ASQ Quality Glossary
American Society for Quality (ASQ)
A professional, not-forprofit association that develops, promotes and applies quality related information and technology for the private sector, government and academia. ASQ serves more than 108,000 individuals and 1,100 corporate members in the United States and 108 other countries.
Cycle
A sequence of operations repeated regularly.
Capacity constraint resources
A series of nonbottlenecks (based on the sequence in which jobs are performed) that can act as a constraint.
Brainstorming
A technique teams use to generate ideas on a particular subject. Each person on the team is asked to think creatively and write down as many ideas as possible. The ideas are not discussed or reviewed until after the brainstorming session.
Efficient
A term describing a process that operates effectively while consuming minimal resources (such as labor and time).
Eighty-twenty (80-20)
A term referring to the Pareto principle, which was first defined by J. M. Juran in 1950. The principle suggests most effects come from relatively few causes; that is, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the possible causes. Also see "Pareto chart."
Big Q, little q
A term used to contrast the difference between managing for quality in all business processes and products (big Q) and managing for quality in a limited capacity—traditionally only in factory products and processes (little q).
Cross functional
A term used to describe a process or an activity that crosses the boundary between functions. A cross functional team consists of individuals from more than one organizational unit or function.
Driving forces
Forces that tend to change a situation in desirable ways.
Attribute data
Go/no-go information. The control charts based on attribute data include percent chart, number of affected units chart, count chart, count per unit chart, quality score chart and demerit chart.
Dissatisfiers
The features or functions a customer expects that either are not present or are present but not adequate; also pertains to employees' expectations. Distribution (statistical): The amount of potential variation in the outputs of a process, typically expressed by its shape, average or standard deviation.
Appraisal cost
The cost of ensuring an organization is continually striving to conform to customers' quality requirements.
Cost of poor quality (COPQ)
The costs associated with providing poor quality products or services. There are four categories: internal failure costs (costs associated with defects found before the customer receives the product or service), external failure costs (costs associated with defects found after the customer receives the product or service), appraisal costs (costs incurred to determine the degree of conformance to quality requirements) and prevention costs (costs incurred to keep failure and appraisal costs to a minimum).
Dependability
The degree to which a product is operable and capable of performing its required function at any randomly chosen time during its specified operating time, provided that the product is available at the start of that period. (Nonoperation related influences are not included.) Dependability can be expressed by the ratio: time available divided by (time available + time required).
Electric data interchange (EDI)
The electronic exchange of data from customers to suppliers and from suppliers to customers.
Bottom line
The essential or salient point; the primary or most important consideration. Also, the line at the bottom of a financial report that shows the net profit or loss.
Average outgoing quality (AOQ)
The expected average quality level of an outgoing product for a given value of incoming product quality.
Consumer
The external customer to whom a product or service is ultimately delivered; also called end user.
Characteristic
The factors, elements or measures that define and differentiate a process, function, product, service or other entity.
Body of knowledge (BOK)
The prescribed aggregation of knowledge in a particular area an individual is expected to have mastered to be considered or certified as a practitioner.
Dependent events
Events that occur only after a previous event.
American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT)
A technical society for nondestructive testing (NDT) professionals.
Benchmarking
A technique in which a company measures its performance against that of best in class companies, determines how those companies achieved their performance levels and uses the information to improve its own performance. Subjects that can be benchmarked include strategies, operations and processes.
Autonomation
A form of automation in which machinery automatically inspects each item after producing it and ceases production and notifies humans if a defect is detected. Toyota expanded the meaning of jidohka to include the responsibility of all workers to function similarly—to check every item produced and, if a defect is detected, make no more until the cause of the defect has been identified and corrected. Also see "jidohka."
Baka-yoke
A Japanese term for a manufacturing technique for preventing mistakes by designing the manufacturing process, equipment and tools so an operation literally cannot be performed incorrectly. In addition to preventing incorrect operation, the technique usually provides a warning signal of some sort for incorrect performance. Also see "poka-yoke."
Analysis of variance (ANOVA)
A basic statistical technique for determining the proportion of influence a factor or set of factors has on total variation. It subdivides the total variation of a data set into meaningful component parts associated with specific sources of variation to test a hypothesis on the parameters of the model or to estimate variance components. There are three models: fixed, random and mixed.
