Quality through the decades has been an adventurous evolution for those who’ve lived through it … not for the faint of heart, the action adverse or those afraid of culture and business change.  These changes have affected what we expect, what we buy, and even what we tell our friends, family and extended social networks.

Today’s global economy and technology explosion create even more challenges to be addressed: increased expectations, increasingly complex products, shorter timescales, while making the consequences of failure much more severe.  In addition, there are new challenges : labor/social laws, green/environmental sustainability, banned substance and counterfeit vigilance and reputations that can change in minutes due to Internet viral communication.

Let’s take a quick journey at the changes in Quality over the pivotal decades of the 1980’s to 2010:

(Note:  While some industries and some geographic locations were more advanced during this time, the following represents the journey of most industrial manufacturing segments outside of Japan.  Foundations of Lean and Six Sigma have been part of the Toyota Production System since the 1950’s.)

1980’s

“World Class Manufacturing” was the 1980’s keyword, and companies were attending workshops on the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Total Quality Management (TQM).  Just-in-time, waste reduction and process mapping had just begun.

While Deming’s SPC tools and Points for Management had been around since the 1950’s, they had largely been ignored.  However, with the success of his work in Japan and his book “Out of the Crisis” in 1982, companies were trying to implement Quality Circles, control charts and SPC.  Internal First Time Quality levels (FTQ) were either not measured or poorly measured, and external quality measures were usually 4 digits or more in Parts Per Million (PPM) or DPMO – (although normally measured in percent, as PPM was just too mind-boggling).  While Six Sigma was being initiated in Motorola, it would be another decade before it became a culture-changing tool in most other companies.

Manufacturing plants weren’t very good at knowing the real quality levels they were receiving from their suppliers, and long-term contracts made them slow to demand improvement and slower to remove business.

Consumer product quality was unreliable.  Frustrated consumers didn’t expect their products to last much beyond the warranty period, and producers weren’t very responsive in resolving problems even during the warranty period.  However, Consumer reporting agencies were beginning to compare and print failure rates, complaints and customer satisfaction … awakening consumer awareness and influencing purchase decisions.

1990’s

In the 1990’s, the keyword changed to “Lean Manufacturing”, with the introduction of Tom Womack’s book “The Machine That Changed the World.”  Likewise, Jack Welch brought Six Sigma into GE in 1995, and into mainstream thinking.

While new concepts were being implemented, change takes time – especially culture change – and real performance changed gradually.  External quality measures were usually still in 3 digit PPM, but companies were beginning to make the mental change from percent to PPM.

Manufacturing plants increased expectations for their suppliers, but their tolerance was still long, often giving a troublesome supplier a year or more to turn around results.  Consumer expectations were increasing and producers were beginning to feel the pressure of consumer report comparisons.

2000’s

In the 2000’s, Six Sigma was common terminology, enhanced by Jack Welch’s book “Jack: Straight from the Gut” in 2001.  Now companies struggled with a new dilemma – deciding whether to implement Lean or Six Sigma – mistaking them as mutually exclusive concepts.  By 2004, Mike George coined the term “Lean Six Sigma”, integrating the two tools.

In addition, Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) and Robust Engineering were being introduced as techniques to optimize the design during development, rather than improving after production.  Indeed, with the fast evolution of new electronics features, the first run might be the only run before the product changed again – and profitability could depend completely on initial quality with no possibility of later improvement.

Inspired companies were now producing in 2 digit or single digit PPM, with a growing focus on Cpk as a measure of process capability to prevent defects from occurring, and dedicated programs to move distributions from 1.33 (4 sigma) to 1.67 (5 sigma) to 2.0 (6 sigma).

Manufacturing plant tolerance of poor supplier quality had significantly decreased; with 6 month or 3 month improvement horizons before financial penalties or business re-sourcing were initiated.  In addition, annual price reductions and global outsourcing became the norm.

Consumers had enhanced expectations of their products working well beyond the legal warranty period, and companies who offered free extended warranties enjoyed a marketing advantage over their competition.

Global service and customer satisfaction and environmental awareness were also expanding.  In 2000, ISO-9001 Quality Management System was revised to include customer satisfaction elements for both manufacturing and service industries, and became a universally accepted quality system certification.  Likewise, ISO-14001 was revised in 2004 to further define the standards of an Environment Management System to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner.

So Where does that Leave us Today?

We’ve come a long way … and hopefully you’ve kept pace with the changes.  However, in today’s competitive environment, it isn’t enough to just keep pace – you need to be remarkable:

• Manufactured quality needs to be at or near Six Sigma levels in order to remain cost competitive in a global economy.
• Lean principles should already be well implemented – because they not only reduce throughput time and eliminate waste – they also facilitate quality improvement and allow abnormal conditions to be easily detected.
• Not only do consumers expect perfect quality out of the box, they also expect it to last.  Extended warranties are assumed.  Design for Six Sigma and Robust Engineering applied at the development phase are critical to assuring the product will endure the stresses of use – under more and more varied conditions.
• Product users also want faster response and better service when there are issues, and on-line help and manuals.  Moreover, if they don’t get it, they are prepared to tell not just 10 friends, but also the entire world.
• Consumers also expect that even though products have more features, options and complexity, they should be user friendly and nearly intuitive in use.  In addition, Consumers expect that products can be modified or upgraded to new software versions or product generations.  Flexible, adaptable, expandable and serviceable are key words – as well as “common” for mating part interfaces.
• Extended supply chains cross continental borders.  As product complexity and cost pressures increase, product design, software creation, assembly tooling, test equipment and manufacturing may all occur in separate locations.  Program Management has never been so critical. Clear and agreed expectations, program milestones and performance requirements, and communication format and frequency are essential – as well as what will happen when they aren’t met.  Companies are responsible not just for Quality and durability, but also vigilance to:

–  Social and labor laws,
–  Environmental and recycling requirements,
–  No usage of banned substances, or counterfeit parts or materials, and
–  No infringement of intellectual property.

Any violation will be costly – in both damaged reputation and financial penalties.

The world is moving fast.  If you are left behind, it gets harder to catch up, is more costly to produce and leads to eventual loss of market as your competitors run faster.  If you aren’t where you want to be today … give us a call … we’ll get you back on the road.