Part 1. Quality is not an adjective, and may not be the noun you think it is

Very often I hear or read the word “Quality” used in a way that is likely meant to describe robustness, durability or expectation of performance. I’ve noticed that our culture has been migrating to the use of this word as a general term from a consumer perspective. Instead, a more specific description of Quality intended for manufacturing will be suggested. From my experience, I have formulated an opinion about a more meaningful use of the word that I’d like to share.

To the audience of professionals who make “things”, Quality is a measure of production success. It can be extended to other industries such as software or services… a measurement of how well the software code executes the design flow, or how well services are delivered to a documented plan (think restaurants, cleaning services, utilities, and shipping). For this posting, the production of goods will be emphasized.

The manufacturing community of an organization is tasked with producing to a described design, and Quality is the measure of how accurately this is done. Quality does not describe the design, nor the satisfaction of the customer. A bad design can be produced with high quality, and a great design can be produced with low quality… both of which result in dissatisfied customers, but for very different reasons. It is in the set of manufacturing processes along with supply chain management where Quality can be the reason for a company’s success, or the source for a company’s significant challenges. This assumes that the design meets the needs of the customer, so it must be described completely.

The quality group has the critical task of PROTECTING THE BRAND. It’s main function is to police the manufacturing community to ensure the outcome of the build is how the design is described (notice that “intended” is not used here). This is done by implementing quality controls, performing inspections, evaluating variation, testing of components or assemblies, measuring rates, and managing non-conformances among other activities in the production environment. Additionally, the quality group:

• assists (or is supposed to) in the design and development phases to PLAN FOR QUALITY and eliminate ambiguity during the build.
• evaluates suppliers, then persuades them to deliver their parts to print through the use of audits and monitoring critical metrics.
• monitors the field failure investigations for the purposes of continuous improvement. They may also help determine if the root cause of failures is in design or manufacturing (the true root cause is in one or the other, not both), then where best to apply the correction.

Since the design community describes their work exactly, it is up to the manufacturing community to manage variation. Variation is characterized many ways… dimensional, color, viscosity, rates of change, etc. The limits of the variation are described exactly in the design through math or experimentally, and usually with the help of material or part suppliers who report on their capability (which is not a general term, but a specific metric of their work). Again, it is assumed that the engineering analysis of the variation for all components results in a product that satisfies the customer. For manufacturing, the tolerance ranges are a critical part of their process. At many stages during the build, quality controls determine “in the range or out of the range” and the operators (or machines) must be trained to follow directions for each case. Manufacturing works in absolutes… go/no go, in the range/out of the range, conforms/does not conform, meets compliance standards/does not meet compliance standards, etc.

High quality is achieved when the product is manufactured repeatedly within the limits of variation allowed by the design and at a rate that provides an acceptable profit margin. To comment on Quality, one must understand the design. Many customers do not comprehend the design and/or the acceptable variation. Some examples of this are…

• A can of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup has 216 noodles, one ounce of white meat, and a multitude of other metrics that are controlled. Quality is not weather you like it or not, or how salty you think it is, but the process results in the soup tasting exactly the same from can to can.
• The torque required to uncap your bottle of water is determined by the features of the bottle and the cap, and the process used to put them together. Quality is achieved when the torque is within a specified limits described the by the design (the dimensions of the part features and their tolerance), not by whether or not you think it is too hard to open.
• Every 4×2 Lego brick will fit every other one ever produced and every one that will be produced. This dimensional variation control results in a predictable pressure to mate them, and retention when they are joined together. Quality is high for these pieces, but the customer should not use “poor quality” if they do not like how much force it takes to pull the bricks apart unless they know the acceptable range.
• The $1 screw driver that bends at the slightest cantilevered force, whos blade is too thin for a standard screw slot, that deforms when you apply a seemly low torque, and whos handle has sharp flashing at the seam can be produced with great quality. That is, if the design allows for a large variation in the blade thickness, specifies a mild steel that is not hardened, and does not direct the manufacturer to remove the flashing from the handle, this results in high quality of a bad design. Your expectations are not met due to the design. Most consumers would label this BAD QUALITY, but that’s not correct from the perspective of this discussion.

To INCREASE QUALITY means to reduce manufacturing errors. Problems seem to be inevitable, but a mature Quality System will eliminate many issues from happening. So the next time someone says “Quality Product”, ask yourself if that makes sense.

In this series, I’ll discuss a other areas of producing product, and how a Quality System ties it all together for success… or expensive failures if a system is not followed (or not mature). Future topics are below. I will keep the information general, and will try to leave out all the acronyms! This series it not a definitive guide, but just some insight to consider as great ideas are brought to the market.

1. (This Post) Quality is not an adjective, and may not be the noun you think it is.
2. Does your design plan for Quality?
3. Prototype, Engineering, and Production build events… Are you really ready to launch?
4. Managing suppliers… Is it your fault when they give you bad product?
5. The Quality System is insurance… Pay up front or pay more later.