Hi All,

My COO wants to create a quality room and has asked me to determine how to "decorate" it (what kind of things to put in there). Beyond reading materials and our quality policy I don't have that many ideas. He basically wants it to be a place for Management and Employees to have as a quality area.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what kind of things to place in a quality room? I'm trying to find a good cost of poor quality poster, but haven't been able to locate one so far.

Thanks for any help!

Hello, Lindsey! :bigwave:

It's good that management is giving time and effort to the quality initiative. I would ask, though... what is the rationale of a quality room?

Is it supposed to be something where people will randomly go into? Now... I'm being funny a bit with this one... but you could put a TV, free hot dogs, and a back massager, and you'll have a line around the building!:lol:

But seriously, I'm kinda scratching my head a little in it's purpose. Is it in a strategic location?

You might could put examples of poor quality, to show (in material format) what poor quality cost the organization.

Have a look at despair.com posters.
http://images.despair.com/products/demotivators/stupidity.jpghttp://images.despair.com/products/demotivators/incompetence.jpg

Hi Brad,

To be honest, I'm not quite sure. My COO used to head a customer support organization at HP and apparently they had a quality room. I think that it is to serve as a reminder of our commitment to quality.

Although I don't see the room being used on a day to day basis I think he wants it to be a monitoring room. He has also called it a "war room" before. My only guess is that he wants a place to track the quality progress of the organization. I haven't grilled him about the reasoning...

Espeically if this used to be the "war room", I'd populate the room with:

1. SPC and Pareto charts of your key metrics on the walls

2. Poster stories about quality improvement initiatives in progress, and completed successes. (Note getting this material is good for other publicity for the company)

3. Samples of new gadgets developed, hazards avoided. Sort of like the infamous safety glasses with an object embedded in them from an accident where someone would have otherwise lost their eyesight.

4. A Red Bead Experiment kit.

5. Personal stories from workers (with photo ops) about how they contributed to quality at the company.

6. A picture of the CEO, with his personal philosophy about safety.

7. Any company awards, magazine or newspaper articles about the company and/or its employees.

Especially if this used to be the "war room", I'd populate the room with... That's what I was thinking when I saw the thread title, Steve. Essentially a data room.

Hi All,

My COO wants to create a quality room and has asked me to determine how to "decorate" it (what kind of things to put in there). Beyond reading materials and our quality policy I don't have that many ideas. He basically wants it to be a place for Management and Employees to have as a quality area.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what kind of things to place in a quality room? I'm trying to find a good cost of poor quality poster, but haven't been able to locate one so far.

Thanks for any help!

The most impressive quality rooms are the offices and work places where all this stuff is actually being used for the benefit of monitoring, correcting and improving processes. Most "quality rooms" I've seen were set up as "show pieces" to impress corporate folks and customers who in many cases had no clue of what was being displayed. :notme:

Stijloor.

I'd choose to deliberately mis-interpret this, and would start gathering all of the equipment for a small but product focussed QA laboratory.

Microsectioning, gauges, microscopes, pull-peel, blacklight box, continuity testing, artificial aging chamber spring to mind, but whatever your industry, I'm sure you ahve your own ideas about what you need to effectively investigate defects and perform analysis.

I've always loved having a little place to tinker, investigate, fiddle and break things in a constructive manner. :D

Espeically if this used to be the "war room", I'd populate the room with:

1. SPC and Pareto charts of your key metrics on the walls

2. Poster stories about quality improvement initiatives in progress, and completed successes. (Note getting this material is good for other publicity for the company)

3. Samples of new gadgets developed, hazards avoided. Sort of like the infamous safety glasses with an object embedded in them from an accident where someone would have otherwise lost their eyesight.

4. A Red Bead Experiment kit.

5. Personal stories from workers (with photo ops) about how they contributed to quality at the company.

6. A picture of the CEO, with his personal philosophy about safety.

7. Any company awards, magazine or newspaper articles about the company and/or its employees.

:2cents:

Add a "Wall of Shame" to this.......

