A practical introduction to the management and planning of quality control. With the aid of cartoons and more than 60 illustrations, Dr. Westgard dispels the confusion over how to select quality control procedures for laboratory methods. Using a detailed step-by-step planning process, the author shows you how to define the quality needed for a laboratory test, how you can select control rules for tests, and how you can set specifications for allowable bias and CV. CLIA requirements, JCAHO guidelines, CLSI methodologies and QC practice guidelines are discussed, and more than 20 quality-planning examples are graphically demonstrated covering applications for automated chemistry, blood gas, immunoassay, and coagulation tests. Appendices include tables of CLIA quality requirements, European goals for total biologic error, as well as a complete glossary, reference list, online reference list, and a set of self-assessment questions and detailed answers. Basic Planning for Quality is a much-needed primer on the management of quality control in the laboratory. For lab managers and directors, quality specialists, and clinical laboratory scientists who are looking for a saner way to manage quality in their labs, this manual will provide the missing ingredient - an objective way to manage your testing processes to achieve the quality needed for patient care while accounting for the actual performance of the methods in your laboratory. * Establish a practical process for managing quality in your laboratory! * Plan your quality logically, efficiently, and quickly! * Move beyond compliance with JCAHO, CLIA, NCCLS, and other rules! * Optimize your QC to minimize waste and maximize performance! * Select the best control rules for your tests! Basic Planning for Quality makes use of over 65 illustrations, graphs and tables, explains more than two dozen applications in detail, covers CLIA, JCAHO, NCCLS and other requirements, includes appendices on C

J.M. Juran, whom Business Week calls, "the man who taught Japan how to manage for quality", presents a new, exhaustively comprehensive approach to planning, setting, and reaching goals in Juran's Quality Road Map. New emphasis is placed on setting goals, planning in "multifunctional" processes, establishing data bases, motivating managers and introducing quality planning into organizations. 30 line drawings.

Quality management for small, regional, and national breweries is critical for the success of craft brewing businesses. Written for staff who manage quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) in breweries of all sizes, this book clearly sets out how quality management is integrated into every level of operation. Author Mary Pellettieri shows how quality management is a concept that encompasses not only the “free from defect” ethos but combines the wants of the consumer and the art of brewing good beer. Breweries must foster a culture of quality, where governance and management seamlessly merge policy, strategy, specifications, goals, and implementation to execute a QA/QC program. What tests are necessary, knowing that food safety alone does not signify a quality product, adhering to good management practice (GMP), proper care and maintenance of assets, standard operating procedures, training and investment in staff, and more must be considered together if a quality culture is to translate into success. The people working at a brewery are the heart of any quality program. Management must communicate clearly the need for quality management, delineate roles and responsibilities, and properly train and assess staff members. Specialist resources such as a brewery laboratory are necessary if an owner wants to be serious about developing standard methods of analysis to maintain true-to-brand specifications and ensure problems are identified before product quality suffers. Staff must know the importance of taking corrective action and have the confidence to make the decision and implement it in a timely fashion. With so many processes and moving parts, a structured problem-solving program is a key part of any brewery's quality program. How should you structure your brewing lab so it can grow with your business? What chemical and microbiological tests are appropriate and effective? How are new brands incorporated into production? How do you build a sensory panel that stays alert to potential drifts in brand quality? Which FDA and TTB regulations affect your brewery in terms of traceability and GMP? Can you conduct and pass an audit of your processes and products? Mary Pellettieri provides answers to these key organizational, logistical, and regulatory considerations.

This fifth edition provides a comprehensive resource for project managers. It describes the latest project management systems that use critical path methods.

Advanced Quality Planning: A Commonsense Guide to AQP and APQPis the first book dedicated to explaining with clarity and detail the total advanced quality planning (AQP) process and how to set quality planning in the framework of a business strategy. The book provides a close look at the basic and advanced concepts of AQP so that both the novice and experienced user will be able to apply AQP appropriately and effectively. In addition, you will learn the "Big Three" automotive companies' required use of Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP), a specialized version of AQP that emphasized the product orientation of quality. A clear itemized list of Chrysler, GM, Ford, and Tier I suppliers requirements is included, illustrating what they would like to see implemented in their suppliers' processes. Written in a practical format, the book takes you step-by-step through the advanced quality planning methodology, providing you with an overview and discussion of the role of teams in AQP, and its key components including: scheduling, creating a product definition, prototype development, manufacturing preparedness, analytical techniques, documentation, reliability and maintainability, and their implementation. Also included are checklists to help plan the actions that will be appropriate for their respective projects, and appendixes containing a sample business plan and a case study of Chrysler's Process Sign-Off, which demonstrates the results of effective AQP implementation.

The Quality Toolbox is a comprehensive reference to a variety of methods and techniques: those most commonly used for quality improvement, many less commonly used, and some created by the author and not available elsewhere. The reader will find the widely used seven basic quality control tools (for example, fishbone diagram, and Pareto chart) as well as the newer management and planning tools. Tools are included for generating and organizing ideas, evaluating ideas, analyzing processes, determining root causes, planning, and basic data-handling and statistics. The book is written and organized to be as simple as possible to use so that anyone can find and learn new tools without a teacher. Above all, this is an instruction book. The reader can learn new tools or, for familiar tools, discover new variations or applications. It also is a reference book, organized so that a half-remembered tool can be found and reviewed easily, and the right tool to solve a particular problem or achieve a specific goal can be quickly identified. With this book close at hand, a quality improvement team becomes capable of more efficient and effective work with less assistance from a trained quality consultant. Quality and training professionals also will find it a handy reference and quick way to expand their repertoire of tools, techniques, applications, and tricks. For this second edition, Tague added 34 tools and 18 variations. The "Quality Improvement Stories" chapter has been expanded to include detailed case studies from three Baldrige Award winners. An entirely new chapter, "Mega-Tools: Quality Management Systems," puts the tools into two contexts: the historical evolution of quality improvement and the quality management systems within which the tools are used. This edition liberally uses icons with each tool description to reinforce for the reader what kind of tool it is and where it is used within the improvement process.