations everywhere are expected to do more with less in all areas of business. Safety and risk management are not necessarily immune when organizations must make difficult decisions about cuts in personnel and funding....
Online Conklin: The Road More Traveled
After being part of a great team that implemented process management at Plant Able in the XYZ division of Heavymet, I took the show on the road to our sister facility Plant Baker....
Expert Answers: January 2012
Cost-of-quality reporting ... Auditing options ......
Salary Survey 2011: Part 2, Section 21: Consultant Overview
QP Salary Survey 2 0 1 1 Billing methods used by consultants / Figure 3 annual revenue for full vs. part- time consulting / Figure 2 74,648 166,927 27,667 137,500 0 $ 20,000 $ 40,000 $ 60,000 $ 80,000 $ 100,000 $ 120,000 $ 140,000 $ 160,000 $ 180,000 Sel...
Salary Survey 2011: Part 2, Section 23: Consultant Education and Training
Base earnings for U. S. self- employed consultants / Table 1 ( conTinueD) Minimum Maximum Standard deviation Count Average Median Part- time All consultants $ 10,000 $ 450,000 $ 82,437 87 $ 74,648 $ 54,000 Highest level of education High school diploma 6...
3.4 per Million: The Way to Fail
Several months ago, I received a call from a lean Six Sigma leader from a large multinational organization who was concerned because his organization was having great difficulty completing projects....
Salary Survey 2011: Land the Big One
Certification holders—or those thinking about obtaining certifications—should know that these assets make them more attractive to potential employers. In most cases, a certification offers the most value when it is held by a professional whose job duties ...
Salary Survey 2011: Part 1, Section 12: Salary by Industry
Nonelectronic measuring, analyzing and controlling instruments ( NAICS code 339): Balances, blood testing apparatus, Bunsen burners, centrifuges, distilling apparatus, laboratory incubators, SPonSoreD by Salary by industrial classification / Table 1 Unit...
Salary Survey 2011: Part 1, Section 14: Salary by Organization’s Quality Infrastructure
com 144 SPonSoreD by Quality department size by organization size / Table 1 Number in quality department 1 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 More than 50 10 or fewer 33 11- 100 475 31 101- 500 528 192 52 13 501- 1,000 197 97 36 14 13 23 1,001- 5,0...
Salary Survey 2011: Part 1, Section 1: Salary by Job Title
QP 31 QP Salary Survey 2 0 1 1 Figure 1 includes results for: x Full- time employees, Part- time employees, x U. S. employees, Canadian employees, International employees Salary by job title for U. S. respondents / FIgUre 1 46,455 50,172 51,664 59,842 62...
Salary Survey 2011: Part 2, Section 24: Earnings and Rates by Age, Gender and Geographic Location
Part 2. Self- Employed Consultant Results Section 24. Earnings and Rates by Age, Gender and Geographic location Demographic Details For Consultants QP Salary Survey 2 0 1 1 Consultant earnings and rates by age and gender / Table 1 Average base earnings A...
Salary Survey 2011: Part 2, Section 22: Consultant Experience
2 10,000 10,000 6.1- 10 years 10,000 130,000 44,083 8 44,875 22,500 10.1- 20 years 10,000 400,000 81,604 26 86,346 65,000 More than 20 years 10,000 450,000 89,467 48 79,175 55,000 Full- time All consultants 15,000 700,000 124,507 112 166,927 140,000 Numb...
All Over the Map
Innovation can be rewarding, and it’s taking on greater importance worldwide. There’s no better proof of this than the recent World Economic Forum analysis of the innovative capability of countries from all parts of the globe....
A Decade of Distinction
In the first six months of 2010, Telefónica Group launched 60 simultaneous quality improvement projects. These 60 projects represent nearly 30% of the total number of improvement projects conducted in the company during the last decade....
40 New Voices of Quality
When QP set out to find the individuals who will give a voice to the new generation of quality professionals, one of the hopes was that the group’s makeup would lend insight into what the future holds....
Is Six Sigma Dead?
There are reports from the field about the death of Six Sigma. The word is that it has been overused, has not brought its expected benefits and that newer methodologies, such as the theory of constraints and systems thinking, are replacing it....
Standards Outlook: The Missing Link
In most organizations, quality and finance behave like independent silos, resulting in excessive costs and unhappy customers and investors....
Career Corner: Planning Ahead
When TQM became a strategic imperative for competitive advantage, celebrity CEOs became cheerleaders, quality maturity was measured by more vice presidents for quality, and academics traced quality’s history from inspection to customer-focused strategy....
Statistics Roundtable: Taking Stock
Recently, there has been exciting discussion about statistical engineering and its potential to redefine the role of statisticians and increase our influence in business through expanded participation in decision-making for high-impact problems....
Standards Outlook: How Will You Manage
While the required skill sets of quality and regulatory professionals constantly change, and capability upgrades must be ongoing to ensure success, it was hard to predict that branching out into project management would be the next hurdle....
Career Corner: Wowing the Boss
No matter the organization, type of job or department size—everyone has a boss. Even if you have your own company, there's always someone to whom you are responsible and to whom you report. CEOs and board chairmen all report to their boards of directors....
Reversing Course?
THE OUTSOURCING OF FUNCTIONS once performed by organizations’ internal departments has been increasing in quantity and scope....
Climb to the Top
Who said it’s lonely at the top? For only the second time since the Baldrige program began in 1988, seven organizations were recognized last year with the nation’s highest presidential honor for performance excellence—the Baldrige Award....
Career Corner: The Missing Links
The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence presents an ideal pattern of values to which quality professionals can aspire. Tracking its development throughout close to a quarter century reveals shifts in the quality community’s thinking...
