TQM / Six Sigma Overview
There are two main streams in quality thinking, which, for convenience, I will call the TQM stream and the ISO stream. The focus of the TQM stream is on manufacturing management, using statistical methods for incremental quality improvement, together with improvement of working conditions and management/staff relationships
The focus of the ISO stream is on the structuring or organisation of quality improvement, and the demonstration of proficiency through documentation and certification. (continued)
Read the full paper below:
Ten Keys 2000
This matrix compares 5 quality “structures” – The Ten Keys to Quality developed by Charles Nelson, Deming’s 14 Point System, ISO 9001:2000, the Juran Trilogy, and Crosby’s 14 Steps.
Access the matrix below:
The Designer’s TQM Toolkit
This paper is a reprint from Charles’ 1996 book TQM and ISO 9000 for Architects and Designers, Ch. 4.2.
To outline the techniques that have evolved as standard ‘tools’ in the TQM world, and to explain them in simple terms appropriate to architectural/design practice.
On the pages that follow is a set of comprehensive tables which identify 90 TQM tools, techniques and systems. The first 48 are those listed in Peter Mears’ excellent book Quality Improvement Tools & Techniques. The remainder are identified by Deming, Juran, Crosby and Stasiowski/ Burstein. Where these relate to ISO 9000, the ISO 9000 system element is given. (continued)
Download this only if you have a “tools fetish” – a nut in search of a wrench. It’s 38 pages. It was available on the old website for Managing Quality in Architecture, referenced as 7.1a: The Designer’s TQM Toolkit
Going in Circles vs. Feedback Loops
This paper is a reprint from Charles’ 1996 book TQM and ISO 9000 for Architects and Designers, Ch. 5.1.
‘Going in circles’ is a universal metaphor for working hard and getting nowhere, rendered with consummate charm in the story of Pooh and Piglet following their own tracks around the Spiney Wood, filled with anticipation and trepidation as to what they were following.
‘Going in circles’ seems such a common experience that we have many names for this activity:
◆ Running in place
◆ Being in the squirrel cage
◆ Chasing our tail
and so on.
They all mean the same thing: we go through a cycle of work; start and complete a project, and we do not appear to have learned anything. (continued)
Read the full chapter below:
Book Review of Value Redesigned: New Models for Professional Practice by Kyle Davy, AIA and Susan Harris, PhD.
to follow