Development of Standard Method for Quality Innovation to Strengthen Global Competitiveness and Create Management Performance of Small and Medium-sized Manufacturing Firms

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop quality innovation techniques specialized for the small and medium-sized businesses. which account for the majority of Korean companies, were having a hard time utilizing the widely recognized quality innovation techniques due to resource constraints. Methods: First, we do review the existing Single PPM and 6 Sigma. And investigate the utilization of these methods including Toyota Production System. Second, we devised a four-step problem-solving methodology based on recent trends in quality innovation such as Simple, Speedy, and Smart. Third, we do survey on frequently used tools for quality innovation. Many opinion leaders including quality consultants and professors answered and gave us valuable comments about our selected quality tools. Finally, we do specify and map tools to each step of PASS. Results: In 2017, 167 companies participated in the quality innovation support business for small businesses according to the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry. We conducted performance checks on 167 companies that had completed the “PASS” projects. For the purpose of evaluating improvement performance, the survey was carried out using a structured questionnaire during the field visit of these companies mentioned above. For the reference, 165 out of 167 companies (98.8 % response rate) responded to the questionnaire and conducted performance analysis based on it. According to the survey, 97.6 percent of the respondents were very satisfied with their overall satisfaction with the quality innovation support projects for small and medium sized enterprises in 2017. Also, 93.3 % of the respondents were satisfied with the results of level of the target achievement. As a result, 160 companies (97.0 % of the participating companies) hope to partic ipate in the quality improvement project using “PASS” once again. Conclusion: In this paper, we introduce the new quality innovation methodology, which is named as ‘PASS’, It could support the long-range business plan of the small and medium-sized businesses to achieve total customer satisfaction resulting in increased market share and improved profit margin. The most small companies can use this “PASS” technique more easily, quickly and most efficiently than their existing known quality innovation techniques such as Six Sigma and Single PPM, etc.