Total Quality Management

14 Pages·00.91 MB·English

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19930010749 2020-04-12T16:36:47+00:00Z
NASA Technical Memorandum ]08980
,_/3
Total Quality Management:
It Works for Aerospace
Information Services
J. Erwin, C. Eberline, and W. Colquiff
(NASA-TM-I08980) TOTAL QUALITY N93-1993B
MANAGEMENT: IT WORKS FOR AEROSPACE
INFORMATION SERVICES (NASA) 13 p
Unclas
G3/81 0150548
NASA
STIPROGRAM
IENTIFIC&
ECHNICAL
INFORMATJON

TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT:
IT WORKS FOR AEROSPACE INFORMATION SERVICES
James Erwin, Head, Information Services/J'l_I"
NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program
Washington, DC
Carl Eberline, Vice President/General Manager/CASI
Wanda Colquitt, Director, Operations and Analysis/CASI
NASA Center for AeroSpace Information
Baltimore, MD
Abstract dissemination of information concerning its activities
and the results thereof." This dissemination is sup-
Today we are in the midst of information and ported by NASA through its Scientific and Technical
"total quality" revolutions. At the NASA STI Information (STI) Program. One goal of the STI
Program's Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI), Program istodevelop a global program to encourage
we are focused on using continuous improvements the creation and exchange of scientific and technical
techniques toenrich today's services and products and information and to facilitate its use.
to ensure that tomorrow's technology supports the
TQM-based improvement of future STI Program In supportof the NASA and NASA ST[ Program
products and services. The Continuous Improvements goals and objectives, the NASA STI Program's
Program at CASI is the foundation for Total Quality Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI) acquires,
Management in products and services. The focus is performs value-added processing for,and disseminates
customer-driven; its goal, to identify processes and information of interest to scientists and engineers
procedures that can be improved and new technolo- involved in aerospace research and development.
gies that can be integrated with the processes to gain This information isavailable through the NASA STI
efficiencies, provide effectiveness, and promote Database and the hardcopy and microfiche distribu-
customer satisfaction. This Program seeks to estab- tion.
lish quality through an iterative defect prevention ap-
proach that is based on the incorporation of standards CASI's mission is to support the STI Program in
and measurements into the processing cycle. Four supplying the NASA user community with timely
projects are described that utilize cross-functional, access to scientific and technical information inareas
problem-solving teams for identifying requirements including aerospace and space science industries.
and defining tasks and task standards, management Easy access to such information will extend knowl-
participation, attention to critical processes, and edge and facilitate new and further research in these
measurable long-term goals. The implementation of fields. It also will keep NASA and its users in the
these projects provides the customer with measurably forefront of today's information revolution, where the
improved access to information that is provided amount of available information israpidly increasing
through several channels: the NASA STI Database, and the tools to access that information are, often, still
document requests for microfiche and hardcopy, and under development.
the Centralized Help Desk.
This is a revolution that will yield global infor-
Introduction mation systems and enable users tobe incommand of
increasingly powerful workstations that are tied to
The 1958 Space Act, which created the National large, multi-user computational facilities. They will
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), have access to distributed and remote data collection
provided for "the widest practicable and appropriate devices, advanced analytical and manipulation tools
anddataandinformatiornepositoritehsatpromottehe
rapidexchangoefdataandideasa,ndnewinforma-
tion dissemination tools such as multimedia and CD-
;LIC
ROM.
IMPROVE
Because of these vast changes in the type, vol-
PRODUCTIVITY
ume, and availability of information required, as well JUSTIFY BUDG
AND INNOVATIC
as in the rapid technological advances that support
these new requirements, it is critical that the STI DECREASE
Program meet this information revolution with a COSTS
revolution in quality. Not only will yesterday's
quality products and services not meet today's re-
quirements m today's quality products and services
IMPROVE
will not meet tomorrow's requirements. We must
QUALITY
respond with quality products and services to guide
ON INVESTMENT
NASA and its users to and beyond today's steadily
increasing number of databases and variety of access
channels. We consider Total Quality Management
(TQM) as embracing the principles that are necessary
to support NASA in carrying out its mission to
expand man's knowledge, ensure U.S. leadership in
Figure i_-The Deming Chain Reaction
aerospace technology research and development, and
to develop wor]d--class:_s._i : _
The STI Program's TQM Imperative
The STI Program must improve today's products
and services to support th_ current and future infor-
mation requirements ofthe STI community. We must processes that will build in the quality necessary to
build the infrastructure to ensure that the next genera- ensure uniform and superior products and services.
