Bjarne Bergquist

Quality management and business excellence, customers and stakeholders: Do we agree on what we are talking about, and does it matter?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the ongoing development of quality management, and whether the concepts being discussed can be agreed – and what influence this might have on the quality movement and quality practice.Design/methodology/approach – Literature review and meta‐analysis of current trends has been used to create a conceptual basis for current quality management questions.Findings – A large part of the development of the quality concept and quality management has taken place without much consideration of what quality management really is or should be. Over time their definitions have been widened to incorporate wellbeing of society, the environment and future generations. Whereas top managers need to address all parts of business, there is a need to separate quality issues from other issues. It is believed that there is a need for quality experts and a discipline of quality management. Quality excellence with a strong customer focus should be one prerequisite to attain true busi...

Six Sigma and Total Quality Management: different day, same soup?

For decades now TQM has been a dominant management concept for improving competitiveness and financial results. In recent years, however, TQM seems to have lost some of its nimbus with other concepts and approaches such as Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma launched and increasingly in vogue. The aim of this paper is to look at TQM and Six Sigma, their backgrounds, definitions and ingredients, and their similarities and differences to see whether the two concepts really are different dishes or contain the same ingredients in different proportions.

TQM –Terrific Quality Marvel or Tragic Quality Malpractice.

Purpose – Total quality management has seen a tremendous rise of popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. Aims to question the effectiveness, utility and use of TQM among many people – practitioners, as well as academics.Design/methodology/approach – Discusses the lack of common interpretations of TQM based on literature study. The answer to the question whether TQM is a marvel or malpractice depends on several factors, for instance, in what kinds of organizations TQM is applied, what interpretation of TQM is made, and what input the theorists and practitioners have, i.e. their earlier environment, culture and values. Often respondents and opponents use the same word but mean different things.Findings – TQM should not be rejected as a whole if one or even, many applications fail. TQM should, however, be applied with considerable consideration of the specifics of the target organization, the purpose of the organization, and the purpose of applying TQM.Originality/value – The paper emphasizes the lack of common i...

Special Considerations when Planning Experiments in a Continuous Process

ABSTRACT Discontinuous processes dominate experimental applications in practice as well as in literature. Continuous processes constitute a significant part of goods production, and the need to gain knowledge using experiments are as relevant in such environments as in, for example, parts production. We argue that the characteristics of continuous processes affect the prerequisites for experimental efforts to such an extent that they need special attention. To describe considerations when planning experiments in a continuous process, experiments performed in a blast furnace process are studied. We propose a tentative list of special considerations, which are discussed and summarized in a thirteen-step check list.

Statistical Methods – Does Anyone Really Use Them?

Abstract Students taking courses in quality management at Luleå University of Technology receive extensive education in statistical methods. To improve the education and to understand what kind of competence students need when they graduate, a survey was preformed examining how and to what extent the methods Statistical Process Control, Capability Analysis and Design of Experiments are used by organisations hiring the alumni. The result shows that the students employed in the Swedish industrial sector witness a modest use of statistical methods, while use of statistical methods in other sectors hiring the alumni is uncommon. Lack of competence and resources within the organizations are stated as hindrances to expanded use. Conclusions from the study are that implementation techniques must be emphasized in the curriculum and that different types of courses should be given – practical, hands-on courses for engineers, managers and others working in organizations. Furthermore, courses offered at universities must have a strong focus on practical problems such as difficulties randomizing experiments and that graphical methods should be favoured.

The consequences of Six Sigma on job satisfaction: a study at three companies in Sweden

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a study of how Six Sigma influences job satisfaction among employees at three large companies with manufacturing units in Sweden that have used different implementation strategies.Design/methodology/approach – The study was performed using a survey distributed to those affected by the implementation at the three company sites, including those not directly involved in any Six Sigma activities.Findings – Employees participating in Six Sigma feel positive changes in many aspects of job satisfaction. The Black Belts (BBs) felt, on the average, positive changes in almost all the tested areas. The largest changes are related to personal and new skill development, influence on work duties and enjoying the work. BBs also feel more recognition from management. Employees not involved in the Six Sigma projects do, on average, also feel positively influenced by Six Sigma, but the tendency is not as clear.Research limitations/implications – The results constitute a pla...

A Bayesian Analysis of Unreplicated Two-Level Factorials Using Effects Sparsity, Hierarchy, and Heredity

ABSTRACT This article proposes a Bayesian procedure to calculate posterior probabilities of active effects for unreplicated two-level factorials. The results from a literature survey are used to specify individual prior probabilities for the activity of effects and the posterior probabilities are then calculated in a three-step procedure where the principles of effects sparsity, hierarchy, and heredity are successively considered. We illustrate our approach by reanalyzing experiments found in the literature.

A method to determine transition time for experiments in dynamic processes

ABSTRACT Process dynamics is an important consideration during the planning phase of designed experiments in dynamic processes. After changes of experimental factors, dynamic processes undergo a transition time before reaching a new steady state. To minimize experimental time and reduce costs and for experimental design and analysis, knowledge about this transition time is important. In this article, we propose a method to analyze process dynamics and estimate the transition time by combining principal component analysis and transfer function–noise modeling or intervention analysis. We illustrate the method by estimating transition times for a planned experiment in an experimental blast furnace.

Data Analysis for Condition-Based Railway Infrastructure Maintenance

Condition assessment is crucial to optimize condition-based maintenance actions of assets such as railway infrastructure, where a faulty state might have severe consequences. Hence, railways are regularly inspected to detect failure events and prevent the inspected item (e.g. rail) to reach a faulty state with potentially safety critical consequences (e.g. derailment). However, the preventive measures (e.g. condition-based maintenance) initiated by the inspection results may cause traffic disturbances, especially if the expected time to a faulty state is short. The alarm limits are traditionally safety related and often based on geometrical properties of the inspected item. Maintenance limits would reduce the level of emergency, producing earlier alarms and increasing possibilities of planned preventive rather than acute maintenance. However, selecting these earlier maintenance limits in a systematic way while balancing the risk of undetected safety-critical faults and false alarms is challenging. Here, we propose a statistically based approach using condition data of linear railway infrastructure assets. The data were obtained from regular inspections done by a railway track measurement wagon. The condition data were analysed by a control chart approach to evaluate the possibility for earlier detection of derailment hazardous faults using both temporal and spatial information. The study indicates that that the proposed approach could be used for condition assessment of tracks. Control charts led to earlier fault warnings compared to the traditional approach, facilitating planned condition-based maintenance actions and thereby a reduction of track downtime. Copyright

Creating social change in a municipality using a Total Quality Management approach

This paper describes a joint project started by citizens, trade life and local government of the Swedish municipality of Jokkmokk to create a positive societal development based on the tenets of Total Quality Management. The project had a duration of two years, and also included a parallel effort made in Mansfield in the United Kingdom, although this paper describes the Jokkmokk part of the project. The evaluation was based on surveys and interviews analysed using Soft Systems Methodology. The analysis shows that most respondents thought that the project was successful in changing attitudes of the people of Jokkmokk and of creating valuable networks. The project also had an aim to create involvement of ordinary citizens and many activities were addressed to let citizens develop and generate ideas and participate in societal activities and decision making. The evaluation showed that the leaders and politicians of Jokkmokk were not ready for the used bottom–up approach. The analysis also underlines the importance of communicating the mission and goals of the project. We consider the achievements, due to the short duration of the project, substantial and both the positive and the negative outcomes present valuable lessons from a societal development perspective.