Lesson 23 ª

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

The Definition of Standards

Definition of standards to reach.

It is important to define first what the standards we want to reach will be. If we don't know what to measure, we won't know the impact of our work. Processes are set according to strategic objectives. These processes carry measurable variables. These variables may be products or semi-products with certain technical characteristics or they can be contacts with countable clients. The choice of the subject to be controlled is very important. It constitutes an indicator for a quality problem in fixed objectives; they may be financial, personal, productive, logistic, etc. This means that variables include raw materials, processes, products, conditions, delay time, clients... They must always be measurable in an effective and consistent manner, and above all, they should be recognized as useful by workers who are generating the corresponding quality data in their labour (James 1997).

The subject to be controlled, along with their respective measures and acceptable standard values, will be reflected in the quality handbooks. An example for this could be the number of telephone calls answered in a telephone switchboard per hour or the percentage of objects with deviations from the program patterns manufactured by a machine.

How to measure work execution - methods.

Once we have set the subjects to be measured (with their respective standard values), we will proceed with the evaluation of the performed work. The methods for measurement can be as many as the different subjects we can control.

James (1997) and Pfeiffer (1996) identify two evaluation tools basically: the old tools and the new tools; both will be described shortly.

The seven old tools of quality.

Cause and Effect Diagrams (Ishikawa):

This diagram tries to find the cause of a problem instead of a solution for the symptoms a problem has manifested. The creator of this Ishikawa tool designed it simulating the backbone of a fish. In it, possible causes for the problem are branched out (represented by initials):

•  Labour

•  Machinery

•  Method

•  Raw materials

•  Environment

•  Measurement

•  Management

Image

Graphics made following the instructions of Pfeiffer (1996)