Quality Management Methodologies/Standards Compatibility: A Basis for Continual Improvement and Excellence

By Ernie A. Cevallos

The notion that quality management is about minimizing defects, especially in production, is an outdated view of what it is and how to improve it. This aspect has long been an entry-level requirement in competition, but is no longer enough from a customer's perspective. Customers expect buying experiences to be flawless. They evaluate quality based on the total value of the offer.

There are different ways of applying quality management methodologies. The nature of an organization and particular challenges it faces will determine how to implement them. Undoubtedly, many organizations find it beneficial to set up quality management systems and make use of mega-tools to improve levels of performance relating to growth, quality, customer satisfaction, efficiency, safety, reliability, and economic costs. Let’s take a 50,000-foot view of the major approaches used in the corporate landscape today:

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  Lean—Business methodology that emphasizes the elimination of all non-value added activities concentrating on speed, efficiency, and the elimination of waste.
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  Six Sigma—Organization wide methodology focused on achieving breakthrough improvement and bottom line growth by deploying trained teams of champions and black/green belts to work on selected business improvement issues.
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  ISO 9001—International quality management system standard based on a process approach that strives to control and improve organizational results.
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  Benchmarking—Mega-tool focused on understanding best practices and applying them to realize business improvements.
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  Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA)—Business Management system criteria stressing leadership and self scrutiny. Established by Congress and administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). US President presents 3 awards every year.
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  Quality Function Deployment (QFD)—Mega-tool focused on customers and the creation of quality products and services they want.
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  Total Quality Management (TQM)—Quality management philosophy embracing principles such as employee involvement, continuous improvement at all levels, customer focus, and statistical process control aimed at improving quality.

All these methodologies and standards are complementary and synergistic in some form. For example, let’s analyze some key points on how the Six Sigma methodology relates to the ISO 9001 quality management system standard:

Six Sigma Approach	ISO 9001 Clause
Six Sigma starts at the top on two levels: Managerial and Technical.	5.1 Management commitment.
Deployment of leaders (green/black belts) trained in statistical tools and quality management.	6.0 Resource management 6.2.2 Competence awareness and training.
Use of statistical/quality management tools to measure variation and effectiveness of processes.	8.2 Monitoring and measurement.
Intelligent use of factual data to uncover root causes and solve business problems	8.4 Analysis of data.
Voice of Customer (VOC) tools drive business processes that create value and meet/exceed customer requirements.	5.2 Customer focus 8.2.1 Customer satisfaction.
Organization wide approach used to achieve significant bottom line and process improvements.	8.5.1 Continual improvement

Let’s go a little further and see how the eight quality management principles that are the foundation of the ISO International Standards align with Six Sigma:

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   Customer Focus: Six Sigma shows how to align the organization through customer focused measures of performance.
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   Leadership: Senior leaders sponsor the training of business leaders, and collaborate on projects through active involvement.
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   Involvement of People: Six Sigma projects are designed to involve all stakeholders, and have deep appreciation for human capital.
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   Process Approach: Six Sigma tools map and analyze the business processes in order to improve them.
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   System Approach: Six Sigma projects recognize the interdependence of processes and people in a well run organization.
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   Continual Improvement: Six Sigma organizations understand what Andy Grove (former Intel CEO) meant by “Only the Paranoid Survive”.
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   Factual Approach to Decision Making: Six Sigma is a fact and data driven methodology for business and process improvement.
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   Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships: Six Sigma sees customers and suppliers as a connected system, each with needs that must be satisfied.

Bringing order to an undisciplined organization through the application of quality management methodologies creates the foundation on which to build a process/systems approach, and continual improvement culture. To that end, many organizations are successfully combining methodologies to guide performance excellence. In the above analysis a foundation on ISO 9001 provides discipline and management organizational structure on which to apply more in depth tools such as Six Sigma, which augments the management system quite well. As the quality management arena evolves a variety of approaches and philosophies continue to thrive:

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  The 14 Principles of the Toyota Way is a management philosophy used by the Toyota Corporation that includes the Toyota Production System. The primary concept is to base management decisions on a "philosophical sense of purpose" and think long term, to have a process for solving problems, to add value to the organization by developing its people, and to recognize the merit that continuously solving the root cause of problems promotes organizational learning.
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  TRIZ is a system for analyzing tough problems and developing solutions. Its roots are not associated with the American or Japanese evolution of quality methodologies. It was developed in communist Russia and the name is an acronym for a phrase meaning “theory of inventive problem solving.”
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  Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) is the corporate “operating system” or program for process and quality improvement of United Technology Corp. Seeing how successful GE had been with Six Sigma, UTC decided to organize its quality efforts in early 1990, and integrated a set of tools and philosophies into a highly successful program that has yielded 5-7% annual productivity improvements.

A systems approach integrating world-class processes usually leads to the development of unique core competencies and sustainable competitive advantages. The adoption and proper execution of a quality management model(s) is a significant strategic decision for any organization aiming to be best of breed in their industry. Where you begin often depends on what your organization needs now.