CHAPTER 8

QUALITY MANAGEMENT: FOCUS ON SIX SIGMA

Review and Dis!ssi"n Q!es#i"ns
1. Is the goal of Six Sigma quality realistic for services such as Blockbuster Video Stores?
A goal of Six Sigma can also be used for services. he one area !here Six Sigma maybe
difficult is that many as"ects of service quality are based u"on customer "erce"tion##for
exam"le##the courtesy of the clerk. In s"ite of all efforts$ someone may "erceive that the
clerk !as not courteous. But in s"ite of this "roblem$ every effort should be made to attain
Six Sigma in both manufacturing and service settings.
%. &If line em"loyees are required to !ork on quality im"rovement activities$ their
"roductivity !ill suffer.' (iscuss.
he )a"anese have demonstrated that high quality and the high "roductivity needed to offer
lo! "rices are not mutually exclusive. *roducts made correctly the first time do not have to
be re!orked or scra""ed$ !hich translates into lo!er costs for materials and !orkers. If one
includes the time required for re!ork$ time ex"ended for the "roduction of each "roduct
!ould be lo!er if quality control becomes a line res"onsibility.
+. &,ou don-t ins"ect quality into a "roduct. you have to build it in.' (iscuss the
im"lications of this statement.
he ty"ical /.S. factory invests %0 to %1 "ercent of its o"erating budget in finding and fixing
mistakes. 2ne fourth of all !orkers fix things that are not done right. hese are a""raisal
and internal failure cost. 2n the other hand$ if quality standards are enforced as the item is
being built$ a""raisal$ internal and external failure costs !ill decrease !hile "revention costs
!ill increase. he rule of thumb is that for every dollar s"ent in "revention$ ten dollars are
saved in failure and a""raisal costs.
3. &Before you build quality in$ you must think it in.' 4o! do the im"lications of this
statement differ from those of 5uestion +?
he &thinking quality in' "hiloso"hy requires a longer#term "ers"ective than the &building
quality in' "hiloso"hy. &Building quality in' includes short#term techniques$ such as tuning
the "roduction equi"ment to assure consistent quality. &hinking quality in' includes longer#
term techniques such as designing the "roduct to be robust enough to achieve high quality
des"ite fluctuations on the "roduction line$ training !orkers to be ca"able of &thinking in
quality$' and develo"ing a !orking environment in !hich &thinking in quality' is nurtured.
1. Business !riter om *eters has suggested that in making "rocess changes$ !e should
&ry it$ test it$ and get on !ith it.' 4o! does this square !ith the (6AI787ontinuous
Im"rovement "hiloso"hy?
1%9
7ha"ter :
&ry it$ test it$ and get on !ith it' is closely related to Analy;e and Im"rove stage of (6AI7
<define$ measure$ analy;e$ im"rove$ control=. 6issing from *eter-s suggestion is the "lanning
"ortion of the (6AI7 cycle. he "lan involves determining the a""ro"riate im"rovement
that is tested on a small scale during the analy;e and im"rove activities$ and im"lemented on
a !ider scale during the im"rove stage of the (6AI7.
9. Shingo told a story of a "oka#yoke he develo"ed to make sure that o"erators avoided the
mistake of "utting less than the required four s"rings in a "ush button device. he
existing method involved assemblers taking individual s"rings from a box containing
several hundred$ and then "lacing t!o of them behind an 2> button and t!o more behind
an 2?? button. @hat !as the "oka#yoke Shingo created?
2ne common "oka#yoke is "art kitting. By kitting individual boxes of four s"rings$ o"erators
could make sure no s"rings remain in the box after the assembly o"erations.
A. he ty"ical com"uteri;ed !ord "rocessing "ackage is loaded !ith "oka#yokes. Bist
three. Are there any others you !ish the "ackages had?
<i= @hen exiting the !ord "rocessor$ a "rom"t asks !hether or not you !ant to save the
document. <ii= 6any !ord "rocessors !ill make backu" files at various "oints in time.
<iii= 6any !ord "rocessors !ill automatically correct certain !ords !hen they are
miss"elled$ such as &the.' @ord "rocessors have made tremendous strides in this area.
Although it !ould be nice if the !ord "rocessor checked the form of a !ord like &to$'
too$' and &t!o.'
1%A
5uality 6anagementC ?ocus on Six Sigma
P$"%&e's
*roblem y"e of *roblem (ifficult
y