tion of improvements supports our requirements for
scientific and technical information. Improved pro- The Evolution of the STI Program's
ducts and services and a new infrastructure will Continuous Improvements Program
provide the quality performance necessary for the
information and quality revolutions: a proactive, The STI Program's TQM initiative at CASI, the
anticipatory approach; new product innovation; quick Continuous Improvements Program, provides the
decision making; teamwork; and cooperation. foundation for Total Quality Management of its
products and services. The focus of the program is
This improvement of products and services cannot be customer-driven; its goal, to proactively identify
stagnant. Indeed, use of TQM methodology and tools processes and procedures that can be improved and
becomes pervasive m with each process, systems are new technologies that can be integrated with the
executed better and better. Productivity increases as processes to gain efficiencies, to provide effec-
inefficiency and errors decrease. Customers get tiveness, and promote customer satisfaction.
higher value products and services at lower cost. The
organization's reputation for quality and value ex- The STIProgram's evolving Continuous Improve-
pands and demand for its product or service will ments Program at CASI is following the four phase
increase. This cycle, as put forth by Dr. W. Edward process that is common within organizations who
Denting, is summarized in Figure 1. adopt TQM:
The STI Program's emphasis on customer re- Phase I, Estabfishing the Foundation: Early
quirements, both internal and external, guides our advocateasnd senior management commitmenL
imperative for TQM. It drives our goal to refine
Phase H, Developing Widespread Awareness: can be the input to the next process or an external
Organizational awareness, understanding, and pilot user of STI products and services.
projects.
We began by selecting several projects that had a
Phase HI, Transforming the Organization: Full, high probability ofsuccess and that would bring about
wide-scale deployment; significant results. visible improvements. These early projects gave us
insights into the barriers that we had to overcome.
Phase IV, Mature, Continuous Process: Stable The facilitator created teams from multiple functional
processes, continuously improving. areas to provide problem solving and to design new
processes. The teams, whose members had little
As an organization moves through these phases, experience in team dynamics or problem solving,
itsplanning and control focus changes from manage- exhibited all the signs of resistance: complacency,
ment of the end result to management of the process. lack of communication, lack of knowledge and
A domino effect results: first productivity, then lower understanding, conflicting goals, and resistance to
unit cost and prices, then increased improved service change. They exhibited fear, anxiety, and insecurity.
innovations, increased user satisfaction -- and, The facilitator worked to establish communication
ultimately, an expanded user community. among the team members, understanding that trust
must be built to enable *buy-in" to TQM processes.
Phase I of the ST/ Program's Continuous Im- Each team changed with time, with its members
provements Program at CASI had its early advocates reaching a stage of cooperation, communication,
in senior management who hired staff dedicated to enthusiasm, excitement, and buy-in that they later
providing operational improvements. In Phase II this communicated toother staff. Not allteams responded
staff began the task of supporting the review of the as quickly as others, but all made progress and all
STI Program's mission and evaluating its systems and projects had measurable success.
processes.
As a result of the pilot projects described in the
The STI Program's mission of collecting, enhan- following sections, the Program is now moving to
cing the value of, and storing information, and dis- Phase HI, Transformation to the TQM Culture.
seminating that information to authorized users has Figure 2 shows how the elements of key management
not changed since its inception. Its systems at CASI, leadership, communications, long-term commitment,
both automated and manual, are old. Many of the a hospitable environment, and employee partnership
processes have not changed or have changed slowly for quality R all proven in the STI Program's Phase
only to incorporate policy changes or limited automa- I and 11implementations m are key to the success of
tion. On the other hand, the volume of information any organizational culture change. The presence of
and the demand for faster service has increased.