Design of experiments (DoE)
A branch of applied statistics dealing with planning, conducting, analyzing and interpreting controlled tests to evaluate the factors that control the value of a parameter or group of parameters. Design for Six Sigma (DFSS): See "DMADV."
Computer aided engineering (CAE)
A broad term used by the electronic design automation industry for the use of computers to design, analyze and manufacture products and processes. CAE includes CAD (see listing) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM), which is the use of computers for managing manufacturing processes.
Cultural resistance
A form of resistance based on opposition to the possible social and organizational consequences associated with change.
Bayes' theorem
A formula to calculate conditional probabilities by relating the conditional and marginal probability distributions of random variables.
Academic Quality Improvement Project (AQIP)
A forum for higher education institutions to review one another's action projects.
Champion
A business leader or senior manager who ensures resources are available for training and projects, and who is involved in periodic project reviews; also an executive who supports and addresses Six Sigma organizational issues.
Chain reaction
A chain of events described by W. Edwards Deming: improve quality, decrease costs, improve productivity, increase market with better quality and lower price, stay in business, provide jobs and provide more jobs.
Control chart
A chart with upper and lower control limits on which values of some statistical measure for a series of samples or subgroups are plotted. The chart frequently shows a central line to help detect a trend of plotted values toward either control limit.
Culture, organizational
A common set of values, beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and accepted behaviors shared by individuals within an organization.
Empowerment
A condition in which employees have the authority to make decisions and take action in their work areas without prior approval. For example, an operator can stop a production process if he or she detects a problem, or a customer service representative can send out a replacement product if a customer calls with a problem.
Demerit chart
A control chart for evaluating a process in terms of a demerit (or quality score); in other words, a weighted sum of counts of various classified nonconformities.
Count per unit chart
A control chart for evaluating the stability of a process in terms of the average count of events of a given classification per unit occurring in a sample.
Count chart
A control chart for evaluating the stability of a process in terms of the count of events of a given classification occurring in a sample; known as a "c-chart."
Average chart
A control chart in which the subgroup average, X-bar, is used to evaluate the stability of the process level.
Cumulative sum control chart (CUSUM)
A control chart on which the plotted value is the cumulative sum of deviations of successive samples from a target value. The ordinate of each plotted point represents the algebraic sum of the previous ordinate and the most recent deviations from the target.
Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC)
A cooperative of laboratory accreditation bodies.
DMADV
A data driven quality strategy for designing products and processes, it is an integral part of a Six Sigma quality initiative. It consists of five interconnected phases: define, measure, analyze, design and verify.
DMAIC
A data driven quality strategy for improving processes and an integral part of a Six Sigma quality initiative. DMAIC is an acronym for define, measure, analyze, improve and control.
Defective
A defective unit; a unit of product that contains one or more defects with respect to the quality characteristic(s) under consideration.
Coordinate measuring machine (CMM)
A device that dimensionally measures 3-D products, tools and components with an accuracy approaching 0.0001 inches.
Block diagram
A diagram that shows the operation, interrelationships and interdependencies of components in a system. Boxes, or blocks (hence the name), represent the components; connecting lines between the blocks represent interfaces. There are two types of block diagrams: a functional block diagram, which shows a system's subsystems and lower level products and their interrelationships and which interfaces with other systems; and a reliability block diagram, which is similar to the functional block diagram but is modified to emphasize those aspects influencing reliability.
Breakthrough improvement
A dynamic, decisive movement to a new, higher level of performance.
Delighter
A feature of a product or service that a customer does not expect to receive but that gives pleasure to the customer when received. Also called an "exciter."
Balanced plant
A plant in which the capacity of all resources is balanced exactly with market demand.
Capability maturity model (CMM)
A framework that describes the key elements of an effective software process. It's an evolutionary improvement path from an immature process to a mature, disciplined process. The CMM covers practices for planning, engineering and managing software development and maintenance to improve the ability of organizations to meet goals for cost, schedule, functionality and product quality.
Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG)
A global automotive trade association with about 1,600 member companies that focuses on common business processes, implementation guidelines, education and training.
Centerline
A line on a graph that represents the overall average (mean) operating level of the process.
Customer-supplier partnership
A long-term relationship between a buyer and supplier characterized by teamwork and mutual confidence. The supplier is considered an extension of the buyer's organization. The partnership is based on several commitments. The buyer provides long-term contracts and uses fewer suppliers. The supplier implements quality assurance processes so incoming inspection can be minimized. The supplier also helps the buyer reduce costs and improve product and process designs.
