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Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2013 Vol I,
WCE 2013, July 3 - 5, 2013, London, U.K.

On the Use of Quality Tools: A Case Study

Fábio A. Fernandes, Sérgio D. Sousa, Member, IAENG and Isabel Lopes

 all stages of the product development and production, with

Abstract— Organizations need to improve their processes to the goal of cost reduction and customer satisfaction.
continually achieve customer satisfaction and, to do that in an However, it is recommended first to diagnose the different
effective and efficient way, should use quality tools. The main processes to identify those most in need of improvement.
objective of this research project is to improve the level of
quality through the use of quality tools in a company in the
This will provide managers with the justification for the
installation phase. The PDCA cycle is applied as a methodology selection of one particular process for improvement over
to trigger the use of quality tools in problems solving. It is also others. Once the process has been selected, a definition of
intended to verify the effectiveness of the PDCA cycle as a the problem must be made and the right tools must be
methodology for quality tools implementation. A case study was chosen to make the resolution more effective and efficient.
performed starting with the diagnosis of the quality Lopes, et al. [5] present a study on the use of quality tools
management function, identifying the most critical processes.
Subsequently, an analysis of the historical data of the company and improvement methodologies in Portuguese firms. The
was made to detect problems and prioritize actions. After, the main findings of this study revealed that Portuguese
intervention focused on solving a specific process problem companies recognize the value and impact of quality tools,
following the PDCA cycle and using quality tools in all its steps. but their use falls short of this recognition. Companies with a
The presented methodology can help companies to increase the low degree of maturity in quality processes use few tools and
use of quality tools which, according to recent study, continues
when they reach a higher level of maturity its use increases
to have little use. All tools have proved to be useful and
effective. The application of the Taguchi method to determine [3]. Similarly, the use also increases with firm size.
the optimum combination of factors of a station (together with The main objective of this research project is to use
other improvement actions) caused a 50% decrease of the most quality tools to improve the level of quality management in
critical defective component and an overall reduction of 29% in an industry in the installation phase. First a diagnostic of
the level of nonconformities in the preparation section. quality management functions is made to identify priority
areas for quality improvement, later quality tools are used to
Index Terms—Quality Management, Quality Tools, Process
carry out effective actions to improve quality. The PDCA
Improvement
cycle is also used as an effective support for continuous
improvement.
I. INTRODUCTION Thus, this research aims to be a practical contribution in
the implementation of quality tools and uses case study as
Q UALITY management can be used as a competitive
advantage for an organization. According to ISO
9001:2008, organizations should ensure that customer
research method. This method allows a detailed observation
of a context [6], whose main limitation is the reduced
possibility of making generalizations from the study,
requirements are determined, to ensure their satisfaction [1].
however, allows responding to the "how" and "why" of a
Thus, organizations need to improve their processes and for
particular issue and offers the researcher the possibility to
that use a set of practices, which include various techniques
focus on a specific case and identify the various interactive
and tools, including most importantly quality tools.
processes underway [7].
Ishikawa [2] discusses the importance of implementing
To achieve the established research goal the methodology
quality tools, stating that 95% of quality problems can be
presented in Figure 1will be applied.
solved by simple tools such as the basic quality tools. The
importance of quality tools is recognized by [3] by stating
that many businesses do not succeed in implementing Total
Quality Management (TQM), since they do not apply
appropriate methods of quality management, especially
quality tools. According to [4], quality tools can be used at

Manuscript received March 19, 2013; revised April 05, 2013. This work
was financed with FEDER Funds by Programa Operacional Fatores de
Competitividade – COMPETE and by National Funds by FCT –Fundação
para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Project: FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-022674. Fig. 1. Implementation methodology of quality tools.
S. D. Sousa is with Centro Algoritmi, University of Minho, Campus de
Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal, phone: +351 253 604 762; e-mail: This methodology consists of three steps, wherein the first
[email protected].
I. S. Lopes is with Centro Algoritmi, University of Minho, Campus de stage (Assessment of quality management processes) there is
Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal; e-mail: [email protected]. an evaluation of the company’s quality management
F. A. Fernandes is with Centro Algoritmi, University of Minho, Campus processes to diagnose possible problems and limitations in
de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal; e-mail:
[email protected].
these processes leading to the identification of improvement