On the Clock
Whatever the business, customers expect timely and efficient service. They expect their phone calls to be answered in two or fewer rings. They loath waiting in long lines and want transactions handled as quickly as possible....
Standards Outlook: Revisionist History
The latest version of ISO 9001 was published in December 2008. Since then, ISO/TC 176 has created a task group to consider concepts for inclusion in the next revision, which is scheduled for publication in 2015....
Lessons in Loyalty
Business growth depends on improving customer loyalty behavior. Companies with higher customer loyalty usually experience faster business growth than companies with lower customer loyalty, research has shown....
Career Corner: Call a SPADE a SPADE
When you think about your career, what do you do? Do you just sort of mull it over and maybe write down a note or two? Or do you start by writing down what you want out of your professional life (your long-term objectives) and then consider what...
Expert Answers: March 2011
Explaining rework verification ... Getting management involved ... Measurement confusion....
Expert Answers: December 2010
The benefits of certification ... Knowing when to document....
Salary Survey 2010: Revealing Answers
Every year, QP’S Salary Survey sparks countless questions for quality professionals and gets them thinking about their careers and personal development: How do I compare with others? What can I do to get ahead? Are things getting better out there?...
Salary Survey 2010: Part 1, Sect. 12: Salary by Industry
Salary by industrial classification / Table 1 United States Canada Percentage Average salary Percentage Average salary Manufacturing sector 69.5% $ 82,909 66.9% $ 72,726 Chemicals and related products 8.8 90,106 7.9 87,847 Computers and electronic produc...
Salary Survey 2010: Part 2, Section 21: Overview of Consultants' Earnings
Earnings Full- time vs. Part- time Consulting Figure 1 includes results for: x Full- time employees, x Part- time employees, x U. S. employees, x Canadian employees, x International employees Self- employed consultants who also work as employees: a histo...
Salary Survey 2010: Part 2, Section 22: Base Earnings by Consulting Experience
Base earnings by consulting experience for U. S. self- employed consultants / FIgUre 1 180,822 191,493 52,600 168,058 68,312 70,750 181,190 63,995 106,474 39,970 93,685 22,281 0 $ 50,000 $ 100,000 $ 150,000 $ 200,000 More than 20 years 10.1- 20 years 6.1...
Salary Survey 2010: Not Out of the Question
Every year, QP’s Salary Survey sparks countless questions for quality professionals and gets them thinking about their careers and personal development: How do I compare with others? What can I do get ahead? Are things getting better out there?...
Salary Survey 2010: Part 1, Section 1: Salary by Job Title
The vast majority of respondents to this year’s salary survey was regular, full or part-time employees—that is, they work for a single company or organization. Part 1 of this report, comprised of sections 1-20, covers these respondents....
Salary Survey 2010: The Complete Report
experience by gender / FIGURE 2 More than 20 years 10.1- 20 years 6.1- 10 years 3.1- 6 years $ 6,000 Male Years of experience in quality profession Years of experience in quality profession Female $ 4,000 $ 2,000 0 $ 2,000 $ 4,000 $ 6,000 1- 3 years Less...
Guru Guide
The quality world certainly has its game-changers, and as part of its annual quality basics issue, QP is highlighting six individuals who indelibly altered the course of quality....
Expert Answers: October 2010
Assessing your audit ... control charts and process capability ... keeping lab instruments in check....
Word Power
By using this practical guide, quality auditors, managers, engineers and other professionals in the field will be able to clarify their written messages and inspire their readers to constructive actions....
Career Corner: Curbing Career Fears
Books on careers usually contain some advice on strategic thinking. They counsel getting the big picture, sometimes by applying the tools and techniques of business planning. This can be done, for example, by conducting a strengths, weaknesses...
Get Your Ducks in a Row
The ISO 9001 quality management system has been around since 1987, and it is generally acknowledged that the system produces some fairly significant benefits, including improved profitability, higher sales and better employee morale....
Online Sidebar 2: How much will it cost?
Almost all the costs of implementing ISO 9001fall into one of the following categories: Registration costs: Registrars are free to set their own rates, which are generally predicated on a daily rate per person, plus expenses....
Flush with Success
While implementing ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and lean, I’ve worked with a number of companies that use oils and other biotoxic materials. With increasing attention on the environment—through legislation and social pressure—safely disposing...
Expert Answers: September 2010
Soft-dollar savings ... crisis management's effect on quality....
Time to Align
Culture drives leadership behavior and expectations. It can knock down barriers to prosperity or create obstacles that threaten future success. It defines whether an organization embraces or resists change....
Measure for Measure: Well Equipped
If you're experiencing consistent customer dissatisfaction with your product, it's possible your measurement information may be of such poor quality that it prevents you from making sound decisions related to your product or service....
Making the Connection
Connectivity can refer to the predecessor-successor relationship existing between two or more tools for continuous improvement. The output from one tool, such as a Pareto analysis, can become the input to another, such as cause and effect analysis....
3.4 per Million: The Driving Force
Not long ago, I conducted a workshop at a client’s site to help develop a pipeline of meaningful lean Six Sigma projects. Before I had a chance to describe the workshop, members of the client’s team began rattling off project after project....
Expert Answers: June 2010
Changing industries ... Organizing your quality department....
Be Prepared
Because of good product design or good fortune, the expense associated with a product recall may not have appeared in past budgets, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t prudent to include it in future planning....
Career Corner: Lesson Learned
In fall 2009, when I remarked to university educators that a particular decision-making tool was widely used at Toyota, their response was respectful interest. When I did the same this February, a similar group laughed derisively at the comment...
