Quality Management in Pakistan's Readymade Garments' Industry

Pakistan's readymade garments' industry is a key player in Pakistan's industry in general, and its textile industrial output and exports in particular. In a liberalizing international trade regime, quality will be a critical success factor in the international competitiveness of Pakistan's readymade garments. Research in quality management in Pakistan's readymade garments' industry was undertaken. To gain further information, a postal self-completion questionnaire was mailed to 101 members of the Pakistan Readymade Garments' and Exporters' Association (PRGMEA). The response rate was 32%. It was found that while this industrial segment was in various stages of development, it needs to graduate fast to advanced quality management concepts of Kaizen and total quality management in order to maintain its competitive advantage in an environment that will soon be liberalized fully.     

Quality Management in Pakistan's Bedwear Industry

Pakistan's bedwear industry contributes significantly to Pakistan's industry in general and to its textile industrial output and exports in particular. The exports of bedwear have increased steadily. However, its key basis of competitive advantage has been low cost. After greater liberalization from 2005 onwards and due to tariffication of quotas, the bedwear industry will not only have to scale higher tariff walls but will be more exposed to the threat of anti-dumping duties as it relies primarily on low prices to penetrate the export markets. To enhance its competitiveness, it will have to combine better quality with low costs and quick response. Research in quality management in Pakistan's bedwear industry was, therefore, undertaken. A postal self-completion questionnaire was mailed to 38 members of Pakistan Bedwear Manufacturers' and Exporters' Association (PBMEA). The response rate was almost 79%. It was found that this industrial segment was in various stages of development. This study demonstrates both the effectiveness and the limits of quality assurance in improving the levels of quality which remain a moving target in a dynamic liberalizing international trade environment that is more competitive since 2005. The bedwear industry, therefore, needs to graduate to advanced practices in quality management in order to remain competitive in rapidly changing times.     

More than Just Robust Design: Why Product Development Organizations Still Contend with Variation and its Impact on Quality

Current market conditions require design and manufacturing companies to continually increase product functionality, reduce design cycles, decrease cost and improve quality. One way to improve quality is to minimize the impact part and process variation has on final product quality. Although companies know they must reduce variation, they are still struggling with executing coherent variation management strategies. To understand why companies still fail to systematically address variation, an ideal model of variation management is proposed, entitled Variation Risk Management (VRM). This model was used to assess the state of industry practice. These results are compared to the current literature available on the subject. It was found that many problems with industry implementation are due to a lack of quantitative models that enable a design team to make quick and accurate decisions. This paper concludes with a list of interesting challenges facing the VRM field.     

Six Sigma Literature: A Review and Agenda for Future Research

Like quality management in general, Six Sigma has penetrated into most sectors of today's business world. Although Six Sigma originated in industry, it has inspired a considerable amount of academic literature. This paper reviews this literature describing the trends, sources, and findings. The paper also seeks to synthesize the literature, with an emphasis on establishing its relationship to quality management theory and topics for future research. In doing so, there is an attempt to answer the following fundamental questions. (i) What is Six Sigma? (ii) What are its impacts on operational performance? (iii) What roles can academics usefully play in relation to Six Sigma? Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Development of a BIM-based production planning and control system for Lean Construction through advancement and integration of existing management techniques

As part of general construction management, production planning and control is vital for successful project delivery. Numerous approaches supporting production planning and control exist in practice and research. However, the different approaches focus on distinct areas such as workflow stabilization or cost control, and no single system combines all the requirements of a holistic production management system. Varying production management systems can be explained by the unique characteristics of many construction projects. As an approach for the digital twinning in the construction industry, building information modeling (BIM) can help standardize production management through shifting the management system design toward the digital prototype. Previous scientific work has acknowledged this approach, thereby generating numerous concepts for using building information models within construction management approaches. However, BIM is often merely used as a parallel support rather than as an integral part of production management systems. To address this gap and in terms of research methodology, we follow a Design Science Research approach. Thus, we propose a new BIM-based production management system, which is characterized by a theoretical integration model for BIM and existing construction management techniques, and a methodology for applying these concepts in practice.     

Challenges in integrating requirements management with PLM

Nowadays, requirements management (RQM) is mostly not included in the current structures of product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, although RQM has become a critical activity throughout the PLM. Customer requirements with all related product information need not only be integrated with each other, but with all processes and stakeholders involved through the related business functions of product lifecycle. In this paper, we examine the various challenges of RQM, especially related to PLM. Company-specific challenges are identified, when integrating RQM with PLM in a case company acting in the automotive industry. The objective of this study is to find out how product-related information on customer requirements could better be utilised and integrated with PLM. We propose a new integration framework according to which the challenges at different integration levels are categorised. As a final conclusion, the study shows the core points where and how the concepts of PLM and RQM should be developed, as to create requirements integrated solutions for extended products and systems through the lifecycle.     

