Quality improvement is a characteristic of quality management and it is the continuous improvement of the output of products and services using management systems.  There are various quality management systems available.

Many Quality improvement tools today are used due to a high demand for large volumes of high value products and services using cheaper materials in production during the second world war. Present systems such as Kaizen, Total quality management (TQM), Quality circles and Six Sigma have shown the power and effects a team-base improvement system can have on production. Process capability design is at the forefront when using Six Sigma.

Some improvement tools include:

•    Control charts
•    Lot sampling
•    Process capability
•    Value Analysis (VA)

A sustainable and continuous  improvement program in a company has to be part of the companies’ cooperate culture, and staff should be trained on the system adopted for this type of management and improvement.

Improvement Techniques:

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a business management tool developed by the Motorola Company in the mid 80’s. It seeks to improve the quality output and efficiency of companies by identifying the probable defects in a given process and minimizing the variability in output.  This process uses a set of methods including statistical methods creating an infrastructure of people within the organization. Each Six Sigma project process in an organization follows a laid down sequence with the aim of reducing cost and maximizing profit.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM uses teams made up of workers from all sectors in the company to solve issues. The teams undergo training in the use of basic statistical tools that are used in the collection and analysis of data.

ISO 9000

ISO 9000 is a standard of quality systems. The ISO 9000 family of standards ensure that organizations meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders. This process deals with the basics of quality management, emphasizing on eight principles on which the family of standards is based.

Quality Control Circle (QCC)

Quality control circle is a small group of workers who come together to discuss ways of identifying, analyzing, solving and selecting work related issues.

Kaizen

Kaizen (Japanese for improvement) is a daily process geared towards rapid improvement. Kaizen focuses on total reduction of waste while increasing the output of products, and services and achieving sustained improvement in processes and specific activities.

No matter the techniques being used to improve the quality of the production process in a company, they all have the same objective; to save on costs while satisfying the customer. Many techniques don’t just seek to improve a system to a certain standard, some techniques like 6 Sigma strive to continuously improve a system or systems within an entire company.