The first barrier CASI encountered in implemen-
ting Phase 1I was culture, which does not change
overnight. Some of the staff at CASI have been
providing services to the NASA community for as
long as the program has been in existence and many
have received awards for 5, 10, and 20 years of
service. As it would be in any organization poised
for change, these staff are resistant to change.
Change is outside their comfort zone, and many of
them are very comfortable "just the way things are."
Our first hurdlewas toovercome the complacency
that is common to so many organizations. Our Figure 2. Critical Success Factors for
second hurdle was creating the paradigm shift re- Cultural Change
quired for redefining "customer," which in TQM is
defined as the receiver of a product or service. This
these critical elements in the STI Program's evolving
TQM focus predicts the accomplishment of the
cultural change that is required forthe success of the STOP
• I_istanm toChange
Continuous Improvements Program.
_ll_e-_l •• LLaacckkooffKUnnodwer_sItmmm'Ing
TQM in Action: the First 4 Pilot Proiects • Cornplamncy
The STI Program used four pilot projects in its
implementation of the Continuous Improvements
,q -g ao
Program: Revised Input Processing, 3-Day Turn-
• Trust
around of Document Requests, Microfiche Quality
Improvements, and Centralized Help Desk. These • MlssiofFl-ocus
projects served as the fast tests for the STI Program's • CulturaClhange
use ofTQM methods such as utilizing cross-function- • Teemwork
al,problem-solving teams for identifying requirements
Figure 3. Overcoming the Barriers to TQM
and for defining tasks and task standards, participation
from all levels of management, attention to critical
processes, and incorporation of measurable long-term
goals. They served, as well, as a tool for the devel-
opment of the STI Program's TQM methodology, reports for inclusion in the NASA STI Database and
which today includes nine steps: to distribute technical reports in the form of micro-
fiche. This project crossed five functional areas:
1. Create cross-functional, problem-solving teams. Input Processing, Publications, ADP Technologies,
2. Analyze processes. Operations, and Media Conversion.
3. Identify root problem.
4. Develop new processes. Current Processing. Input Processing provides
5. Reach consensus. bibliographic processing for the scientific and techni-
6. Develop measurable goals. cal reports that are received at CASI from NASA,
7. Devise and execute an implementation schedule. NASA contractors, other government agencies, and
8. Review successes and lessons learned. foreign partnerssuch as the EuropeanSpace Agency.
9. Document the results. This bibliographic information is added tothe NASA
STI Database and accessed through RECON (R.E-
Implementation of these projects has provided search CONnection, NASA's search and retrieval
NASA customers measurable improvement in access system) and certain government and commercial
to information that is available through several databases. The reports are made available to NASA
channels: the NASA STIDatabase, document requests and NASA conwactors, the National Technical Infor-
for microfiche and hardcopy, and the Centralized mation Service (NTIS), and the Government Printing
Help Desk. As discussed in the following sections, Office (GPO) on microfiche distribution.
the STI Program encountered barriers common tothe
implementation of TQM (see Figure 3). We found Media Conversion creates silver master microfiche
the use of the tools that help overcome these barriers of the hardcopy reports and duplicates the silver
to be an evolutionary process, one that is key to our masters and the microfiche received from other
successful transition to a TQM culture. Our goal is agencies for distribution.
to provide an environment that encourages trust,
teamwork, and mission focus throughcultural change. Publications staff create camera-ready copy of the
Training will be an important component of our unclassified bibliographic information so that its
program. distribution tosubscribers ina twice monthly bibliog-
raphy of all unclassified technical reports added tothe
Revised Input Processing ]Proje_ STI Database, Scientific and Technical AeroSpace
Reports (STAR), is made possible.
