This book is about a real factory that, by choosing to remake itself, changed its fortunes remarkably. This book offers our insights and experiences to those who wish to achieve similar results. We offer a set of principles and ideas, and Mountaintop's experience shows them at work. We encourage the reader to adapt the principles to his or her particular situation. Managerial or professional employees in any manufacturing or service activity should benefit from Mountaintop's experiences.

This book discusses both the hard (technical) and soft (human behavioral) aspects of quality. These include:

1. Cultural change and social factors
2. Teaming and organizational development
3. Self-directed work teams (SDWT's), or autonomous work groups
4. Total productive maintenance (TPM), and 5S-CANDO
5. Integrated yield management (IYM)
6. Synchronous flow manufacturing (SFM), which is similar to Just In Time (JIT)
7. ISO 9000 and QS-9000
8. Statistical process control (SPC) and industrial statistics
9. The Internet

Commitment to quality and excellence must pervade the organization at every level. Average organizations will do what they must to get the ISO 9000 certificate. Excellent organizations view ISO 9000 as a framework and guide for self-assessment and continual improvement. They see the standard as a welcome quality improvement tool, not a costly and time-consuming requirement. The standard can drive creative and innovative thinking about the company's quality system.

No single tool or approach works in all situations. We should observe others, learn how they achieve results, and see what we can apply to our situation. We must select only the applicable tools, and we must adapt them according to our needs. Fit the quality management or human resource tool to the situation; don't try to make the situation fit the tool.

Figure 1.1 shows the basic idea. The triangle is the diagram for a quality management system, and we can adapt it to this discussion. Immutable, unyielding principles are at the top. Readers of Stephen R. Covey's Principle-Centered Leadership will recognize them as the organizational compass. Covey talks about the "soft side" of management: principles for leading people and organizations. There also are principles for the "hard side," including production control. A compass always works, no matter who or where its user is. Covey also discusses maps and their limitations. Maps work only in specific places and situations, but a compass works anywhere.

Figure 1.1 Hierarchy of Principles, General Practices, and Specific Practices

Here is another principle: assure quality by controlling the process. Statistical process control applies to manufacturing processes that make discrete items. Chemical factories use automatic controllers that are suitable for continuous processes. The chemical factory and the discrete process follow the same principle: control the process. They diverge, however, at the generally accepted practice for doing it. Activities that use SPC then face further choices. Should they use traditional Shewhart charts, exponentially weighted moving averages (EWMA), or cumulative sum (CUSUM)? They should use whatever is most effective for their specific processes. This book offers the compass, and shows some generally accepted practices.

"Do as I say, not as I do," has obvious deficiencies. Its converse, "Do exactly as I do, imitate me in every detail," also has problems. It is Taylorism at the managerial or executive level: "leave your brain at the factory gate." Blind adherence to dogmatic recipes is not a formula for success. There is no formula for success! Instead, look at what we did, pay close attention to the underlying ideas and principles, adapt them to your situation, and improve on them!

Cohen and Gooch (1991, 51) explain this principle in a military context. Why was Japan's air raid on Pearl Harbor (7 December, 1941) so successful? The United States had all the elements of a powerful air defense system: antiaircraft guns, fighter planes, and even radar. Radar, a British invention, was not even available to Japan in 1941. The air defense elements, however, did not work together or support each other. In contrast, close cooperation between English radar stations and the Royal Air Force helped win the Battle of Britain.

In 334 BCE, Alexander the Great led an invasion force across the Hellespont into Asia Minor. The Persians had three times as many ships as the Greeks, and their sailors were better. A determined attack might have stopped Alexander's invasion before it started. However, the Macedonians did not see even a single enemy warship during the crossing. "Coordinated strategy could not be called the Persian High Command's strongest point" (Green, 1991, p. 167). Again, the system element was there, but the system wasn't.

Quality comes from people who use the programs and techniques as part of a quality system. Stephen R. Covey (1991, 265) says,

Deming's "14 Points" are more than a mere checklist of things to do to achieve Total Quality. These points are integrated, interdependent, and holistic. They must be viewed and applied as an interrelated system of paradigms, processes, and procedures- a complete framework of management and leadership harnessed to achieve maximum effectiveness and quality of product and service from the people constituting the enterprise.

