Quality Management

Rosita Singleton

SBAD 372

Case Study Project

November 29, 2010

Managing Quality

One of the most important issues that businesses have focused on the last 30 years has been quality. As markets have become more competitive, businesses have looked for the competitive advantage that would keep them on top. Quality has become regarded as a key component for a successful business. In order to produce the products or services of the required quality, there has to be a process that is properly managed. The definition of quality as adopted by the American Society for Quality (ASQ, at www.asq.org): “The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.” Others, however, believe that the definition of quality fall into several grouping. These groupings include the user base, product base and the manufacturing base. Marketing people and customers tend to like the user base because it has a broader definition of quality. This base proposes that quality “lies in the eye of the beholder” translated to mean that quality is merely conformance to requirements, whatever they may be. The product base views quality as a precise and measurable variable. The third group is the manufacturing base. They believe that quality means being consistent with standards and “making it right the first time”. Although my focus will be on this third group, one essential aspect of quality that resonate through all the various groups is that quality, at its most basic level, is defined by the customer or the consumer. The basic principles for the quality management philosophy of doing business are to satisfy the customer, satisfy the supplier, and continuously improve the business.

The company I chose to research is Honeywell Aerospace, Greer R&O. This is a type of manufacturing facility but is more service oriented in that it repairs and overhauls engines for aircrafts. There is some production because there...