Your Gateway To Quality Knowledge

INFORMATION RESOURCES

Your Gateway To Quality Knowledge by Dave Nelsen, QP manuscript coordinator

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n ASQ’s vision statement, it promises to be “the community for everyone who seeks quality technology, concepts or tools to improve themselves and their world.” That’s quite a promise and a massive undertaking, and the starting point is the collection of knowledge. There is plenty of quality knowledge out there, made available in countless books and articles by quality gurus and countless more writings by other hardwork-

In 50 Words Or Less • ASQ’s Quality Information Center (QIC) strives to be a model for knowledge management. • The QIC follows a three-step process for information digging. • ASQ’s top librarian gives her quality resource recommendations.

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ing quality professionals, both academics and those in the manufacturing and service trenches. Since its inception in 1946, ASQ has been collecting this material and compiling it into what it wants the world to consider the definitive quality body of knowledge (QBOK). About 10 years ago, ASQ established the Quality Information Center (QIC) at its headquarters in Milwaukee to house this knowledge. Staffed with five librarians and a few technical assistants, the QIC began collecting, cataloging and shelving as many books, articles, videos and conference proceedings as it could. A decade later, while still striving to continually improve itself, the QIC has become a model for knowledge management. Knowledge, as one can imagine, can be a difficult thing to manage—not necessarily because it is intangible (making knowledge tangible is a librarian’s specialty) but because it is forever changing and being added to. With every book and article written, with every paper presented at every conference and with every new procedure established by every tool inspector or safety engineer, new discoveries are made, new knowledge is born, and the QBOK grows. So what does this mean to the average ASQ member? How does Joe or Jane Quality benefit from a small library in Milwaukee? First of all, the

QIC is available to provide information to ASQ staff members, the ones who help create the publications, courses and certifications that disseminate the knowledge. Secondly, everything housed in the QIC is available via phone, fax, internet and e-mail to ASQ members. This is a member benefit many people may not know about, which is unfortunate, considering its potential value. Finding an answer to a specific quality question can be a daunting task, due to the precise nature of the profession. There is most likely a book or an article out there somewhere that answers your question perfectly—the challenge is to find it. This is where the QIC is most directly of value to ASQ members.

Stacks of Facts: The QIC’s shelves are packed with quality information.

The Fact Finder The QIC is now staffed by only one full-time librarian. Sharron Manassa, who holds a master’s degree in library and information science from Indiana University, gets assistance from as many as three part-time employees but for the most part runs the QIC single-handedly. When asked if this makes her the smartest person at ASQ, Manassa replied, “I don’t think so. I just know where all the facts are buried.” Manassa, who has worked in the QIC for five years, gets about 20 requests for information weekly,

about half from ASQ members, mostly by phone, but more and more by e-mail. Some requests come from people who call ASQ with a question that the customer care representatives who field phone calls don’t have the immediate resources to answer. Other requests come from people familiar with the QIC who now call and ask for Manassa immediately. When a request for information comes in, Manassa generally follows the same process: Step One: Quality InfoSearch. This is the name of the database of articles published by ASQ and QUALITY PROGRESS

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the Association for Quality and Participation (AQP) and papers presented at ASQ or AQP conferences. Every time an article is published or a paper is presented, an abstract of it is entered into Quality InfoSearch. Manassa says there are about 1,500 abstracts currently in Quality InfoSearch, and she continually adds new ones. When someone calls requesting information, she enters key words into the database and finds all the applicable articles and papers, based on how closely the key words match the abstracts. She can’t send free copies of articles to whoever wants them, but since most articles from ASQ publications are now archived on different portions of ASQ’s website, members have free access to them. Manassa points them in the right direction. Nonmembers may purchase copies of the articles. Anyone can access InfoSearch themselves at http://qic.asq.org. Step Two: Books. After a search for articles, Manassa turns to ASQ’s bookstore, which is online at http://qualitypress.asq.org/. This includes all books, software and other media ASQ sells, some of which are produced by ASQ and some of which are produced elsewhere and sold by ASQ. If she doesn’t find anything pertinent in the bookstore, she moves on to books and other resources she has on the shelves of the QIC. This currently includes 3,217 books, 18 periodical titles, 332 VHS tape sets, 66 audio tape sets, six CD-ROMs and six conference proceedings. Members cannot borrow books, but Manassa will photocopy up to a chapter of a book and fax it. The reason Manassa starts with the ASQ bookstore is that it ensures the book she’s recommending is available for purchase. Many of the books on her shelves are out of print, making them less helpful. She in no way encourages people to spend money in the bookstore. “I’m a librarian, not a salesperson,” she says. “I can’t do that.” But if ASQ’s bookstore doesn’t sell anything that can help her customer, Manassa suggests books they may be able to borrow or purchase elsewhere. “My job is to get information through to people. My job is not to tell people they can’t think about something because we don’t sell anything on it.” Step Three: Internet. Manassa then moves on to the internet, a tool that has much more useful potential now than it did when the QIC began. She has several webpages bookmarked that she fre28

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quently refers to. She visits the formal ones first— sites run by government organizations, educational institutions and professional organizations. These are generally considered more credible than sites run by individuals, although sometimes one of these has the perfect answer to a question.