ISBN: 978-988-19251-0-7 WCE 2013

ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online)
Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2013 Vol I,
WCE 2013, July 3 - 5, 2013, London, U.K.

opportunities. The second step (General quality data • Concerning quality improvement, there was no
analysis) aims to analyze the historical records of occurrence established methodology and the use of tools and techniques
of nonconformities in the entire production process in order was expressionless.
to prioritize actions to resolve the problems. The third step • In general, the application of quality tools was nearly
consists of the application PDCA cycle (to solve a specific inexistent in the studied processes, with the exception of the
problem that was considered a priority in the previous step). use of record and check sheets that are used regularly.
At all stages, where appropriate, quality tools will be applied • The fact that there is a record of historical data shows
to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of actions. the company's concern in measuring the process, which
provides an opportunity to use tools to assist decision
II.COMPANY BACKGROUND making.
The production unit under study, located in northern TABLE I
PROCESSES AND SUB-PROCESSES FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Portugal, is dedicated to the production of leather
components for leather goods and is being installed. This Quality
Process
Function
company, during installation, plans to recruit, train and
A. Quality A.1. Suppliers qualification
integrate the human resources needed for growth over three Planning A.2. Definition and communication of the raw
years, until stabilization. Since its beginning and throughout materials/components or subcontracted services
requirements to the supplier
the study, the company had an average monthly enrollment A.3. Definition of the specifications/acceptance criteria and
critical features of the product
of twelve direct workers (currently has about one hundred A.4. Customer requirements survey and product features
workers), intending to continue this pace until the end of the validation to meet customer requirements
A.5. Survey and verification of the compliance with the
installation phase. statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to the
The production system is organized into three functional product
A.6. Preliminary studies on the processes capability (products)
sections: cutting (raw material (leather) is cut giving rise to or skill (services) and operating conditions
various components); preparation (components undergo A.7. Ensure that who is involved in the processes have the
necessary capabilities and knowledge to the products
various operations, including, uniformity and reduction of realization
leather thickness, pressing, bonding, molding and painting); A.8. Identification of potential problems (that may arise in the
product realization) and solutions
and assembly (components are assembled to form the end
B. Quality B.1. Planning of inspection and testing in the production
product, through sewing operations). Control B.2. Inspection and testing of raw materials/components and
The main system inputs are leather and textiles and the control of subcontracted services
B.3. Calibration /verification of measurement, inspection and
main outputs are four families of products, each with an testing equipments (MITEs)
average of around ten product references. There is, typically, B.4. Identification and treatment of nonconforming product
B.5. Corrective actions to sporadic problems
an introduction of a new product family quarterly. B.6. Verification of the process capability
C. Quality C.1. Identification of improvement opportunities
Improvement C.2. Priorities definition
III. ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT PROCESSES C.3. Analysis of opportunities for improvement
C.4. Definition and planning of improvement actions
The quality function of the company under study is part of C.5. Verification/ monitoring of the effectiveness of
the sub-department of Quality and involves a person who improvement actions
leads this area, although the Logistics Department has some
tasks related to this management, particularly as regards the Taking into account the conducted evaluation, it was
relationship with suppliers and customers. The company has concluded that the most important problem the company is
no certification on quality management, and there is no facing is related to the production process. Due to the low
formal quality management system. maturity of the production process, there is the need to
At the beginning of this study, the sub-department of strengthen the control of manufacturing processes and to
Quality had been created for about 3 months and had focus also on quality improvement.
procedures and processes relating to quality management Concerning quality improvement processes, it was found
with a low degree of maturity and robustness. This finding that improvement opportunities were not identified, that
emerged from a review of the processes of quality planning, priorities are not defined, nor are implemented improvement
control and improvement, practiced in this company. The actions and verified their effectiveness. In this sense, the
evaluation was conducted by reference to the processes and need arose to implement quality tools in order to support
sub-processes defined by [8], for the evaluation of the decision-making with the aim of continuous improvement of
quality function, which are shown in Table I. processes performance and customer satisfaction.
Upon completion of the evaluation of processes and sub-
processes of quality planning, control and improvement, the IV. GENERAL QUALITY DATA ANALYSIS
following was established:
To detect improvement opportunities in the production
• There are some procedures of quality planning, however
process, the first step was to analyze historical data about
they are not documented.
nonconformities in all production section. The analysis was
• Regarding quality control, it was verified that sampling
performed taking into account the records made in the past
or 100% inspections are performed in different stages of the
three months. Until then, no statistical analysis had been
production process.
made to the collected data that were only recorded on check
• It was also found that no actions were undertaken to
sheets.
avoid quality problems in manufacturing.
Therefore, the undertaken analysis aims to understand

