During the last century, in the 1950s, Quality Control statistical tools began to be applied in Japan, and with that example, this small country continues to be one of the "greats" on this planet because its tools are increasingly "Sharpen" more to continue competing in the market.
Leading companies worried about their positioning based more on marketing; it was somewhat easier to get your product or service to your customers through the classic "constant bombardments".
Today, these leading companies, with increasing globalization, are more concerned with knowing how to keep up with a more demanding public that is not so easily fooled, hence the need for tools that satisfy not only their customers, but also to your own internal goals and expectations.
These Quality Tools and Techniques are written and formalized procedures or techniques that help companies (leaders or not) to measure the quality of their services and better plan their processes to carry out an improvement in their productivity and customer service..
It is said that there are only seven “Basic Tools” that have been widely adopted in the Quality improvement activities and used as support for the analysis, but I think that they must be more because each area deserves a more precise analysis of how to improve its performance.
Valuing and considering the philosophy of service, decision analysis, quality of service and strategic marketing, as key tools is essential to start discovering the entire field that follows, under the commitment to increase the quality of services, Hence, the objective of this article is to acquire and implement quality tools, according to the type of work to be done, with the help of the appropriate techniques for each specific area, within any company at this time.
AMFE
The AMFE (Modal Analysis of Failures and Effects) is a tool that allows identifying the significant variables of a process or product in order to establish the necessary corrective actions, thus preventing possible failures and preventing defective products from reaching the customer. Therefore, the AMFE methodology is aimed at maximizing customer satisfaction by eliminating - or minimizing - potential problems.
The AMFE, as regards the product design process, is applicable during the conceptual design, development and production process phases. In them it is complemented with other quality tools such as the QFD or Benchmarking, among others.
Balanced Scorecard
Developed by Professors Kaplan and Norton in 1992, the Balanced Scorecard - BSC (Balanced Scorecard) is characterized by measuring the financial and non-financial factors of the company's income statement. Another feature is that it allows communication to exist between company managers and employees and helps to understand how and to what extent the latter impact business results.
With the BSC, the management system is reoriented and the strategy is linked to the short and long term, linking four processes: Financial, Clients, Internal Processes and Organizational Learning. The final results translate into financial achievements that involve maximizing the value created by the corporation for its shareholders.
Everything that happens in the organization affects financial results, which is why it is necessary to measure all the elements to direct financial performance.
Benchamarking
Benchmarking is a continuous process that consists of comparing and measuring the internal processes of one organization with those of another with better results. It is a tool to improve the practices of a business and, therefore, its competitiveness.
Benchmarking involves two organizations that decide to share information regarding the fundamental processes necessary to design, manufacture and distribute their product. As a result of this collaboration, it helps to establish where resources need to be allocated for improvement. In any case, the participants have complete freedom not to provide the information they consider private.
Brainstorming
Brainstorming or Brainstorming is a technique of group work with which it is intended to obtain the greatest number of ideas to questions raised, taking advantage of the creative capacity of people. The ideas that emerge from these meetings should be structured and analyzed afterwards using other improvement tools.
The effectiveness of Brainstorming is conditioned by some essential requirements such as the number of participants ranging from 3 to 8; that the question raised is known and understood by all; that all suggestions are noted; and that all participants have the same opportunities to express themselves, among others.
Quality circles
A Quality Circle is a small group of people who meet voluntarily and periodically to detect errors that occur in the company, analyze them and find appropriate solutions to problems that arise in their area of work.
The Quality Circles encourage workers to share with the administration the responsibility of defining and solving coordination, productivity and, of course, quality problems. Additionally, they promote the integration and involvement of company personnel with the aim of improving either products or processes.
The process of a Quality Circle is divided into four threads:
Identify problems, study techniques to improve quality and productivity, and design solutions.
Explain to the Management the solution proposed by the group.
Execute the solution by the organization.
Evaluate the Success of the proposal by the Circle and the organization.
Flowchart
Flowcharts are very effective in graphically describing both the operation and the structure of the processes and / or systems of an organization, its phases and relationships between its components, offering an overview of all of them.
Thanks to the Flow Diagrams a process can be clearly identified, describing the trajectory that a product or service follows, as well as the people and resources that constitute it.
Ishikawa's diagram
Also known as the Cause-Effect Diagram, the Ishikawa Diagram is a tool that graphically illustrates the relationships between an effect (result) and its causes (factors), helping to identify, classify and demonstrate possible causes, both of specific problems and characteristics. quality.
Among the advantages it offers, the Ishikawa Diagram allows you to focus on the content of the problem, regardless of the personal interests that the members of the group may have, and stimulates the participation of each one of them, with which you get more benefit from the individual knowledge of each team member about the process.
Pareto chart
The Pareto Diagram is a simple and graphical method of analysis that allows you to distinguish between the causes of a problem, those that are most important from the most trivial. In this way efforts can focus on the causes that will have the greatest impact once they have been resolved, in addition to giving a quick overview of the relative importance of the problems.
With this method, the key cause of a problem can be determined - isolating it from others of lesser importance - and the effectiveness of the improvements obtained can be contrasted by comparing them with diagrams from different moments. The Pareto Chart can be used to investigate both effects and causes.
Histograms
Histograms are also known as Frequency Distribution Diagrams. They consist of graphical representations of a frequency distribution of a continuous variable by means of vertical bars, each of which reflects an interval.
They are usually used to evaluate the effectiveness of the improvement measures implemented or to check the degree of compliance with the specifications of the limits determined in the results of the processes, among others.
QFD
QFD (Quality Function Deployment) is a methodology that allows identifying and transferring the information obtained from the customer and converting it into a product requirement. The client's expectations will be those that mark the entire creative process: the "client's voice" must be translated into technical language.
This methodology links the tasks of the different areas of the company involved in the production cycle, thus requiring their participation. The capacities and knowledge of each of them are coordinated to achieve the best interpretation of the customer and product requirements.
Six sigma
Six Sigma was born in the mid-80s in the US as an initiative of the Motorola firm to face competition from the Japanese industry.
It is a methodology that allows a drastic reduction in product defects through daily monitoring of all company activities, which allows minimizing waste and increasing customer satisfaction. Basically it consists of a process of asking questions whose answers, tangible and quantifiable, will ultimately produce profitable results.
Six Sigma produces superior financial results, using business strategies that in addition to reviving companies allow them to position themselves at the head of their competitors in economic gains. The implementation of this philosophy reports spectacular results in cost savings, sales growth, increased profits and productivity, customer loyalty.
In addition to Motorola, countless companies of all sectors and sizes have seen their financial results improve significantly after implementing the Six Sigma culture.