Ready Reference That is how Manassa handles many requests— not necessarily by giving the customer an immediate answer, but by giving him or her the ways to find the correct answers. Sometimes, however, she plays the role of a ready reference librarian. While internet search engines have taken much of the workload away from ready reference librarians everywhere, it is still sometimes more useful and efficient to call and interact with an actual person than to embark on an internet search, which can quickly turn into a wild goose chase for a simple answer. About 60% of all the calls and e-mails Manassa receives are of this short answer nature. She does keep some formal measures on which requests for information she gets most often, and she can quickly name 10 of the most popular off the top of her head. More than half of these requests are easy enough for her to complete using resources literally within her reach. 1. Templates for various processes and forms, from job descriptions to Six Sigma project pieces. People call for these quite often. Manassa has several sources, one of which is The Manual of Quality Procedures and Forms. Occasionally, though, people’s requests are too obscure for her to find an established template. In these cases, she finds similar templates that people can combine and revise to create their own. She also finds articles that teach the process of creating them. 2. Checklists for many things, mostly auditing, but also for accomplishing particular quality projects. Manassa has the most commonly requested checklists readily at hand. She will send ASQ members photocopies of these checklists free of charge. 3. Software for accomplishing specific tasks in specific ways, preferably with evaluations. Manassa refers to ASQ’s catalog of software, as well as other software catalogs she keeps at hand. 4. Auditing questions for specific sectors. Manassa answers most auditing questions by searching her collection of books and articles. For

sectors that are controlled largely by law, she refers people to the appropriate government resource, often the Code of Federal Regulations or the Food and Drug Administration. 5. How to decide what processes to measure. This question is usually worded, “What does my industry measure, and are those the most effective measures?” Manassa has a number of books at hand that apply to the most popular industries. 6. Supplier certification. People want to know how they can get to a point at which they can trust their suppliers. Manassa offers to get them in touch with ASQ’s Customer Supplier Division. She also refers them to several articles and books on the topic. For the rest of her top 10 requests, Manassa either has to dig deeper or, sometimes, deliver the unfortunate information that there is no concrete answer. 7. Statistical support for the validity of quality initiatives. People who are trying to sell the idea of quality to their superiors or peers, either a specific aspect of it or a quality initiative in general, often call asking for statistical support. They want to be able to show hard data that prove organizations that use quality show increases in profit and financial survivability. Manassa has trouble with this one because a proper large-scale study of this kind has not yet been done. She can refer people to countless case studies of individual organizations that have seen the use of quality turn into profit, but what most people are looking for is a study of hundreds or thousands of organizations that have used the same quality initiative. Of all the gaps in the current QBOK, this is one Manassa especially hopes to see filled. Unfortunately, for now, she must tell these people they are out of luck. 8. Information on the proper or most effective size and makeup of a quality department. This is another study that has not been done, mainly because the size and makeup of a quality department are dependent on so many unique factors. These factors can include the size or type of an organization but more likely include the type and scope of quality initiative and the management style of the organization. This makes it difficult for Manassa to provide a general answer that is applicable for any organization that calls. She usually starts by pointing people to the Quality Progress annual salary survey. By looking at

the various quality positions and their hierarchies, callers can get an idea of how many people report to certain positions, which gives a starting point to answering this question. She also points them to The Certified Quality Manager Handbook, which has a section that discusses setting up a quality department and the different positions often needed. 9. Proper job titles for specific tasks and proper tasks for specific titles. Again, this depends largely on the characteristics of the organization and quality initiative, but a good source of basic job titles is the

