Title: A quality management system based on fuzzy quality pointers in ISO 9000

Authors: Matteo M. Savino, Aicha Seklouli Sekhari

Addresses: Department of Engineering, University of Sannio, Piazza Roma, 21 – 82100 Benevento, Italy. ' University of Lyon, Lumiere Lyon 2, LIESP – 160 Bd de l'Universite 69676 – Bron Cedex, France

Abstract: Quality Pointers (QPs) definition is a key activity in a Quality Management System (QMS) implementation because with them the Quality Manager (QM) is able to manage production processes and monitoring them in a logic of continuous improvement. With respect to the QPs values the QM can take specific decisions on the actions to improve and to correct these values. Moreover, QM|s decisions are related not only to the types of actions, but also to their distribution in a certain time period, assigning their correct priorities. The present paper fronts the problem of corrective actions| priorities through fuzzy sets and related rules, with the aim to avoid the problems related to ambiguous values of certain QPs. The approach has been applied to the main production processes of a firm producing motorboats, in which we have realised a Fuzzy QMS for Non-Conformities (NCs) management, defining an objective way to assign the priorities of actions addressed to resolve the NCs found.

Keywords: quality management systems; fuzzy QMS; ISO 9001; quality pointers; corrective actions; fuzzy logic; fuzzy sets; quality standards; production processes; process monitoring; continuous improvement; non-conformities.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2009.025255

International Journal of Product Development, 2009 Vol.8 No.4, pp.419 - 430

Published online: 18 May 2009 *

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