A study of the quality management methods employed by U.K. automotive suppliers

This paper reports on the results of a postal questionnaire survey of quality management methods, awareness and attitudes of suppliers to three major companies in the U.K. automotive industry. The main issues discussed include the quality management systems operated by suppliers, the methods by which quality improvement is pursued, quality-related training, and suppliers' interaction with both their own customers and vendors. The findings to specific questions were disappointing and illustrate the poor state of quality management development in some suppliers; overall the survey evidence indicates that many suppliers have a traditional attitude towards quality management. For example: it is possible to inspect quality into a product; component quality can be graded at different levels according to individual customer requirements; if the customer does not return the product then quality must be satisfactory; the quality manager is responsible for the quality improvement programme. Quality management tools and techniques are often seen as an end in themselves rather than a means to an end, that of improvement. It is clear that a number of suppliers assume that introducing statistical process control is the same as developing a total approach to quality management. There also appears to be a dilution of the quality message as requirements are passed down the supply chain, and in general communication and feedback between customer and supplier is poor.     

A Proactive Operational Framework for Business Continuity in the Semiconductor Industry

Prolonged disruption due to a man‐made crisis or a natural disaster could result in the loss of vital corporate assets or market share. To protect the organization and ensure the survival of the business, a comprehensive contingency plan is necessary. Some unique characteristics of the semiconductor industry are its equipment and its technological and capital‐intensive investments. As with any other industry, the uninterrupted provision of products and services to clients should be considered the key priority of the semiconductor industry. In this regard, this paper presents a systematic and proactive operational framework for the semiconductor industry to effectively anticipate, resist, and recover from disasters. The framework is composed of three phases: emergency response team, crisis management, and business continuity plan. The contents of these phases are discussed, and related workable procedures and measures are recommended to practitioners to ensure that organizations can continue to operate in the most adverse situations and thus remain viable and profitable during and after the crisis. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于条码的生产现场质量管理系统研究与开发

针对离散制造企业生产现场质量管理高效和规范化的需求,研究了基于条码的生产现场质量管理方法．在分析生产现场质量管理的业务需求之后,给出了基础物料资源、零部件和业务单据等生产资源的编码方案．提出了基于条码的面向批量和单件管理的质量数据采集方案;并对基于条码的质量问题批次追踪和生产过程质量问题溯源方案展开研究;最后,设计开发了生产现场质量管理原型系统QQ—MIMS,并在航天某制造企业进行了初步应用．     

应变管理与企业系统发展管理

应变管理已成为新世纪的关键性企业管理活动。首先介绍了应变管理的基本概念，然后讨论了应变管理与企业系统发展之间的关系，并在此基础上提出了企业系统发展管理的思想。     

质量检验与企业质量改进

质量改进是企业质量管理中的重要一环，质量检验方法虽然由来已久，但随着检验观念，检验技术的发展和变革，它在生产过程中正发挥着越来越重要的作用，对于质量改进这一目标更是必不可少，计算机视觉系统（AVI）具有速度快，精度稳定，无损检测等特点，是实现在线实时检测的优良工具，值得推广和应用。     

What's new in reliability engineering?

Reliability engineering is responding to the trend to computer-aided design (CAD), and the current emphasis on improving competitiveness through quality. Islands of automation addressing reliability for both hardware design and software engineering exist which are not yet connected, though government–industry teams are developing integrated software packages of reliability (and maintainability) tools. TQM (total quality management) principles are being adopted in many industries, and the U.S. Qualified Manufacturers List (QML) programme, which requires qualification of a process rather than a product, is now used for procuring microcircuits. However, government regulations remain a barrier to creating a ‘quality culture’. ISO 9000 is seen by industry as a requirement for international competitiveness, but criticized by some as counterproductive. Research and development of reliability engineering tools reflect the need for implementation in CAD frameworks, and fuzzy logic analysis has attracted the attention of the theorists.     

Research into the use of statistical quality control in british manufacturing industry — part I

The work described in this paper is part of a large, Government-funded investigation into the usage of statistical methods of quality control (SQC) in British manufacturing industry. This paper reports the results of an investigation of fifteen firms which claimed in earlier work to be successful users of SQC. It is shown that six of the companies were in fact not regularly using recognized SQC techniques. Some general conclusions are drawn from the activities of these, and the remaining nine companies which were examined in detail.     

