An exceptionally thorough treatment of quality, this bestselling text provides practical instruction for students as well as for those responsible for quality implementation and management. The authors address reliability against the backdrop of increasing litigation in the area of product performance. Complete chapters provide a historical perspective for Six Sigma and discuss the concepts of service excellence within healthcare organizations. The authors also provide an expanded analysis of process quality management and quality function deployment, parameters for customer satisfaction, ways to organize for TQM, and the use of control charts to account for variables.

MANAGEMENT OF TOTAL QUALITY. Total quality management and the revival of quality in the United States. Leadership. Information and analysis. Strategic quality planning. Human resources development and quality management. Management of process quality. Customer focus and satisfaction. Benchmarking. Organizing for total quality management. Quality and productivity.. PROCESSES AND QUALITY TOOLS. The cost of quality. The concept of a process. Understanding data. The seven basic quality control tools. Control charts for variables. Control charts for attributes. When to use different control charts. Quality improvement stories. Quality function deployment. CRITERIA FOR QUALITY PROGRAMS. ISO 9000. The Baldrige Award. European Union directives. QS-9000. ISO 14000. ISO 9000: A practical step-by-step approach. Process capability. Introduction to reliability. Introduction to Six Sigma. Healthcare service excellence.