International Journal of Quality and Innovation http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=305&year=2011&vol=1&issue=4 Inderscience Publishers Ltd en-uk International Journal of Quality and Innovation 1756-6975 1756-6983 © 2011 Inderscience Publishers Ltd editor@inderscience.com https://www.inderscience.com/images/files/coverImgs/ijqi_scoverijqi.jpg http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=305&year=2011&vol=1&issue=4 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=43487 This paper addresses the problems occurring in the control chart and develops a new way to improve the evaluation process of this widely used tool. Classical limitation of control chart is its inability to accurately diagnose the out of control situation. In the Shewhart's control chart, the effects of the variation of the process points plotted on the control chart are not taken into account for evaluation, which can be misleading for finding the out of control situations. For a more perfect evaluation, the variation of the positions of these points is needed to be incorporated. The research deals with this classical limitation of the control chart. Through a real illustrative example, this paper introduces the concept of fuzzy control chart as a tool for verifying level of variation, and trend in quality characteristics incorporating uncertainty by introducing linguistic variables to identify the position of the points in the control chart. The use of linguistic labels provides better neural view to inspectors for acceptance or rejection of process, offering different strategic options for company to choose etc. Fuzzy analysis for higher effectiveness of control chart
Golam Kabir; Sharmin Nahar Mithy; M. Ahsan Akhtar Hasin
International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 283 - 297
This paper addresses the problems occurring in the control chart and develops a new way to improve the evaluation process of this widely used tool. Classical limitation of control chart is its inability to accurately diagnose the out of control situation. In the Shewhart's control chart, the effects of the variation of the process points plotted on the control chart are not taken into account for evaluation, which can be misleading for finding the out of control situations. For a more perfect evaluation, the variation of the positions of these points is needed to be incorporated. The research deals with this classical limitation of the control chart. Through a real illustrative example, this paper introduces the concept of fuzzy control chart as a tool for verifying level of variation, and trend in quality characteristics incorporating uncertainty by introducing linguistic variables to identify the position of the points in the control chart. The use of linguistic labels provides better neural view to inspectors for acceptance or rejection of process, offering different strategic options for company to choose etc.

]]> 10.1504/IJQI.2011.043487 International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 283 - 297 Golam Kabir; Sharmin Nahar Mithy; M. Ahsan Akhtar Hasin Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh control charts fuzzy control charts linguistic variables membership function truth_value SPC statistical process control. 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 283 297 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=43488 Total productive maintenance (TPM) has a lacuna in taking care of customers' voice which can be overcome by integrating quality function deployment (QFD) principles. The integration gave rise to a model named maintenance quality function deployment (MQFD). In this research, the practical validity of MQFD has been tested in a switch-manufacturing unit. The customer voices have been used as the input for the house of quality (HoQ). The technical requirements and their relationships to voices were identified. Strategic decisions have been taken to distinguish the relevant outputs of HoQ which have to be passed through TPM and which have to be implemented with out the support of TPM. The output of TPM implementation has been analysed by the maintenance parameters like mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair (MTTR), mean down time (MDT), availability, performance quality and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE). Synergising TPM and QFD: a case of electronic switch manufacturing
V.R. Pramod; S.R. Devadasan
International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 298 - 325
Total productive maintenance (TPM) has a lacuna in taking care of customers' voice which can be overcome by integrating quality function deployment (QFD) principles. The integration gave rise to a model named maintenance quality function deployment (MQFD). In this research, the practical validity of MQFD has been tested in a switch-manufacturing unit. The customer voices have been used as the input for the house of quality (HoQ). The technical requirements and their relationships to voices were identified. Strategic decisions have been taken to distinguish the relevant outputs of HoQ which have to be passed through TPM and which have to be implemented with out the support of TPM. The output of TPM implementation has been analysed by the maintenance parameters like mean time between failures (MTBF), mean time to repair (MTTR), mean down time (MDT), availability, performance quality and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

]]> 10.1504/IJQI.2011.043488 International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 298 - 325 V.R. Pramod; S.R. Devadasan Department of Mechanical Engineering, NSS College of Engineering, Palakkad 678 008, Kerala State, India. ' Department of Production Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore 641 004, Tamilnadu State, India total productive maintenance TPM maintenance QFD quality function deployment MQFD switch manufacturing implementation study customer voice. 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 298 325 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=43489 Image analysis techniques are being increasingly used to automate industrial inspection. The manual activity of inspection could be subjective and highly dependent on the experience of human personnel. In this work, the authors introduce a novel visual inspection approach that can be used online to test simultaneously multiple quality characteristics. The approach utilises image processing tools to deal with the product image; and extract features of its geometrical characteristics. Based on tolerance bands of each characteristic, an index is experimentally developed to reflect the deviation of a quality characteristic dimension from its nominal value; and one can decide whether a characteristic complies with the pre-specified tolerance. The index is proved to have a linear association with the deviation from the nominal sizes. The research is extended to test shifts in a quality characteristic position. Visual inspection of dimensions and positions of geometrical quality characteristics
Mohammed H. Hassan; Safaa L. Diab
International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 326 - 337
Image analysis techniques are being increasingly used to automate industrial inspection. The manual activity of inspection could be subjective and highly dependent on the experience of human personnel. In this work, the authors introduce a novel visual inspection approach that can be used online to test simultaneously multiple quality characteristics. The approach utilises image processing tools to deal with the product image; and extract features of its geometrical characteristics. Based on tolerance bands of each characteristic, an index is experimentally developed to reflect the deviation of a quality characteristic dimension from its nominal value; and one can decide whether a characteristic complies with the pre-specified tolerance. The index is proved to have a linear association with the deviation from the nominal sizes. The research is extended to test shifts in a quality characteristic position.