As much as "blame" is very much out of favor in our current Politically correct world, photographs of defects :evidence:, non-conformaces and bad practices along with an explanation of them and what was done to correct them will not only help to persuade others to "toe the line" or "do the right thing" to prevent ending up on the board, but will also help to draw others into the area to see what the latest horrors found were, and silently be grateful that it's not them who's going to get mocked for the rest of the week.

Hi All,

My COO wants to create a quality room and has asked me to determine how to "decorate" it (what kind of things to put in there). Beyond reading materials and our quality policy I don't have that many ideas. He basically wants it to be a place for Management and Employees to have as a quality area.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what kind of things to place in a quality room? I'm trying to find a good cost of poor quality poster, but haven't been able to locate one so far.


Gee, I've never come across a 'quality room' ever. If 'twere me in your position, I'd try to get clear(er) about what he actually means before I tried doing it.

(To me, it doesn't quite make sense. I mean, one has a lunchroom because you set aside the area for people to lunch in (as opposed to using other parts of the work area), and a bathroom/washroom for designated purposes, etc. So having a separate quality room to me suggests a bit that it's the only place that quality is supposed to be. Which doesn't really jibe with my view)

But it isn't always possible to get that kind of direction, alas, so perhaps a way of approaching it might be to make it an attractive place for people to hang out in (comfortable, usable etc) and then you could build in the 'quality by stealth' via putting up the posters, stats, metrics etc. suggested by others. Because people need a reason to go to the room, presumably...

I would vote for fantastic lighting and lots of drawers and cabinets to "5S" stuff. A sink is handy, too. I would prioritize those above the posters and toys. :cool:

I would want to include something on defect awareness - visual aids to show the right way and wrong way of doing things. (touched on in earlier posts)

I would also be tempted to use the room as a place for employees to read and understand procedures etc... a few minutes as "time out" in a comfortable well lit room would make it much easier to retain information than reading by the side of a busy production line. It also might make people a tiny bit happier to go for quality training if they know that the learning environment is comfortable and attractive.

Jimmy

Hi Brad,

To be honest, I'm not quite sure. My COO used to head a customer support organization at HP and apparently they had a quality room. I think that it is to serve as a reminder of our commitment to quality. My fevered imagination asked: "Why have a room for this? Just set up a mechanism to bonk everyone with a foam rubber mallet labeled REMEMBER QUALITY as they come in the door." :rolleyes:

Then I read the following good ideas and decided it actually does sound like a good idea.

It could be physical, like a science museum (we could set up a cool one if we actually had resources for that! What a playground we could make), or virtual.

A red bead experiment (always one of Steve Prevette's favorites, and with good reason) video can be made accessible with a hyperlink on an Intranet page. Examples of 5S, the company's already successful continuous improvement efforts, charts of progress made, and a well stocked Reading Room (not unlike ours here, or even linking right to it!) can give people a single source for QA managment information.

The more I imagine this place, either physical or virtual, the more it appeals to me because it really is hard to keep useful instructional materials available to people on an as-needed basis. Classes come and go...but a tutorial for measuring qualitative effectiveness with rubrics, for example, could remain somehow for use in evals and judging effectiveness.
:agree1:

Dear Lindsey:

Some may not agree with on my response but hey - that's what forums are for, right?

My last assignment has been to help resuscitate a very, very malnourished, underutilized QMS. When I started 6 months ago managers rarely met to discuss anything, let alone how to solve problems. They preferred launching email grenades at one another. As we began to make inroads, there became more and more of a need for place to meet to solve problems, for Green Belts to facilitate team meetings, for training and more training, etc.

As we began to collaborate more on solving problems, the need for some dedicated space became apparent. It was a pain in the neck to take down fishbone diagrams, action items etc. in between team meetings. Along the walls we have storyboards describing current improvement projects (they are posted in facility also). I have posters up describing the forms of waste (TIMWOOD), 7D Problem Solving steps, as reminders, but most of the info is relative to current initiatives and our progress.