Culture change
A major shift in the attitudes, norms, sentiments, beliefs, values, operating principles and behavior of an organization.
Balanced scorecard
A management system that provides feedback on both internal business processes and external outcomes to continuously improve strategic performance and results.
Affinity diagram
A management tool for organizing information (usually gathered during a brainstorming activity).
Decision matrix
A matrix teams use to evaluate problems or possible solutions. For example, a team might draw a matrix to evaluate possible solutions, listing them in the far left vertical column. Next, the team selects criteria to rate the possible solutions, writing them across the top row. Then, each possible solution is rated on a scale of 1 to 5 for each criterion, and the rating is recorded in the corresponding grid. Finally, the ratings of all the criteria for each possible solution are added to determine its total score. The total score is then used to help decide which solution deserves the most attention.
Correlation (statistical)
A measure of the relationship between two data sets of variables.
American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)
A membership organization providing materials, education and support related to workplace learning and performance.
Continuous flow production
A method in which items are produced and moved from one processing step to the next, one piece at a time. Each process makes only the one piece that the next process needs, and the transfer batch size is one. Also referred to as one-piece flow and single-piece flow.
Customer-supplier model (CSM)
A model depicting inputs flowing into a work process that, in turn, add value and produce outputs delivered to a customer. Also called customer-supplier methodology.
Assignable cause
A name for the source of variation in a process that is not due to chance and therefore can be identified and eliminated. Also called "special cause."
Continuous quality improvement (CQI)
A philosophy and attitude for analyzing capabilities and processes and improving them repeatedly to achieve customer satisfaction.
Arrow diagram
A planning tool to diagram a sequence of events or activities (nodes) and their interconnectivity. It is used for scheduling and especially for determining the critical path through nodes.
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
A private, nonprofit organization that administers and coordinates the U.S. voluntary standardization and conformity assessment system. It is the U.S. member body in the International Organization for Standardization, known as ISO.
Changeover
A process in which a production device is assigned to perform a different operation or a machine is set up to make a different part—for example, a new plastic resin and new mold in an injection molding machine.
Defect
A product's or service's nonfulfillment of an intended requirement or reasonable expectation for use, including safety considerations. There are four classes of defects: class 1, very serious, leads directly to severe injury or catastrophic economic loss; class 2, serious, leads directly to significant injury or significant economic loss; class 3, major, is related to major problems with respect to intended normal or reasonably foreseeable use; and class 4, minor, is related to minor problems with respect to intended normal or reasonably foreseeable use. Also see "blemish," "imperfection" and "nonconformity."
Andon board
A production area visual control device, such as a lighted overhead display. It communicates the status of the production system and alerts team members to emerging problems (from andon, a Japanese word meaning "light").
Data
A set of collected facts. There are two basic kinds of numerical data: measured or variable data, such as "16 ounces," "4 miles" and "0.75 inches;" and counted or attribute data, such as "162 defects."
Check sheet
A simple data recording device. The check sheet is custom designed by the user, which allows him or her to readily interpret the results. The check sheet is one of the "seven tools of quality" (see listing). Check sheets are often confused with checklists (see listing).
Corrective action
A solution meant to reduce or eliminate an identified problem.
Closed-loop corrective action (CLCA)
A sophisticated engineering system to document, verify and diagnose failures, recommend and initiate corrective action, provide follow-up and maintain comprehensive statistical records.
Acceptance sampling plan
A specific plan that indicates the sampling sizes and associated acceptance or nonacceptance criteria to be used. In attributes sampling, for example, there are single, double, multiple, sequential, chain and skip-lot sampling plans. In variables sampling, there are single, double and sequential sampling plans. For detailed descriptions of these plans, see the standard ANSI/ISO/ASQ A3534-2-1993: Statistics—Vocabulary and Symbols—Statistical Quality Control.
BS 7799
A standard written by British commerce, government and industry stakeholders to address information security management issues, including fraud, industrial espionage and physical disaster. Might become an International Organization for Standardization standard.
Consensus
A state in which all the members of a group support an action or decision, even if some of them don't fully agree with it.
Analysis of means (ANOM)
A statistical procedure for troubleshooting industrial processes and analyzing the results of experimental designs with factors at fixed levels. It provides a graphical display of data. Ellis R. Ott developed the procedure in 1967 because he observed that nonstatisticians had difficulty understanding analysis of variance. Analysis of means is easier for quality practitioners to use because it is an extension of the control chart. In 1973, Edward G. Schilling further extended the concept, enabling analysis of means to be used with non-normal distributions and attributes data in which the normal approximation to the binomial distribution does not apply. This is referred to as analysis of means for treatment effects.
