Dr. Joseph Juran left us with many important fundamental methods and tools during his years as one of the leading experts on quality management. He emphasized that we must balance the attention we give to the importance of the tools we use, in order to manage for quality. The Juran Trilogy is made up of three important managerial tools to help organizations realize the full benefits of quality management. The application of these tools is for many departments of an organization, not just for the quality department.
- Quality planning: Depending on the organization, quality planning may involve the design of new products and new processes focused on the customer’s needs. It should include how we are planning to measure (inspect) new products and processes to determine if we have met the requirements as well as establishing requirements themselves.
- Quality control: In many organizations, this is the old tried and true form of quality. It involves making sure that the processes that are in place are working — things like document control, calibration, inspection and control on nonconforming product. About 65 percent of these processes make up ISO 9001.
- Quality improvement: Some of the biggest gains and excitement in quality are part of the improvement processes. For the most part, these are projects directed at improving products and processes to reduce waste and increase customer satisfaction. Data collection and analysis is an important starting point. Included in these techniques are six sigma, lean, employee involvement and others.
The important thing to remember is that your organization must use all three of these tools with personnel from all areas. The amount of energy applied to any one area may vary over time. We should always be spending some time in all three areas and not let ourselves get caught up at only focusing on the latest quality fad.