Glossary for Quality Management

Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction occurs when products and services meet or exceed customer expectations
Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA)
The purpose of DFMEA is to identify all the ways in which a failure can occur, to estimate the effect and seriousness of the failure and to recommend corrective design actions. Using DFMEA will not only improve product functionality and safety, but also reduce external failure costs-particularly warranty costs, as well as decrease manufacturing and service delivery problems.
Design for Environment (DfE)
DfE is the explicit consideration of environmental concerns during the design of products and processes, and includes such practices as designing for recyclability and disassembly
Design for Manufacturability (DFM)
DFM is the process of designing a product for efficient production at the highest level of quality
Effective Leadership
Effective Leadership requires five core leadership skills: vision, empowerment, intuition, self-understanding and value congruence
Employee Empowerment
Empowerment simply means giving people authority to make decisions based on what they feel is right, have control over their work, take risks, learn from mistakes and promote change
Expected quality
Expected quality is true customer needs and expectations, that is, what the customer assumes will be received from the product.
Kaizen
Kaizen focuses on small, gradual, and frequent improvements over the long term with minimum financial investment, and participation by everyone in the organization
Mission
The mission of a firm defines its reason for existence; it answers the question, "Why are we in business?"
Perceived Quality
Perceived quality is actual quality minus expected quality. If the amount of actual quality provided is equal to or more than the expected quality, the customer perceives positive satisfaction. If the amount of actual quality provided is less than the expected quality, the customer perceives negative or dis-satisfaction.
Process Management
Process management involves planning and administering the activities necessary to achieve a high level of performance in key business processes and identifying opportunities for improving quality and operational performance and ultimately, customer satisfaction.
Product Based Quality
Quality is precise and measurable; it can be ranked on various attributes and is an inherent part of the product or service. An example would be the number of stitches in a shirt, the number of cylinders in a car, or more memory in a computer.
Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
A Japanese approach to meet customers' requirements throughout the design process and also in the design of production systems. QFD is a planning process to guide the design, manufacturing, and marketing of goods by integrating the voice of the customer throughout the organization.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma concentrates on measuring product quality and driving process improvement and cost savings throughout the organization
Six Sigma Concepts
The Six Sigma Concepts are based on the ability to control a process to produce at the most only 3.4 defects per million opportunities
The DMAIC Methodology
There are five steps to DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control.
The Deming Philosophy
The Deming philosophy focuses on continual improvements in product and service quality by reducing uncertainty and variability in design, manufacturing, and service processes, driven by the leadership of top management
The House of Quality
The House of Quality is based upon using a set of matrixes to relate the voice of the customer to a product's technical requirements, component requirements, process control plans and manufacturing operations.
The Leadership System
An effective leadership system respects the capabilities and requirements of employees and other stakeholders and sets high expectations for performance and performance improvements
Transcendent / Judgmental Quality
Quality is recognized through learning and experience, is absolute and universally recognizable – an example would be a BMW automobile, a Rolex watch, service at Disney.

User Based Quality
Quality reflects personal, idiosyncratic view; quality is the ideal combination of attributes maximizing consumer satisfaction (fitness for use). An example would be family cars versus sports cars or a luxury hotel room versus an economy hotel room.
Value Based Quality
Quality is defined as performance or conformance at an acceptable cost; this is the notion of affordable excellence. An example would be a brand name product or service versus generic named product or service.
Values
Values (or guiding principles) guide the journey to a vision by defining attitudes and policies for all employees, which are reinforced through conscious and subconsc8ious behavior at all levels of the organization
Vision
The vision describes where the organization is headed and what it intends to be; it is a statement of the future that would not happen by itself