Statement of the Problem ......................... 1

Purpose of the Study ............................. 1

Scope of the Study ............................... 2

Preview of the Remainder of the Study ............ 2

2 - REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ......................... 3

Introduction ..................................... 3

ISO 9000 Concept ................................. 3

ISO 9000 System Structure ........................ 5

ISO 9000 Certification Procedures ................ 6

Certification Experiences ........................ 8

Advantages and Disadvantages of Certification .... 9

Sociotechnical Systems ........................... 15

Literature Summary ............................... 18

3 - METHODOLOGY ...................................... 20

Introduction ..................................... 20

Research Design .................................. 20

Research Questions and Hypotheses ................ 20

Population and Sample ............................ 21

Data Collection .................................. 21

Statistical Procedures ........................... 22

4 - FINDINGS ......................................... 24

Introduction ..................................... 24

CQI is based on the work of Genichi Taguchi. Taguchi was the principal developer of the CQI concept. Taiichi Ohno, former vice-president of Toyota Motor Corporation, was quoted as saying that: "Whatever an executive thinks the losses of poor quality are, they are actually six times greater." Quality is achieved primarily through design, because quality "is a virtue of design." Customers are not interested in the extent to which a product meets production specifications. Thus, the "zero defects" approach to quality employed by most American manufacturers fails to address directly the concerns of the customer. By contrast with meeting production specifications, the customer is interested in product quality as quality is reflected in "a product's a performance when rapped, overloaded, dropped, and splashed." The Taguchi approach to product quality begins with the interests of the customer. Taguchi methods are intended to reduce variations stemming from the characteristics of both production processes and product design. Taguchi methods focus on the customer or end user of a product because the end outcome of Taguchi methods is to reduce the level of societal loss that is attributable to product quality level.

5 - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .......................... 29

Shani, A. B., Grant, R. M., Krishnan, R., and Thompson, E. "Advanced Manufacturing Systems and Organizational Choice: Sociotechnical System Approach." California Management Review 35 (April 1992): 91-111.

Guideline Readability ISO Non ISO Total