ISBN: 978-988-19251-0-7 WCE 2013

ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online)
Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2013 Vol I,
WCE 2013, July 3 - 5, 2013, London, U.K.

what are the most common problems and in which sections the total percentage with a percentage of 9.6 %.
they were located to provide a support for defining Although the preparation section was identified as the
appropriate actions. hardest, no one knew the origins of the problems and their
To accomplish this objective, two histograms were built size. Thus, a Pareto chart was elaborated classifying
considering: the percentage of defective components in the nonconforming components by its origin. It was found that
preparation section by day (see Figure 2) and the percentage three of twelve origins contributed significantly to the total
of defective components in the assembly section by day. The percentage of nonconformities. The IG station
histograms show the variation over time of the percentage of (Equalization), along with the folding station (VC),
nonconforming components. None of the histograms show a downstream the IG station, and the raw material (MP)
trend or nor fit a known distribution. This tool showed that represented about 70% of nonconformities of this section.
the percentage of nonconforming components in the The station IG represented 20.7% of the total
preparation section is higher than the percentage of nonconforming components registered in preparation
nonconforming component in the assembly section for section. Thus, taking into consideration that this is the first
almost considered days. station of this section’s production process and that other
operations depend on the compliance of this station, the IG
station was considered a priority once it has a high
opportunity for improvement.
Following the above findings, it was considered necessary
to verify if the production of nonconforming components of
the more problematic section - Preparation - was under
control, or if there were assignable causes influencing the
process. For this, an attribute control chart was designed
(illustrating the variation of the percentage of
nonconforming components of this section) and it was
concluded that the process was not under control, since some
points were outside the control limits, most of them above
the Upper Control Limit, indicating the presence of
assignable causes and, therefore, the necessity to develop
actions to eliminate these causes.
In summary, the quality tools applied in this step allowed
to conclude the following:
x The preparation section was the most troublesome;
Fig. 2. Histogram of nonconforming components in preparation. x Many of the assembly section problems stemmed from
the preparation section;
The average number of nonconforming components in the x The FL component was the most troublesome;
preparation section is 3.5%. Similarly, the average number x The priority station in the implementation of
of nonconforming components in the assembly section was improvement initiatives is the IG station;
2.1% of defective components, which denotes that the x There were assignable causes in the IG station and it is
number of detected nonconformities is significantly higher in therefore necessary to take actions to stabilize this process.
the preparation section.
Taking this into account, another histogram was V. PDCA CYCLE
elaborated to understand the influence of the preparation
section in the next section of the productive process, the A. Plan
assembly section. This new histogram represents the In this stage a detailed characterization of the problem
percentage of nonconforming components detected in the under study was performed and goals were set. The likely
assembly that are originated in preparation. The average causes of the problem were analyzed and an action plan was
percentage of nonconformities from preparation section established to eliminate or reduce such causes.
detected in assembly was of 20% of the total number of The problem identified is located (in the first operation
detected nonconformities and on some days the percentage after cutting the raw material) in the station IG, the first
reached 50%. operation the preparation section, and was related to the
After the preparation section was identified as the most nonconforming components originated in this operation
problematic, the next step was to understand what (thinning of the leather) that were detected in process and
component contributes more for the total percentage of which led to several complaints from customers. However,
nonconforming components originated by this section. from the various components that are handled in this station,
Therefore, another histogram was elaborated, showing the the FL component, identified in the previous step as the
distribution of nonconformities among the different component with the highest percentage of nonconforming,
components produced by the company in the last three will be subject of detailed analysis. The most common
months. From this histogram, the component designated by defects of the FL component are:
FL was identified as the one that has the biggest impact in - Component is destroyed during operation;

