This Q-Dictionary will help you understand the meaning of some terminologies
used in this site.
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5 Why's
The 5 why's typically refers to the practice of asking why the failure
has occurred five times in order to get to the root cause of the problem.
No special technique is required. An example is in order:
You are on your way home from work and your car stops:
- Why did your car stop? Because it ran out of gas.
- Why did it run out of gas? Because I didn't buy any gas on my way
to work.
- Why didn't you buy any gas this morning? Because I didn't have any
money.
- Why didn't you have any money? Because I lost it all last night
in a poker game
It should illustrate the importance of digging down beneath the most
proximate cause of the problem. Failure to determine the root cause
assures that you will be treating the symptoms of the problem instead
of its cause, in which case, the disease will return, that is, you will
continue to have the same problems over and over again
Also note that the actual numbers of whys is not important as long
as you get to the root cause. One might well ask why did you loose all
your money in the poker game last night
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A ::::::::::::::::
Affinity
Diagram
A tool that assists in problem definition/resolution by organizing ideas
according to recognized relationships (levels of affinity) between them.
Activity-based
Costing (ABC)
An accounting technique that allows an organization to determine the
actual cost associated with each product and service produced by the
organization without regard to the organizational structure.
Audit
A timely process or system, inspection to ensure that specifications
conform to documented quality standards. An Audit also brings out discrepancies
between the documented standards and the standards followed and also
might show how well or how badly the documented standards support the
processes currently followed.
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B ::::::::::::::::
Balanced Scorecard 
The Balanced Scorecard is a
strategic management system used to drive performance and accountability
throughout the organization.
The scorecard balances traditional performance measures with more forward-looking
indicators in four (4) key dimensions:
* Financial
* Integration/Operational Excellence
* Employees
* Customers
Benefits include:
* Alignment of individual and corporate objectives
* Accountability throughout the organization
* Culture driven by performance
* Support of shareholder value creation
Bar Chart
A bar chart is a graphical comparison of several quantities in which
the lengths of the horizontal or vertical bars represent the relative
magnitude of the values.
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is measuring performance
against that of best-in-class organizations, determining how the best
in class achieve those performance levels, and using the information
as the basis for goals, strategies, and implementation that must be
undertaken to achieve a given objective.
Brainstorming
A method used to generate a large number of ideas from a group of people
in a short period of time, without judgment or restriction. Ground rules
include "no idea is a bad idea". Benefit of brainstorming
is the power of the group in building ideas of each other's ideas.
Business Process Reengineering
The fundamental analysis and radical re-design of business processes,
human and technological environments, by a visionary group to achieve
dramatic performance improvements in customer satisfaction and probability,
with emphasis on changes in cost, quality service and speed.
Business Value Added
A step or change made to the product, which is necessary for future
or subsequent steps but is not noticed by the final customer.
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C ::::::::::::::::
Cause and Effect Diagram
It is an analysis tool that provides a systematic way of looking at
effects and the causes that create or contribute to those effects. It
is called Cause and Effect
diagram because of its function, Fishbone diagram because of its shape
and Ishikawa diagram because it was introduce by Kauro Ishikawa of Japan.
See Fishbone Diagram.
Change Agent
A person who leads a change project or business-wide initiative by defining,
researching, planning, building business support and carefully selecting
volunteers to be part of a change team.
Checkpoint
Control item with a means (factor); requires immediate judgment and
handling must be checked on a daily basis.
Continuous
Improvement
Adopting new activities and eliminating those, which are found to add
little or no value. The goal is to increase effectiveness by reducing
inefficiencies, frustrations, and waste (time, effort, material, etc).
The Japanese term is Kaizen, which is taken from the words "Kai"
means change and "zen" means good.
Control
Chart
A tool for monitoring changes that occur within a process, by distinguishing
variation that is inherent in the process (common cause) from variation
that yield a change to the process (special cause). This change may
be a single point or a series of points in time - each is a signal that
something is different from what was previously observed and measured.
