Pedro M. Saraiva

ISO 9001 certification research: questions, answers and approaches

Purpose – The majority of ISO 9001 certification research studies conducted so far are supported by survey methodologies and descriptive statistics. As such, they express conclusions that are mainly derived from opinions and perceptions about the subject. Thus, it is common to find in the open literature references that point out the highly subjective results derived from such studies (often of somewhat contradictory nature). This paper tries to compile the main conclusions that ISO 9001 research studies have tried to address, with the aim of describing the quality management systems literature state‐of‐the‐art.Design/methodology/approach – In order to achieve this objective, an exhaustive literature review of ISO 9000 studies was carried out. For that purpose approximately 100 articles were analysed, which were sorted in the following categories, according to the used methodology: surveys; analysis of financial indicators; case studies; interviews; literature review; and statistical data analysis.Finding...

Management systems: integration or addition?

Purpose – In the past few years, management systems implementation and certification has become a common practice among different types of organizations. In this context, quality management systems certification, according to the ISO 9001 standard is in the spotlight, due to over than 1.000.000 certified organizations by the end of 2009. Quality management systems can be integrated with an increasing variety of other subsystems implemented according to other standards, including environmental systems, health and safety, social responsibility, R&D, risk, or human resources, and subsystems raised from specific standards designed for specific activity sectors (HACCP, automotive or aeronautics, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and software). Due to this evolution, careful attention should be taken on how these different subsystems have been and should be articulated, harmonized and integrated. Thus, this paper intends to approach different strategies to achieve integration, with several levels of intensity, d...

Quality costs and robustness criteria in chemical process design optimization

Abstract The identification and incorporation of quality costs and robustness criteria is becoming a critical issue while addressing chemical process design problems under uncertainty. This article presents a systematic design framework that includes Taguchi loss functions and other robustness criteria within a single-level stochastic optimization formulation, with expected values in the presence of uncertainty being estimated by an efficient cubature technique. The solution obtained defines an optimal design, together with a robust operating policy that maximizes average process performance. Two process engineering examples (synthesis and design of a separation system and design of a reactor and heat exchanger plant) illustrate the potential of the proposed design framework. Different quality cost models and robustness criteria are considered, and their influence in the nature and location of best designs systematically studied. This analysis reinforces the need for carefully considering/addressing process quality and robustness related criteria while performing chemical process plant design.

ISO 9000: Some statistical results for a worldwide phenomenon

Since they were created in 1987, the ISO 9000 standards provide a unique experience of voluntary adoption and certification of entities, covering at present organizations of all sizes, sectors and natures across the globe. In this article we will provide some key results that derive from a statistical analysis performed over the richness of values compiled over time for the numbers of ISO 9000 certified entities in the world and its different countries, and their evolution since January 1993 all the way to December 2001, thus providing what we believe to be a pioneering contribution in this field, aimed at providing fact-based insights into, among other, the following issues. · Which countries are leading this movement in the world, both on absolute and relative terms? · Is there a maximum limit to the possible growth of entities certified in each country and/or the world? If so, what is it? Are we approaching that limit or quite far from reaching it yet? · What are the dynamics of transition to the ISO 9000:2000 standards across the globe? · Are there any relationships between economic development indicators and the corresponding numbers of ISO 9000 certified organizations in a given country? · Is it possible to forecast evolutions for the number of entities certified in a particular country and/or in the world?

A classification model for prediction of certification motivations from the contents of ISO 9001 audit reports

ISO 9001 certification motivations can be classified into two main categories: (1) internal motivations; and (2) external motivations. Internal motivations are related with genuine organisational improvement goals (productivity, internal communication, process performance), while external motivations are mainly related to promotional and marketing issues (customer and market pressures, market share). Some companies that become certified mostly upon the basis of external motivations define their main goal as ‘obtaining registration’, and thus typically adopt a limited view over the scope of quality management systems implementation and certification. Based upon a detailed review of 100 ISO 9001 audit reports, we performed a detailed statistical comparison between both types of motivations driving companies in their certification efforts, explored their differences and similarities and derived a statistically based classification model that was able to predict, for a particular organisation, what kind of predominant motivation lead to its certification, from information that can be retrieved from the contents of the corresponding ISO 9001 audit reports.

