Hello, this is Kamii from the production department.
This is the fifth installment of the "Professional Manager School" series.
Last time , we discussed "QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery)," a perspective necessary for quantitatively understanding the various elements that make up a project, as basic knowledge of quality control.
"QCD" refers to three evaluation axes that have been emphasized in quality control and quality improvement activities during the design and production of industrial products in the manufacturing industry.
This time, I would like to continue talking about "Standardization and Quality Management Systems" as "Basic Knowledge of Quality Control Part 2."
Series Table of Contents
1. About the development process model (Published on April 21, 2017)
2. About WBS Construction Part 1: Establishing a Project Framework (Published June 15, 2017)
3. Building a WBS: Part 2: Creating a Schedule and Budget (Published on August 22, 2017)
4. Basic knowledge of quality control Part 1 QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery) (Published on October 18, 2017)
5. Basic knowledge of quality control Part 2: Standardization and quality management systems (←this time)
6. Learn about the project before and after ~Next release~
Introduction
Various systematized knowledge about quality control and quality improvement is utilized in the fields of manufacturing, architectural design, civil engineering design, and construction.
These are the accumulation of wisdom and ingenuity that has gone into the question of " how can we mass-produce industrial products and build large-scale structures according to plan? "
Mass production involves producing hundreds of thousands of products. Constructing a building hundreds of meters high. Constructing an viaduct hundreds of kilometers long. At production and construction sites such as these, it is necessary to procure (purchase) tons of raw materials, assemble hundreds of workers, and build huge facilities for processing and assembly.
For this reason, manufacturing and construction sites continue to work on " quality control ," " quality management systems ," and " standardization ." If a large number of defective products were to be produced and the products could not be delivered, it would mean that the costs of procuring these items and the investment in equipment would turn into losses (sometimes amounting to tens of millions of yen!).
In the fifth installment of the "Project Manager Seminar," following on from the fourth installment , we will introduce some of the wisdom of our predecessors regarding quality control.
1. What is "standardization"?
For example, if you need new screws to fix a broken shelf, you can easily buy the same size screws at a hardware store and replace them with a screwdriver at home.
"Industrial standardization" makes this a matter of course.
The same size screws can be purchased at any store, and it doesn't matter where you get the screwdriver to tighten them. Both screws and screwdrivers are made according to the JIS standard, which is a standard for industrial products, so you can combine screws made in any factory without any problems.
"JIS" is an abbreviation for Japanese Industrial Standards.
The national standard established based on the Industrial Standardization Act that came into effect in 1949 is the JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) , but similarly, each country, such as Germany (DIN), America (ANSI), and the UK (BS), has established industrial standards.
Furthermore, the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is responsible for standardizing these standards internationally. One organization from each country participates in the organization, and they establish standards that are to be applied internationally.
Standardization of industrial products means that items purchased in Japan can be used or repaired overseas, and products are easier to obtain both inside and outside Japan.
Industrial standardization is not limited to products such as screws.
Metallic properties used in industrial products are also standardized by JIS.
Metal materials used in architectural and civil engineering structural materials and exterior products include iron, steel, stainless steel, aluminum, etc., depending on the location and application, and these are also standardized as SS400, FCD400, SUS304, and A3004.
Metal materials that comply with JIS standards have their composition and physical properties regulated. Therefore, at the product design stage, it is possible to confirm through structural calculations whether the required strength can be achieved. The thickness and number of bolts required to support ceiling panels, the material, number and thickness of girders that support bridges, and other factors such as "material," "thickness/width," "number," and "fixing method" can be determined through design and calculation.
Industrial standardization is a mechanism for manufacturing products to efficiently and precisely incorporate the strength and quality required of them at the design stage.
(Left) JIS Handbook Screw I 2017 (edited by) Japanese Standards Association ( Amazon )
(Right) JIS Handbook Steel I 2017 (edited) Japanese Standards Association ( Amazon )
2. What is a "quality management system"?
Many companies in the manufacturing, architectural design, civil engineering design, and construction industries have acquired ISO9001 (quality management system) certification. ISO9001 is one of the international standards mentioned in the previous section on standardization. ISO9001 has also been standardized as JISQ9001.
Certification can be obtained by passing an inspection by a third-party certification body that checks whether a quality control system is in place and is being properly implemented for design, manufacturing, testing, sales, shipping, etc.
When the first edition of ISO9001 was established in 1987, it was classified into three parts according to the business content: 9001 (design), 9002 (manufacturing), and 9003 (inspection), and was called the ISO9000 series. After that, in the second revision in 2000, 9001 to 9003 were integrated and unified into 9001.
In the design and development process, we have established implementation procedures such as deciding on design specifications, managing change history, reviewing each process, and verifying the input to each process (see the diagram below).
As you can see from the diagram above, the framework of "verification" and "validation" is the same as the "V-model" introduced previously. Regardless of the system, the basis of quality control is to verify the output/deliverable against the input from the upstream process.
In addition to the above, ISO 9001 requires that "design reviews" be conducted in each process, and that records of the process leading to the decision on the design content and the history of consideration of design changes be managed in writing.
Among these, design reviews are an important mechanism for preventing problems and issues from being passed on to later stages. Furthermore, reviewers who conduct design reviews are required to have a high level of knowledge and experience. This is because reviewers are expected to not only point out problems and issues, but also to show how to solve them.
This time, as basic knowledge of quality control, we talked about "industrial standardization" and "quality management systems" that have been built through projects with manufacturers (manufacturing industry), architectural design, civil engineering design, and construction.
In the next article, titled "Let's understand what happens before and after a project," I would like to take a higher, bird's-eye view of the projects that Monosus, a web production company, takes on.
See you in April.