Quality improvement or self-improvement study groups composed of a small number of employees 10 or fewer and their supervisor. Quality circles originated in Japan, where they are called quality control circles

The use of techniques and activities that compare actual quality performance with goals and define appropriate action in response to a shortfall

A group of senior management within given operational units who plan, implement, facilitate, and monitor the QUALITY PROCESS

A group comprised of representatives from every department for the purpose of identifying and assessing total PONQ for the organization

A group formed by the Quality Council or the Problem Elimination Coordinator to handle unresolved problems remaining after application of all problem elimination techniques by regular Problem Elimination Teams or to investigate inter departmental problems not under investigation by regular Problem Elimination Teams

The analysis of a manufacturing system at all stages to maximize the quality of the process itself and the products it produces

A requirements identification analysis, flow down, and tracking technique. It focuses on quality and communication to translate customer needs into product and process design specifics. Also known as the "house of quality." 

A systematic approach to the processes of work that looks to remove waste, loss, rework, frustration, etc. in order to make the processes of work more effective, efficient, and appropriate

A group of employees that take on a project to improve a given process or design a new process within an organization

A parabolic approximation of the quality loss that occurs when a quality characteristic deviates from its target value. The quality loss function is expressed in monetary units: the cost of deviating from the target increases quadratically the farther the quality characteristic moves from the target. The formula used to compute the quality loss function depends on the type of quality characteristic being used. The quality loss function was first introduced in this form by Genichi Taguchi

The planned actions taken to ensure the effective implementation of an organization's quality systems

A Quality Manual is the supplier's document that describes the elements of the quality system used to assure customer requirements, needs, and expectations are met. Quality manuals shall include responsibilities and authorities for each element of the quality system

Quality Planning is a structured process for defining the methods that will be used in the production of a specific product or family of products. Quality planning embodies the concepts of defect prevention and continuous improvement as contrasted with defect detection

A review and commitment by the Product Quality Planning Team that all planned controls and processes are being followed

A statement from Top Management regarding their position relative to Quality Products and/or Services

Quality Records are the documented evidence that the supplier's processes were executed according to the quality system documentation and records results

A control chart for evaluating the stability of a process in terms of a quality score. The quality score is the weighted sum of the count of events of various classifications where each classification is assigned a weight

Organizational structure, procedures, processes and resources required to implement quality management

A three-pronged approach to managing for quality. The three legs are quality planning (developing the products and processes required to meet customer needs), quality control (meeting product and process goals), and quality improvement (achieving unprecedented levels of performance)

A tool that creates frequency distributions. Beads tumble over numerous horizontal rows of pins, which force the beads to the right or left. After a random journey, the beads are drop into vertical slots. After many beads are dropped, a frequency distribution results. In the classroom, quincunxes are often used to simulate a manufacturing process. The quincunx was invented by English scientist Francis Galton in the 1890s

Selecting a sample so each item in the population has an equal chance of being selected; lack of predictability; without pattern

A source of variation which is random; a change in the source ("trivial many" variables) will not produce a highly predictable change in the response (dependent variable), e.g., a correlation does not exist; any individual source of variation results in a small amount of variation in the response; cannot be economically eliminated from a process; an inherent natural source of variation

Experimental treatments are a random sample from a larger population of treatments. Conclusions can be extended to the population. Interference's are not restricted to the experimental levels

The process of selecting units for a sample of size, so that all units have an equal chance of being selected as the sample / Or / A commonly used sampling technique in which sample units are selected in such a manner that all combinations of n units under consideration have an equal chance of being selected as the sample

A condition in which any individual event in a set of events has the same mathematical probability of occurrence as all other events within the specified set, i.e., individual events are not predictable even though they may collectively belong to a definable distribution

Control chart in which the range of the subgroup is used to track the instantaneous variation within a process, i.e. the variation in the process at any one time, when many input factors would not have time to vary enough to make a detectable difference. Range charts are usually paired with average charts for complete analysis

A structured software requirements discovery technique which emphasizes generating prototypes early in the development process to permit early feedback and analysis in support of the development process. Contrast with incremental development, spiral model, waterfall model. See: prototyping

Numeric scale which has an absolute zero point and equal units of measure throughout, i.e., measurements of an output parameter, i.e., amps

A fast-response [immediate response] on-line system which obtains data from an activity or a physical process, performs computations. and returns a response rapidly enough to affect [control] the outcome of the activity or process; ~g., a process control application. Contrast with batch processing

(1) (ISO) a group of related data elements treated as a unit. [A data element (field) is a component of a record, a record is a component of a file (database)]

Documentation of changes made to the system. A record of change can be a written document or a database. Normally there are two associated with a computer system, hardware and software. Changes made to the data are recorded in an audit trail

The team member that takes minutes during team meetings to capture team's progress. Once the team is well underway, this role can be rotated through out the group

An experiment developed by W. Edwards Deming to illustrate that it is impossible to put employees in rank order of performance for the coming year based on their performance during the past year because performance differences must be attributed to the system, not to employees. Four thousand red and white beads, 20% red, in a jar and six people are needed for the experiment. The participants goal is to produce white beads, because the customer will not accept red beads. One person begins by stirring the beads and then, blindfolded, selects a sample of 50 beads. That person hands the jar to the next person, who repeats the process, and so on. When everyone has his or her sample, the number of red beads for each is counted. The limits of variation between employees that can be attributed to the system are calculated. Everyone will fall within the calculated limits of variation that could arise from the system. The calculations will show that there is no evidence one person will be a better

The transformation of a business process to achieve significant levels of improvement in one or more performance measures relating to fitness for purpose, quality, cycle times, and cost by using the techniques of streamlining and removing non value added activities and costs

Registered Suppliers are suppliers who have received third party registration to a specific quality system standard for the commodity supplied

A board that evaluates the competency and reliability of registrars (organizations that assess and register companies to the appropriate ISO 9000 series standards). The Registrar Accreditation Board, formed in 1989 by ASQ, is governed by a board of directors from industry, academia, and quality management consulting firms

A process in which an accredited, independent third-party organization conducts an on-site audit of a company’s operations against the requirements of the standard to which the company wants to be registered. Upon successful completion of the audit, the company receives a certificate indicating that it has met the standard requirements

Action taken on non-conforming product that changes the classification, or category of the product for use in alternative applications. Cannot be done without customer approval/direction. [Also see Repair/Rework] 

A statistical technique used to determine the best mathematical expression to describe the relationship between a response and independent variables

A software V&V task to determine the extent of V&V analysis and testing that must be repeated when changes are made to any previously examined software products. See: testing, regression

A group formed by individuals or work groups to address problems keeping them from a defect free standard or to spawn continuous work process improvements