Quality & Continuous Improvement What is quality??? Meeting or exceeding the needs of the customer. Achieving a level of perfection without defects, mistakes or omissions. In construction: –Using specified materials –With correct installation –Finishing on time & budget with no claims or litigation. Quality workmanship needs to be a personal and corporate mindset.

ISO 9001 International Organization for Standardization Based in Switzerland but guidelines have been adopted and required worldwide Set of systematic approaches for managing the quality of work. 1.Focus on your customers 2.Provide leadership 3.Involve your people 4.Use a process approach 5.Take a systems approach 6.Encourage continual improvement 7.Get the facts before you decide 8.Work with your suppliers

Quality Assurance (QA) Management systems employed to produce consistent high-quality work. Hiring of qualified employees Safety programs Training & continuing education Incentive & reward programs Procurement systems for identification of high quality suppliers.

Quality Control (QC) Inspection of work to ensure it meets a specified level of quality –Accepting or rejecting work based on its compliance with quality specifications. QC used interchangeably with QA terms, but QC is a part of work produced while QA is an overall program. Low bid work does not always equate to high quality work. –High Quality contractors can negotiate for work after their quality levels are established.

Total Quality Management (TQM) Based on Japanese Automaker QC programs. System of continuous improvement. Made famous by W. Edwards Deming. Companies should be judged by their future planning.

14 TQM Points 1."Create constancy of purpose towards improvement". Replace short-term reaction with long-term planning. 2."Adopt the new philosophy". The implication is that management should actually adopt his philosophy, rather than merely expect the workforce to do so. 3."Cease dependence on inspection". If variation is reduced, there is no need to inspect manufactured items for defects, because there won't be any. 4."Move towards a single supplier for any one item." Multiple suppliers mean variation between feed stocks. 5."Improve constantly and forever". Constantly strive to reduce variation. 6."Institute training on the job". If people are inadequately trained, they will not all work the same way, and this will introduce variation. 7."Institute leadership". Deming makes a distinction between leadership and mere supervision. The latter is quota- and target-based. 8."Drive out fear". Deming sees management by fear as counter- productive in the long term, because it prevents workers from acting in the organization's best interests. 9."Break down barriers between departments". Another idea central to TQM is the concept of the 'internal customer', that each department serves not the management, but the other departments that use its outputs. 10."Eliminate slogans". Another central TQM idea is that it's not people who make most mistakes - it's the process they are working within. Harassing the workforce without improving the processes they use is counter-productive. 11."Eliminate management by objectives". Deming saw production targets as encouraging the delivery of poor-quality goods. 12."Remove barriers to pride of workmanship". Many of the other problems outlined reduce worker satisfaction. 13."Institute education and self-improvement". 14."The transformation is everyone's job".

Quality in Design Projects Utilize a system of independent checks and back checks to help ensure that: –Proper procedures have been used to prepare project. –Once chosen, the calculations and plans have been properly prepared correctly. Use a standard Check, Back- check, Fix and Final Check system.

Construction Engineering Technology Program Group Project QA/QC Procedures In order to produce better group projects as well as learn the techniques of the process of design quality assurance, the following procedures have been established to be used on design projects within the CET program when working in groups of two or more. 1.When an initial design step has been completed by a student member of a project team, a copy of their design calculations should be made and given to another team member for checking. The designer’s initials and date of design should be clearly on the original design in pencil. 2.CHECK: The checker should then proceed to review the team member’s design in order to verify that every calculation, assumption and detail is correct. (This process is nearly like doing the initial design except that you already have a design to follow. ) –While checking use a RED pencil or pen to signify problems within the design whether they are questions regarding the process or just errors. –Use a YELLOW pencil or pen to highlight everything in the design that is correct. –A design is completely and correctly checked when everything has received a red or yellow mark. –The checker then initials and dates the check set in RED and returns the check set to the designer. 3.BACKCHECK & FIX: The original designer now needs to review the checked design and rectify each error or answer all of the checker’s questions to the checker’s satisfaction. Changes (fixing errors or changing the design due to checker’s questions) should be fixed on the ORIGINAL DESIGN SHEETS. During the backckeck, the designer should mark off or answer the checker’s red marks using a GREEN pencil. The backcheck is complete when all of the red marks have been answered or checked off in GREEN. The Designer should initial the check set in GREEN. 4.After the checker is satisfied that all of the corrections have been made they can then initial the original calculations in pencil or pen to signify that the checking process has been performed correctly. All check sets should be included with whatever deliverables are required for submission for the project to be graded. Check sets should be labeled as such and should be placed behind the submittal set. Work should not continue on major portions of the project until the previous supporting work has been checked. Use logical groupings of work to be checked to avoid bogging down the design process. However, the more design steps that are done prior to checking creates the risk of having to correct more work if something is incorrect at the beginning. Have checks performed at intervals that keep work flowing but not proceeding without assurance that it is correct. It may be best to switch off design and checking tasks throughout the design process.

Quality Control in School Work Start by embracing quality now!!! Strive to do your best in your work: –Don’t be a minimalist! –Continually improve & learn from your mistakes. –Check your work: Answer all the questions Read Directions Document Neatly Look for errors Question everything!! Take pride in your work! It is a reflection on you!!!