ISBN: 978-988-19251-0-7 WCE 2013

ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online)
Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2013 Vol I,
WCE 2013, July 3 - 5, 2013, London, U.K.

- The thickness of the component is outside the above the upper limit of control), indicating the presence of
specification limits of 0.40 ± 0.05 mm; assignable causes in the process.
- The thickness varies along the component, being Aiming to analyze the unknown assignable causes a
outside of the tolerances. multidisciplinary working group was defined, consisting of
the coordinator of the Quality sub-department, the
So, it was concluded that the problem to be studied, responsible for maintenance, the Head of Production and IG
following the methodology PDCA was: FL component station operators. Brainstorming sessions were performed in
production with a thickness outside the specification limits regular meetings to identify the possible causes of the
and / or non-uniform, originated from the station X. problem. Following this process a cause-effect diagram was
The goal established by the Production Director, was to built to expose in a visually and intuitive manner the main
reduce by about 10% the number of nonconforming root causes of the problem (Figure 3).
components of the preparation section. The main causes pointed were, in general, related to the
The identification of this problem as an improvement experimental procedure, control methods, measurement
opportunity arose with the analysis of existing data method, parameterization of the machine, devices,
concerning this station. A survey of the historical equipment, among others.
occurrences of this problem was performed (data previously An R&R study was performed to analyze the capability of
recorded but not yet analyzed) and stakeholders were the measurement system, i.e. the assessment of the precision
questioned (team leaders, responsible for Quality) of the measurement system. The repeatability study consists
concerning the occurrence of this problem. of the ability of the measuring instrument to repeatedly
According to the available data, the objectives were to provide the same results and the reproducibility is the ability
analyze the daily evolution of the problem and to find out if of the measuring system repeatedly providing the same
there were differences in its occurrence on different shifts. A results when one factor changes (in this case it was done
histogram stratified by work shift (A and B) and day with different operators).
(throughout the month of March) was built. It was found that For this, 30 samples representative of the product range
there is no significant difference between the two shifts were separated and measured twice by two operators. One
regarding the registration of nonconforming components. operator measured in an identified position of the component
To gather more evidence on the problem, the and later, without knowing that it was the same component,
implementation of a record sheet was proposed. After this repeated the measurement, with the same measuring
implementation it would be possible to know in an efficient instrument (repeatability). The other operator carried out the
way which components detected in preparation are same procedure to allow the estimation of reproducibility.
nonconforming products and which ones had been caused by Ultimately, it was found that the capability of the measuring
station IG. process was not acceptable since the precision to tolerance
After the implementation of this record sheet, it became Ratio was much greater than 10%. However, the value of the
necessary to analyze if the process of station X was under estimated standard deviation for repeatability (σr) is almost
statistical control. Thus, a control chart for attributes was three times greater than the estimated standard deviation of
constructed, calculating the average fraction of defective reproducibility (σR), thus the main source of variation that
units and the respective control limits. By analyzing the affects system precision comes from the measurement
chart, it was found that the process was not controlled (the instrument. A reduction in the amount of σR, which could be
production of nonconforming components was not achieved with the workers’ training, in this case, would have
controlled), as featured points outside the limits (mainly little influence on the results.

