The TQM Journal

Rupa Mahanti; Jiju Antony

2009 The TQM Journal

doi: 10.1108/17542730910995837

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present the results from an empirical investigation of Six Sigma in the Indian software industry Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins with a review of literature of Six Sigma and its role in the software industry. The importance of Six Sigma in the software domain is presented, followed by presentation of the results from an empirical investigation of Six Sigma in the Indian software industry Findings – The research reflects the status of Six Sigma application and implementation in the software industry, identifies the commonly used statistical and non statistical and software engineering tools and frameworks used within software business; and determines the critical success factors (CSFs) for a successful Six Sigma initiative in the software/IT industry. The most important factor was management commitment and involvement. Documentation management and suppliers' involvement were found to be the least important factors. Research limitations/implications – This study was carried out with some boundaries like the number of companies, available resources, time constraints, etc. Practical implications – This paper dispels the myths concerning the unsuitability of Six Sigma in the software arena. At the same time it highlights the status of Six Sigma implementation in Indian software organizations and the critical success factors for implementation of Six Sigma. Originality/value – Little research has been carried out in terms of empirical survey relating to the application of Six Sigma in the software industry like that demonstrated in this paper. The paper will be valuable for quality professionals and management personnel in software organizations.

Martín Tanco; Elisabeth Viles; Laura Ilzarbe; Ma Jesus Alvarez

2009 The TQM Journal

doi: 10.1108/17542730910995846

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to provide an extensive review of the barriers faced by engineers when applying design of experiments (DoE). The aim is to help new practitioners learn from the past and avoid possible barriers that they may encounter when applying DoE in industry. Design/methodology/approach – An exhaustive literary review was carried out to find articles in which hindrances to the application of DoE were mentioned. The information is organised and grouped into 16 barriers with this end in mind. Findings – The 16 barriers can be classified into three different groups: business barriers; educational barriers; and technical barriers. It is shown that DoE can be successfully applied without overcoming every barrier, although it is inconvenient to do so. Practical implications – Although DoE is commonly found in statistics and quality literature, it is clearly underused in industry. The paper brings together ideas from those with experience in DoE to detect the reasons behind this anomaly. Originality/value – Very little material has been published regarding the difficulty of applying DoE. Unfortunately, what is available is repetitive, unstructured and incomplete. The paper is intended to encourage discussion between practitioners and experts, in order to find a way to define, categorise and eventually overcome the most problematic barriers.

Hongyi Sun; Yangyang Zhao; Hon Keung Yau

2009 The TQM Journal

doi: 10.1108/17542730910995855

Purpose – The speed of new product development (NPD) has been a key factor in a firm's degree of competitiveness. The tools and philosophy of quality management have been widely used to improve and control product quality. However, there is a lack of literature on the relationship between quality management and NPD. This paper aims to report on a study that investigates the influence of quality management on the speed of NPD. Design/methodology/approach – The philosophy of quality management refers to total quality management (TQM). Tools for quality management include teamwork, continuous improvement (CI), value analysis (VA) and quality function deployment (QFD). This study begins by comparing literature in concurrent engineering (CE) and TQM, which leads to several common principles and five hypotheses. The hypotheses are tested using survey data from 700 manufacturing companies in 20 countries. Findings – The research reveals that TQM, Team, VA and QFD are positively correlated with the speed of NPD, meaning that the tools and philosophy of quality management have a positive influence on the speed of NPD. However, no relationship is found between CI and the speed of NPD. Research limitations/implications – This paper tests hypotheses using survey data. It reveals the empirical relationship between quality management and the speed of NPD but does not provide details regarding the mechanism of influence between the two. Consequently, case studies should be conducted in the future to probe into the details. Additionally, new quality methods like Six Sigma can also be included in a future study, since Six Sigma covers both quality and NPD. Practical implications – This study proposes that companies that have implemented TQM and other quality management tools will have a better foundation for implementing new NPD approaches like CE and design for manufacturing and assembly. This is especially encouraging for those original engineering manufacturing (OEM) firms that would like to change from OEM to original design manufacturing/original brand manufacturing (ODM/OBM). OEM companies typically implement TQM but invest very little in NPD. Originality/value – This paper fills the gap in research exploring the links between quality management and NPD. It addresses the concern over whether quality management may hinder NPD. The critical issues for implementing quality management such as culture change, learning, change management, and team building can all be applied to implementing NPD methods such as CE. The result also supports the concept of “design the quality into products”. It is beneficial for employees in quality and NPD to share and work together.

