96 Implementation of the total quality management concept

within space business

c. BERLIN

Head of Product Assurance Department, Saab Ericsson Space AB, Gothenburg, Sweden

1. INTRODUCTION

Total Quality Management - TQM - is defined as a continuous improvement process involving all employees, from the management level to the work shop level in a total integrated effort dedicated for improving the performance at every level in the company. These performance improvements are directed to satisfy perceived cross-functional goals such as quality, cost, technical performance, schedule and human resource development. TQM integrates basic management techniques, existing improvement efforts and technical tools under a common discipline, focused on continuous process improvement in all company operations. The TQM activities are directed towards increased customer/user satisfaction and your own company's survival and success in business. The TQM process is very vital, especially in a high technology business like space, as "space quality" can be defined as the "quality in the moment of truth" because, so far, there is no realistic in-orbit service in existence.

2. THE TQM CONCEPT

2.1 Organisation Saab Ericsson Space is an independent company belonging to Saab Combitech within the

Saab-Scania Group, owned by 60% by Saab and by 40% by Ericsson. Saab Ericsson Space has over 25 years of experience in the space business and is specialised in:

- on board computers - antennas - computers - microwave electronics - TTC and data handling - guidance and separation systems

with space electronics as the main operation. Saab Ericsson Space AB started in January 1992 when Saab Space AB and the space depart­ment of Ericsson merged. The company has 400 employees and a turn over of300 MSEK

2.2 The Quality Awareness In the mid 1980's, Saab-Scania executive management announced the commitment to TQM,

involving all 30.000 employees of the Saab-Scania Group.

G. K. Kanji (ed.), Total Quality Management© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1995

558 Part Ten World Class Enterprises

This commitment was communicated to all top managers in divisions and subsidiaries. Within the frame of TQM, each company applied their own frame of TQM, each company applied their own approach, depending on their specific products, markets and customers.

The general TQM-concept, "Dimensions of Quality - the four Q"s - Q4", was outlined as quality in the total operation, with quality objectives in:

- products support - manners and ethics - internal service administration - customer relations

The TQM process started in 1985 where the following main points were underlined: - development of a TQM concept with TQM programmes on staff level over 3-5 years - top management mental acceptance ofthe TQM concept - introduction of the TQM concept in the "Business Plan". The TQM programmes are then

a regular item on the agenda of board and management meetings in the company - assignment of an individual TQM manager in the staff - involvement of all functions in the company in the TQM activities - regular feed-back to the organisation ofTQM achievements

2.3 TQM Programmes TQM is a focused management philosophy, providing leadership, training and motivation in

order to continuously improve the operation of the organisation. The TQM concept was outlined in the following TQM programmes:

- information and human development - operator training and system of proposals for continuous improvements - improvement of assurance in the design phase - integration of new tools and techniques in design, test and manufacturing - redesign of the Company Quality System, using all affected functions within the company

to anchor the system - create a quality cost measuring system

3. RUNNING TQM PROGRAMMES

3.1 Redesign of the Company Quality System Within the approach of the TQM process the Company Quality System is redesigned,

involving all functions concerned to anchor the system. The Company Quality System is in compliance with present requirements of the ESA-PSS-, ECSS-, CNES-, MIL- and ISO 9000. The work is performed in line with the following:

- a general and up-to-date Company Quality System is developed, based on actual requirements and experience from over 25 years in the business

- the responsibility to prepare the different detailed quality procedures is decentralised to the functions concerned. All procedures are checked and authorised by the Product Assurance department

- the procedures are calibrated once a year taking into account experience and changes in the requirements

This way, the understanding and implementation of the quality requirements are built into the workmanship of all employees involved in the total operation.

Implementation of the TQM concept within space business 559

3.2 Creation of a Quality Cost System When starting the TQM process, it is vital to implement a quality cost system so that the

initial level of quality cost is known and continously measured. From this point, continuous measurements are performed to follow the achievements within the TQM programmes in the change related to direct cost. Depending on the cycle-time between design and final product release in different types of companies, measurements must be performed during 3-5 years to establish significance in trends and conclusions.

The quality cost system created at Saab Ericsson Space is called QUEBASE, which stands for "Quality Under Evaluation dataBASE", and records all Non-Conformance Reports - NCR's - in all the phases from design to in-orbit operation.

QUEBASE is a NCR-handling system as well as a part of the quality cost system related to failures. Thereby, it is not an "add on system" for administrative purposes but a daily operational system in the projects.

A data-sample over a period of about 8 years of NCR-recordings from design to in-orbit operation is shown in figure.

NCR's In % Related costs In %

In orbit operation

During count-down

During pre-launch Integration 19

DUring customer system Integration 40

Acceptance Test 18

20 Board Test 12

15 Manufacturing

11 Incoming Inspection

38 During PDR·CDR phases 4

QUEBASE 1 QUEBASE 2

Figure: Non-conformances in % and cost in % of corrective action related to the non­conformances, for electronic equipment from design phase to final in-orbit operation, (simulated models in QUEBASE).

From this model, two major indexes are defined and regularly recorded as below: Quality Cost Index (QCI) = Total Quality Cost / Turn over Failure Cost Index (FCI) = Failure Cost / Turn over The failure cost index indicates a reduction from 10 % to 3 % of the company turn over

in a five years period. From literature typical values of these indexes for high-technology companies in the military business are, for the QCI = 15 - 25% and for the FCI = 5 - 12%

560 Part Ten World Class Enterprises

The failure cost index indicates a reduction from 10 % to 3 % of the company turn over in a five years period. From literature typical values of these indexes for high-technology companies in the military business are, for the QCI = 15 - 25% and for the FCI = 5 - 12%

The benefits from the Quality Under Evaluation dataBASE system, QUEBASE, are summarised as follows:

- "understandable" communication of quality to top-management in cost figures - decentralised ownership of quality statistics - direct understanding of the positive relation of cost to quality efforts - technical "bank of experience" for project, design, manufacturing and test - a sensor for the Company Quality System, a day-by-day internal audit tool. - realistic trend-analysis to give the right corrective actions

4. EXPERIENCE OF EIGHT YEARS IN TQM

So far, from the experiences within Saab Ericsson Space ofTQM we can say: - establish your own TQM-concept. Do not copy trend concepts, they should only be used - after top-management mental acceptance, build the TQM concept from bottom and up - define realistic TQM goals and objectives with trend effects over 3-5 years - do not print nice pamphlets - do the work! - TQM is a managed process of continuous improvement based on the human resource

5. TOWARDS THE YEAR 2000

The next step in quality awareness, for high technology companies in specific, is defined in the new quality phase towards the year 2000 as:

1950's - QUALITY CONTROL, (QC) 1960's - QUALITY ASSURANCE, (QA) 1970's - PRODUCT ASSURANCE, (PA) 1980's - TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, (TQM) 1990's - TOTAL CYCLE TIME AND PROCESS LEANING

This gives the overall management concept towards: 2000's - BUSINESS ASSURANCE, (BA) - In specific

- LONG TERM BUSINESS ASSURANCE, (LTBA) Quality becomes more a strategic movement related to the market. The relation between

the supplier and the customer is more a partnership where in addition to provide "conformance to requirements" the main element is trust. Product Assurance and Total Quality Management as well as Total Cycle Time and Process Leaning are all main elements of the Business Assurance Concept, where the basic goal is long term survival and success of the company. The Business Assurance Manager is in principle the Managing Director himself The awareness and understanding is created by executive members and project managers, whereby the quality concept, Long Term Business Assurance, becomes the leadership culture for the coming deca­des.