]]> 10.1504/IJQI.2011.043489 International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 326 - 337 Mohammed H. Hassan; Safaa L. Diab Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, 1 Sherief St. 11792, Helwan, Cairo, Egypt. ' Faculty of Science, Helwan University, Ain Helwan, 11792, Helwan, Cairo, Egypt visual inspection image processing thresholding tolerance regression ANOVA quality characteristics online testing product images feature extraction. 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 326 337 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=43490 The importance of workplace environment and safety are getting increasing attention among researchers for decades. Each company needs to develop safety programs, procedures, policies and plans for their specific workplace. This can include a wide range of ideas, depending on what type of workplace environment and safety issues are of concern for the organisation. Workplace hazards and safety concerns need to be identified along with ways to handle them effectively to ensure a safe workplace and thus maintaining productivity of the organisation. Workplace environment and safety directly or indirectly influence the quality of products and productivity of an organization to a great extent. This paper addresses some issues on workplace environment and safety in a battery manufacturing company named Rahimafrooz Batteries Ltd. (RBL) and some recommendations have been suggested to handle those issues in an efficient and effective manner. Investigation on workplace environment and safety a case study in Rahimafrooz Batteries Ltd.
Zakia Farhana; Syed Mithun Ali; Mahmudur Rahman
International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 338 - 347
The importance of workplace environment and safety are getting increasing attention among researchers for decades. Each company needs to develop safety programs, procedures, policies and plans for their specific workplace. This can include a wide range of ideas, depending on what type of workplace environment and safety issues are of concern for the organisation. Workplace hazards and safety concerns need to be identified along with ways to handle them effectively to ensure a safe workplace and thus maintaining productivity of the organisation. Workplace environment and safety directly or indirectly influence the quality of products and productivity of an organization to a great extent. This paper addresses some issues on workplace environment and safety in a battery manufacturing company named Rahimafrooz Batteries Ltd. (RBL) and some recommendations have been suggested to handle those issues in an efficient and effective manner.

]]> 10.1504/IJQI.2011.043490 International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 338 - 347 Zakia Farhana; Syed Mithun Ali; Mahmudur Rahman Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. ' Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh. ' Chevron Bangladesh Ltd., 57, Gulshan Avenue (4th Floor), Gulshan-1, Dhaka 1212, Bangladesh workplace environment workplace safety workplace hazards lighting noise emergency evacuation occupational safety battery manufacturing. 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 338 347 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=43491 National initiatives in encouraging quality and innovation are part of many countries' attempt at developing a competitive edge in the global market. This paper describes and analyses how Singapore attempts to promote quality and innovation in its industries, giving specific examples of such initiatives to illustrate the strategies used to do so. It also discusses the considerations in promoting quality and innovation and some of the challenges Singapore will face in moving forward in this journey. The quest for quality and innovation in Singapore
Pak Tee Ng
International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 348 - 359
National initiatives in encouraging quality and innovation are part of many countries' attempt at developing a competitive edge in the global market. This paper describes and analyses how Singapore attempts to promote quality and innovation in its industries, giving specific examples of such initiatives to illustrate the strategies used to do so. It also discusses the considerations in promoting quality and innovation and some of the challenges Singapore will face in moving forward in this journey.

]]> 10.1504/IJQI.2011.043491 International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 348 - 359 Pak Tee Ng National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 1, Nanyang Walk, S(637616), Republic of Singapore Singapore quality innovation growth national initiatives strategy. 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 348 359 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=43492 Global competition exerts increasing pressure on companies to develop new products effectively and efficiently. Getting better products faster to market is thus becoming very critical for the companies. Traditional approaches to ideation and product development like sequential engineering takes too long and costs too much. Recognising this, many companies are veering towards product development through concurrent approach. The aim of this paper is to advance the theory and practise for one of the key enabling tools used in concurrent engineering called quality function deployment, known as QFD. The paper describes these product development methodologies and tools in general and the role QFD plays in concurrent engineering in particular. The paper begins with the summary of the available methods and procedures for the product development through concurrent engineering and compares concurrent engineering with sequential engineering. An attempt has also been made to provide an insight into the major components of the integrated design environment that companies might deploy to support their new product development process. Core concepts have been discussed in support of the arguments in favour of the integration of design technologies into a systematic management approach towards concurrent engineering. Concurrent engineering: an integrated design approach through a TQM tool quality function deployment (QFD)
Jitendra Sharma
International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 360 - 374
Global competition exerts increasing pressure on companies to develop new products effectively and efficiently. Getting better products faster to market is thus becoming very critical for the companies. Traditional approaches to ideation and product development like sequential engineering takes too long and costs too much. Recognising this, many companies are veering towards product development through concurrent approach. The aim of this paper is to advance the theory and practise for one of the key enabling tools used in concurrent engineering called quality function deployment, known as QFD. The paper describes these product development methodologies and tools in general and the role QFD plays in concurrent engineering in particular. The paper begins with the summary of the available methods and procedures for the product development through concurrent engineering and compares concurrent engineering with sequential engineering. An attempt has also been made to provide an insight into the major components of the integrated design environment that companies might deploy to support their new product development process. Core concepts have been discussed in support of the arguments in favour of the integration of design technologies into a systematic management approach towards concurrent engineering.

]]> 10.1504/IJQI.2011.043492 International Journal of Quality and Innovation, Vol. 1, No. 4 (2011) pp. 360 - 374 Jitendra Sharma Institute of Management Technology, Nagpur 441502, Maharashtra, India new product development NPD concurrent engineering integrated product design quality function deployment QFD simultaneous engineering design integration. 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00 1 4 360 374 2011-11-03T23:20:50-05:00