There is most likely a book or an article out there somewhere that answers your question perfectly— the challenge is to find it. salary survey. Also, The Manual of Quality Procedures and Forms has a section dedicated to job descriptions. Anything that cannot be found in those two sources can usually be found on the internet. One gap Manassa sees in the current QBOK is the lack of job descriptions for many quality jobs outside the manufacturing sector. 10. How to calibrate specific metrical devices. When people have metrical devices they need to calibrate, they often find the device is so old that the instruction manual is not just missing, but out of print. Because of this, Manassa keeps instruction manuals for several common devices on her shelves. For other devices, she searches for instructions on the Web. Those are the top 10 requests, the ones that seem to come up repeatedly. “Everything else tends to be massive and unique,” Manassa says. An example that is both massive and unique is this one: A customer once called looking for ASQ’s membership totals for each year of its existence (1946 through the present) plus a list of Honorary Members’ names for each year. Since membership totals are not kept in one central location, Manassa had to find and compile this information for the QUALITY PROGRESS

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first time. The names of Honorary Members for each year proved to be particularity hard to find. But six weeks later, after spending two to three hours a day on the project, she delivered the needed information to the customer.

Every Quality Practitioner’s Shelf Should Have… About two years ago, Manassa found herself getting more calls from people new to quality. Men

and women who had been pulled from other positions and told to start quality departments didn’t know where to begin. They called the QIC bewildered and wondering what to do next. Manassa would begin by recommending they attend their local section meetings, as the best way to learn about quality is from other quality professionals. She would also give them a list of basic books every quality professional should have. That list would differ from caller to caller, naturally

Come Into Our Web Among the many resources available to quality practitioners are those provided by Quality Progress on its website at http://www.asq.org/pub/ qualityprogress. To assist in searches, QP has compiled links and site descriptions for a wide variety of topics in the Web Watch section of its site. The site is categorized by quality topic and is continually updated, with sites from the print Web Watch feature in the “Keeping Current” section of QP added monthly. Categories in Web Watch are the following: • ASQ. • Awards. • Auditing. • Automotive. • Baldrige. • Benchmarking. • Careers. • Conformity assessment. • Conferences. • Customer satisfaction. • Customer service. • Design of experiments. • Educational quality. • Environmental.

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• Forums. • Government quality. • Healthcare. • History of quality. • ISO. • International. • Knowledge management. • Manufacturing. • Measurement and metrology. • Organizations. • Project management. • Quality degrees. • Quality function deployment. • Quality gurus. • Quality management. • Quality resources. • Reliability. • Safety. • Six Sigma. • Software quality. • Standards. • State and local. • Statistics. • Supply chain management. • Teams. • Testing. • Training. One of the more comprehensive categories covered in Web Watch is manufacturing, with links to 10 web-

sites: the American Ceramic Component Manufacturers, American Measuring Tool and Manufacturing Association, ASQ’s Advanced Manufacturing Interest Group, Department of the Navy Best Manufacturing Practices Program, a site for manufacturing automation and process control engineers, a components and parts site, Lean Construction Institute, Northwest Lean Manufacturing Network, Plant Maintenance Resource Center and Society for Manufacturing Engineers. The Six Sigma links include a site with introductory Six Sigma papers and project examples, Adams Six Sigma, free resources from General Electric, International Society of Six Sigma Professionals, a listing of 101 things a Six Sigma Black Belt should know, a Six Sigma related division of the International Quality and Productivity Center and ASQ’s Six Sigma Forum. Sites in Web Watch are reviewed by a QP editor before being listed. They must be generally noncommercial and include plenty of free information and user friendly features. If

depending on the individual’s industry, organization size and other factors. Still, many of the books Manassa recommends to quality newcomers are the same ones she finds herself referring to most often when fielding questions. Here are Manassa’s top five choices: 1. Concepts for R&R Studies, second edition, by Larry B. Barrentine, ASQ Quality Press, 2002, 76 pp. The second edition of this handbook on methods used to evaluate repeatability and reproducibility (R&R) studies reflects current manufacturing prac-

you’d like to suggest a new site for Web Watch, send it to [email protected]. Back Issues and Articles Another valuable resource is the QP back issues section, where articles are categorized by subject, author and department or column name. Full texts of articles are available to ASQ members. The back issues section includes issues back to January 1995. Vendor Directories For those interested in information of a more commercial nature, QP ’s advertising sales department offers the Quality Marketplace featuring suppliers in manufacturing, service, healthcare and education sectors, and the Quality Resources Directory (formerly the Virtual Quality Network), a list of companies offering services and products for quality practitioners. The directory features a search capability by company name, criteria/ areas of expertise, geographic region, industry code, certifications, number of employees, years of experience or years in business.