The Revised Input Processing Project wasinitiated
to reduce the time required to process technical ADP Technologies maintains the programs for
processing the bibliographic information, loading the Barriers to a Fully Functioning Team. The
citations to the database, and producing the camera- Revised Input Processing Team included represen-
ready copy. Operations runs the programs to load the tatives from allfive functional areas and a facilitator.
citations to the database and produce the publication Although the group was quite willing toparticipate in
runs when an issue of STAR is completed. interviews and reviews to document the current
process, they were not so willing to entertain the
The Root Problem. Customer complaints fell possibility of changing the processes. Because these
into two related categories: (1) too much time elapsed processes had been in effect for many years, changes
from the time they sent reports to CASI and the to the processes had been instituted as exception
reports appeared on the Database and (2) they did not processing and the groups were tied to the way
receive the microfiche copies until weeks after the "things had always been done." Communication was
reports appeared on the Database. difficult because "selective memory" played a large
role in determining the current processes. Getting to
The root of the problem lay in the processes for a cooperative spirit was difficult because staff had
accomplishing all these tasks. These processes had "101 reasons" why processes could not be changed.
been instituted years before and were tied to the
publication of STAR, Other bibliographic, media There was a feeling of inertia and complacency in
conversion, and publication activities took place, but the group, and during the analysis and design of the
these supplementary activities were coordinated and new process, the facilitator had topush team members
produced during slow periods in the processing of to action because of tight time constraints. The team
STAR. lacked understanding and experience in team problem
solving, and found it easier to do things as they had
Distribution of the microfiche, which were pro- always been done. They were afraid that new pro-
duced and duplicated after all reports for a given cesses would not work and that they would miss
publication were processed, occurred after the publi- deadlines. They tried very hard to hold on to the old
cation of STAR, which occurred six weeks after the ways, and they were reluctant to consider that new
citations were loaded to the NASA STI Database. ideas really can work.
The New Processes. Our solution for overcom- Reaching Consensus. The team members were
ing the problem was two-fold: inInputProcessing, all not skilled in team interaction or team problem
reports that were received from Document Supply and solving. They demonstrated barriersto teamwork --
completed on a given day (with certain exceptions resistance tochange, communication difficulties, time
such as conference proceedings, which are made up conslraints, conflicting goals, lack of understanding,
of many technical reports) would be forwarded to and complacency among the team -- and reaching
Media Conversion for processing the following day. consensus was very difficult. Once it was decided
This eliminated the 2 to 2-1f2 week delay formerly how the project would be limited (only changes that
incurred by holding completed reports for the next affected ourgoal would be implemented) and how it
issue of STAR. would be implemented, however, the team began
working very actively together to develop schedules
The Measurable Goals. Our goal with this for the newprocess. Their first steps were toperform
project was to reduce the time required to process an analysis of the current processes and to begin
technical reports for inclusion in the NASA STI designing and implementing the new processes.
Database and to distribute technical reports in the Despite working so closely together, team members
form of microfiche within a week of the appearance haddoubts aboutwhether ornottheir implementation
of the citations on that Database. This was our fast plan would work. To reduce this anxiety, Input
attempt at improving processes for measurable gain. Processing began a month before implementation to
We calculated that approximately 500 citations could practice processing all series of documents (not only
be added to the NASA STI Database on a weekly STAR) on a daily basis in the number required to
basis and that the microfiche could be distributed meet the goals that had been established. Media
approximately 4 weeks earlier than with the current Conversion worked toprocess all reports that were in
process. process so that they would he prepared for the new
process. Publications and Operations worked to fit
their staffing and workload schedules to the new initiatedto bring microfiche clarity and resolution up
process. ADP Technologies worked with each toindustry standards for microfiche reading, duplicat-
functional area toidentify their programming require, ing, and archiving. This project is unique among the
ments and ensure that these were met. With these four projects inthat the functional areas critical to the
successes, enthusiasm crept into the team and they change process included outside federal agencies over
became committed tothe project. To ensure contin- which the STI Program had no control.
ued success, the team met on a daily basis to ensure
the schedules were synchronized and that notask was Current Processing. Microfiche silver master
forgotten. copies are produced by the Media Conversion staff
from the NASA hardcopy technical reports. These
Enthusiasm increased, consensus was the rule, and silver masters, along with diazo master microfiche
the day production went into effect the implemen- from other agencies areduplicated and distributed to
tation was flawless. requesters. Primary distribution is automatically sent
to subscription customers and secondary distribution
Overcoming Barriers to Success and Lessons is sent upon customer request.