Fig. 3. Cause-effect diagram of nonconforming FL components.

ISBN: 978-988-19251-0-7 WCE 2013

ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online)
Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2013 Vol I,
WCE 2013, July 3 - 5, 2013, London, U.K.

Given that one of the causes cited was related to incorrect manage visual proof of error to handle different scenarios
machine parameterization (of station IG), the goal was to viewing.
define the optimal parameters for FL component. For this, a The decision to buy a new measurement equipment to
design of experiments was performed, following the Taguchi support the work at station IG was decided but the
method, to minimize process variability. The need to define equipment did not arrive until the end of this study.
standard (and optimal) parameters for the equalization
C.Check
machine emerged after it was found that most of the
parameters were selected without any defined criteria and After the Plan and Do steps, the Check step was carried
were constantly modified during production in a trial and out to evaluate the effectiveness of the actions taken
error approach. This logic occurred when the characteristics according to the Action Plan. To verify the effectiveness of
of the raw material ranged stiffness, or even when changing the actions, the data before and after the plan
product, although the specifications are the same. implementation was compared.
To implement the Taguchi method, after describing the An attribute control chart of the percentage of defective
problem, a series of steps for setting the optimum components in the station IG, was built to verify if, with the
combination of parameters for this problem was followed: performed corrective actions, the process was under control.
1. Setting the response characteristic Therefore, a new attribute control chart was built and past
2. Identification of factors (control and noise) data from March to April was compared to new data from
3. Choose factor levels June to July. With this comparison, it was possible to verify
4. Selection of orthogonal matrix the following:
5. Performing the experiment - The process is now under statistical control (previously
6. Interpretation of results it was out of control);
7. Confirmation Test - The average production of nonconforming components
decreased from about 0.40% to 0.20%.
After executing these steps, it became possible to define
optimal combinations of parameters for each type of From this analysis, it was possible to presume that the
stiffness of leather that would minimize variations in the FL actions taken resulted in improvements in the process and
component. The method allowed 89% reduction in the that during this period, although short, the process remained
number of tests realized, when compared to test all under control.
combinations. One of the goals of the company was that the percentage
Following the identification of the problem, the analysis of nonconforming components of each section did not
of the possible causes and the size of the problem, a plan of exceed 2%. In the initial analysis performed to the
action was elaborated, (mainly corrective actions), taking percentage of nonconforming components in the preparation
into account the causes identified in the previous subsection. section (period until March), it had been found that the
The action plan was built using the quality tool 5W1H which average percentage of nonconforming components was
allowed defining the actions to perform, the responsible for 3.5%. This percentage was calculated again based on data
each action and when it would be performed. From the from June and July and allow concluding that the percentage
twelve planned actions, some of the most relevant are: the of nonconforming components in the preparation area has
implementation of the optimum combination of parameters decreased significantly to 2.5% (a reduction of 29%),
for the equalization machine, the replacement of the however the percentage limit is still exceeded.
measuring instrument in FL station, changes of operation D. Act
modes and control, and placement of mistake-proofing The last step of the PDCA cycle is based on the
devices in the machine. standardization of the actions in which effectiveness was
B. Do observed in the Check step.
After formulating the action plan it was necessary to The actions referred in the Do step were standardized to
implement it, by acting on the processes. maintain its results over time. Training was also provided to
The parameters of the equalization station were changed operators, mainly to explain the motives that supported the
according to the factor levels identified by the Taguchi changes and to share best practices.
method. These levels depend on the stiffness level of leather A work instruction was built to clarify the set up of the
(high, medium or low). equalization machine based on the leather stiffness.
Given the problem of non-uniform wear of the machine The Poka-Yoke resulted in a visual instruction placed on
roll due to the passage of the component always on the same the machine.
roll location, a mistake proofing device was developed At the quality management level, the referred tools were
(Poka-Yoke) to force operators to use the entire roll width to standardized as a mean to control and improve quality.
introduce the component. In the present step, some tasks were also identified to be
Since one of the main critical points of the machine was undertaken in the future.
the procedure of sharpening the blade, it was defined a new - Preventive Maintenance: the development and
one to reduce variability. implementation of record sheets of breakdowns
Given that the status display of the blade was used to allowed starting to create a record of failures which
verify the need for tuning, it has developed a mechanism to will be useful in the future to predict failures and to

