ASQ InfVoices – Quality Evolution and Revolution (QUALITRIX)

Mr. Bill Troy posted the August topic of ASQ Influence Voices entitled “The Future of Quality: Evolutionary or Revolutionary?” I would like to explain the future of quality using the famous film “MATRIX”. Quality is in everywhere which like MATRIX. So I combined “Quality” and “MATRIX” to “QUALITRIX”.

Morpheus asked Neo for selection. He said “This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”  In here, blue pill is "Unchange" and the story of your company ends. Red pill is "Quality" and it is no turning back!

Being the Quality way, company will modify their product or service continuous. One of famous quality tools is Kaizen. The company will go through the Quality Evolution but it will be moving slowly and will be stopped based on the First Law of Organizational Motion (An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an Unbalanced Force (Friction)). (See reference)

Therefore, we needed “QUALITRIX RELOAD” for a period of time. It reminds us to review the theories from different quality gurus such as Deming, Crosby and Juran, as well as, different quality tools included six sigma, lean, SPC, etc.

The company usually involved both quality techniques and practices in their development journey and their product or service performance appeared S-curve. (Refer to Sustaining Excellence through Quality and Innovation)  Until the product/service stay in mature stage, we need some breakthrough to go to the next S-curve. That’s why we need innovation. One of famous tools named TRIZ (Theory of Solving Problems Inventively). Quality plus TRIZ that I also called it “QUALITRIX REVOLUTIONS”.

I would like to summarize my ideas in this topic as below.
i) Evolutionary change is continuous improvement. It could be employed Kaizen and Business process re-engineering (BPR)
ii) Revolutionary change is innovation breakthrough. It could be employed TRIZ or other new tools.

iii) Evolutionary change and Revolutionary change exist simultaneously. It is depended on which stage of company’s product/service in S-curve*.

Reference:
A View from the Q - http://asq.org/blog/
ASQ InfVoices - Law of Organizational Motion - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2013/12/asq-infvoices-law-of-organizational.html
ASQ InfVoices – Sustaining Excellence through Quality and Innovation - http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.hk/2013/09/asq-infvoices-sustaining-excellence.html

*Remark: The early author stated technology innovation through S-curve was found as follows:
Abernathy, William J. and James M. Utterback (1978) “Patterns of Innovation in Industry,”  Technology Review, 80(7), June-July, 40-47.
James M. Utterback (1996) Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation (http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Dynamics-Innovation-James-Utterback/dp/0875847404)