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Assignment

2

Quality

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424

)

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Ministry of Education

Saudi Electronic University

??????? ??????? ????????

????? ???????

??????? ???????? ???????????

College of Administrative and Financial Sciences

Assignment 2

Quality Management (MGT 424)

Due Date: 04/09/2022 @ 23:59

Course Name:

Student’s Name:

Course Code: MGT424 Student’s ID Number:

Semester: Second CRN:

Academic Year:2021-22-2

nd

For Instructor’s Use only

Instructor’s Name:

Students’ Grade:

Marks Obtained/Out of 10

Level of Marks: High/Middle/Low

General Instructions – PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY

? The Assignment must be submitted on Blackboard (WORD format only) via allocated

folder.

? Assignments submitted through email will not be accepted.

? Students are advised to make their work clear and well presented, marks may be reduced

for poor presentation. This includes filling your information on the cover page.

? Students must mention question number clearly in their answer.

? Late submission will NOT be accepted.

? Avoid plagiarism, the work should be in your own words, copying from students or other

resources without proper referencing will result in ZERO marks. No exceptions.

? All answered must be typed using Times New Roman (size 12, double-spaced) font. No

pictures containing text will be accepted and will be considered plagiarism).

? Submissions without this cover page will NOT be accepted.

Technology and Investment, 2013, 4, 153-163
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ti.2013.43018 Published Online August 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/ti)

Case Study on Improving Quality Management of W
Company’s New Product Development Project*

Jiangping Wan1,2, Ming Zeng1
1School of Business Administration, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

2Institute of Emerging Industrialization Development, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China
Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Received April 23, 2013; revised May 23, 2013; accepted June 1, 2013

Copyright © 2013 Jiangping Wan, Ming Zeng. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

Case study on improving quality management of W company’s new product development project includes the analysis
of the current situation within the quality management of W company’s new product development project (current
situation and identify existing problems), improvement study (analysis the cause of existing problems and design the
improvement scheme) and implementation. Through monitoring the implementation process, we have an evaluation
analysis for the implementation results. The purpose of this study is to improve quality management of new product
development project.

Keywords: New Product Development; Quality Management; Quality Improvement; Analytic Hierarchy Process;

Cause; Effect Diagram; Case Study

1. Introduction

The definition given by ISO9001:2000 is “Quality is the
degree to which a series of inherent characteristics meet
the requirements” [1]. Nowadays, the quality not only re-
fers to the specific product quality, but also more empha-
sizes on product performance to achieve customers’ sat-
isfaction. The core of TQM (Total Quality Management)
is “Three-Full-Management”, namely comprehensive qua-
lity management, the whole process quality management,
quality management participated by all the staff [2]. At
the same time, 6 Sigma management technology, MSA
(Measurement System Analysis) technology, and other
methodologies have been introduced to the management,
these methodologies provide a systematic solution to the
quality management of new product development project
[3].

W Company, which has conducted business over twenty
years, is located in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Tai-
wan, the United States and other countries and regions.
W company takes “innovative technology and leading
products” as the principle, and promises the integrity,
compatibility, security, stability of the system for two
reasons. On one hand, it relies on the product technology,

quality of service, and the advantages in research, devel-
opment, production sales and service. On the other hand,
it is attributed to the cooperation with well-known uni-
versities and research institutes, as well as the interna-
tional technology change. This makes the win-win rela-
tionship between the company and customers. The suc-
cess of W company makes contribution to its strong im-
proving solution to the project quality management of the
new product development.

This paper is structured in the following: Section 2 is
literature review, including the theory of project quality
management, the theory of the quality management of
new product development project, and the introduction of
tools and methods in the quality management of new pro-
duct development project. Section 3 analyzes the current
situation of the quality management of new product de-
velopment project. Section 4 is the improving study to
the quality management of new product development pro-
ject. Section 5 describes the implementation process and
effect analysis of the improving scheme. Section 6 is the
conclusion.

2. Literature Review

The definition of the project quality in project quality
management includes both the quality of project process
and the quality of project product, which aims to empha-

*This research was supported by Key Project of Guangdong Province
Education Office (06JDXM63002), NSF of China (70471091), and
QualiPSo (IST-FP6-IP-034763).

Copyright © 2013 SciRes. TI

J. P. WAN, M. ZENG 154

size the customers’ satisfaction. Project quality manage-
ment finishes related activities mainly with quality plan,
quality assurance, quality improvement and other appro-
aches [4]. Management activities include various activi-
ties related to all the management functions, which can
decide the strategies, responsibilities and objectives of
quality work [5] (Figure 1).

