I am often amazed at how easily designers can brush off the fact that their designs are not truly optimized. Dr. Genichi Taguchi’s definition of optimization is: “the state of performance where the technology, product, or process is minimally sensitive to factors causing variability (either in the manufacturing environment or user’s environment) at the lowest possible cost”. His definition can be restated as making products that work the same way, every time, no matter what the condition. They must work for a very long time and still be affordable. A good working definition I once heard for optimize was: “to make as effective, perfect, or useful as possible”. I often have the opportunity to ask designers if their designs are [...]

Quality is a lousy word. It’s hard to define. Quality sounds a little boring. But Quality, we often hear, is King. Seth Godin talks about quality in his new book “Poke the Box.” On page 20: “Just about everything on offer – from a car to an iPad to an insurance policy – does exactly what it’s supposed to… Most of your competition is now without defects as well…” Is doing “exactly what it’s supposed to” quality? It is part of quality. To be a useful word, to be King, quality must be more than not failing. Quality is the way the phone feels in your hand, quality is the sound of your voice the client hears over their speakerphone, [...]

Developing a product that will stand out in the market place is a difficult task.  That task is a little easier when the market place is still developing; as is the case in the tablet market today.  With relatively few offerings to choose from, it shouldn’t be too difficult to make yours stand out above the rest.  But how do you do it?  How do you take your idea to the next level?  How do you compete against the likes of the Apple iPad? Product development is a straight forward process.  It involves watching and listening to the customer, developing a concept that will deliver their wants and needs, and then optimizing that product to deliver exactly what the customer [...]

I thought it would be easy. Transformation of the manufacturing company I worked for seemed simple. I toured and learned from companies in the Toyota Supply base around Nagoya, Japan. It was 1986. The US manufactured goods for both the US domestic and the world markets. The methods I saw and, more importantly, the way of thinking behind those methods could transform any business. The ideas were simple. Check, act, plan, do: what could be easier? CAP-D! Understand the current state. Set a target. Find the causes. Verify the causes. List the countermeasures. Select the best countermeasures. Plan the implementation. Execute the plan. Go back to check. Document the results of a large sheet of paper. Do again. The method’s [...]

Welcome to our first post on the power of LEO blog! This post is the first step toward increasing the awareness of quality in our daily lives. The awareness of quality is noticing the negative effects of poor quality on our lives. The term “quality” is holistic. “Quality” applies to goods, services, our behavior, and relationships with others. That awareness of quality develops the realization that quality is my personal responsibility. Quality isn’t something that I can delegate. Criticizing the quality of others isn’t productive until I have done everything in my power to assure that the quality of my behavior, relationships, work, goods, and services is of the highest caliber. Poor quality is a critical issue in our society. [...]