Quality Technology and Innovation

Posted on September 2, 2006 by John Hunter

The Future of Quality Technology: From a Manufacturing to a Knowledge Economy and From Defects to Innovations [sadly the link to ASQ fails, sigh, http://www.asqstatdiv.org/documents/newsletters/Winter06StatDiv.pdf] by Soren Bisgaard:

we need to be good at both breakthrough and incremental innovation. Not either/or, but both! And this is where the quality profession comes in. Much of what quality technology is applied to can broadly be
characterized as incremental innovation.

This article does a good job of explaining why “quality/lean…” should not be viewed as just process improvement, and innovation as something separate. I agree, as discussed in: Quality and Innovation. Many quality and lean tools are focused on process improvement. But those tools are part of a system that requires customer focused innovation (including breakthrough innovation).

Also in this issue of the ASQ statistics division newsletter, is the acceptance speech by the most recent Hunter Award (named for my father) winner: Douglas M. Hawkins.

Related: Curious Cat Management Improvement Library – Soren Bisgaard 2002 Hunter Award speech – Deming on Innovation – Better and Different – Innovation at Toyota – Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation – Global Manufacturing Data by Country – Manufacturing Jobs Data: USA and China

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