The quality management of new product development
project is based on project quality process management.
And the establishment of quality plan and quality target,
implementation of quality assurance plan, quality impro-
vement scheme, quality measurement and deviation ana-
lyses of the new product development project constitute
the quality management activities of new product develop-
ment project [6]. These four parts accord with the PDCA
cycle, which keep cycling to ensure the product develop-
ment quality (Figure 2). Quality targets of the new pro-
duct development project are the purpose of the constant
pursuit for quality of product development project. The
quality plans of new product development project are the
specific implementation of the quality targets of the new
product development project. And quality controls of new
product development project mean a variety of methods
and measures taken for the completion of the quality tar-
gets, which are devoted to finishing the quality manage-
ment targets of new product development project. The
quality assurance of new product development project

not only includes the internal quality assurance of the
project, but the external quality assurance provided for
customers and other stakeholders. At the same time,
quality improvement of new product development pro-
ject realize its quality targets by improving process qual-
ity, it’s a continuous quality activity to improve the effi-
ciency and effectiveness. Furthermore, the quality im-
provement has six main steps: Ascertain the improving
problems, understand current situation, identify the causes,
formulate measures and carry out, monitor the imple-
mentation process, prevent recurrence and standardize
the solution [7].

Cause-and-effect diagram, also known as fishbone dia-
gram, is a method for analyzing cause and effect. This di-
agram is invented by Kaoru Ishikawa, a Japanese man-
agement master, so it is also named Ishikawa diagram.
Cause-and-effect diagram can help us identify the basic
reasons of the problems and show them with fishbone.
As a non-quantitative research tool, Cause-and-effect dia-
gram has been fully applied in industrial production, me-
dical treatment, education and other areas [8].

Analysis hierarchy process, which is called AHP, is a
kind of multi-objective decision-making method combin-
ing quantitative methods with qualitative methods [9], it
is put forward by American scholar A. L. Seaty in 1970s
[10]. This method can make the various elements in a
complex system layered and organized causing the ele-

Figure 1. The main flow of project quality management.

Figure 2. The PDCA cycle of quality management of new product development project.

Copyright © 2013 SciRes. TI

J. P. WAN, M. ZENG 155

ments in the same layer relatively independent. On this
basis, we can quantitatively describe the relative impor-
tance for the elements through qualitative judgment [11].
Meanwhile, we can use mathematical theories computing
the weight of the elements in the same layer. If there is
many layers in AHP model, we should normalize and
compute the relative weight in the whole model after
confirming the weight of the last layer. The solution layer
is under the index layer, therefore, we should get the total
score in solution layer by calculating the score for every
solution in this layer, which is mathematically computed
by scoring for elements in the last layer of the index layer
for one solution. We should ascertain the research ques-
tions firstly, then establish the structure model which
includes target layer, criterion layer and plan layer to
form a hierarchical structure with Analytic Hierarchy Proc-
ess (AHP); and score every element related to current
layer and quantify their relative importance to their upper
strata element, form quantitive judgment matrix using 1 –
9 scaling method; judge matrix to see whether it has the
consistency condition with the consistency index con-
tained in data, calculate the relative importance coeffi-
cient of every layer comparing with the one of upper
strata; standardize the weight of each layer relative to the
overall goal to get the priority weight, Then do consis-
tency check for every layer from high to low; finally,
analyze and summarize.

3. Analysis of Current Situation within the
Quality Management of W Company’s
New Product Development Project

3.1. Requirement of the Quality Management of
W Company’s New Product Development
Project

The activities of the quality management of W company’s
new product development project must comply with the
company’s quality policy, namely “excellent technology,
high-quality products, credible and sincere service”. Also
W company develops a quality policy of reducing nox-
ious substance (HSF quality exemption policy), that can
prevent pollution, reduce the cost and be continuous im-
provement. W company developed a general goal of qual-
ity from four aspects: The products’ defect rate listed
through major design is zero, the system total score for
checking should be more than 90, the site products’ fail-
ure rate is less than 10%, the customer satisfaction is
greater than or equal to 93%.

3.2. Status of the Quality Management of W
Company’s New Product Development
Project

The quality management of W company’s new product
development project uses ISO9001:2000 standard, at the

same time, makes a tailoring in terms of the quality man-
agement system. 1) W company recognizes the process
involved and forms specific files; 2) W company’s quali-
ty management system can implement and maintain
within the internal, and strive to achieve continuous im-
provement; 3) The managers are in charge of the estab-
lishment and maintenance for the organization’s quality
management system. Departments are responsible for the
system implementation and maintenance, keeping conti-
nuous improvement for their own department; 4) W com-
pany can provide, utilize and effectively manage the re-
quired resources needed for quality activities during the
new product development process, and ensure the infor-
mation transfer effectively through a variety of internal
meeting; 5) Monitor the customer satisfaction using the
internal quality audit; 6) W company develops the corre-
sponding process to control outsourcing process.

