A cost/benefit model for insertion of technological innovation into a total quality management program

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to digital@library.tamu.edu, referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references: p.60-61.Issued also on microfiche from Lange Micrographics.This study provides economic justification for insertion of technological innovation into a total quality management (TQM) program in a remanufacturing environment. One of the core principles of TQM is continuous improvement. A preferred metric for measuring quality improvement is the cost of quality. Traditionally, comprehensive quality cost reports have regularly been issued in a fixed format to identify opportunities for improvement and provide guidelines for improvement over time. However, current research has shown that continuous improvement is enhanced by a quality cost approach that is much more flexible [1]. This approach is based upon exposure of the cost savings directly related to quality improvement. in many cases a process-level engineer, who may not be trained in quality costing techniques, will be responsible for the economic analysis to justify a quality improvement initiative. Research has shown that most engineers, simply do not have the training or experience to adequately cost justify quality improvement. The results of this study provide process-level engineers with a cost/benefit model template, which can be used to cost justify technological improvement based upon total quality costs