Customer relationship management (CRM)
A strategy for learning more about customers' needs and behaviors to develop stronger relationships with them. It brings together information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. It helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers.
Best practice
A superior method or innovative practice that contributes to the improved performance of an organization, usually recognized as best by other peer organizations.
Company culture
A system of values, beliefs and behaviors inherent in a company. To optimize business performance, top management must define and create the necessary culture.
Assessment
A systematic evaluation process of collecting and analyzing data to determine the current, historical or projected compliance of an organization to a standard.
Cause and effect diagram
A tool for analyzing process dispersion. It is also referred to as the "Ishikawa diagram," because Kaoru Ishikawa developed it, and the "fishbone diagram," because the complete diagram resembles a fish skeleton. The diagram illustrates the main causes and subcauses leading to an effect (symptom). The cause and effect diagram is one of the "seven tools of quality" (see listing).
Checklist
A tool for ensuring all important steps or actions in an operation have been taken. Checklists contain items important or relevant to an issue or situation. Checklists are often confused with check sheets (see listing).
Chart
A tool for organizing, summarizing and depicting data in graphic form.
Diagnostic journey and remedial journey
A two-phase investigation used by teams to solve chronic quality problems. In the first phase, the diagnostic journey, the team journeys from the symptom of a chronic problem to its cause. In the second phase, the remedial journey, the team journeys from the cause to its remedy.
Computer aided design (CAD)
A type of software used by architects, engineers, drafters and artists to create precision drawings or technical illustrations. CAD software can be used to create 2-D drawings or 3-D models.
Concurrent engineering (CE)
A way to reduce cost, improve quality and shrink cycle time by simplifying a product's system of life cycle tasks during the early concept stages.
Charter
A written commitment approved by management stating the scope of authority for an improvement project or team
Alignment
Actions to ensure that a process or activity supports the organization's strategy, goals and objectives.
Conformity assessment
All activities concerned with determining that relevant requirements in standards or regulations are fulfilled, including sampling, testing, inspection, certification, management system assessment and registration, accreditation of the competence of those activities and recognition of an accreditation program's capability.
ACLASS Accreditation Services
An ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board company that provides accreditation services for: testing and calibration laboratories in accordance with ISO/IEC 17025; reference material producers in accordance with ISO Guide 34; and inspection bodies in accordance with ISO/IEC 17020.
Certified HACCP auditor (CHA)
An ASQ certification.
Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (CSSBB)
An ASQ certification.
Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB)
An ASQ certification.
Certified biomedical auditor (CBA)
An ASQ certification.
Certified calibration technician (CCT)
An ASQ certification.
Certified quality auditor (CQA)
An ASQ certification.
Certified quality engineer (CQE)
An ASQ certification.
Certified quality improvement associate (CQIA)
An ASQ certification.
Certified quality process analyst (CQPA)
An ASQ certification.
Certified quality technician (CQT)
An ASQ certification.
Certified reliability engineer (CRE)
An ASQ certification.
Certified software quality engineer (CSQE)
An ASQ certification.
Certified quality inspector (CQI)
An ASQ certification; formerly certified mechanical inspector (CMI).
Certified manager of quality/organizational excellence (CMQ/OE)
An ASQ certification; formerly certified quality manager (CQM).
Board of Standards Review (BSR)
An American National Standards Institute board responsible for the approval and withdrawal of American National Standards.
CASCO
An International Organization for Standardization policy development committee for conformity assessment.
Activity based costing
An accounting system that assigns costs to a product based on the amount of resources used to design, order or make it.
Conformance
An affirmative indication or judgment that a product or service has met the requirements of a relevant specification, contract or regulation.
Cell
An arrangement of people, machines, materials and equipment in which the processing steps are placed next to each other in sequential order and through which parts are processed in a continuous flow. The most common cell layout is a U shape.
Activity network diagram
An arrow diagram used in planning.
Benefit-cost analysis
An examination of the relationship between the monetary cost of implementing an improvement and the monetary value of the benefits achieved by the improvement, both within the same time period.
Cause
An identified reason for the presence of a defect or problem.
