- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Environmental Manag. and Sustainability
- Global Quality
- Innovation
- ISO 14000
- ISO 9000
- Lean
- Metrics
- Product Development and Recall
- Quality Management
- Safety
- Six Sigma
- Social Responsibility
- Standards
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- Teams
- Best Practices
- Total Quality Management
- AS9000
- TL 9000
- ISO/TS 16949
- Risk Management
- Change Management
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....
Online Figures Hayes
Wireless provider loyalty grid / Online Figure 2 Mob4Hire Mobile Network Award 5 S T A R Reliance Mobile Claro Idea Cellular Movistar Safaricom XL Telcel Rogers Wireless Mobilink Orange AT& T Mobility T- Mobil MTel TIGO TIGO Globe Zain Mobitel BSNL Sun C...
Shining on the World Stage
With nearly 30 billion people turning their eyes to South Africa during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the South African Quality Institute (SAQI) took steps to help ensure those eyes would see the best South Africa had to offer....
Customer Focus Sparks Invention
To reduce customer complaints and remain profitable, Littelfuse’s facility in the Philippines designed a voice of the customer (VOC) project. The executive team or project champion and project sponsor help the team set goals and expectations, and provide ...
The Next Chapter?
A new version of Six Sigma shifts focus from reducing defects and cutting costs to growing an organization’s market share by identifying targeted products and markets and creating customer value....
The Right Move
Shortcomings in both measurement systems and traditional methods for assessing customer satisfaction affect the ability of most firms to directly link quality improvements to changes in financial performance....
The Right Mix
Six Sigma offers a framework for process improvement based on objective data. W. Edwards Deming once said, “In God we trust: All others bring data.” For many Six Sigma practitioners, that’s become their undying motto....
Expert Answers: March 2009
Return policy ... restructuring activities ... sample size....
Standards Outlook: TL 9000 Measurements Handbook Release 4.0
The Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications (QuEST) Forum is the global society dedicated to the quality of telecom products and services. The forum has developed and maintained a single common set of telecom...
Living Inside China's Quality Revolution
Quality processes in China today continue to be influenced by remnants of ancient policies and practices. When Huawei Technologies, one of China’s largest telecommunications manufacturers, recently declared its intention to become the Toyota of the...
Standards Outlook: New Version of TL 9000 Released
The global telecommunications industry, an important part of the global economy, will reach $1.3 trillion in revenues by the close of 2007....
Look for Trouble
Organizational excellence depends on people, but human error remains a persistent problem. Most of what people do throughout the day follows a pattern of recognition, selection, and action, with very little conscious thought, leaving the mind free for...
Standards Outlook: The Future of Quality Management Standards
My first column for “Standards Outlook” back in 2000 was about the introduction of the aerospace quality management system (QMS) standard AS9100....
Can TL 9000 Contribute to Telecom's Turnaround?
Since TL 9000’s inception near the end of the 20th century, managers and executives have harbored significant skepticism toward the quality management standard for the telecommunications industry....
The Triple Top Line
Quality and sustainability are intertwined and provide win/win/win solutions for both the short-term and long-term effects of design on social responsibility, environmental performance and business results. These elements comprise a triple bottom line....
Hungary's Journey To Business Excellence
Hungary has emerged as a major European success story, its economy thriving despite the recent worldwide recession. Four Hungarian companies illustrate how quality has led to business success. Using total quality management techniques tailored to fit...
Understand Customer Behavior and Complaints
In order to maximize the value of customer complaint data to solve quality assurance, service, and marketing problems, there must be an understanding of customer complaint and market behavior. This will provide a framework allowing organizations to...
Column: World View: Samsung Uses Quality To Grow
Korean giant draws on just about everything in the toolbox to reach its goals
The Samsung Quality Award was established in 1993 to recognize business divisions by using criteria developed from the Baldrige Award, ISO 9000 quality management standards and the company's own business operation standards. Nearly 70% of Samsung's qualit...
Column: World View: Excellence Ireland's National Symbol of Quality
The redeveloped Q-Mark is both a symbol of quality and a brand recognition tool
Ireland's Q-Mark has been designed with the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence model in mind and goes a long way in successfully satisfying the processes element of that model.
While the Q-Mark is...
Markets Push Expansion of RAB Programs
The substantial changes in the 2000 revision of the ISO 9000 standards have triggered corresponding changes in industry-specific ISO 9000 standards, including those for environmental management systems. To meet this challenge, the Registration...
The International Quality Manager
Competitive organizations seeking to implement Six Sigma or any other quality system need to translate quality concepts into the context of the organizational culture. The effort is substantial, particularly if the organization is multinational....
The Road to TL 9000: From the Bell Breakup to Today
In accordance with divestiture, the seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) resulting from the 1984 breakup of AT&T were required to stop manufacturing products and begin purchasing all materials from suppliers. This situation necessitated a...
Quality by Knowledge
The other "60%" was devoted to knowledge management projects, such as mapping internal experts, sharing knowledge within virtual teams and supporting reuse of knowledge. Our first hint came in January 1999 when we read an excellent article on quality and ...
TL 9000--An Update on the Metrics Process.
Validation of training, registration and metrics completed
3. Software only: four metrics including quality of emergency fixes between software releases (corrective patches), quality of emergency feature improvements (feature patches), quality of software updates and failures of scheduled new software releases (a...
Management System Standards Poised for Momentum Boost
Growth in the standards industry is driven by: the ISO 9000 revision; proliferation of sector specific standards; the importance of environmental management; and the future of health and safety management standards. ISO 9000:2000 will be completed...
21 Voices for the 21st Century
The interplay of quality, e-quality, and equality in the comments of 21 individuals provide a preview of the future of quality in the new century. The editors of Quality Progress, with input from many sources, have selected 21 original thinkers...
Industry leaders seek self-declaration in lab testing.
Some industry leaders are pushing supplier's declaration of conformity (SDOC) with a recent call for industry self-declaration in the realm of lab testing, as well as for management system standards. Besides ITI, members of the Industry Cooperation for St...
TL 9000 Performance Metrics to Drive Improvement
The Metrics Repository System is a defining characteristic of TL 9000, as compared to other sector-specific implementations of ISO 9000. Mandatory performance and product metrics will facilitate benchmarking and improvement in the telecommunications...
ICSCA wants to become standards, testing watchdog.
Industry Group Wants to Become Standards, Testing Watchdog
A "who's who" of the high-tech, telecommunications, aerospace, automotive, and heavy equipment industries ("Multinationals Question ISO 9000 Registration; NIST Seeks Standards Summit, August 1998, p. 16), the Industry Cooperation on Standards and Conformi...
Standards Battles Heat up between United States and European Union
Perceived inequities in the system of international standards have fueled debate between the European Union (EU) and the United States. The non-profit standards system includes the International Electrotechnical Commission, the International...
Self-Directed Work Teams: A Guide to Implementation
Highly trained members, more resources and cross-functional skills, greater decision-making power, and improved information access can raise the level of teamwork. Self-directed work teams (SDWTs) have these characteristics. Implementations of SDWTs...