3.3. Problem Identification of the Quality
Management of W Company’s New Product
Development Project

Through conducting a semi-open examination and dis-
cussing with quality control groups of this company, we
find out 20 problems existing in the quality management
of new product development project: 1) The reliability
performance of new products is poor, the repair rate is
too high, there are a lot of batch problem, there is a huge
gap from the target; 2) The quality of the new product is
unable to support the rapid development of business, new
product has a lot of problems of concession, the stop line
is serious; 3) The performance of purchase quality is
poor, the majority of the materials can not achieve the
basic goal of quality requirements, they bring great pres-
sure on the processing and assembly process, the result is
the quality of new product is unstable; 4) Customer com-
plaints increased obviously, the cost pressure of the ser-
vice significantly increased; 5) The quality organization
can’t support all business of W company very well; 6)
The roles and responsibilities is not clear within the qual-
ity management organization; 7) The organizational struc-
ture of IPD (integrated product development) model is pre-
liminary established, IPMT (integrated portfolio manage-
ment team)/PDT (product development team) organization
haven’t yet to be further promotion, no more form a ma-
ture mode; 8) Quality management activities are not clear,
communication and reporting system is not smooth; 9)
The process system is not integrate; 10) The evaluation
of process system is not perfect; 11) The design standards
of new product are not perfect; 12) The standard system
of the new product quality is not perfect; 13) The quality
target decomposition mechanism is not perfect; 14) The
project planning and kickoff phase lack of management;
15) Lack of monitoring and evaluation mechanism for
new product project; 16) The management for new pro-

Copyright © 2013 SciRes. TI

J. P. WAN, M. ZENG 156

duct project data is weak; 17) The description for the re-
quired ability of post is not clear, the resources are not
fully utilized; 18) The support of IT tools for business is
not enough; 19) Excellent engineering method and con-
crete practice are not effective implement within the com-
pany; 20) The quality awareness between employees is
poor, training is not effective implement.

4. Improvement Research of Quality
Management of W Company’s New
Product Development Project

4.1. The Cause Analysis of the Quality
Management of W Company’s New Product
Development Project

4.1.1. The Identified Process for the Cause of
Problems

Based on the Cause and Effect Diagrams of the problems
existing in the quality management of W company’s new
product development project, we reveal 31 causes (Fig-
ure 3).

4.1.2. Cause Cluster Analysis and Weight Design
1) The process of Cluster Analysis
Through clustering analysis for 31 influencing factor,

we get a result as shown in Table 1.
2) The Process of Weight Design
We allocate the weight of key affecting factors with

Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The first layer is the
target layer, namely the quality management of W com-
pany’s new product development. The second layer is the
index layer factors.

We get the marking result of 10 experts within W
company using the expert scoring method, and then we
handle the marking result with Expert-Choice.

In Table 2, A represents the problems existing in the
quality management of W company’s new product de-
velopment project, B1 represents “Quality management
system of new product development project is not per-
fect”, B2 represents “The executive ability of quality man-
agement organization is insufficient”, B3 represents “Proc-
ess system is not ability of quality management organiza-
tion is insufficient”, B4 represents “Procurement quality
control is weak”, B5 represents “The values of employees
deviate from Business goals”, B6 represents “The train-
ing scheme for Employees is not reasonable”, B7 repre-
sents “The enterprise basic resources are not effective
utilize”. According Table 2, we sort the key affecting fac-
tors (Table 3).

4.2. Improvement Scheme Design for Quality
Management of W Company’s New Product
Development Project

Basing on the analysis of the 7 key affecting factors, we

design a quality management improvement scheme for
W company’s new product development project.

4.2.1. Reinforce Construction, Implementation of
Process System and Improve Execution of
Quality Organization

First we should strengthen the execution of the process.
It requires the support of management, fully authority to
IPD. On this basis, the IPD organization is able to effec-
tively carry out the internal and external communication,
coordinate various departments involved in the activities
of quality management within new product development
project, establish an effective communication platform.
At the same time, indoctrinate the idea of improving the
overall efficiency according to the process to all the staff
of W company.

Secondly, promote vigorously the IPMT method in the
internal organization during the development process of
new product within W company, improve organization
process. As core organization of new product develop-
ment, IPMT must exist in a cross-functional team form,
IPMT organizational structure design is shown in Figure
4.

