Case Study:
Various terms used in quality management
Inspection is the process of checking throughout the manufacturing process for quality flaws in order to rectify (Sallis 2014). Increased inspection involves checking the process at every stage while decreased inspection involves checking the final product on how well it meets quality specifications.
Designing quality involves establishing the operational requirements of a function or a product and then incorporating these requirements in the production process to realize a finished product that effectively performs the desired function(Campion 2015).
5s is a synonym for seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke which are all Japanese names standing for tidiness, orderliness, cleanliness, standardization and discipline. The 5s define a system of production that increases efficiency and minimizes waste thereby ensuring quality.
Kaizen is the concept of continuous improvement of efficiency and production practices to achieve the best quality in the most efficient manner. It mostly emphasizes the use of data and facts to define quality strategy (Sallis 2014).
Mistake-proofing is the use of automatic devices to remove the occurrence of an error or make the error immediately obvious when it occurs to allow for remedy and thus maintain quality in the production proces (Sallis 2014).
During my previous quality improvement programme, there was a wide use of kaizen and mistake proofing. Kaizen was evident in the amount of data that was needed to arrive at a decision on the quality strategy to adopt. Mistake-proofing is evident in the sophisticated technology that was involved in the manufacturing process. The technology is such that it should be error-free and where an error happens anyway, it is quickly identified.
References
Campion, M. L. D. M. (2015). Designing Quality Improvement Registries.
Sallis, E. (2014). Total quality management in education. Routledge.