Search results

Some manufacturing and service organizations have made efforts to work on continuous improvement in the form of Kaizen, lean thinking, Six Sigma, etc. The elimination of problems and waste (MUDA for the Japanese) plays a fundamental role in the reduction of operational costs and quality rejections of finished products both internally in the organization and in the supply chain. Some of these efforts use quality control tools to remedy it. Kaoru Ishikawa proposes seven basic quality tools. In this group of quality tools is the cause-and-effect diagram (CED), also known as “The Fishbone” and “Ishikawa diagram”. Exploring this questioning can shed light on the first indications to ratify the arguments of Ishikawa and Deming, that the main problems of companies are found in their processes and perhaps, in a deep way, in some of these cornerstone root causes that have to do with the way organizations are managed. The purpose of this study is to investigate cornerstone root causes through the application of CEDs in 40 Mexican companies that began an effort to improve some of their organizational processes.

An exploratory qualitative study was conducted. As a research strategy, the case study method was applied. Using theoretical sampling, the Ishikawa diagrams of 40 companies were analyzed, and 24 semi-structured interviews in depth were conducted.

The results of this research confirm the main research question: Are there cornerstone root causes that give way to one or several problems or effects of problems in organizations regardless of their sector? In other words, there were at least seven typical patterns that show the first signs of cornerstones root causes in organizations.

The method itself is a limitation; 40 case studies are not enough to generalize the results. In addition, the research was conducted only in a single Latin American country; in some cities of Mexico. However, 60 per cent of these companies are multinationals.

This paper is fundamental to delve into the cornerstones causes that give rise to the problems of organizations of the twenty-first century. The authors understand that these are the first indications, and that they cannot be considered a conclusion of these causes. However, this first theoretical sampling presents a first light on the subject.

The study contributes to the limited existing literature on total quality management and Kaizen in quality control tools and subsequently disseminates this information to provide impetus, guidance and support toward improving the problems of the organizations of twenty-first century.

The main purpose of this study is to revisit Dr. Ishikawa's statement: “95% of problems in processes can be accomplished using the seven quality control (QC) tools” from his book “What is Quality Control?”. The authors are interested in critically investigating if this statement is still valid nowadays. It involves the analysis of the usage of the seven QC tools in the manufacturing and service sectors and the benefits, challenges and critical success factors (CSFs) for the application of the seven QC tools.

In order to evaluate Kaoru Ishikawa's statement and how valid his statement is for manufacturing and service industries nowadays, an online survey instrument was developed, and data collection was performed utilising a stratified random sampling strategy. The main strata/clusters were formed by senior quality professionals working in operational excellence, quality consultants, quality directors, quality engineers, quality managers and quality supervisors working in both manufacturing and service sectors from South American companies. A total of 97 participants from different countries in South America responded to the survey.

The main finding of this study is that only about 20% of respondents felt that the original seven basic tools of QC can solve above 80% of quality related problems in their businesses. This is quite different from the findings reported by Dr Ishikawa in his work in between 1970 and 1980s. Another relevant finding presented in this paper is that Pareto analysis, histograms and cause and effect analysis are the most used tools in both manufacturing and service sectors. This paper also revealed that the seven QC tools proposed by Dr. Ishikawa were least used by human resources (HR), information technology (IT) and finance functions. This work presents a list of critical success factors required for the proper application of the seven QC tools.

All data collected in the pilot survey came from professionals working for South American companies. So, this paper does present limitations in terms of generalisation of the results. Also, data were collected at an individual level, so parameters such as the inter reliability of judgements on a particular survey item could not be evaluated. It is important to highlight that n = 97 is a low sample size, enough for a preliminary survey but reinforcing the limitation in terms of generalisation of the results.

Authors understand that this is the very first research focused on challenging Dr. Ishikawa's statement: “95% of problems in processes can be accomplished using the seven quality control (QC) tools” from his book “What is Quality Control?”. The results of this study represent an important first step towards a full understanding of the applicability of these tools in manufacturing and service industries in a global scale.

Industry in general, and Swedish private companies in particular, are working today within increasing environmental considerations. Environmental strategies, policies, and work programmes in varying forms are necessary in a market which increasingly focuses on environmental factors. An environmental process must include a product’s full life‐cycle, its supply, production, use and waste handling. It must also include economic calculations and be well established within a company’s leadership. A part of a company’s environmental analysis is to evaluate its suppliers and their effect on the environment. The Ishikawa diagram (Ishikawa, 1990) has been used in a project as a diagnostics tool to evaluate suppliers. In conjunction with this evaluation, tables in the computer program Excel have been produced. The work has been done in conjunction with Swedish industrial companies.

Because of the importance of the product design process, a good control of it is of vital importance. It is shown how design tests can be defined and executed that are able to identify quality problem. Emphasis will be on the early detection of reliability problems. The quality control method itself and the results reached at Philips Electronics Industries‐Consumer Electronics Division (PEI‐CED) in Taiwan will be discussed. First, the organisation of a design process and design reliability evaluation program in general will be considered. Next, it will be explained what opportunities for improvement of reliability control in the design process at PEI‐CED were detected. A risk analysis, aimed at identifying reliability risks and analysing them, will be the basis for the reliability tests that will be elaborated next.

The purpose of this paper is to use Lean Six Sigma (LSS) to reduce patient waiting time in a Kuwaiti private hospital obstetrics and gynaecology clinic.

The define, measure, analyse, improve and control methodology was used. The “define” stage involved identifying patients’ needs, system capabilities and project objectives. The “measure” stage assessed the system’s current state through data collection on waiting times. Dunnett’s test, control charts and process capability analysis were used to ensure data accuracy. In the “analyse” stage, an Ishikawa diagram and Pareto chart were constructed, showing that overbooking appointments, doctors’ unscheduled breaks and doctors not arriving on time were the root causes of the problem. The “improve” stage used an Arena simulation model to represent current and improved system status. The proposed solutions were implemented and monitored in the “control” stage.