Blemish
An imperfection severe enough to be noticed but that should not cause any real impairment with respect to intended normal or reasonably foreseeable use. Also see "defect," "imperfection" and "nonconformity."
Change agent
An individual from within or outside an organization who facilitates change in the organization; might be the initiator of the change effort, but not necessarily.
Consultant
An individual who has experience and expertise in applying tools and techniques to resolve process problems and who can advise and facilitate an organization's improvement efforts.
EN 9100
An international quality management standard for the aerospace industry (see AS9100).
AS9100
An international quality management standard for the aerospace industry published by the Society of Automotive Engineers and other organizations worldwide. It is known as EN9100 in Europe and JIS Q 9100 in Japan. The standard is controlled by the International Aerospace Quality Group (see listing).
American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA)
An organization that formally recognizes another organization's competency to perform specific tests, types of tests or calibrations.
Accreditation body
An organization with authority to accredit other organizations to perform services such as quality system certification.
Employee involvement (EI):
An organizational practice whereby employees regularly participate in making decisions on how their work areas operate, including suggestions for improvement, planning, goal setting and monitoring performance.
Cost of quality (COQ)
Another term for COPQ. It is considered by some to be synonymous with COPQ but is considered by others to be unique. While the two concepts emphasize the same ideas, some disagree as to which concept came first and which categories are included in each.
Deming cycle
Another term for the plan-do-study-act cycle. Walter Shewhart created it (calling it the plan-do-check-act cycle), but W. Edwards Deming popularized it, calling it plan-do-studyact. Also see "plan-do-check-act cycle.
Bottleneck
Any resource whose capacity is equal to or less than the demand placed on it.
Constraint
Anything that limits a system from achieving higher performance or throughput; also, the bottleneck that most severely limits the organization's ability to achieve higher performance relative to its purpose or goal.
Cellular manufacturing
Arranging machines in the correct process sequence, with operators remaining within the cell and materials presented to them from outside.
Deming Prize
Award given annually to organizations that, according to the award guidelines, have successfully applied companywide quality control based on statistical quality control and will continue to do so. Although the award is named in honor of W. Edwards Deming, its criteria are not specifically related to Deming's teachings. There are three separate divisions for the award: the Deming Application Prize, the Deming Prize for Individuals and the Deming Prize for Overseas Companies. The award process is overseen by the Deming Prize Committee of the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers in Tokyo.
American standard code for information interchange (ASCII)
Basic computer characters accepted by all American machines and many foreign ones.
Common causes
Causes of variation that are inherent in a process over time. They affect every outcome of the process and everyone working in the process. Also see "special causes."
Accreditation
Certification by a recognized body of the facilities, capability, objectivity, competence and integrity of an agency, service or operational group or individual to provide the specific service or operation needed. The term has multiple meanings depending on the sector. Laboratory accreditation assesses the capability of a laboratory to conduct testing, generally using standard test methods. Accreditation for healthcare organizations involves an authoritative body surveying and verifying compliance with recognized criteria, similar to certification in other sectors.
Complaint tracking
Collecting data, disseminating them to appropriate persons for resolution, monitoring complaint resolution progress and communicating results.
Deployment
Dispersion, dissemination, broadcasting or spreading communication throughout an organization, downward and laterally. Also see "cascading."
Design record
Engineering requirements, typically contained in various formats; examples include engineering drawings, math data and referenced specifications. Designing in quality versus inspecting in quality: See "prevention versus detection."
Cpk index
Equals the lesser of the USL minus the mean divided by 3 sigma (or the mean) minus the LSL divided by 3 sigma. The greater the Cpk value, the better.
Conformitè Europëenne Mark (CE Mark)
European Union (EU) conformity mark for regulating the goods sold within its borders. The mark represents a manufacturer's declaration that products comply with EU New Approach Directives. These directives apply to any country that sells products within the EU.
Code of conduct
Expectations of behavior mutually agreed on by a team.
Black Belt (BB)
Full-time team leader responsible for implementing process improvement projects—define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) or define, measure, analyze, design and verify (DMADV)—within a business to drive up customer satisfaction and productivity levels.
Adverse event
Healthcare term for any event that is not consistent with the desired, normal or usual operation of the organization; also known as a sentinel event.
Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)
High level automotive process for product realization, from design through production part approval.
Changeover time
The time required to modify a system or workstation, usually including both teardown time for the existing condition and setup time for the new condition.
