Håkan Wiklund

Six sigma seen as a methodology for total quality management

Six sigma programs are raging through corporations worldwide, with some corporations citing savings in the

Widening the Six Sigma concept: An approach to improve organizational learning

US billions resulting from six sigma implementation. Six sigma has both proponents and detractors with some arguing that nothing new is involved and others identifying it as revolutionary. The view espoused herein argues for six sigma as a methodology within the larger framework of total quality management – a blend of old and new in the sense that the tools of six sigma are often familiar ones, but are applied with an eye that is more strategically focused than historic use of those tools ordinarily indicates.

Innovation and TQM in Swedish higher education institutions : possibilities and pitfalls

Six Sigma has been established as an approach to improving organizational performance, and many manufacturing companies have reported on their successive work with Six Sigma programmes. Often, the focus of Six Sigma is put on only reducing defects and improving process capability. This paper discusses Six Sigma as a company-wide approach for organizational improvement incorporating organizational learning. Six Sigma programmes have been studied and the fundamental principles of organizational learning have been applied in order to improve the long-term implementation of the programmes. The paper also discusses factors associated with manufacturing work organization and leadership that are essential for improving organizational learning and for stimulating the competence development and motivation among personnel.

Obstacles to the creation of attractive quality

Emphasis on quality improvement has been one of the most characteristic features of higher education policy in Nordic and other European countries during the 1990s. In Sweden, the universities’ work with quality management has been evaluated for several years. In January 2001, the National Agency of Higher Education in Sweden introduced a new comprehensive system for quality assessment. The Swedish assessment system stresses that the assessment should have as a corner‐stone the specific prerequisites for each university and subject, e.g. business administration and their development strategy. The comprehensive quality assessments of Swedish higher education institutions are discussed together with stimulating innovation and continuous improvement of higher education.

Effects of in-company quality awards on organizational performance

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the solution, and understanding, of the current lack of activity concerning the development of practices, such as engineering methods, for the creation of attractive quality. The current situation is clearly problematic given the important positive effects assigned to attractive quality in the literature.Design/methodology/approach – First, different descriptions of attractive quality are examined in order to determine whether there is a common understanding of the concept. Second, the ability to manage attractive quality creation in accordance to a proactive ideal is approached by an examination of the current ability to predict the occurrence of attractive quality.Findings – Two obstacles that currently hinder the development of practices for attractive quality creation are identified. The first obstacle is the diversity of meanings given to the concept of attractive quality, resulting in confusion about what to obtain. The second obstacle identifie...

Bayesian and regression approaches to on-line prediction of residual tool life

The relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and improved performance has been frequently discussed in the literature. In this paper, the costs and the effects of in-company quality awards on performance are discussed and analysed. The paper covers a survey of Swedish companies that use or have used in-company quality awards to stimulate TQM efforts and thereby to improve performance. The study cannot show any strong evidence of improved performance for units that applied for the in-company quality award. However, in contrast to units that have not applied, some units that have applied for the in-company quality award considered that the results related to performance have improved greatly. One large positive effect perceived by the participating units was increased customer orientation while the largest costs were put on the description of activities and the improvement work itself.

Approach for measuring health‐related quality management

In this paper, two statistical approaches to on-line prediction of cutting tool life are presented and discussed. A Bayesian approach utilizes in-process information about the cutting tool state and constitutes a valuable basis for improved prediction. A second approach is based on the cutting forces and facilitates a prediction of the tool life with an uncertainty of 15% after 1.5-2.0 cutting minutes. Traditional tool condition monitoring can be improved by increased reliability of tool life predictions, increased utilization of the cutting tools together with reduced need for pre-process data and calibrating procedures.

On-line prediction of the tool life

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to measuring health-related quality management based on earlier research on the connection between quality management and employee heal ...

The challenge of integrating innovation and quality management practice

Abstract The paper presents a new approach improving the reliability of on-line prediction of tool-life without the need of pre-process data. The ambition has been to develop a robust monitoring strategy feasible for practical implementation on a CNC lathe. The tool-life is related to a selected critical point on the tool wear curve. Applied multisensing is based on the cutting force ratio correlated with in-process measurement of the flank wear by a vision system. The acquired process data are evaluated and handled by means of the modified and combined statistical methods. Initial cut is used to monitor the process and to evaluate the model parameters when critical conditions are simultaneously supervised by an additional monitoring method. The process model development, reference value setting and tool-life prediction have been automated as machine tool control features. Traditional tool condition monitoring can be improved by the reduced need of pre-process reference or machinability data, no need of calibrating procedures and, by early prediction of the tool-life with uncertainty of about 15% after 1.5–2.0 minutes of cutting. The efficiency and flexibility of the developed method has been verified by several machinability tests performed under various machining conditions but for the same work material.

Learning from others to adapt quality management to the future

Following in the footsteps of ‘New Public Management’, where quality management and quality control have become widely implemented concepts among public authorities, there is now a subsequent government demand to also be innovative. However, integrating and achieving a balance between improved quality and increased innovation is not an easy task. Previous research indicates a complex and ambiguous relation, raising questions as to how to optimally combine these two approaches organisationally, operationally, and culturally. Is there an ‘edge of chaos’ where there is maximal flexibility for innovation while maintaining sufficient order for quality? The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential integration of innovation and quality management practice within the public sector. The paper is based on a multiple case study design, confronted with existing literature, and shows that the current quality management practice is perceived as being related to standardisation, leading to a decrease in the space for innovation. Second, that there is an expectation and belief that innovation and quality management can be handled in parallel and reinforce each other instead of being mutually detrimental.