Control
Item
Item selected as a subject of control for maintenance of product quality
and rational control action in company-wide Quality Control; a yardstick
that measures or judges the setting of a target level, the contents
of the work, the process and the results of each stage of breakthrough,
and improvement in control during management activity.
Control
Limits
Control limits define the area three standard deviations on either side
of the centerline, or mean, of data plotted on a control chart. Do not
confuse control limits with specification limits. Control limits reflect
the expected variation in the data
Control
Point
A control item with a target (result); used to analyze data and take
action accordingly.
Corrective
Action
Action to eliminate the cause of a detected nonconformity. There can
be more than one (1) nonconformity. Corrective action is taken to prevent
recurrence. Correction relates to containment whereas corrective action
relates to the root cause. See Preventive Action.
Cycle
Time
Cycle time is the total time from the beginning to the end of your process,
as defined by you and your customer. Cycle time includes process time,
during which a unit is acted upon to bring it closer to an output, and
delay time, during which a unit of work is spent waiting to take the
next action.
In a nutshell - Cycle Time is the total elapsed time to move a unit
of work from the beginning to the end of a physical process.
(Note: Cycle Time is not the same as Lead
Time).
Customer
Service
It is anything we do for the customer that is reliable, reassuring through
courtesy and competence, looks good, empathetic and responsive.
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D ::::::::::::::::
Design
of Experiments - DOE
A Design of Experiment (DOE) is a structured, organized method for determining
the relationship between factors (Xs) affecting a process and the output
of that process (Y).
Conducting and analyzing controlled tests to evaluate the factors that
control the value of a parameter or group of parameters.
Design of Experiments" (DoE) refers to experimental methods used
to quantify indeterminate measurements of factors and interactions between
factors statistically through observance of forced changes made methodically
as directed by mathematically systematic tables.
Document
Document is a collection of information or instructions presented to
perform some activity in a process/procedure.
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E ::::::::::::::::
Effect
An effect is that which is produced by a cause; the impact a factor
(X) has on a response variable (Y).
External
Customer
An individual or group of individuals outside the organization who are
recipients of products or services of the organization.
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Failure
Mode and Effect Analysis
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)
is a disciplined approach used to identify possible failures of a product
or service and then determine the frequency and impact of the failure.
See the tool Failure Mode and Effects Analysis.
Fishbone
Diagram
It is an analysis tool that provides a systematic way of looking at
effects and the causes that create or contribute to those effects. It
is called Cause and Effect Diagram
because of its function, Fishbone diagram because of its shape and Ishikawa
diagram because it was introduce by Kauro Ishikawa of Japan. See Cause
and Effect Diagram.
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Flowchart
A Flowchart is a diagram that
uses graphic symbols to depict the nature and flow of the steps in a
process.
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Gantt
Chart
A Gantt chart is a visual project-planning
device used for production scheduling. A Gantt chart graphically displays
time needed to complete tasks.
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H ::::::::::::::::
Histogram
A bar graph of a frequency distribution in which the widths of the bars
are proportional to the classes into which the variable has been divided
and the heights of the bars are proportional to the class frequencies.
A histogram is a basic graphing
tool that displays the relative frequency or occurrence of continuous
data values showing which values occur most and least frequently. A
histogram illustrates the shape, centering, and spread of data distribution
and indicates whether there are any outliers.
Hoshin
Kanri
Another term for policy deployment. Provides step-by-step planning,
implementation, and review process for managed change.
House
of Quality
The House of Quality is the first matrix in a four-phase QFD (Quality
Function Deployment) process. It's called the House of Quality because
of the correlation matrix that is roof shaped and sits on top of the
main body of the matrix. The correlation matrix evaluates how the defined
product specifications optimize or sub-optimize each other.
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I ::::::::::::::::
Information
Integrity or Infotegrity
The ability to communicate data and documentation completely, accurately
and in a timely manner.
Internal
Customer
An individual or group of individuals inside the organization who are
recipients of products or services produced within the same organization.
Internal
Quality Audit
A systematic evaluation of review process of the quality management
system to ensure compliance within pre-determined quality requirements.
