Supply Chain Assignment on Quality Improvement Program

Create aan APA style paper, comparing and contrasting any pair from among these formal quality improvement programs: Joseph Juran’s Trilogy program, Edward Deming’s Quality program, Six Sigma, and Philip Crosby’s Quality is Free book. Your compare and contrast paper should include the following factors: •The main premise of the program •Key requirements for successful implementation •Initial steps to implement it Main Premise Similarities: Edward Deming’s Quality Program is based on 14 principles of total quality management. These are as 1. Develop constancy for purpose. 2. Management should follow their philosophy. 3. Avoid dependency on inspection. 4. Use single suppliers for any item. 5. Constant improvement. 6. Follow on the job training approach (Cohen). 7. Adopt leadership. 8. Avoid management by fear, as it is counter productive. 9. Reduce barriers between the departments. 10. Avoid slogans. 11. Reduce management by objectives. 12. Eliminate barriers to pride of workmanship. 13. Follow self development and education. 14. Use transformation as job for everyone. Similarly as per case study help experts, Six Sigma is also aimed to ensure quality in process by following quality principles that are statistical by nature (Eckes, 2003). Like, Deming’s quality program, Six Sigma also follows methods that are aimed to produce minimum errors and ensure quality (Gygi & Williams, 2012). Goal of Edward Deming’s quality program and Six Sigma is to ensure consistency in production process of organizations. Differences: Edward Deming’s quality program follows 14 principles of quality management.

 

In contrast to this, Six Sigma does not follow these principles. In fact, Six Sigma is a problem solving methodology. Edward Deming’s quality improvement is a program, while Six Sigma is a toolset of methods that cover analytics and statistics. Furthermore, Six Sigma is a general purpose program rather than quality improvement program. The basic assumption of Edward Deming’s quality program is to ensure total quality, while Six Sigma is aimed to produce minimal errors in process (Cohen). In other words, it can be said that Six Sigma is used to maximize value and minimize the mistakes in process by the practitioners. Deming’s quality improvement program is aimed to ensure incremental improvement (Cohen). In contrast to this, the Six Sigma works on breakthrough improvements for the organization. Deming’s Quality program mainly works for manufacturing organizations. In contrast to this, Six Sigma works for manufacturing, transactional and service organizations. The focus point of Deming’s program is to improve quality, while Six Sigma is aimed to improve the performance in terms of optimization, design, validation and characterization of processes.

 

Key Requirements Similarities: Edward Deming’s Quality Program requires the execution of quality principles for success (Cohen). Similarly, Six Sigma also follows principles of quality in the form of analytics. Second requirement is use of statistical method to ensure quality that is also followed by Deming’s quality program and six sigma approach. Third, in both Edward Deming’s quality improvement program and Six Sigma, deployment of tools aimed to improve quality is essential. Fourth, knowledge of proper application of quality improvement tools is vital in both quality improvement program and Six Sigma. In both the programs, knowledge is applied and internalized within the organization to improve the skills of everyone in order to understand the requirements of customers. Both the programs need continual improvement and proactive measures for improving the quality of process (Fitzsimmons, 2006). Six Sigma program and Edward Deming’s quality improvement program see quality as never ending process. Differences: There are various differences between the requirements of Edward Deming’s quality improvement program and Six Sigma. These can be discussed as below: Change: In Edward Deming’s quality program, there is need of change in attitude and philosophy of management. In contrast to this, in applying Six Sigma methodology, organizations are needed to manage and coordinate people, technology, schedules, units, projects etc. Settings: Both the programs also differ in terms of settings needed for successful execution of quality improvement. For example, in Edward Deming’s program, there is need to replace methods like management by objectives, management by fear etc in order to get the work done with stated quality objectives. In contrast to this, in Six Sigma, organizations are required to come out from their comfort zone (Tennant, 2001). In other words, no gain without pain policy is needed for ensuring a successful implementation. Measures: In Deming’s program, organization are needed to use quality measures, while in Six Sigma program, performance measures are required for successful execution, which are easily visible to ensure reliability as well as validity. Control: In Edward Deming’s approach, there is no need of any control measures. In contrast to this, in Six Sigma, inspection is required to control the process. Technique: For the successful implementation of Six Sigma, there is need of applying techniques like RUMBA (reasonable, understandable, measurable, believable and attainable) to ensure specifications (Gygi & Williams, 2012). On the other hand, in ensuring specification, there is no need of applying RUMBA technique under the quality improvement program of Edward Deming.

 

Initial Steps Similarities: Our college case study assignment help experts says that following are similarities between the initial steps of Edward Deming’s Quality Program and Six Sigma: Management: Both the approaches need commitment from the management at starting point. In other words, management is needed to show their support and approval for triggering the process of quality improvement. Furthermore, management orientation is required as an initial step in both these programs. Change: Edward Deming’s quality improvement program and Six Sigma need change in way of work as initial step. In other words, a shift from traditional modes of operation is initiated to attain improvement in quality by both the methods and approaches. Business Objectives: Both the quality improvement programs need business objective setting to initiate the improvement in quality of production process. Like to reduce errors, to improve quality, to attain customer satisfaction, to reduce cost etc are several business objectives developed by both the approaches (Gygi & Williams, 2012). Differences: Edward Deming’s quality improvement program follows 14 principle steps to implement quality methods. In contrast to this, Six Sigma approach follows systematic steps like development of plans, actions and completing specialized work. In Deming’s program, change in attitude towards the work process is demanded as an initial step to ensure quality improvement. On the other hand, in Six Sigma approach, starting point is at the top management level (Gygi & Williams, 2012). In Deming’s improvement program, the focus is on changing the basic process like shifting barriers between departments. In contrast to this, in Six Sigma, the focus is on thorough inspection of way of processing without disturbing the structure of departments. In Six Sigma, the organization is required to come out from its comfort zone, while in Edward Deming’s program, there is no need to come out from any comfort zone. In Six Sigma, outside consultants are required to initiate the process of performance improvement (Gygi & Williams, 2012). In contrast to this, in Edward Deming’s quality program, there is no need of hiring any outside consultants. Similarly, training in Edward Deming’s quality program is in-house, while in Six Sigma, this training is not in-house, it is organized by outsiders.

 

References Cohen, P. (n.d). Deming’s 14 Points. Retrieved from http://www.hci.com.au/hcisite2/articles/deming.htm Eckes, G. (2003). Six Sigma for Everyone. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Fitzsimmons. (2006). Service Management 5E W/Cd. New York, USA: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Gygi, C. & Williams, B. (2012). Six Sigma For Dummies. (2nd ed). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Tennant, G. (2001). Six Sigma: Spc and Tqm in Manufacturing and Services. Burlington, USA: Gower Publishing, Ltd.   Get business case study assignment help services from our experts. You can contact us 24×7 at info@www.assignmenthelpexperts.com