ISBN: 978-988-19251-0-7 WCE 2013

ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online)
Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering 2013 Vol I,
WCE 2013, July 3 - 5, 2013, London, U.K.

define appropriate preventive maintenance actions for important problem the company is facing is related to the
the equalization machine; production process which must be improved to reduce the
- Device for the detection of the end of the blade: it was high number of nonconforming component.
not implemented due to circumstantial impairments, The main objective of this research project (to use quality
but it was considered necessary for the future and will, tools to improve the level of quality management in an
therefore, be included in the next improvement project; industry in the installation phase) was achieved. Despite the
- Variation in raw material: is one of the most critical introduction of new products and the hiring of new
factors and it is presumed to have great influence in the collaborators, the use of quality tools provided a reduction
process variability. Once the raw material is of animal of 29% in the number of nonconformities in the most
origin, the characteristics of the raw material, such as problematic section (preparation). Additionally, the process
the stiffness, elasticity and humidity, could vary within associated with the most problematic component (FL) was
the same batch. However, these characteristics are not put under statistical control and the average number of
measured. The acquisition of stiffness and humidity nonconformities reduced 50%.
meters was suggested in order to identify a cause and This research shows in a practical application why and
effect relationship between the operation performance how quality tools are used framed on the PDCA cycle as an
and the raw material. In the future, a screening effective support for continuous improvement.
checkpoint on raw material reception should also be The main limitation is research context and the lack of
implemented to reduce the variability earlier in the replication; however it supports literature on the low level of
process. The performed data analysis showed that use of quality tools in companies [5], [9]. Finally, the
nonconformities from external sources (raw material) methodology presented in detail can contribute for
were of great number. companies to start using quality tools efficiently.

New PDCA cycles will be performed in the future to REFERENCES

continuously improve the analyzed processes. [1] ISO 9001:2008, Quality management systems. Requirements, ISO,
2008.
[2] K. Ishikawa, Guide to Quality Control. NY: Quality Resources,
VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
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of this work, either in the general quality data analysis or in necessary for quality management?”. Int. J. Production Economics,
Volume 92, 2004, pp. 267–280.
each step of the PDCA cycle for the reduction of [4] G. Paliska, D. Pavletic and M. Sokovic, “Quality Tools - Systematic
nonconforming components in the IG station. Table II use in process industry”, Journal of Achievements in Materials and
summarizes the application of quality tools throughout the Manufacturing Engineering, November 25(1), 2007, pp. 79–82.
[5] I. S. Lopes, E. P. Nunes, S. D. Sousa, and D. Esteves, “Quality
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analysis [7] R. K. Yin,Case study research: design and methods (2nd ed.),
Control Chart — — — — Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1994.
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Cause & Effect diagram — problems diagnosis in SMEs”, in proceedings of ICIESM 2012: Int
Record sheet — — — Conf on Industrial Engineering and Systems Management, Paris,
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Poka Yoke —
R&R study —

As shown by Table II, a great number of tools were

required in the Plan phase in order to analyze the problem,
define solutions and prepare an action plan. In this phase,
other tools were necessary in addition to the basic quality
tools. The use of Taguchi method was considered to have an
important role in the reduction of nonconformities.

VII. CONCLUSIONS
This case study started with a diagnostic of the quality
management function of the company involved in the study.
This diagnostic allowed identifying a priority area to
increase its quality level. It was concluded that the most

ISBN: 978-988-19251-0-7 WCE 2013

ISSN: 2078-0958 (Print); ISSN: 2078-0966 (Online)
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