tices. Methods have changed since this book was first published in 1991—using software to analyze statistics has become a more common practice. Barrantine clearly discusses the relationship of the two basic measurement indexes and provides new examples of methods for applying statistical software to R&R studies. This supports the concept that measurement evaluation should be performed in conjunction with process capability assessments to fully judge the status and priority of measurement systems. An extensive chapter titled “Examples of Problems and Procedures” is a holdover from the previous edition. It repeats helpful discussions of x-ray, bore, electronic width and nuclear moisture gages, electric temperature equipment, profilometers, micrometers, scales, chemicals, sheet flatness and physical tests. Written for process engineers, quality professionals, technical managers and process managers in manufacturing industries, the book assumes familiarity with basic statistical process control. 2. Handbook of Dimensional Measurement, third edition, by Francis T. Farago and Mark A. Curti, Industrial Press, 1994, 580 pp. When the first edition of this book came out in 1968, the preface stated, “Dimensional measurements are a vital link between the designer’s intent and the actual product.” The third edition, printed 26 years later, still carries that principle but has been extensively revised to include the computer and electronics revolution in metrology. In revising the original text by Farago, Curti continues to provide in-depth discussions of basic principles and theory of operation. Curti and Farago cover the measuring of angles, straightness, flatness, perpendicularity, profiles, roundness, surface-texture, screw threads, machines and gears. Chapters are devoted to tools such as line graduated measuring instruments, fixed and electronic gages, gage blocks, engineering microscopes and optical projectors. Other topics include comparative length measurements with mechanical and electronic indicators, pneumatic gaging, process control gaging and automated dimensional measurements. 3. ISO 9001:2000 Explained, second edition, by Joseph J. Tsiakals, Charles A. Cianfrani and John E. (Jack) West, ASQ Quality Press, 2001, 216 pp. QUALITY PROGRESS

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The Helping Hand: Manassa assists a customer with a question.

Written by contributors to the development of ISO 9001:2000, this book clarifies the changes in presentation, terminology, format and requirements to the standard. As the title suggests, the authors simply divide the exact text of ISO 9001:2000 section by section and give thorough explanations of each requirement. For each section, the authors explain the often rigid text in everyday language, provide definitions of related terms and include a checklist of typical audit items. At each step, the authors continually point out the elements of the 2000 standard that represent changes from the 1994 version. They also suggest what should be documented and discuss the requirements as they relate to various business sectors. The result is a book that not only clarifies the popular standard for the benefit of someone new to quality but also helps organizations prepare for audits. 4. Manual of Quality Assurance Procedures and Forms, third edition, by Robert D. Carlsen, Jo Ann Gerber and James Frank McHugh, Prentice Hall, 1994, 656 pp. This massive three-ring binder is divided into three main parts: a general purpose quality assurance (QA) manual, a QA forms collection and examples of QA job descriptions. 32

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These are followed by a short fourth part, which is a set of indexes. A numerical index of procedures cross-references associated forms and job descriptions, and another index lists the procedures and forms alphabetically. Some of the QA forms include quality procedure status logs, audit plan reports, quality surveys of suppliers, source inspection reports, warning labels, test logs, a quality yield chart, standard repair control log, notice of certification and a work transfer quality requirements checklist. There are 106 forms in all, several of them multiple pages. The 104 job descriptions, which were not included in prior editions, include descriptions of positions such as quality statistics analysts, product safety engineer, fabrication inspector, metrologist, inspections supervisor and electronics tester. Because of the 8.5 x 11-in. paper and three-ring binder format, all the forms can easily be removed for photocopying. 5. Measuring Process Capability: A Reference and Handbook for Quality and Manufacturing Engineers by Davis R. Bothe, Landmark, 2001, 899 pp. “To understand, you must first measure,” begins this book’s introduction. Bothe goes on to cover more than 50 different capability measurement techniques, explaining each one, showing how to select and apply the appropriate technique depending on needs. The 14 chapters, most of which are divided into several subchapters, cover topics that include measuring potential and performance capability, checking normal assumption, nonnormal variable data, attribute data, machine capability studies, confidence bounds, combining capability measures, assessing process capability for special situations and understanding Six Sigma. Bothe uses case studies from real life to demonstrate how the measures should be calculated, analyzed and interpreted. He includes step-by-step guidelines for identifying critical process characteristics and variables, assessing the outcome of process modifications, making quick machine scheduling decisions, preparing comprehensive capability reports and communicating capability test results to top management. Originally published in 1997 by McGraw Hill, the 2001 reprint was self-published. The contents are identical to the original.

