Using quality improvement methodologies to enhance cross departmental collaboration and quality cost reduction

Abstract

The research and project implementations described in this study took place during a seven-month period in 2004 at a distribution transformer factory in Germany. The purpose of this research is to show how quality management tools were used to break down functional business barriers and spread the responsibility for quality improvement throughout the local factory organization. A Cost of Quality (CoQ) analysis was used to diagnose the factory's main problem areas and prioritize the ensuing improvement efforts. Based on the analysis results, projects were developed that focused on reducing expenditures associated with failures found internal to the factory. These projects included: redesigning the failure resolution process to improve documentation practices and root cause analysis, implementing a First Pass Yield metric to help reduce the number of revisions generated by the Engineering and Order Management departments, and implementing a process-focused problem solving methodology to reduce Partial Discharge failures (the site's most costly internal quality failure). Each of the aforementioned projects required collaboration from multiple departments, and tools were implemented to facilitate process improvements and cross departmental communication. The ultimate goals of these initiatives are to decrease failure costs, reduce waste and increase the profitability and competitive position of the factory's transformer product.