Paulo A. Cauchick Miguel; José Celso Sobreiro Dias

2009 The TQM Journal

doi: 10.1108/17542730910995864

Purpose – ISO 9001 certification assures that a company employs a quality system, which provides trust for the customers but this system does not assure the quality of the products. It is then necessary to apply other methods and tools to achieve the demanded quality. This paper aims to propose a framework for combining ISO 9001 requirements with quality function deployment (QFD). Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical framework is developed followed by an empirical application. The framework consists of three components: quality assurance items, critical operational functions, and requirements of the ISO 9001: 2000 quality management system. The framework is then applied in a company that produces surge arresters. Findings – Main results indicate that the proposed framework may assist in developing products and prioritising quality assurance items, critical operational functions, and ISO 9001: 2000 requirements. The empirical application provided an effective case of QFD full usage. In addition, the application was useful to the company not only for achieving a better organizational quality structure, but also for recording company knowledge through QFD. Research limitations/implications – For more extensive empirical validation further replications among other samples are needed for external validation of the findings. Originality/value – Although QFD is extensively explored in the literature, this paper is one of the few published studies that report and discuss the use of QFD with ISO 9001. In addition, the proposed framework may be useful for practitioners and academics, who deal with the subject of quality.

Raj Kumar; Dixit Garg; T.K. Garg

2009 The TQM Journal

doi: 10.1108/17542730910995873

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the various factors important for total quality management implementation in various manufacturing organizations and to assess their relevance for Indian manufacturing organizations. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review was conducted for important factors and a survey approach was used to collect relevant data from industries. Further data were used to establish a model. Findings – It is shown that customer focus must be the prime objective for various industries to achieve total quality management. All the factors must be used systematically to achieve total quality management (TQM) and it can be done efficiently by using a model having four phases to implement TQM. Originality/value – The paper will be useful for manufacturing as well as service industries that are in the starting phase of TQM implementation or have already failed to implement TQM at their works.

Maneesh Kumar; Jiju Antony; Alex Douglas

2009 The TQM Journal

doi: 10.1108/17542730910995882

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the quality initiatives implemented in UK manufacturing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and to perform a comparative analysis of quality management practices within Six Sigma firms against the non‐Six Sigma manufacturing SMEs. Design/methodology/approach – To achieve the research objective, a survey‐based approach is adopted by designing a short questionnaire addressing the issues of quality practices in SMEs. The paper encompasses the survey results from the first phase of Doctoral study to identify Six Sigma and non‐Six Sigma companies. Findings – The response rate from the survey is 12.7 per cent out of 500 companies identified through the use of random sampling technique within the FAME and Dun & Bradstreet database of manufacturing SMEs. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS and Microsoft Excel. The findings from the study reveal that there is a significant difference in the performance of the Six Sigma/Lean firms against ISO certified companies. However, it is interesting to reflect on the findings of critical success factors (CSFs) of the sample firms. There is no significant difference in the perceived importance of the identified CSFs' variables in the Six Sigma and ISO certified SMEs. Research limitations/implications – The focus of the study is only on UK manufacturing SMEs encompassing 64 firms. The small sample size and focus on manufacturing sector limits its generalisability to the entire SME population. Future study should focus on performing a comparative study of manufacturing and service based SMEs in UK or Europe. Originality/value – The novelty of the paper lies in conducting a comparative study on the performance of Six Sigma and non‐Six Sigma UK SMEs and drawing out valuable lessons for academics, consultants, researchers and practitioners of continuous improvement initiatives like Lean and Six Sigma.