Quality Toolbox

The Quality Toolbox gives quality practitioners a choice of a variety tools for dealing with the wide variety of situations that occur on the road to continuous improvement. It includes a variety of matrices and flowcharts, data collection and analysis tools, tools for planning, tools for analyzing processes and discovering root causes, and different forms of brainstorming and other tools for generating, organizing, and evaluating ideas. In short, the means to accomplish change. In updating this book, Tague has 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. Benefits: 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. Booknews Offers instructions to all members of the TQM team for using tools for assessment such as matrices and flowcharts, data collection and analysis techniques, and other tools for analyzing processes, discovering causes, and generating ideas. Includes numerous diagrams, charts, and checklist examples, and a Tool Matrix chart to help users find the right tool for a particular situation. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) More Reviews and Recommendations Biography As manager of performance improvement for Albemarle Corporation, Nancy R. Tague was responsible for supporting quality improvement efforts company-wide. She has bachelor s and master s degrees in chemical engineering from Rice University, and held chemical engineering positions within Albemarle s research and development organization that were directed at chemical process improvement and new process design and evaluation.