Nadia Bhuiyan

An overview of continuous improvement: from the past to the present

– To provide an overview of the history, evolution, and existing research on continuous improvement., – Extensive review of the literature., – This paper provides an overview of continuous improvement, its inception, how it evolved into sophisticated methodologies used in organizations today, and existing research in this field in the literature., – It does not provide an exhaustive review of the existing literature, or an exhaustive list of all continuous improvement programs, only the most well known., – This paper traces how organizations have used various tools and techniques to address the need for improvement on various levels. The paper also presents research conducted in this field. It should be of value to practitioners of continuous improvement programs and to academics who are interested in how continuous improvement has evolved, and where it is today. To the authors’ knowledge, no recent papers have provided an historical perspective of continuous improvement. Furthermore, our paper also discusses the existing research in this field.

A sustainable continuous improvement methodology at an aerospace company

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present a continuous improvement methodology developed in an aerospace company that is successfully being used by other companies in various industries. Design/methodology/approach - A case study was undertaken at a medium-sized aerospace company for over a span of one year. Data was collected through in-depth interviews, attendance at formal and informal meetings, observation, and company documentation. Findings - The paper provides an overview of a continuous improvement methodology known as Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE™), which aims to achieve world-class quality in products and processes. The paper describes in detail the tools and techniques needed to implement and maintain the methodology. It was found that the company is very successful in addressing a wide range of aspects in the organization, always with the viewpoint that the customer is number one. This methodology is successful to the point that it is being used by other companies in various industries. Practical implications - The approach of the ACE™ methodology can be applied to a variety of companies. Originality/value - This paper presents for the first time the comprehensive Continuous Improvement methodology ACE™. The paper should be of value to practitioners of continuous improvement programs who are interested in a comprehensive approach to achieving excellence.

Entropy as a measure of operational flexibility

As competition among firms is being based more and more on the level of service, there is a great interest in using a measure of flexibility to indicate a firms capability to respond to customer demands. Entropy is proposed as a measure of flexibility for manufacturing operations. The properties of entropy that make it a suitable measure of flexibility are outlined. A computer simulation of a job shop was used to test the measure through a number of different scenarios using a discrete-event stochastic simulator. Results showed that entropy succeeded in measuring flexibility when the relative demand for the fabrication of products changed. Entropy was also used to monitor process flexibility as time progressed.

ISO 9001: 2000 implementation – the North American experience

Presents the findings of an empirical study conducted on Canadian firms on the latest version of the ISO9000 standard, ISO9001:2000, which takes a process‐based approach to quality management systems. The study focuses on the difficulties faced by firms and attempts to determine the characteristics of firms that face difficulties. Results show that: large companies faced fewer difficulties; the number of years that companies were in operation had no effect on the difficulties they faced; companies serving markets outside of North America, mainly in Europe, faced fewer difficulties than those that serve North American markets only.

An investigation into issues related to the latest version of iso 9000

Abstract This research studies the emergence of the latest version of ISO 9000, ISO 9001:2000, which takes a process-based approach to the implementation of quality management systems. The new version has abandoned the structure of 20 sections and now has five comprehensive sections covering all the previous requirements, with some modifications and the introduction of new requirements. This version has introduced a process-based approach that considers the quality management system as a single large process consisting of many smaller processes. The paper focuses on the implementation of ISO 9001:2000 through an empirical study on Canadian firms. Results show that, whether external or internal reasons provided the impetus for registration, Canadian companies registered under the new ISO standard generally face the same degree of difficulty in implementation. However, internally driven companies have less difficulty for certain items. Externally driven companies perceived a higher degree of benefits as compared with internally driven companies.

Implementing concurrent engineering

This publication contains reprint articles for which IEEE does not hold copyright. Full text is not available on IEEE Xplore for these articles.

A case study of a quality system implementation in a small manufacturing firm

Purpose – This paper aims to present the findings of a case study conducted at ABC Structures (pseudonym), which is a small North American manufacturing company that has spent close to one year working on implementing the ISO 9000 standard. The main obstacles faced by ABC during implementation are highlighted. Although the company was not actually seeking registration, it was motivated by an internal need to improve operations, and by a vision of expanding business globally, in which case it expected that registration would be mandatory.Design/methodology/approach – The case study method was used to achieve the objectives. Information obtained from the case study was collected from various data sources including interviews and informal conversations with the president, sales manager, engineering manager, operations manager, purchasing manager, manufacturing manager and technical personnel, attendance at project meetings, company documents, plant tours, and observations of the manufacturing process and pro...

Optimal average sample number of the SPRT chart for monitoring fraction nonconforming

The Sequential Probability Ratio Test (SPRT) control chart is a powerful tool for monitoring manufacturing processes. It is highly suitable for the applications where testing is destructive or very expensive, such as the automobile airbags test. This article studies the effect of the Average Sample Number (ASN) (i.e., the average sample size) on the chart’s performance. A design algorithm is proposed to develop the optimal SPRT chart for monitoring the fraction nonconforming p of Bernoulli processes. By optimizing the ASN and other charting parameters, the average detection speed of the SPRT chart is almost doubled. It is also found that the optimal SPRT chart significantly outperforms the optimal np and binomial CUSUM charts, in terms of Average Number of Defectives (AND), under different combinations of the design specifications. It is observed that the SPRT chart using a relatively smaller ASN and a shorter sampling interval (h) has a higher overall detection effectiveness.

A Framework for NPD Processes Under Uncertainty

Abstract: This article proposes a framework for designing new product development (NPD) processes under various conditions of uncertainty. The framework is based on the results of a study in which the goals were to determine the conditions under which integrated product development processes are more favorable than traditional sequential processes in terms of development time (process start to finish time) and effort (person hours). The framework suggests how to design the process in terms of functional interaction (information sharing among NPD participants) and overlapping (parallel execution of activities) based on the level of uncertainty involved.

Post-Certification Engineering Taxonomy and Task Value Optimization in the Aerospace Industry

Abstract: This article proposes a novel taxonomy of post-certification engineering activities as a first step toward true lean product development (PD). Relying on key notions developed in a novel lean engineering performance model, the authors compare the leanness of post-certification versus pre-certification tasks for the design of aerospace parts. Discrete event simulation and integer linear programming models are developed to help ascertain the influence of factors such as multitasking, concurrency, task size, task value, and post-certification budget decision making on lean engineering PD performance. The models developed provide the foundation for enhanced PD performance and the establishment of optimal PD process parameters.