Le_ed. We found that communication was the
greatest factor in overcoming problems; later, the The Root Problem. Producing good quality
comment most expressed regarded the rewards that duplicate microfiche that meet standards requires the
communication brought. Because the cross functional use of a good quality master. In addition, the micro-
team was committed to the tasks and had reached fiche must be free from dust and foreign materials or
consensus, information was exchanged in a positive fingerprints.
environment and feedback was provided to all team
members. The members of the team began trusting A large percentage of the distribution microfiche
the process and the team members. Early in the did not meet standards. Further analysis led to the
process new technology was put forth as the panacea discovery of multiple reasons for lack of quality:
for correcting all problems. But as the new processes
fell into place, excitement grew regarding the im- • Duplicate microfiche produced from CASl-pro-
provements that change in process would bring. New duced silver master microfiche were well within
technology was still seen as a tool for increasing standards. The problem was with the microfiche
productivity but not the only one. All goals of the received from other agencies, which became our input
project were met and exceeded. The team felt owner- for making duplicates. We could not make the output
ship for the project, and its success was celebrated better than the input.
with a pizza party - not a big reward but a beginning.
• Some of the microfiche contained fingerprint
Results. Implementation of the Revised Input smudges, specs of dirt, or other foreign material.
Processing Project yielded results that met the es-
tablished goals. The scheduled time to load the • There were problems with grid misalignment and
accessions to the STI Database was reduced from 2 resolution.
weeks to 1 week. In addition, the system now pro-
vides the capability to load accessions in less time if • The micrographics equipment is old and ineffi-
desired, even daily. cient.
Microfiche processing time wasreduced from 6 to The New Processes. Our solution for overcom-
8 weeks to 2-1/2 weeks. It is now available within ing the problem had a dual focus: outside suppliers
one week of the availability of the technical _ports in and internal quality problems. The team identified
the NASA STI Database. Table 1demonstrates the and implemented several internal processes to im-
early delivery Ofmicrofiche in the Revised Input prove microfiche quality:.
Processing Production Schedule. _ _ .....
• Revised quality assurance procedures to ensure
Microfiche Quality, Improvements project that all microfiche meet ANSI/AIIM Standards.
The Microfiche QualityImprovements Project was • Performed twice-monthly methylene blue tests to
6
Table I. RevisedInput ProcessingProduction Schedule
STAR START START LOAD PUBS DELIV PUB.- DAYS
ISSUE INPUT FILM 1 RUN MF STAR EARLY*
08 2/26 2/27 3/6 3/16 3/23 4/23 25
09 3/11 3/12 3/20 3/30 4/06 5/08 26
10 3/25 3/26 4/03 4/13 4/20 5/23 25
11 4/08 4/09 4/17 4/27 5/04 6/08 25
12 4/22 4/23 5/01 5/11 5/18 6/23 28
13 5/06 5/07 5/15 5/26 6/02 7/08 28
14 5/20 5/21 5/29 6/08 6/15 7/23 25
15 6/03 6/04 6/12 6/29 7/07 8/08 26
16 6/24 6/25 7/02 7/13 7/20 8/23 27
* Microfiche delivered ahead of previous delivery schedule.
ensure that microfiche meet ANSI/AIIM standards for areal challenge and we have notreached fullresolu-
archival microfiche. tion. Since there is no cost associated with the
microfiche, asking the agencies to supply better
• Incorporated the most recent ANSI/AIIM stan- microfiche does not guarantee success. Our approach
dards into CASI microfiche specifications. is to request that these outside suppliers improve the
quality of the microfiche they submit, by reminding
Inaddition, staff communicated with the agencies them of the federal requirements but not demanding
who supply the microfiche inwriting, reminding them their cooperation.
of the Federal requirements for compliance to micro-
fiche specifications. Internal staff projected resistance to change.
