Premium
Using a Rubber Band to Teach the Management of Quality *
Author(s) -
Reyes Pedro M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
decision sciences journal of innovative education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1540-4609
pISSN - 1540-4595
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4609.2006.00105.x
Subject(s) - citation , entrepreneurship , quality (philosophy) , management , library science , sociology , computer science , political science , law , physics , quantum mechanics , economics
This article describes the use of a simple two-phase hands-on gage of repeatability and reproducibility (GR&R) study to illustrate the three stages of quality management (QM) described by Hanna and Newman (2001): detection, prevention, and ongoing improvement. The overall objective is to simply help students understand measurement system analysis and its effects on process improvements. While it can be argued that the link between the measurement system analysis and process improvement is indirect, the variability of a process can significantly impact quality. Understanding the processes provides the framework for determining the effects of variation and proper management decisions (Evans & Lindsay, 2005). This two-phase GR&R study utilizes groups of students to measure a tabletop. A GR&R study is used to measure (or gage) variability in processes. Such studies measure the ability of an operator to repeat the same measurement (which gages the equipment variation), and also measure the ability of a second operator to reproduce the first operator’s measurement (gages the operator variation). In the first phase, the students measure a tabletop with a rubber band. This is followed by a hands-on discussion to detect the QM issues. After detecting the issues, we proceed to implement a preventative action to reduce variation. In the second phase, the students measure the same tabletop using a photocopy of a 12-inch ruler, which is again followed by another discussion of the observed variation. A summary of the phase is provided in the Appendix (Table A.1). This study can be completed in about 40 minutes, making it feasible to be completed in a standard 50-minute class time block, and can be readily extended to discuss the role of technology in QM and the importance of feedback in the transformation process for those classes scheduled in a 1-hour-20-minute time block.