ISO9001-2000在爆破公司质量管理中的应用

根据ISO9000系列标准的要求,结合爆破公司质量管理的实际情况,制定保证爆破质量的管理办法,使爆破施工有序化、规范化,为在爆破行业中推行质量管理提供参考。     

爆破简讯

分析了多规格石台阶爆破开采的技术、管理方面的特性,以便更好地借鉴和应用常规机械及其零部件流水作业生产组织的经验,实现多规格石的流水作业高强度开采。两者的相同点是其生产过程均由不同工序组成,且各个工序之间的顺序不能随意打乱;不同点是规格石开采的工程背景和开采石料的技术要求,有工程自身的特性制约,不同于统一、规范的工厂车间建立和组织。因此,根据上述两者间的异同点,对流水作业技术进行优化改进并引入到多规格石爆破开采领域,大大提高了规格石开采的效率和效益。     

R&D and manufacturing activities regarding managerial effectiveness and open strategy: an industry focus on luxury knitwear firms

The authors structure the field of over-design, over-specification, and over-requirement (OOO) drawing from extant knowledge related to innovative managerial procedures in manufacturing systems, project portfolio management, and performance management. More specifically, we propose allowing the dominant perspectives of OOO and paving the way towards a coherent recognition foundation of innovative strategies in manufacturing systems. This lends itself to an analysis of innovative phenomena in design and production systems that generate OOO and helps to understand what the effects of the OOO on business performance are. The clothing industry in Italy was chosen as a target context because many innovative pioneering medium sized enterprises (MSEs) were operating in the industry. Because of the exploratory nature of the research, a multiple case study approach is adopted in this study. Drawing from extant managerial literature, the proposed structure shows which business model objects and interactions within R&D-manufacturing-marketing activities should be considered when engaging in managing innovative and temporary project portfolio.     

Project Governance,Project Performance,and the Mediating Role of Project Quality and Project Management Risk: An Agency Theory Perspective

Abstract

Although project governance has garnered the attention of academicians, the area remains underdeveloped. This study measures the influence of project governance on project performance directly as well as through the mediation of project management risk and project quality and with moderation of project leadership. The survey yielded 354 responses from 132 Pakistani software firms, while SEM was applied using AMOS-21 for data analysis. This study finds that project governance has a significant positive influence on project performance directly and through mediation, whereas the moderation is insignificant. The findings will help not only Pakistan’s software firms but also those in developing countries to improve their projects’ performance through effective project governance.     

A unified product structure management for enterprise business process integration throughout the product lifecycle

Information availability is a key factor for business success and competitive advantage. While created by design engineers, product structure is accessed and referenced by other users involved in product lifecycle from various departments. However, there is a lack of efficient ways of managing product structure information for enterprise business process integration. This study proposes a unified product structure management model to fill in this gap. With this proposed model, the product structure is managed in a unified way and can be accessed by different people with various disciplines in the right formats throughout the entire product lifecycle, including business processes of quotation, sales order processing, design, planning, scheduling, production, and delivery. This research is part of the enterprise business information management system project whose purpose is to streamline the information management for key business processes to integrate multi-disciplines in an enterprise for product development. A prototype system has been implemented to verify the model developed by taking real cases in a mould-manufacturing company. The results show the potential for substantial improvements in industrial competitive advantage.     

Total customer satisfaction as a business strategy

There are two fundamental goals which are universal in business. The first is to grow market share, and the second to grow profits. In order to accomplish these goals, the company must differentiate itself from its competitors, in the customer's view, in one or more of the five following areas: (1) price, (2) delivery, (3) performance, (4) quality, (5) total customer experience. Stressing one area of differentiation to the exclusion of the others will not achieve the goals. For example, in stressing price alone, a company has defined its products as a commodity and as Dev Dion of the Strategic Planning Institute once said, ‘The producers of commodities reap commensurate rewards.’ Similarly, stressing fast delivery of a product of poor quality, or stressing superior quality for a product providing marginally useful performance are both losing strategies. The only strategy I know of which provides equally balanced focus on all five major areas of differentiation is total customer satisfaction, as the fundamental objective of the company. Bob Galvin, when Chairman of Motorola, summed it up by saying, ‘If you take care of the customer better than any of your competition, the business will take care of itself.’ In saying this, however, he meant not only the product, but all of the other ways in which you and the customer interact.     

中国造船工业供应商评价指标体系与管理体制构建

对于中国造船企业，构建完整的供应商管理体系是其从分散型采购体系向一体化采购体系整合的关键步骤之一。本文主要针对中国造船工业供应商管理的特点以及所存在的不足，将质量、交付能力、价格、服务能力和持续改进这5个定量评价指标与供货商关系指标和供货商管理能力指标这2个定性评价指标相结合，运用AHP法，构建了造船行业的供应商评价指标体系，并依据这一指标体系，构建了与造船行业集中化采购体系相适应的供应商管理体制。