Essential Bookmarks Manassa also has a list of essential websites. Besides ASQ’s homepage and other general quality sites, these are the pages she finds herself going to for many answers: 1. http://www.census.gov/statab/www. This is the U.S. Census Bureau’s online Statistical Abstract of the United States. Besides the expected population information, there is a wealth of statistics here. These include national statistics on education, income, employment, business, agriculture, energy, utilities and domestic trade. The first appendix is a 17-page alphabetic guide to important primary sources of statistical information for the U.S. published since 1900. 2. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/index.html. This is the website of the Government Printing Office (GPO), which produces and disseminates printed and electronic publications of the U.S. Congress and other federal government departments and establishments. Resources are listed alphabetically, by topic and by branch of government and include congressional bills, the Code of Federal Regulations and a complete catalog of public and private laws. 3. http://www.isixsigma.com. This is a site Manassa uses quite often that she’s guessing many quality professionals don’t know about. It includes Six Sigma articles, online newsletters, a sigma calculator and a discussion forum, but Manassa’s favorite part of the site is the quality dictionary. Besides being extensive, it is somewhat interactive. The definitions have been posted by the site’s visitors, and all visitors have the opportunity to add more definitions or suggest revisions to the current ones. 4. http://www.nist.gov. The website for the National Institute of Standards and Technology has information on standards, calibration, uncertainty, lab accreditation, weights and measures, software and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. 5. http://www.yahoo.com/. When Manassa can’t find an answer on her usual sites, she turns to Yahoo, her preferred search engine. For example, a search on statistical process control produces 180,000 results; Six Sigma gets 177,000 results; and quality assurance results in 4.6 million matches.

Continuous Improvement And the Future of the QIC In the field of knowledge management, knowing where to find the facts is obviously important. Just

as important is the continuous improvement of resources and procedures. An example of this can be drawn from Manassa’s experience when she first was hired by ASQ. She immediately identified a problem in the QIC—articles and books were cataloged by title and author only. This is incomplete by most libraries’ standards, as most libraries catalog material by title, author and subject. Since the material was categorized only by title and author, finding what a customer was looking for was often a time consuming hassle and usually resulted in an incomplete outcome. If someone called looking for information on root cause analysis (RCA), for example, a search in the QIC’s database would find only material that had the words “root,” “cause” or “analysis” in their titles. Without the capability to search by subject, Manassa would get results that were incomplete and excessive at the same time. A book that had a chapter on RCA but none of the words in its title would be excluded, while anything with the word “cause” in its title would come up. Manassa therefore introduced proper cataloging in the QIC. Each article of each journal and each chapter of each book is now categorized by subject. When someone calls now, she can find more complete and concise answers more quickly. Other continual improvement projects for Manassa include expanding the QIC’s accessibility to audio and video tapes and adding article abstracts monthly, as soon after the periodicals come out as possible. The largest continual improvement project for the QBOK, however, is an ongoing effort that involves all of ASQ. ASQ’s plan is to ultimately make the entire QBOK completely accessible online to members. This is obviously a long-term project, and it is being carried out by ASQ’s knowledge offerings workgroup, of which Manassa is a member. A lot has been done already. The first steps included recent redesigns of the websites to include more easily accessible information and expansions of backlogs of published articles. Back issues of the Journal of Quality Technology (JQT), for example, are now completely accessible online. Subscribers to JQT can access full text PDF files of all articles going back to its premiere issue, January 1969, by visiting http://www.asq.org/ QUALITY PROGRESS

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pub/jqt/past/backissues.html. All back issues of Quality Management Journal, Software Quality Professional and Six Sigma Forum Magazine are also available at http://www.asq.org/pub/. Back issues of Quality Progress from 1995 to the present are available to ASQ members at http://www.asq. org/pub/qualityprogress/back.html. Anyone wishing to access these needs a member number and password. Back issues of publications are just the beginning of ASQ’s ultimate vision for the QBOK. ASQ hopes someday anyone with a question involving quality will come to ASQ’s website and be able to search a database in which all quality knowledge is centralized. Customers will visit ASQ’s website, type in their questions and immediately receive titles of all applicable articles, books, websites and other resources. Dennis Arter, an ASQ Fellow and the QBOK project champion, says, “I think of ASQ’s quality body of knowledge as the totality of all the quality tools and technologies we have explored and applied over our half-century of existence. It’s bigger than any one of us and any single community. It is composed of the knowledge, skill, teaching, learning and applications we use in our search for perfection.” The knowledge is all out there—the work will be bringing it together. Until then, ASQ members will continue to have access to the QBOK through the many resources ASQ strives to offer, not the least of which is the helpful voice on the other end of the phone: “Quality Information Center, this is Sharron, may I help you?”

Please comment If you would like to comment on this article, please post your remarks on the Quality Progress Discussion Board at http://www.asq.org, or e-mail them to [email protected].

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