Acceptance quality limit (AQL)
In a continuing series of lots, a quality level that, for the purpose of sampling inspection, is the limit of a satisfactory process average.
Chain sampling plan
In acceptance sampling, a plan in which the criteria for acceptance and rejection apply to the cumulative sampling results for the current lot and one or more immediately preceding lots.
Continuous sampling plan
In acceptance sampling, a plan, intended for application to a continuous flow of individual units of product, that involves acceptance and rejection on a unit-byunit basis and employs alternate periods of 100% inspection and sampling. The relative amount of 100% inspection depends on the quality of submitted product. Continuous sampling plans usually require that each t period of 100% inspection be continued until a specified number, i, of consecutively inspected units are found clear of defects. Note: For single level continuous sampling plans, a single d sampling rate (for example, inspect one unit in five or one unit in 10) is used during sampling. For multilevel continuous sampling plans, two or more sampling rates can be used. The rate at any time depends on the quality of submitted product.
Deviation
In numerical data sets, the difference or distance of an individual observation or data value from the center point (often the mean) of the set distribution.
Acceptance sampling
Inspection of a sample from a lot to decide whether to accept that lot. There are two types: attributes sampling and variables sampling. In attributes sampling, the presence or absence of a characteristic is noted in each of the units inspected. In variables sampling, the numerical magnitude of a characteristic is measured and recorded for each inspected unit; this involves reference to a continuous scale of some kind.
Capability
The total range of inherent variation in a stable process determined by using data from control charts.
Downtime
Lost production time during which a piece of equipment is not operating correctly due to breakdown, maintenance, power failures or similar events.
EN 46000
Medical device quality management systems standard. EN 46000 is technically equivalent to ISO 13485:1996, an international medical device standard. The two are similar enough that if an organization is prepared to comply with one, it could easily comply with the other.
Attributes, method of
Method of measuring quality that consists of noting the presence (or absence) of some characteristic (attribute) in each of the units under consideration and counting how many units do (or do not) possess it. Example: go/no-go gauging of a dimension.
American Society for Quality Control (ASQC)
Name of ASQ from 1946 through the middle of 1997, when the name was changed to ASQ.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
Not-forprofit organization that provides a forum for the development and publication of voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems and services.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International
Not-forprofit organization that provides a forum for the development and publication of voluntary consensus standards for materials, products, systems and services.
Average run lengths (ARL)
On a control chart, the number of subgroups expected to be inspected before a shift in magnitude takes place.
American National Standards Institute-American Society for Quality (ANSI-ASQ)
Organization that accredits certification bodies for ISO 9001 quality management systems, ISO 14001 environmental management systems and other industry specific requirements.
Consumer's risk
Pertains to sampling and the potential risk that bad products will be accepted and shipped to the consumer.
Dodge-Romig sampling plans
Plans for acceptance sampling developed by Harold F. Dodge and Harry G. Romig. Four sets of tables were published in 1940: single sampling lot tolerance tables, double sampling lot tolerance tables, single sampling average outgoing quality limit tables and double sampling average outgoing quality limit tables.
Critical processes
Processes that present serious potential dangers to human life, health and the environment or that risk the loss of significant sums of money or customers.
Batch and queue
Producing more than one piece and then moving the pieces to the next operation before they are needed.
Current good manufacturing practices (CGMP)
Regulations enforced by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for food and chemical manufacturers and packagers.
American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)
Released for the first time in October 1994, an economic indicator and cross industry measure of the satisfaction of U.S. household customers with the quality of the goods and services available to them. This includes goods and services produced in the United States and imports from foreign firms that have substantial market shares or dollar sales. ASQ is a founding sponsor of the ACSI, along with the University of Michigan Business School and the CFI Group.
Baldrige award
See "Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award."
End user
See "consumer."
C chart
See "count chart."
D chart
See "demerit chart."
Customer
See "external customer" and "internal customer."
Cross pilot
See "scatter diagram."
Constraints management
See "theory of constraints."
Continuous improvement (CI)
Sometimes called continual improvement. The ongoing improvement of products, services or processes through incremental and breakthrough improvements.
