An Empirical Investigation of Quality Tools and ...

An Empirical Investigation of Quality Tools and Techniques Practices in Malaysia and Indonesia Automotive Industries N. T. Putri1, S. M. Yusof2

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Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Andalas University, Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia Department of Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia ([email protected] and [email protected])

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a developed country by 2020. Meanwhile, the Indonesia automotive industry was chosen because it is the Indonesian government has aimed that it becomes one of the leaders in the automotive industry amongst ASEAN countries. This paper reports initial finding from an empirical investigation conducted to identify and understand those tools and techniques that are actually being implemented in automotive industries and the factors that affect automotive industries considerations in selecting them. By gathering the perspectives from both the industrialists and academic experts on the usage of tools and techniques in automotive related companies, this research is expected to provide knowledge for the automotive industries in Malaysia and Indonesia on the appropriateness of implementing the quality tools and techniques. Understanding the suitability of the implementation of quality tools and techniques can help the automotive industry to solve their quality problems and to increase the level of quality conscious amongst employees through continuous quality improvement.

Abstract - This paper aims to investigate the tools and techniques for quality adopted by the automotive related companies in Malaysia and Indonesia and to find out the benefits and shortcomings of these quality tools and techniques; considerations in selecting quality tools and techniques; and the difficulties faced by automotive industries in adopting these tools and techniques. Semistructured interviews were conducted with selected experts. The findings show that both Malaysia and Indonesia have highly implemented almost all seven basic tools compared to seven new tools. Besides brainstorming, sampling and flow charting are the other tools which high application in both countries. As for the advanced techniques, statistical process control, cost of quality, and benchmarking are the most implemented techniques in both countries. In terms of factors in selecting quality tools and techniques in automotive industries, the findings show that user friendliness and usefulness are the two primary internal factors considered in selecting quality tools and techniques. Meanwhile the two primary external factors in selecting the tools and techniques according to experts are necessity and organization. The organization factors include top management support, team work, and technical capability. Keywords – quality tools and techniques, automotive industry, Malaysia, Indonesia.

II. METHODOLOGY In gathering the necessary data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected experts and lasting for half an hour to one and a half hours. At the time of the interview panel experts were allowed to give their opinions freely and explain their perceptions based on a set of questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent via e-mail to all experts to ensure that experts are well prepared before the interview. It is structured around the following questions: 1. What are the quality tools and techniques that are actually being implemented in automotive industry? 2. What are the benefits and shortcomings of these quality tools and techniques? 3. What are the factors that automotive industries have to consider when selecting quality tools and techniques? 4. What are other factors that affect automotive industries considerations in selecting quality tools and techniques? 5. What are the difficulties faced by automotive industries in adopting quality tools and techniques? All the eight (8) experts selected have between three to six years of working experience and research in automotive industry, as well as all practitioners are

I. INTRODUCTION The importance of the use of tools and techniques for quality improvement has been widely suggested by previous researchers who conduct research on various companies in different countries such as [1]; [2]; and [3]. McQuater et al. [1] stated that every person in the company involved in the process improvement and in solving quality problems at their workplace using the tools and techniques and this habit will develop their mindset for continuous improvement. According to Kwok and Tummala [2], Hong Kong companies have used various quality control (QC) and improvement tools to enhance their quality products and services. Meanwhile, Spring et al. [3] suggested that it is important to apply related tools and techniques within a quality problem solving approach to conduct process improvement. It is believed that tools and techniques have an important role for a company to conduct continuous quality improvement and to reinforce teamwork through problem solving. Malaysia automotive industry was chosen in this study because it is one of the most important industries in the manufacturing sector with a view to making Malaysia

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Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE ICQR

working at the upper management level in automotive industry. Therefore it can be safety assumed that the experts are very knowledgeable of the automotive industry and represent both general practice and the opinion of the implementation of quality tools and techniques. The list experts (formed in April 2008 - May 2009) from both Malaysia and Indonesia automotive industries are shown in Table I.

not conduct some of design QE such as product planning, product design and process design. Table II presents the results from the interview. It shows that the seven basic tools are the most frequently used tools in production stage within Malaysian and Indonesian automotive industries. These seven basic tools are generally considered easy-to-understand and simpleto-use tools. Team members in these companies applied the seven basic tools to identify problems in the shop floor. They also utilized eight steps for problem solving methods.