IQR:
Internal Quality Review
T he systematic, independent & documented process for obtaining
review evidence & evaluating it objectively to determine the extent
to which review criteria are fulfilled.
Ishikawa
Diagram
It is an analysis tool that provides a systematic way of looking at
effects and the causes that create or contribute to those effects. It
is called Cause and Effect diagram because of its function, Fishbone
diagram because of its shape and Ishikawa diagram because it was introduce
by Kauro Ishikawa of Japan. See Cause
and Effect Diagram.
ISO
9000 Series of Standards
Series of standards established in the 1980s by countries of Western
Europe as a basis for judging the adequacy of the quality control systems
of companies.
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Kaizen
A Japanese term for continuous improvement, founded on the principles
of doing little things better and setting, working toward, and achieving
increasingly higher standards. When applied to the workplace, KAIZEN
means continuous improvement involving everyone - managers and employees
alike
Japanese term that means continuous improvement, taken from words "Kai"
means continuous and "zen" means improvement.
Some translate "Kai" to mean change and "zen" to
mean good, or for the better.
Kaizen
Event
Any action who's output is intended to be an improvement to an existing
process. In the US this is sometimes misconstrued to be a method of
implementing change.
The true intent of a kaizen event is to hold small events attended
by the owners and operators of a process to make improvements to that
process, which are within the scope of the process participants.
Kanban
A Japanese term. It is one of the primary tools of JIT system. It maintains
an orderly and efficient flow of materials throughout the entire manufacturing
process. It is usually a printed card that contains specific information
such as part name, description, quantity, etc.
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L ::::::::::::::::
Leadership
The ability to create a vision, clearly communicate that vision to others,
and then motivate those others to achieve the envisioned state, which
will give the company a competitive advantage, leading to business or
service success.
Lean
Manufacturing
Initiative focused on eliminating all waste in manufacturing processes.
Lean production is aimed at the elimination of waste in every area
of production including customer relations, product design, supplier
networks and factory management. Its goal is to incorporate less human
effort, less inventory, less time to develop products, and less space
to become highly responsive to customer demand while producing top quality
products in the most efficient and economical manner possible.'
Principles of Lean Enterprise:
- Zero waiting time
- Zero Inventory
- Scheduling - internal customer pull instead of push system
- Batch to Flow - cut batch sizes
- Line Balancing
- Cut actual process times.
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M ::::::::::::::::
Malcolm
Baldrige National Quality Award
The annual self-evaluation covers the following seven categories of
criteria:
- Leadership
- Strategic Planning
- Customer and Market Focus
- Information and Analysis
- Human Resource Focus
- Process Management
- Business Results
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a federal
agency within the Department of Commerce, is responsible for managing
the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The American Society for
Quality (ASQ) administers the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
under a contract with NIST.
Means
Guidelines for achieving target; priority action items in policy deployment
approach.
Metrics
Measurements that are tracked to maintain strategic items. Strategic
items are those things that must be maintained while working on strategic
objectives and focal point items.
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Normal
Distribution
Normal distribution is the spread of information (such as product performance
or demographics) where the most frequently occurring value is in the
middle of the range and other probabilities tail off symmetrically in
both directions. Normal distribution is graphically categorized by a
bell-shaped curve, also known as a Gaussian distribution. For normally
distributed data, the mean and median are very close and may be identical.
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O ::::::::::::::::
Operational Definition
An exact description of how to derive a value for a characteristic you
are measuring. It includes a precise definition of the characteristic
and how, specifically data collectors, should measure characteristics.
Used to remove ambiguity and ensure all data collectors have the same
understanding. Reduces chances of disparate results between collectors
after Measurement System Analysis.
Operations Flow Charting (OFC)
An extremely valuable and practical tool used to identify and challenge
Non-Value-Adding Activity to design more efficient processes.
Opportunity
Any area within a product, process, service, or other system where a
defect could be produced or where you fail to achieve the ideal product
in the eyes of the customer. In a product, the areas where defects could
be produced are the parts or connection of parts within the product.
In a process, the areas are the value added process steps. If the process
step is not value added, such as an inspection step, then it is not
considered an opportunity.
