Chapter 9 Key Terms

Question 1

appraisal costs

Answer 1

costs of activities designed to ensure quality or uncover defects

Question 2

Baldrige Award

Answer 2

annual award given by the U.S. government to recognize quality achievements of U.S. companies

Question 3

benchmarking

Answer 3

process of measuring performance against the best in the same or another industry

Question 4

brainstorming

Answer 4

technique for generating a free flow of ideas in a group of people

Question 5

cause-and-effect (fishbone) diagram

Answer 5

a diagram used to search for the cause(s) of a problem

Question 6

check sheet

Answer 6

a tool for recording and organizing data to identify a problem

Question 7

continuous improvement

Answer 7

philosophy that seeks to make never-ending improvements to the process of converting inputs into outputs

Question 8

control chart

Answer 8

a statistical chart of time-ordered values of a sample statistic

Question 9

Deming Prize

Answer 9

prize established by the Japanese and awarded annually to firms that distinguish themselves with quality management programs

Question 10

DMAIC

Answer 10

a six-sigma process: define, measure, analyze, improve, and control

Question 11

European Quality Award

Answer 11

European award for organizational excellence

Question 12

external failures

Answer 12

failures discovered after delivery to the customer

Question 13

fail-safing

Answer 13

incorporating design elements that prevent incorrect procedures

Question 14

failure costs

Answer 14

costs caused by defective parts or products or by faulty services

Question 15

flowchart

Answer 15

a diagram of the steps in a process

Question 16

histogram

Answer 16

a chart of an empirical frequency distribution

Question 17

internal failures

Answer 17

failures discovered during production

Question 18

ISO 9000

Answer 18

a set of international standards on quality management and quality assurance, critical to international business

Question 19

ISO 14000

Answer 19

a set of international standards for assessing a company’s environmental performance

Question 20

ISO 24700

Answer 20

a set of international standards that pertains to the quality and performance of office equipment that contains reused components

Question 21

kaizen

Answer 21

Japanese term for continuous improvement

Question 22

lean/six sigma

Answer 22

an approach to continuous improvement that integrates lean operation principles and six-sigma techniques

Question 23

Pareto analysis

Answer 23

technique for classifying problem areas according to degree of importance, and focusing on the most important

Question 24

plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycle

Answer 24

a framework for problem solving and improvement activities

Question 25

prevention costs

Answer 25

costs of preventing defects from occurring

Question 26

process improvement

Answer 26

a systematic approach to improving a process

Question 27

quality

Answer 27

the ability of a product or service to consistently meet or exceed customer expectations

Question 28

quality at the source

Answer 28

the philosophy of making each worker responsible for the quality of his or her work

Question 29

quality circles

Answer 29

groups of workers who meet to discuss ways of improving products or processes

Question 30

quality of conformance

Answer 30

the degree to which goods or services conform to the intent of the designers

Question 31

quality of design

Answer 31

intention of designers to include or exclude features in a product or service

Question 32

return on quality

Answer 32

an approach that evaluates the financial return of investments in quality

Question 33

run chart

Answer 33

tool for tracking results over a period of time

Question 34

scatter diagram

Answer 34

a graph that shows the degree and direction of relationship between two variables

Question 35

six sigma

Answer 35

a business process for improving quality, reducing costs, and increasing customer satisfaction

Question 36

total quality management (TQM)

Answer 36

a philosophy that involves everyone in an organization in a continual effort to improve quality and achieve customer satisfaction