During the 1980's, many companies viewed statistical process control (SPC) as a miraculous Japanese success secret. They thought they could get instant quality by putting SPC charts on every process. They did not understand how the charts worked, and the operators did not understand their purpose. The charts looked impressive on the factory walls, but they did not improve quality. Hradesky (1987, p. 119) refers to such charts as wallpaper. The technique was present, but it did not fit into an overall system.

Table 1.1 shows the interaction of Mountaintop's quality programs.

Table 1.1 Mutually Supporting Quality System Elements

                                    Quality System Element                 

 Interaction with:               Self-directed teams, teaming              

Cultural change,     The organization's members must accept the            
social factors       self-directed work team (SDWT) concept and make it    
                     work.                                                 

ISO 9000, QS-9000    Teams have to make them work. Frontline workers are   
                     the key players, and they must know why the programs  

                     are important.                                        

Synchronous Flow     Teams improve yields, reduce scrap. Yield             
Manufacturing (SFM)  improvement and scrap reduction are especially        
                     important after the constraint                        

Total Productive     Teams handle preventive maintenance, 5S-CANDO. Team   
Maintenance (TPM),   members must acquire the necessary skills to          
5S-CANDO             maintain the equipment.                               

IYM, SPC, Design of  Teams can take responsibility for SPC.                
Expts. (DOX),                                                              
calibration                                                                

The Internet         Mountaintop's computer network helps people share     
                     information. Some companies have intranets, or        
                     internal networks. Harris will use the intranet to    
                     let teams post their meeting times, minutes, and      
                     projects.                                             

Summary              "Frontline people make it work."                      

                                Cultural change, social factors            

ISO 9000, QS-9000    ISO 9000 and QS-9000  preclude the "old way" of       
                     doing business. Everyone must buy in to make them     
                     work.                                                 

SFM                  Discard old paradigms about "efficiencies," etc.      
                     Don't make inventory to "keep workers busy" or "make  
                     the numbers" (production quotas). Recognize the       
                     difference between the cost accounting world and the  
                     production world.                                     

TPM, 5S-CANDO        The techniques require acceptance and buy-in.         

IYM, SPC, DOX        The techniques require acceptance and buy-in.         

The Internet         Recognize its value and use it. It will change the    
                     way everyone does business.                           

Summary              "Organizations must accept change to survive and      
                     prosper."                                             

                                       ISO 9000, QS-9000                   

SFM                  Supports QS-9000 goals for continuous (productivity)  
                     improvement.                                          

TPM, 5S-CANDO        QS-9000 requires preventive maintenance.              

IYM, SPC, DOX        The standards require statistical methods, and the    
                     methods support continuous improvement activities.    

The Internet         Information resources are available to help meet      
                     requirements.                                         

Summary              "ISO 9000 and QS 9000 are valuable guides for         
                     continuous improvement of the quality system."        

                                Synchronous Flow Manufacturing             

TPM, 5S-CANDO        SFM makes the need for TPM more urgent. Prevent       
                     downtime, especially at the constraint. Focus TPM     
                     efforts on the constraint.                            

IYM, SPC, DOX.       Improve/ protect yields, especially at and after the  
                     constraint                                            

The Internet         Online information sources are available.             

Summary              "The goal is to make money." We achieve this by       
                     delivering products or services. Misleading           
                     measurements cause suboptimization.                   

                            Total Productive Maintenance, 5S-CANDO         

IYM, SPC, DOX.       TPM suppresses problems that can reduce throughput    
                     yield, and supports IYM.                              

The Internet                                                               

Summary              "Suppress friction and win." Friction is Carl von     
                     Clausewitz' term for seemingly minor events whose     
                     cumulative effect results in failure.                 

                              SPC, Design of Expts., calibration           

The Internet         There is lots of information to help with             
                     problem-solving, improvements. Links to NIST, other   
                     calibration support.                                  

Summary              Calibration: "If you can't measure it, you can't      
                     control it."

Now consider a company that sees ISO 9000 as a process of continuous improvement. It will improve its productivity and quality, reduce its costs, and satisfy its customers. The process of diligently earning and maintaining certification changes ISO 9000 from an expensive annoyance into a moneymaking tool (Scotto, 1996). Harris Semiconductor's training stresses that ISO 9000's purpose is to help assure quality and improve productivity. Every employee must understand the program's purpose, and his or her role in making it work.

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