TABLE I MEMBERS OF THE PANEL OF-INDUSTRIALIST EXPERTS Name B.R.W. N.W. H.S. H.A. A.R.N. I.M.D. Z.O

Position Head of warranty system and quality system department Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM) Indonesia Department head of quality engineering ADM Indonesia Head of quality inspection department ADM Indonesia QA manager of Lucas Automotive electronics Sdn. Bhd. Malaysia Executive director of Automotive industries Sdn. Bhd. (AISB) Malaysia Director of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (TMMIN) Company Chief Operating Officer Inokom Corporation Sdn. Bhd. Malaysia

Experience 1 – 3 years

TABLE II LEVEL OF USAGE QUALITY TOOLS AND TECHNIGUES BASED ON MALAYSIAN AND INDONESIAN EXPERTS

3 – 6 years

Quality Tools and Techniques

1 – 3 years Product Planning: Customer surveys Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) Basic Principles of reliability Design of Experiment (DoE) Tolerancing APQP/PPAP, MSA Statistical Process Control (SPC) Product Design: Parameter design Tolerance design FMEA Concurrent Engineering (CE) Design for Manufacture (DFM)/Design for Assembly (DFA) Design reviews APQP/PPAP Process Design: Process flow chart Process parameter selection Floor plant layout Process FMEA Process control plan Process instructions Packaging standards Preliminary process capability studies Product and process validation APQP/PPAP Standard procedure Product and Process Validation: Process capability results Measurement system validation Product/process approval Feedback, assessment, and corrective action APQP/PPAP/DVPR Production: 7 basic tools 7 new tools Design of Experiment Process capability studies Taguchi methods Kanban, Just in Time (JIT)

3 – 6 years 6 years 3 – 6 years 1 – 3 years

Two academics were also interviewed besides the eight industrialists. The academics were senior lecturers from National University of Singapore (NUS) and Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) with sufficient knowledge on QE. They are experienced in conducting research in the automotive industry relating to quality implementation. By including academics in panel of experts, the researchers can understand theoretically about quality tools and techniques and can provide insight about the weaknesses of the implementation of a specific quality tools and techniques. III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The utilization of quality tools and techniques in decision making is one of the requirements within quality systems such as ISO 9000 and TS 16949 and a prerequisite for the company to stay competitive. According to the practitioners from Malaysia, almost all automotive related industry in Malaysia uses the quality tools and techniques at every stage of quality engineering (QE). However, it was somewhat surprising that some of the tools and were not adopted in some of the automotive companies especially in Indonesia. Probably because the Indonesia automotive industry is more of an assembly industry, dominated by the major Japanese car manufacturers. ADM Company and TMMIN are the subsidiaries of Astra International and is the major assembler in Indonesia. ADM and TMMIN obtained their engineering drawings of the product and its specification from their mother company, i.e. Astra International Japan. Therefore, most of automobile industry in Indonesia did

Number of Malaysian experts

Number of Indonesian experts

4 2 3 3 2 3 1 1

4 1 5 1 0 3 0 0

3 2 4 1 3

5 2 1 0 1

2 1

2 0

3 3 3 3 3 4 3 3 3 1 1

2 2 2 1 5 2 1 4 1 0 0

2 2 4 4 1

2 2 2 5 0

3 1 1 2 1 1

5 5 0 4 0 5

The results are consistent with previous research by [4]. Tennant et al. [4] believe that although there are various problems regarding the tools and techniques used for problems solving methods, the best way is by applying the tools and techniques that can be used by every level within the company from top management to low management. This can increase employee involvement.