>e!
*roblem
6odified
*roblem
7heck
?igure in
A""endix
A
?ishbone Benchmarking
and 7I
Six
Sigma
Source
of
(efects
SDEV
5/AB
e#S5
1 ,es 6oderate
% ,es 6oderate
+ ,es (ifficult
3 ,es 6oderate
1 ,es 6oderate
9 ,es 6oderate
A ,es 6oderate
: ,es 6oderate
1. >ot so good. 4e has %+ defectives$ a (*62 of 11$+++ and a sigma of around %.3.
(*62 F G%+81 defect o""ortunity8unit x 1100H x 1$000$000 F 11$+++
%.
Poor cup of coffee
Materials Machine
Method Labor
Cheap
beans
Wrong
temperature
Broken
thermostat
Don't
grind
beans
enough
Genetic
defect
his fishbone diagram examines four elements of a "rocessC materials$ machine$ method$ and
labor. In this exam"le$ *rofessor 7hase has isolated the root cause of !hy he can-t make a
good cu" of coffeeIit-s a genetic defectC his mother !as never able to make a good cu" of
coffee. 4is solution is to change the labor force or ski" coffee <retraining is ho"eless=.
+. Student#s"ecific ans!er. Student should com"are his or her "erformance to best "erformers
in the class and similar classes. hey should identify the critical success factors of these to"
students. A cause#and#effect diagram could be dra!n to link the "oor course "erformance to
the root causes. hey could then develo" an im"rovement "lan and test the "lan in this single
class and based on the "erformance im"rovement$ they could a""ly the im"roved study
"rocesses to all classes.
1%:
7ha"ter :
3. Ans!ers !ill vary. See Dxhibit :.10 for an exam"le of the sources of defects table. 2ne
exam"le might look like the follo!ingC
6ichele and @ayne assembled a !ardrobe !ith the follo!ing mistakes occurring.
hey initially did not read the directions. <2mitted "rocessing=
hey assemble the !ardrobe face#u" and then had to turn it over to attach the backing.
<Drrors setting u"=
As each com"onent !as attached the scre!s !ere tightened. ho!ever$ the last "iece !ould
not fit into "lace. <*rocessing errors=
7om"onents !ere continually moved to make room as the !ardrobe took sha"e. <Drrors
setting u" !ork"ieces=
@hile the doors o"en and closed effortlessly$ the right#hand door !as slightly lo!er than the
left#hand one.<AdJustment errors=
Several shelves that had been installed had to be taken out to allo! other "ieces to be
assembled. <*rocessing !rong !ork"iece=
Several scre!s !ere left over !hen the !ardrobe !as finally assembled. <6issing or !rong
"arts=
he *hili"s head scre! diver that they !ere using !as slightly too large for the scre! heads.
<ools im"ro"erly "re"ared=.
1. Ans!ers !ill vary from student#to#student$ and from bank#to#bank. he five SDEV5/AB
dimensions follo!C
Table 2: SERVQUAL IMPORTANCE WEIGHTS
Bisted belo! are five features "ertaining to banks and the services they offer. @e
!ould like to kno! ho! much each of these features is im"ortant to the customer.
*lease allocate 100 "oints among the five features according to ho! im"ortant it is to
you. 6ake sure the "oints add u" to 100.
1. he a""earance of the banks "hysical facilities$ equi"ment$
"ersonnel$ and communication materials. KKKKKKKKKKKKKK "oints
%. he banks ability to "erform the "romised service
de"endably and accurately. KKKKKKKKKKKKKK "oints
+. he bankLs !illingness to hel" customers and "rovide "rom"t
service. KKKKKKKKKKKKKK "oints
3. he kno!ledge and courtesy of the bankLs em"loyees and their
ability to convey trust and confidence. KKKKKKKKKKKKKK "oints
1. he caring$ individual attention the bank "rovides
its em"loyees. KKKKKKKKKKKKKK "oints
otalC 100 "oints
1%M
5uality 6anagementC ?ocus on Six Sigma
9. Ans!ers !ill vary from student to student and from bank to bank.
1. Eeliability # (oes the bank- site accurately delivery your account-s
information?
%. Ees"onsiveness # 4o! quick does the site res"ond to your requests?
+. Access # S"eed of the !eb site.
3. ?lexibility # 4o! !ell does the site ada"t to different requests?
1. Dase of >avigation # Ability to get around site and find !anted information.
9. Dfficiency # Dase of use.
A. Assurance8rust # Accuracy of account information.
:. Security "rivacy # (oes the site use encry"tion?
M. *rice kno!ledge # >ot directly a""licable to a bank-s !eb site.
10. Site Aesthetics # Is the site attractive.
11. 7ustomi;ation8"ersonali;ation # 7an you set your o!n home "age !ith the
bank-s site.
A.

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