Eight wastes
Taiichi Ohno originally enumerated seven wastes (muda) and later added underutilized people as the eighth waste commonly found in physical production. The eight are: 1. overproduction ahead of demand; 2. waiting for the next process, worker, material or equipment; 3. unnecessary transport of materials (for example, between functional areas of facilities, or to or from a stockroom or warehouse); 4. over-processing of parts due to poor tool and product design; 5. inventories more than the absolute minimum; 6. unnecessary movement by employees during the course of their work (such as to look for parts, tools, prints or help); 7. production of defective parts; 8. under-utilization of employees' brainpower, skills, experience and talents.
Cascading
The continuing flow of the quality message down to, not through, the next level of supervision until it reaches all workers. Also see "deployment."
Availability
The ability of a product to be in a state to perform its designated function under stated conditions at a given time.
Diagnosis
The activity of discovering the cause(s) of quality deficiencies; the process of investigating symptoms, collecting and analyzing data, and conducting experiments to test theories to determine the root cause(s) of deficiencies.
Average sample number (ASN)
The average number of sample units inspected per lot when reaching decisions to accept or reject.
Average total inspection (ATI)
The average number of units inspected per lot, including all units in rejected lots (applicable when the procedure calls for 100% inspection of rejected lots).
Baseline measurement
The beginning point, based on an evaluation of output over a period of time, used to determine the process parameters prior to any improvement effort; the basis against which change is measured.
Accuracy
The characteristic of a measure.
Calibration
The comparison of a measurement instrument or system of unverified accuracy to a measurement instrument or system of known accuracy to detect any variation from the required performance specification.
Business process reengineering (BPR)
The concentration on improving business processes to deliver outputs that will achieve results meeting the firm's objectives, priorities and mission.
Corrective action recommendation (CAR)
The full cycle corrective action tool that offers ease and simplicity for employee involvement in the corrective action/process improvement cycle.
Classification of defects
The listing of possible defects of a unit, classified according to their seriousness. Note: Commonly used classifications: class A, class B, class C, class D; or critical, major, minor and incidental; or critical, major and minor. Definitions of these classifications require careful preparation and tailoring to the product(s) being sampled to ensure accurate assignment of a defect to the proper classification. A separate acceptance sampling plan is generally applied to each class of defects.
Conflict resolution
The management of a conflict situation to arrive at a resolution satisfactory to all parties.
Average outgoing quality limit (AOQL)
The maximum average outgoing quality over all possible levels of incoming quality for a given acceptance sampling plan and disposal specification.
Acceptance number
The maximum number of defects or defectives allowable in a sampling lot for the lot to be acceptable
Control limits
The natural boundaries of a process within specified confidence levels, expressed as the upper control limit (UCL) and the lower control limit (LCL).
Audit
The on-site verification activity, such as inspection or examination, of a process or quality system, to ensure compliance to requirements. An audit can apply to an entire organization or might be specific to a function, process or production step.
Equipment availability
The percentage of time during which a process (or equipment) is available to run. This can sometimes be called uptime. To calculate operational availability, divide the machine's operating time during the process by the net available time.
Compliance
The state of an organization that meets prescribed specifications, contract terms, regulations or standards.
Effectiveness
The state of having produced a decided on or desired effect.
Central tendency
The tendency of data gathered from a process to cluster toward a middle value somewhere between the high and low values of measurement.
Cycle time
The time required to complete one cycle of an operation. If cycle time for every operation in a complete process can be reduced to equal takt time, products can be made in single-piece flow. Also see "takt time."
Balancing the line
The process of evenly distributing both the quantity and variety of work across available work time, avoiding overburden and underuse of resources. This eliminates bottlenecks and downtime, which translates into shorter flow time.
Efficiency
The ratio of the output to the total input in a process.
Cp
The ratio of tolerance to 6 sigma, or the upper specification limit (USL) minus the lower specification limit (LSL) divided by 6 sigma. It is sometimes referred to as the engineering tolerance divided by the natural tolerance and is only a measure of dispersion
Certification
The result of a person meeting the established criteria set by a certificate granting organization.
Effect
The result of an action being taken; the expected or predicted impact when an action is to be taken or is proposed.
Customer delight
The result of delivering a product or service that exceeds customer expectations.
Customer satisfaction
The result of delivering a product or service that meets customer requirements.
ANSI ACS X12
Transaction standards for electronic communication and shipping notification.
Assn. for Quality and Participation (AQP)
Was an independent organization until 2004, when it became an affiliate organization of ASQ. Continues today as ASQ's Team and Workplace Excellence Forum.
Control plan (CP)
Written descriptions of the systems for controlling part and process quality by addressing the key characteristics and engineering requirements.