Finally, according to the existing problem which lacks
of assessment mechanism in process system, we should
use corresponding statistical analysis tools to analysis the
effect of process implementation, which mainly includes
the analysis of measuring system (MSA), statistical proc-
ess control (SPC) technology introduce the defects analy-
sis matrix.

4.2.2. Complete Quality Management System of New
Product Development Project

First of all, carry out the quality management system of
new product development project. Improve the quality of
management organization, clarify corresponding assign-
ment of responsibility, empower the corresponding right.
So W company redesign the quality system of new product
development, modify the quality organization structure.

RD represents research and development, SM repre-
sents sales and marketing, PD represents product devel-
opment, ES represents engineering services, PE repre-
sents process engineering, QM represents quality man-
agement, PM represents planning management, PU repre-
sents purchasing, MC represents manufacturing, CP repre-
sents corporation planning, HR represents human resources,
SR represents software research, TR represents technical
research, IN represents information, VB represents soft-
ware research, IB represents software research, SC repre-
sents supply chain (Figure 5, VB, IB, SC will involve in
Table 4).

After ensuring the functional architecture of quality
management organization, we should implement the qual-
ity management system of new product development pro-

Copyright © 2013 SciRes. TI

J. P. WAN, M. ZENG

Copyright © 2013 SciRes. TI

157

Figure 3. Cause and effect diagram of problems in the quality management of new product development project.

4.2.3. Intensifying Training of Workers to Promote
Their Quality Consciousness, and Making a
Career Planning for the Staff

ject into practical work and distribute the different fac-
tors involved in quality system to the practical activity of
relevant functional departments (Table 4).

W company passes through the following measures to
improve the “employee values deviate from the enterprise
target” and “employee training plan is not reasonable”:
Enhance staff awareness of new product development
project quality management and staff training quality con-
sciousness; conduct several training for employees which
include management knowledge, professional knowledge
(software and hardware), product knowledge, process stan-
dards and generic skills ;the training contents are divided
into internal training and external training; establish cor-

Second, establish and improve the technique review of
new product development. The technical review of new
product development new applies to all activities of W
company’s new product development project, has a great
support for the new product development project. De-
tailed technical review ensures that the success of W
company in the following activities of new product de-
velopment, makes W company walk in the forefront of
the industry. The definition involved in new product de-
velopment project is showed in Table 5.

J. P. WAN, M. ZENG 158

Table 1. The result of cause cluster analysis for problems in the quality management of new product development.

Number Classification result Influence factors (the cause of problems)

Lack of quality monitoring

Without quality assessment when introducing new module

Lack of monitoring for the production process

Lack of quality assessment for the stage of research and development

The new product quality standard setting is not unreasonable

1
Quality management system of new product
development project is not perfect

No fully implement the periodical technology review

Quality control system is not integrate

Quality management organization’s power and responsibility is not clear

The construction of innovative R&D team is in the preliminary stage

Internal and external communication is not smooth

Inter-departmental coordination is not smooth

Communication mechanism is not perfect

2
The executive ability of quality management
organization is insufficient

The kickoff phase process of New product is not effective combine with IPMT process

The development process is not implement very well

Process evaluation mechanism is not perfect

The design of new products is not standardized

Quality target decomposition mechanism is not reasonable

3 Process system is not perfect

Research and development goals are not in accordance with market demand

The material purchasing cycle is too long

Material processing problems 4 Procurement quality control is weak

The degree of supplier management and monitoring is not enough

The employees’ service consciousness is not strong

The consciousness of quality management within design staff is not strong 5
The values of employees deviate from business
goals

The employees’ quality awareness is poor

The training mechanism is not perfect

The training goal is not effective combine with business objectives

The design ability of R&D team is insufficient

Lack of experience in quality management

6
The training scheme for employees is not
reasonable

The definition of post requirements is unclear

Data management ability is poor
7

The enterprise basic resources are not effective
utilized The IT tool is not effective combine with business goals

Table 2. AHP calculation result.

A B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 Wi Consistency checking

B1 1 2 1/2 4 3 2 6 0.226

B2 1/2 1 1/3 3 3 2 5 0.168

B3 2 3 1 5 3 2 6 0.308

B4 1/4 1/3 1/5 1 1/2 1/3 3 0.057

B5 1/3 1/3 1/3 2 1 1/2 3 0.082

B6 1/2 1/2 1/2 3 2 1 3 0.125

B7 1/6 1/5 1/6 1/3 1/3 1/3 1 0.034

C.R. = 0.03

Table 3. The weight allocation table of key affecting factors.

Importance number The name of the key affecting factors Relative weight

1 Process system is not perfect 0.308

2 Quality management system of new product developm