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Meanwhile, SPC and FMEA also form a part of QE techniques used to facilitate company-wide improvement. The seven management tools are generally utilized by middle to top level management. Based on the findings, training on the seven management tools are given to team leader until top management, because they will lead a group of team to do improvement activities. The understanding of a particular tool or technique in terms of it prerequisites, benefits and obstacles in its implementation is an important consideration to achieve successful implementation [3]. The next item analyzed was on the benefits and shortcomings of quality tools and techniques implementation as given in Table III.

people who realize the importance of the tools. Lack of commitment from top management to improve statistical knowledge of employees through on the job training and to encourage QCC to conduct continuous quality improvement are the root cause of the employee’s knowledge deficiency about quality tools and techniques. A successful implementation of quality tools and techniques requires allocating proper resources in terms of technical support or quality professional on the tools allocated. Insufficient resources lead to insufficient knowledge on how to apply the tools and techniques amongst employees. Through proper education and training, every employee can understand the method and aims of the tools and techniques. Results of this research are reinforced by the findings from [5] who concluded that there are four aspects for the successful implementation of the 7 basic tools and 7 management tools. They are in depth knowledge of the process, training on problem solving techniques; appropriateness in selection of the tools used in organization, and implementation of simple models at all levels within the organization to assist communication and learning. The automotive industries have to consider some factors in selection of quality tools and techniques. The findings from the interview show that there are many factors that should be considered when selecting QE tools and techniques in automotive industries. The classification of factors was adopted by [6]. The factors can be classified into two categories i.e. internal factors include user friendliness, usefulness, time, monetary cost, flexibility and popularity of tools and external factors include project nature, organization, industries and culture. Table IV shows the factors that automotive industries have to consider when adopting quality tools and techniques according to panel of experts.

TABLE III BENEFITS AND SHORTCOMINGS OF QUALITY TOOLS AND TECHNIGUES IMPLEMENTATION Benefits: • Finding root cause of the problem. • Solving quality problem immediately. • Meeting customer requirements. • Ensuring the process of control chart (CC) dimension is statistically stable and capable. • A tool for continuous improvement. • Providing awareness on quality status; visibility; traceability. • Providing data about quality performance trend. • Improving quality conscious minded. • Supporting smooth regular quality activity and eliminating previous problem. • Improving the existing product or process. • Standardizing and validating all processes so the processes could properly conducted. Shortcomings: • Time consuming because the implementation need more time to identify detail data. • Requiring special man power to conduct the activity. • Performing the improvement efforts in a trial and error manner because a lack of necessary understanding of knowledge especially basic knowledge such as statistics. • No commitments from top management so only few people realize the importance of the tools.

A. Internal Considerations Techniques Selection

According to the panel of experts, proper use and application of the various quality tools and techniques can help solve quality problems immediately by getting to the root cause of the problem. These quality tools and techniques are implemented in the quality control circle (QCC) to provide data for QCC in terms of quality performance trend and awareness on quality status. The implementation of the tools and techniques can also help increase the level of quality conscious amongst employee and continuous improvement. Beside its benefits, there are also certain shortcomings of the tools and techniques implementation. The panel of experts suggests that some tools and techniques implementation require additional time to collect detailed information and require quality experts to conduct those activities. The constraints as voiced out by the experts include lack of understanding of basic knowledge such as statistics. Because of this constraint, improvement efforts are performed in a trial and error mode. A lack of knowledge on employees can result from having only few

in

Quality

Tools

and

The results from the interview are shown in Table IV, where can be summarized that the two primary internal considerations are user friendliness (easy to use) and usefulness. User friendliness of the tools and techniques relates to ease of use and easy to learn. Further, in relation to ease learning of a tool implies that if the tool is more difficult to learn and takes a long time and effort to learn. While the usefulness of the tools and techniques implies that a tool or technique is worth implementing and it gives a particular value to users. Time is a secondary factor which comprises a few aspects such as time allocated for training, implementation, and maintenance. The panel of experts agree that time can affect an organization in selecting the tools and techniques. The remaining three factors, monetary costs, popularity of the tools and flexibility, appear to be less significant to the panel of experts in their decision on adopting the tools. The costs associated with training and educating employees to apply the tool; cost to hire quality professionals; cost for supporting training

