Controlling the Quality Function,
Abstract
In earlier times the ability of the Quality organization was considered to be absolute. If Inspection detected 20-percent defective production over a period of time, it was assumed that the manufacturing process was 20-percent defective. If a procedure required Quality personnel to take certain actions, it was assumed that those actions were taken. If the corrective action system was working smoothly, it was assumed that the system was effective in performing its designed objective. This assumption extended into the technical areas where, if an inspection gauge indicated a particular dimension to five-place accuracy, the reading was accepted at face value. Managers have long since learned to be more conservative in their acceptance of technical accuracies. They have placed confidence intervals about their statistical statements. They have identified the maximum accuracies of their instruments, and do not claim accuracies beyond these limits. Only recently, however, has such skepticism been acknowledged with respect to the functions of the Quality organization. Attempts to quantify and adjust for these inaccuracies are embryonic. Audit systems to measure conformance of Quality Control personnel to procedures are only now coming into wide-spread use. Formal programs to measure the effectiveness of these systems in achieving their end objectives are relatively new. Inspection audit programs designed to measure the efficiency of Quality Control people, i.e., inspectors, in identifying defective production are, perhaps, the least employed of any quality management technique. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 14, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0906136
Entities
People
- Dana M. Cound