Determining Loss When we think of quality as meeting a target value, we need a way to calculate the loss incurred when we don’t hit the target. If you use tolerances, loss is easy to determine. If we know the cost of labor and materials used to fix or replace bad items, we can estimate… Continue reading From Good to Worthless: Determining Loss
Category: Resources
The Case Against SPC Software
Wait, what? It seems something strange for an SPC software provider to assert. While it still has it’s place and seems to still be the preferred (and necessary) approach for many companies, having software installed in-house on dozens, if not, hundreds of workstations is gradually becoming passé. Instead the need for conventional “software” as we… Continue reading The Case Against SPC Software
Checking Your SPC Software’s Background
It’s important to know exactly who is providing your SPC software and what their experience is. When considering the importance of compliant SPC software and adhering to SPC methodology and rules we thought we’d provide something actionable if you have been considering implementing or improving SPC. To that point, it’s clear that you have to feel… Continue reading Checking Your SPC Software’s Background
Designing Six Sigma? You’ll Need Compliant SPC Software
Good SPC Implementation is Essential to Six Sigma It’s hard to overstate the importance of compliant SPC software and adhering to SPC methodology and rules. Knowing the importance of methodology and rules adherence to the bottom line of your business and the potentially ruinous consequences of non-compliance, how do you vet potential solutions?
The Consequences of Non-compliant SPC Software
Choosing an SPC software solution that violates SPC methodology and rules WILL negatively impact your efforts to improve processes and products. Each and every important decision we are faced with needs to be based on a true and accurate representation of the facts. If decisions are based on questionable interpretation, the consequences can be significant. Choosing… Continue reading The Consequences of Non-compliant SPC Software
The Importance of Adhering to SPC Methodology and Rules
Adhering to SPC Methodology and Rules One could argue that non-compliance with methodology and rules should be a deal-breaker for choosing and SPC software. Many (most?) businesses today are running lean. Individuals are now doing jobs that required multiple personnel in the past, including those in Quality. Each day is spent putting out fires, dealing with suppliers, customers,… Continue reading The Importance of Adhering to SPC Methodology and Rules
Quality Control: Prevention or Detection?
Prevention or Detection as Quality Control An age-old question: Quality Control: Prevention or Detection? Estimates show that it is ten times more costly to correct a problem than it is to prevent it. With this kind of savings, companies can reduce prices, expand their R&D, and increase profits at the same time. Changes to a product’s characteristics are merely… Continue reading Quality Control: Prevention or Detection?
Can You Make Two Things EXACTLY Alike?
Variation and controlling variability. Why do We Need Tolerances? If it was possible to make all items alike, we would not need tolerances. But no two things are exactly alike. So, we must make allowances for the differences. Tolerances are these allowances. They provide a range over which a product can vary and still be… Continue reading Can You Make Two Things EXACTLY Alike?
How Quality Affects Your Customer’s Buying Choice
In the previous posts in this series, we gained an understanding of what the quality means and that it has a different meaning to different parties. We then acknowledged that the way the customer defines quality, while highly subjective and of utmost concern, can be simplified. Today, we walk a step further, considering how a producer’s view… Continue reading How Quality Affects Your Customer’s Buying Choice
How Does Your Customer (Not You) Define Quality?
[This content is from Zontec’s The Book of Statistical Process Control. You can download a free copy here.] In a separate post on quality itself, we defined quality. This is not an easy task since quality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. We identified five points we can all agree on that equate to… Continue reading How Does Your Customer (Not You) Define Quality?