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such as hardware and software; or even other costs to bring about successful implementation of quality tools and techniques. Flexibility relates to the ability of the quality tools or techniques to be used effectively even if people who use them do not follow existing guidelines. One academic expert has the notion that popularity of tools is one of the internal considerations for automotive industries when adopting the tool or technique. The popularity of a tool is related to how widely it is being used by automotive industries. However, none of industrialist expert from Malaysia and Indonesia automotive industries considered the tool’s popularity as an internal consideration in selecting quality tools and techniques.

many of the tools and techniques to be used in the QE stages require a sound basis of training and education in term of statistical knowledge. A well-planned training program is needed to enhance the employees’ knowledge about the tools and techniques. This result is supported by many previous researchers ([8]; [1]; [2]; [7]; [9]) who also found that lack of education and training as the problems encountered in applying QE tools and techniques. The provision of training to employees is a good recognition method for a quality tool [2]. Different levels of employee in the company will need different training and their learning objectives for the same quality tool. Therefore, top management commitment should include adequate resources, encouragement, and recognition, and top management should give strong commitment to increase statistical knowledge of employees.

B. External Considerations in Quality Tools and Techniques Selection The results gathered from the panel of experts revealed that the two primary external factors in choosing tool and technique are necessity and organization. Top management support, teamwork, and technical capability are associated with the organizational factors. Project nature is the second external consideration in the selection of quality tools and techniques, while, cultural differences may also influence the selection of quality tools and techniques. However, culture appears to be less significant to the panel of experts in adoption of quality tools and techniques. Some of the factors that affect the choice of tools and techniques according to the experts are human side, competency and basic skill of user, legal requirements, customer requirements, standard business requirements, risk level, reliability and endurance, benchmarking purposes, direction from mother companies, training by the external introduces “new” QE tools, and understanding the basic concept of any quality tools in their mother tongue language is lacking. This will result in “less than 10 %” commitment or support during the implementation stage. However, companies do encounter a range of difficulties in their use and application of quality tools and techniques. The lack of thorough understanding of the tools relating to when, where and how to apply these tools is to be the root cause of the failure of the implementation of quality tools ([2]; [7]). Therefore, understanding the relevance and effectiveness of tools and techniques are needed to achieve the successful implementation of quality tools and techniques. The findings from the interview indicate that there are some difficulties faced by automotive industries in adopting quality tools and techniques. Table V provides a summary of these difficulties. Members of expert panel stated that lack of knowledge about the tools; lack of management commitment; lack of statistical knowledge; lack of communication; lack of resources; lack of education and training; and poor measurement system and data handling are the primary difficulties faced by automotive industry in adopting quality tools and techniques. It is evident that

IV. CONCLUSION The findings show that both Malaysia and Indonesia have high implementation level for almost all the seven basic tools as compared to the seven new tools. Besides brainstorming, sampling and flow charting are those tools with high application in both countries. As for the advanced techniques, SPC, cost of quality and benchmarking are implemented most in both countries. These results are in accordance with the work by [10]; [7]; and [11]. Lack of understanding of basic knowledge such as statistics resulted in the improvement efforts on a trial and error mode. Lack of knowledge on employees can result from having only few people who realized the importance of the tools. The root cause of the weakness of employees’ knowledge about quality tools and techniques is the lack of commitment from top management to increase employees’ knowledge through on the job training and to encourage QCC in continuous quality improvement. Many previous researchers have found that lack of training and education as the constraints for quality management implementation ([8]; [1]; [2]; and [7]). Kwok and Tummala [2] believe that the cause of the failure of the application of quality tools and techniques is not because the tools and techniques are not effective in delivering results to quality improvement, but due to lack of understanding about when, where, and how to apply them. In terms of factors in selecting quality tools and techniques in automotive industries, the findings show that user friendliness and usefulness are the two primary internal factors in choosing quality tools and techniques. Meanwhile the two primary external factors in selecting tools and techniques according to panel of experts are necessity and organization. The organization factors include top management support, team work, and technical capability.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