An opportunity is anything that you inspect, measure, or test on a
unit that provides a chance of allowing a defect.
Optimization
Adjusting the system or process inputs to produce the best possible
average response with minimum variability.
Output
The result of a process. The deliverables of the process; such as products,
services, processes, plans, and resources.
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Pareto
Diagram
A bar chart that displays by frequency, in descending order, the most
important defects. This chart-type is used to identify if the Pareto
principle is evident in the data. Essentially, the Pareto principle
states that 80% of the impact of the problem will show up in 20% of
the causes. (Originally stated: 80% of the wealth is owned by 20% of
the people.) Proper use of this chart will have the cumulative percentage
on a second y-axis (to the right of the chart). If the Pareto principle
is evident, about 20% of the categories on the far left will have about
80% of the impact on the problem.
Plan,
Do, Check, Act (PDCA) Cycle
A strategy used to achieve breakthrough improvements in safety, quality,
morale, delivery cost, and other critical business objectives.
Poka
Yoke
Japanese term, which means mistake proofing. A poka yoke device is one
that prevents incorrect parts from being made or assembled, or easily
identifies a flaw or error.
To avoid (yokeru) inadvertent errors (poka).
Preventive
Action
Long term cost/risk weighted action taken to prevent a problem from
occurring, based on an understanding of the product or process. See
Corrective Action.
Process
Set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs
into outputs.
Process
Capability
Process capability refers to the ability of a process to produce a defect-free
product or service. Various indicators are used-some address overall
performance, some address potential performance.
Process
Management
Also called Business Process Quality Management or Reengineering. The
concept of defining macro and micro processes, assigning ownership,
and creating responsibilities of the owners.
Modifying, altering, reshaping, redesigning any business/production
process, work method or management style to deliver greater value.
Process
Map
A visual representation of the workflow either within a process - or
an image of the whole operation. One differentiates between "30,000
feet overviews", "Medium image" or "homing in",
"zooming in", "Micro Map" &c. A good Process
Map should allow people unfamiliar with the process to understand the
interaction of causes during the workflow. A good Process Map should
contain additional information relating to the Six Sigma project i.e.
information per critical step about input and output variables, time,
cost, DPU value. A program for creation of Process Maps is Microsoft
Visio.
Process
Measurables
These are indicators, which directly measure the performance of key
processes that affect customer expectations. Specific actions can be
taken to improve the performance of these indicators, which in turn
should improve the performance of the result measurables.
Process
Owner
The individual(s) responsible for process design and performance.
Product
The result of a set of interrelated activities, which transforms inputs
into outputs.
Project
Scope
Defined and specific project beginning and end points. The more specific
the details (what's in-scope and what's out of scope, the less a project
may experience "scope creep."
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Q ::::::::::::::::
Quality
Totality of characteristics of a particular product or service that
bears on its ability to satisfy implicit and explicit needs of the customers.
Conformance to customer request.
Degree of excellence.
Fitness for purpose or Achieving Customer Satisfaction
Degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements
of customers and other interested parties
Quality
Council
The central coordinating quality committee. These are the EVP's, AVP's,
Directors, and Consultants.
Quality
Function Deployment (QFD)
Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a systematic process for motivating
a business to focus on its customers. Cross-functional teams to identify
and resolve issues involved in providing products, processes, services
and strategies, which will more than satisfy their customers, use it.
A prerequisite to QFD is Market Research. This is the process of understanding
what the customer wants, how important these benefits are, and how well
different providers of products that address these benefits are perceived
to perform. This is a prerequisite to QFD because it is impossible to
consistently provide products, which will attract customers unless you
have a very good understanding of what they want.
Quality
Control
Also called statistical quality control. The managerial process during
which actual process performance is evaluated and actions are taken
on unusual performance.
It is a process to ensure whether a product meets predefined standards
and requisite action taken if the standards are not met.
Quality
Improvement
The organized creation of beneficial changes in process performance
levels.
Quality
Management Representative (QMR)
The appointed person by management, who ensure that the quality system
is established, implemented, maintained and reports the performance
of the quality system to management.
