Put a Little Control in Your Quality

A recent trip to Switzerland taught me a lot about quality.

Whether it applies to the $25,000 Swiss-made Omega watch I briefly had on my wrist or the high level of service at the region’s hotels and restaurants, the Swiss certainly know a thing or two about quality.

But how do they get that way? I think it’s a trickle-down effect.

In a country where its products and services are almost metaphors for excellence, each person plays a role in continuing this tradition. But it’s also the process that keeps the level of quality high.

This was explained at the recent Studer and Schaudt Mikrosa Motion event held in Thun, Switzerland.

Gerd Konig, COO of parent company Fritz Studer AG, pointed to a simple-to-implement, but oftentimes difficult-to-maintain, Six Sigma initiative, which is one part of his company’s continual improvement process – DMAIC.

DMAIC is a strategy used to improve processes based on data collection. While part of Six Sigma, it typically can be implemented as a company’s stand-alone quality improvement process or joined together with other process improvement initiatives, such as lean manufacturing.

The methodology itself is pretty basic, but because it’s really only the results that matter, easy implementation typically is a good thing.

DMAIC (pronounced de-MAY-ick) is an acronym, albeit a mouthful, for the following five stages that make up the process:

1. Define. What is our problem?
2. Measure. How big is our problem?
3. Analyze. How can we best solve our problem?
4. Improve. Let’s change our process and eliminate our problem.
5. Control. Manage the new process to ensure our problem doesn’t re-emerge.

Imagine a relatively easy system (it’s only five steps) that can alter the future of your company. That’s the future promised by author Suresh Patel in The Tactical Guide to Six Sigma Implementation.

Simplifying a complex subject isn’t easy. It can even be intimidating when buzzwords seem to outnumber regular words in a conversation about quality improvement. Just remember: Quality isn’t about black belts, acceptance quality limits (AQL), or baka-yoke; it’s about implementing a system that works for your company and, more importantly, is sustainable.

Quality is a way of doing business, almost a lifestyle, and it affects every part of your business.