[5] D.R. Bamford, and R.W. Greatbanks, “The use of quality management tools and techniques: a study of application in everyday situations”. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp 376 – 392. 2005. [6] C. W., Thia, , K.-H., Chai, J., Bauly. and Y., Xin, “An exploratory study of the use of quality tools and techniques in product development”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 17, No. 5, pp 406 – 424, 2005. [7] Noviyarsi. Development of a proposed quality engineering implementation framework for Malaysian automotive suppliers. Thesis Master Degree, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 2005. [8] H.S., Bunney, and B.G., Dale, “The implementation of Quality Management Tools and Techniques: A Study”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp 183 – 189, 1997. [9] C.Y., Lee, “TQM in small manufacturers: an exploratory study in China”. International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp 175 – 197. 2004. [10] A. Curry, and N. Kadasah, “Focusing an key elements of TQM-evaluation for sustainability”. The TQM Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp 207 – 216. 2002. [11] C., Fotopoulos, and E., Psomas, “The use of quality management tools and techniques in ISO 9001:2000 certified companies: the Greek case.” International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 58(6): 564 – 580. 2009.

The authors would like to thank to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for Razak School Grant, Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia and Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. The authors are most grateful to all the panelists who participated in the study. REFERENCES [1] R.E, McQuater, C.H., Scull, B.G., Dale, and P.G., Hillman, “Using quality tools and techniques successfully”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 6, pp 37 – 42, 1995. [2] K. Y., Kwok, and V.M.R., Tummala, “A quality control and improvement system based on the total control methodology (TCM)”, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp 13 – 48, 1998. [3] M., Spring, R.E., McQuater, K., Swift, B.G, Dale, and J., Booker, “The use of quality tools and techniques in product introduction: an assessment methodology”, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 10, No.1, pp 45 – 50, 1998. [4] C., Tennant, S.J., Warwood, and M.M, Ping Chiang, “A continuous improvement process at Severn trent water.” The TQM Magazine, 14(5): 284 – 292. 2002.

TABLE IV FACTORS IN SELECTING QUALITY TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES Factors Internal Factors: Monetary cost Usefulness User friendliness or easy to use Time Flexibility Popularity of the tools External Factors: Culture Project nature Necessity Organization or industries

E 1 (B.R.W)

E2 (N.W)

√ √

√ √

E3 (H.S)

E4 (H.A)

√

√ √ √

E5 (A.R.N)

E6 (I.M.D)

E7 (D.I)

√ √ √

√ √ √

√ √ √

E8 (Z.O)

E9 (R.J.N)

√

√

√

√ √ √

√ √ √ √ √

√ √

√ √ √

√

√ √ √

√ √

√ √

√ √

√

√

√

TABLE V DIFFICULTIES FACED BY-AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRIES IN ADOPTING QUALITY TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES Difficulties Lack of management commitment Lack of knowledge about the tools Lack of understanding of the potential benefits of tools Lack of statistical knowledge Lack of education and training Lack of communication Lack of resources Poor measurement system and data handling Lack of awareness of T & T available Resistance of the use of quality T and T Lack of quality systems Poor attitude towards quality improvement Lack of availability of software Lack of teamwork and cooperation Sense of quality of operator still low

E1 (BRW)

E2 (N.W)

√

√ √

E3 (H.S) √

E4 (H.A) √ √ √

√ √ √

√

√

√

335

E5 (A.R.N) √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √

√

√ √

√

√

E6 (I.M.D)

E7 (D.I) √ √

E8 (Z.O) √ √

E.9 (RJN) √ √

√ √ √

√ √

√ √ √

√ √ √ √ √