Quality
Management System
This is a documented and maintained quality system for improvement.
This includes the organizations policies, requirements and process documents
that reflect the best practices of the organization conforms to specified
requirements of international standard.
Quality
System
Organizational structure, procedures, processes and resources needed
to implement quality management.
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R ::::::::::::::::
Radar
Chart
A radar chart is a graphical display of the differences between actual
and ideal performance. It is useful for defining performance and identifying
strengths and weaknesses.
Reengineering
Also called Business Process Quality Management or Process Management.
The concept of defining macro and micro processes, assigning ownership,
and creating responsibilities of the owners.
Root
Cause
A factor that caused nonconformity (see ISO 9000-2000) and should be
permanently eliminated through process improvement.
The Root Cause is a Basic Cause due to which the defect was seeded
in the product. Eliminating the defects does not eliminate the future
seeding of the defect. Eliminating the root cause of the defect helps
in eliminating the future occurrence of the defect.
Run
Chart
A performance measure of a process over a specified period of time used
to identify trends or patterns.
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Scatter
Diagram
Scatter diagram is used to study possible relationships between two
different variables. Even though it depicts a relationship between variables,
it does not indicate a cause and effect relationship. Use scatter diagram
to determine what happens to one variable when another variable changes
value. It is a tool used to visually determine whether a potential relationship
exists between an input and an outcome.
Sigma
A statistical term that measures how far a given process deviates from
perfection.
Stakeholder
People who will be affected by the project or can influence it but who
are not directly involved with doing the project work. Examples are
Managers affected by the project, Process Owners, People who work with
the process under study, Internal departments that support the process,
customers, suppliers, and financial department.
Standard
Deviation
A statistic used to measure the variation in a distribution. Sample
standard deviation is equal to the square root of (the sum of the squared
deviations of the mean divided by the sample size minus 1). Where the
whole population is known, the minus 1 "fudge factor" should
be omitted.
Statistical
Process Control (SPC)
Statistical process control is the application of statistical methods
to analyze and control the variation of a process.
SWOT
Analysis
The study of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
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T ::::::::::::::::
Target
Expected results in policy deployment approach.
Total
Quality Management (TQM)
Total Quality Management (TQM) is an enhancement to the traditional
way of doing business. It is a proven technique to guarantee survival
in world-class competition. Only by changing the actions of management
will the culture and actions of an entire organization be transformed.
TQM is for the most part common sense. Analyzing the three words, we
have
TOTAL - Made up of the whole.
QUALITY - Degree of excellence a product or service provides.
MANAGEMENT - Act, art, or manner of handling, controlling, directing,
etc.
Therefore, TQM is the art of managing the whole to achieve excellence.
TQM is defined as both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles
that represent the foundation of a continuously improving organization.
It is the application of quantitative methods and human resources to
improve all the processes within an organization and exceed customer
needs now and in the future. TQM integrates fundamental management techniques,
existing improvement efforts, and technical tools under a disciplined
approach.
Trivial
Many
The trivial many refers to the variables that are least likely responsible
for variation in a process, product, or service.
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Vital
Few
These are the few (20%) independent variables, which contribute to maximum
(80%) of the total variation. These are identified through Pareto Charts
and Design of Experiments.
Voice
of the Customer
The "voice of the customer" is a process used to capture the
requirements/feedback from the customer (internal or external) to provide
the customers with the best in class service/product quality. This process
is all about being proactive and constantly innovative to capture the
changing requirements of the customers with time.
The "voice of the customer" is the term used to describe the
stated and unstated needs or requirements of the customer. The voice
of the customer can be captured in a variety of ways: Direct discussion
or interviews, surveys, focus groups, customer specifications, observation,
warranty data, field reports, complaint logs, etc.
This data is used to identify the quality attributes needed for a supplied
component or material to incorporate in the process or product.
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X ::::::::::::::::
X-Bar
and R Chart
This set of two charts is the most commonly used statistical process
control procedure. Used to monitor process behavior and outcome overtime.
Provides very good measures and allows the process owner to take decisions
and to control the process.
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