A comparison and usage overview of business excellence models

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative analysis and usage overview of the most common business excellence models: the European Foundation for Quality Management Model, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Model, the Deming Prize Model and the Iberoamerican Model for Excellence in Management.Design/methodology/approach – In order to achieve such goals, the authors have performed a set of statistical analysis over public data sets, related to each one of the analyzed models, as well as making a comparative analysis of the model contents.Findings – The different business excellence models do share a similar set of principles and criteria. However, different adoption patterns have been found across regions of the globe, regarding the use of such business excellence models over the last decades.Originality/value – As far as the authors were able to find out, based on the literature review carried out, this is the first time that a set of statistical data results, related to the ...

A multi-parametric programming approach for multilevel hierarchical and decentralised optimisation problems

In this paper, we outline the foundations of a general global optimisation strategy for the solution of multilevel hierarchical and general decentralised multilevel problems, based on our recent developments on multi-parametric programming and control theory. The core idea is to recast each optimisation subproblem, present in the hierarchy, as a multi-parametric programming problem, with parameters being the optimisation variables belonging to the remaining subproblems. This then transforms the multilevel problem into single-level linear/convex optimisation problems. For decentralised systems, where more than one optimisation problem is present at each level of the hierarchy, Nash equilibrium is considered. A three person dynamic optimisation problem is presented to illustrate the mathematical developments.

An optimization‐based approach for designing attribute acceptance sampling plans

Purpose – This purpose of this paper is to present an optimization‐based approach to support the design of attribute sampling plans for lot acceptance purposes, with the fraction of non‐conforming items being modeled by a Poisson probability distribution function.Design/methodology/approach – The paper approach stands upon the minimization of the error of the probability of acceptance equalities in the controlled points of the operating curve (OC) with respect to sample size and acceptance number. It was applied to simple and double sampling plans, including several combinations of quality levels required by the producer and the consumer. Formulation of the design of acceptance sampling plans as an optimization problem, having as a goal the minimization of the squared error at the controlled points of the OC curve, and its subsequent solution employing GAMS.Findings – The results are in strong agreement with acceptance sampling plans available in the open literature. The papers approach in some scenarios ...

Robustness criteria in process design optimization under uncertainty

Abstract The incorporation of robustness criteria in process design under uncertainty is a key issue to derive optimal designs for quality. This article presents a systematic design framework for process quality that embeds Taguchis method within a stochastic optimization formulation. The problem is formulated as a single-level optimization problem with expected objective function values computed by an efficient cubature technique. The solution obtained determines an optimal design together with a robust operating policy that maximize average process performance. A process example of a reactor and heat exchanger is provided.

Aroma ageing trends in GC/MS profiles of liqueur wines.

Madeira wine has been studied with the main goal of acquiring a better understanding about the evolution of its properties over time. For that purpose, flexible and reliable data analysis tools were employed to characterize wines at different ageing stages, using flavour chromatography measurements. In this paper we present the results from such a study, where the main differences in the aroma profiles and their development in different types of aged Madeira wines are analyzed and evaluated according to their discriminating power. An exploratory multivariate data analysis was conducted using two different tools, namely biplots and contributions plots obtained through principal component analysis (PCA). In order to take advantage of the maximum amount of information provided by the chromatography data sets, a new approach that incorporates samples variability in the analysis of the statistical significance of contributions estimates, was developed and tested. In this way, it was possible to analyze which volatile compounds have statistically significant and/or similar contributions regarding the observed separation of wine samples from different groups. Furthermore, since several chemical compounds are expected to change together as a result of the ageing-related chemical reactions, they were clustered according to a similarity criterion relative to their importance in the trends observed in the scores space. Results obtained provide a sound basis for the differentiation and characterization of the ageing process followed by Madeira wines.