ASQ Greater Palm Beach - Section 1515

From the section 1515 Leadership
Team, Hello to South Florida ASQ Members!

“Dollar” signs”!! Return on Investment (ROI). That is the language of top management. Our most recent speaker at our February dinner meeting, Dr. Rebecca Staton-Reinstein, focused upon this theme in her presentation, “Turning Defects into Dollars”. Rebecca provided a very informative, and well received presentation that provided a model for drive improvements through cost reduction using the Cost of Quality (COQ) reporting format to capture and report financial gains resulting from improvements. Dr. Staton-Reinstein provided a case example of Information Technology (IT) software development. As she noted, the example was specialized, however, the principles and model applied is applicable to all industries and disciplines, be they service sector, manufacturing, healthcare, IT, so on. A major component of the foundation to get top management commitment is to have data and reports available showing cost avoidance and decreases in costs through use of COQ. The goal is to minimize/eliminate failure costs, and to decrease appraisal costs, with an objective of reducing costs, or transferring the costs to prevention costs activities. In the case example presented,

Dr. Stanton-Reinstein reported how a team of IT/software development specialists working in a company environment identified, through the COQ paradigm, the various costs associated with software development and launch. The development cycle included design > code/unit test > test > configuration > warranty > production (end user). Through the efforts of a team of software specialists working on improving the process for developing and implementing new software and software upgrades, failures identified in the warranty and production phases were reduced through improved emphasis at the prevention (design) and test phases. Many quality tools were used, including Kiviat Diagram, bar charts, CMM, COQ, and the PDCA cycle. Ultimately, at one time nearly $4million dollars was reduced from software failures. The dollar savings calculated did “not” include intrinsic cost savings, such as those associated with customer satisfaction and loyalty. So the dollars were “real” ROI’s dropping the financial bottom line, something any top manager can understand. So be sure your improvement initiatives include a COQ report.

For a review of Dr. Staton-Reinstein’s presentation, visit Section 1515’s website. We thank Dr. Staton-Reinstein for a great presentation, and for making it available for viewing at our website.

At this time, Section 1515 is interested in learning of any ASQ member that is interested in fulfilling the position of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary for the fiscal year 2010-2011. Elections are in April. Formal submissions can be made to Guillermo Rodriquez via his website address posted on our website. For information of potential interest, feel free to contact any one of our Lead Team who will be glad to provide you the information you need to make a decision. Lead Team contact information is available on our website.

See you at our next event!!

Jay Stahan,
on behalf of the Section 1515 Leadership Team