A sigma-level improvement of 300 per cent (0.5–2.0) was realized for appointment patients on Saturdays, with a 67 per cent reduction in waiting time. For walk-ins, the sigma level improved by 288 per cent (0.8–3.1), with a 55 per cent reduction in waiting time. For weekday appointments, the sigma level improved by 111 per cent (0.9–1.9), with a 63 per cent reduction in waiting time. For walk-ins, the sigma level improved by 69 per cent (1.6–2.7), with a 46 per cent reduction in waiting time. A cost–benefit analysis estimated the present project value at $656,459, leading to a total of $5,820,319 in savings by 2025.

This paper fulfils the need for process improvement, increasing patients’ satisfaction and hospitals’ profitability using LSS.

In continuous improvement (CI) projects, cause-and-effect diagrams are used to qualitatively express the relationship between a given problem and its root causes. However, when data collection activities are limited, and advanced statistical analyses are not possible, practitioners need to understand causal relationships. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this research, the authors present a framework that combines cause-and-effect diagrams with Bayesian belief networks (BBNs) to estimate causal relationships in instances where formal data collection/analysis activities are too costly or impractical. Specifically, the authors use cause-and-effect diagrams to create causal networks, and leverage elicitation methods to estimate the likelihood of risk scenarios by means of computer-based simulation.

This framework enables CI practitioners to leverage qualitative data and expertise to conduct in-depth statistical analysis in the event that data collection activities cannot be fully executed. Furthermore, this allows CI practitioners to identify critical root causes of a given problem under investigation before generating solutions.

This is the first framework that translates qualitative insights from a cause-and-effect diagram into a closed-form relationship between inputs and outputs by means of BBN models, simulation and regression.

Examining aspects of organizational identity, this paper revisits McLuhan's media theory in connection with W.R. Scott's insight that organizations themselves are the medium. The purpose of this paper is to consider the history of the Tokyo‐based urban developer/media organization Parco Co., Ltd, which emerged from a department store bankruptcy in 1969.

Through exploring the process of how a bankrupted department store transformed into Parco, a harbinger of Japan's consumer culture, the identity of Parco is sought in connection to its marketing strategies and managerial discourses.

Examining the identity of Parco provides two insights. First, there is a reflexive dynamism between an organizational identity and the organizational strategies. Parco exemplifies this concept as its strategies are defined and articulated by its organizational identity, which is in turn influenced by its organizational strategies. Second, Parco's organizational efficiency is found in its “organizational symbioticity”, a new construct which extends not only within but also beyond the firm.

The Parco case provides an important lesson. The medium that acts as an entrepreneur on the cutting edge can also be the message. For a medium that is ubiquitous, the message is the content of the medium. This appears to be the reason why Parco continues to successfully redefine its identities and strategies.

This paper uses the case study method to exemplify contemporary organizational identity and its marketing strategies. Furthermore, it demonstrates how an understanding of the social significance of the medium shapes consumer culture today.

This paper aims to examine the strategic value of reliability and maintainability management in achieving competitiveness and customer satisfaction. It looks into performance metrics for organizational performance and associates reliability and maintainability with such metrics.

The design strategy is based on using models for reliability and profitability assessment as well as total quality management models to illustrate how performance metrics for organizational performance can be enhanced.

It shows there is a need to associate models of profitability assessment to reliability and maintainability management. This will help top management to see the strategic value of reliability and maintainability management and, therefore, adopt necessary organizational transformations to support reliability and maintainability goals.

It is important that the role of reliability and maintainability as important strategic variables be recognized and considered in future research that evaluates organizational performance and successes.

The importance of organizational cultural transformation is noted and a transformation of organizational information system to link reliability management to a central information system such as in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) framework is suggested as a process of improving system availability and reliability.

The aim is to have top management perceive reliability and maintainability issues as part of their strategic initiatives. While the value of total quality management in achieving organizational success is well accepted, reliability and maintainability issues are often viewed at the operational level. Yet, they are critical to achieving quality and organizational success.

Coronavirus disease 2019 is one of the novel diseases formed by a dreadful virus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. Various countries are affected by this viral disease, and many countries declare a lockdown with several rules and conditions. To prevent this rapid viral transmission, various researchers have introduced different mobile applications. This paper aims to study issues like viral transmission, mortality rates, vaccination rates, etc. and also provides suitable solutions based on the statistical analysis with the assistance of the Six-Sigma Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control (DMAIC) concept.

Statistical analysis is done for different countries, and the required solutions are provided by using the DMAIC procedure. This application has the ability to represent the current risk status of the user and notify them to secure themselves.

The proposed work suggests the Aarogya Setu application to prevent large viral transmission by affording many preventive measures. This application also issues the current risk status of each individual user. Hence, it gives improved results in avoiding high viral transmission.

The proposed six-sigma DMAIC concept also affords the control measures to prevent viral transmission. Hence, the suggested application has the highest chance of avoiding the rapid viral transmission.

Quality control in the automobile industry. Supply chain management. Brand reputation. Decision making. Civil responsibility.

MBA.

In 2004 a Toyota Hilux was involved in a traffic accident in Japan because of a defective rod which cracked. The driver lost control of the vehicle. In Japan, the problem was regarded as negligence, and Toyota implemented a recall program. Toyota's CEO needs to inform to the public how the issues related to the recall were not detected in the design and production process.

Understand how a problem in quality control occurred and to analyze all the possible causes and solutions. To identify the stakeholders that were involved in the problems, and to evaluate what was at stake for each one of them.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.