Their comments included "we've never worn gloves
Measurable Goals. One goalestablished for the before to prevent smudges," "they don't affect quali-
Microfiche Quality Improvement Project was to ty," and "we can still read the microfiche with t'mger-
devise and implement new internal processes for prints." Communication was lx_or and negotiating
addressing microfiche quality, based on the AN- with staff to follow procedures was difficult. They
SI/AIIM standard. Since suppliers provide the diazo would not buy-in to the change process.
microfiche as part of an agreement with NASA,
another goal was toconvince the suppliers to provide Reachinz Consensus. Implementing change to
better microfiche. processes that had been in place for a long time
required convincing staff that quality could not be
Bawlers to a Fully Functioning Team. Getting guaranteed unless processes were in place to guaran-
toa cooperative spiritwithoutside suppliers has been tee that quality. Therefore, establishing the criteria to
beusedfordeterminintghequalityofinputorthe Media Conversion. The team consisted of members
resultingmicroficheprovideadgoodlessoinncon- from these five areas and a facilitator.
sensudsecisionmakingfortheteam.Theyfinally
adoptedDeming'sprinciples:unlessvariationis Current Processes. User Services isresponsible
controlledp,rocesseasrenotincontroal ndlackof for receiving all requests for products. Requests for
qualityistheresult. Fingerprints orforeign material hardcopy or stock copies are sent to the Document
on the microfiche do make a difference, even though Supply for fulfillment of the order with stock hard-
you can read the copy. If your input is not_m_eeting Copy. Requests for microfiche are sent to the Media
standards, you cannot control the variability of your Conversion for microfiche copies or hardcopy blown
output. Their development of quality criteria finally back from microfiche.
enabled them to see that many of our customers use
the microfiche they receive from CASI to make The Root Problem. The root problem lay in the
copies. Each rime a microfiche is duplicated, itisnot manual processes, which were made more complex by
as good as the previous generation. Therefore, if the lack of automation. These manual processes yielded
microfiche we distribute can be read but does not an average turnaround time of more than 5 days for
meet industry standards, customer satisfaction levels document request full'aliment. Also, the team believed
drop becausethe microfiche they create from our that the turnaround time for orders could not be
microfiche may not be readable. improved because many ofthe factors influencing the
turnaround time were not within their control. For
Overcoming Barriers to Success and Lessons example, if a technical report is not available from
Learned. Overcoming the external problems in this stock, microfiche, or blowback, it is ordered from
area was very difficult because we have little control NTIS or from the source; STI Program staff do not
over outside suppliers. Additionally, many of the have control over the turnaround time from outside
team members had been in their positions for a long sources. Because they felt it impossible to fill 100
time and were deeply entrenched in the current percent of the document orders in 3 days, they
processes, To meet the project's goals, the team had decided that the project could not be done.
toovercome their defense of the current definitions of
quality and the current workflow processes. To reach The New Processes.The existing processes were
a consensus that readability does notensure standards simplified and, where possible, automated. The
are met, the team had to achieve a new def'mition of automated processes perform much of the decision
microfiche quality and a new understanding that the making formerly done by User Services: the order
level of effort necessary to achieve the project's goals forms are sorted by section and are date- and time-
was more than simply upgrading CASI's old micro. stamped, and reports are generated by section, by age,
fiche duplicating equipment. and by status.
Results. New procedures incorporating updated Generation of the order forms was changed from
specifications have been putintoplace,and workflow nightly topredetermined intervals throughout the day.
processes changed. Microfiche that do not meet (Since the current system implementation only gener-
minimum standards are rejected. We are working ated the order forms nightly during a batch run, the
with the agencies to get better microfiche, and up- orders were already 1 day old when received for
grading CASI's old microfiche duplicating equipment fulfillment.)
to improve quality and processing speed, aswell as to
provide incentive and motivation to the staff. Measurable Goals. The team determined a
phased implementation for thisproject, with the goal
3-Day Turnaround of Documents Project for Phase I set to achieve 3-day turnaround for 80
percent of the document requests. With the Phase I
The 3-Day Turnaround Project was initiated to implementation all orders placed by 3:00 p.m. on a
reduce the amount of time between receipt of a given day would he placed inthe processing cycle the
request for a document and receipt of the requested same day.
document by the customer. It required a team that
crossed five functional areas: User Services, Docu- Barriers to aFuilv Functioning Team. Cooper-
ment Supply, ADP Technologies, Operations, and ation across these functional areas on the subject of