And guess what? The rooms stays booked pretty solid! People are talking to one another and solving problems together.

Hope this proves useful to you.

Welcome to The Cove, Desara01, and thank you for a great first post! :applause:

Even with all you true believers that quality is everywhere - I am getting ready to make a room where I and my right-hand guy in the quality department work out of. in this room we have white boards on the wall with a 5 Why and one with a Cause and Effect on it.

We will post data on nonconformances - both product and process related, we will track rework and customer complaints. This will not be our room but the room for the whole plant to use. I expect all shifts to participate and add to the boards as they have input. I am sure it will be slow at the start but we will make this the central location for problem solving - off the floor away from distractions.

We will track the cost of poor quality and the improvement projects to reduce waste and eliminate problems. We have a small shop with about 17 total employees at this location - no one will have to walk far or miss out on "important" stuff either when they are in there.

I am trying to create a plant full of problem solvers not just problem identifiers - I believe this room will help people learn effective problem solving because the tools will be there for them to use and their work will be visible.

I am going to give it a heck of a try anyway....

That's what I was thinking when I saw the thread title, Steve. Essentially a data room.
Me too.:agree1:

My fevered imagination asked: "Why have a room for this? Just set up a mechanism to bonk everyone with a foam rubber mallet labeled REMEMBER QUALITY as they come in the door."
LOL!!:bonk:

What a cool thing to be able to do in a company!

For myself, I would have it be a training room also, using your "reading materials." Even if you can't locate a COE poster, creating your company's own COE would be eye opening for employees. I would add Audit schedules, humor-related items, huge white board, information ("If 99% is good enough", 5-Why charts, Daily Trivia Question (to keep them coming in), brainstorming visuals, etc.

Candy, stress balls, LEGO, and quiet toys make good conversation pieces. Add a water cooler.

Just a few suggestions. Have fun!

In my company there's no room for quality.

An idea for Cost of Non-Quality -

Take one of your parts (a fairly common one that most people will recognize) and break it down into components & subassemblies. Then take pictures of the components with their dollar value sitting next to it on the table. Post the pictures on the wall.

So a steering wheel might be shown sitting next to $18.37. The steel frame inside the steering wheel might be shown sitting next to $1.56. The steel ring $0.32, a steel arm $0.14, etc.

The point being that everytime one of these components is scrapped, it costs the company real money (of course this could backfire if your parts are very small & inexpensive).

I am trying to create a plant full of problem solvers not just problem identifiers - I believe this room will help people learn effective problem solving because the tools will be there for them to use and their work will be visible.

I am going to give it a heck of a try anyway....

Good for you. Go for it, I say. Because you're 'Johnny on the spot' (oops - that should be 'Tommy on the spot') and only you can know your unique situation and whether it seems like a useful idea. It certainly sounds like one, and as Desara's post explains, can be a great help.

Sometimes the very act of 'creating a space' for something to happen can be an enabler or a trigger for things to happen. And having one area where you can remove people from the immediate distractions of the day to day, in order to focus on problem-solving, clearly sounds like a good idea in some situations.

I (and others, I imagine) will be interested to hear how it goes -- if you are able to spare the time to update us at some future time!

FWIW:
In my Contract Machining company, I had a Quality lab, where specialized instruments were maintained in a temperature and humidity controlled environment (in addition to in-process inspection instruments and gages on the production floor.)

We also had a conference room set aside very close to the Quality lab, used for


meetings of the cross-functional Material Review Board
meetings with machining equipment, tooling, and material suppliers
training (all kinds)
library
engineering conferences with customers and suppliers


We equipped this room with


small kitchen for refreshments for long meetings
whiteboard, colored markers, and erasers
regular phones with high quality speaker equipment for conferences with off-site people
overhead projector and screen
large screen TV
videotape and DVD players
small library of reference books
two networked computers
boat-shaped conference table and twelve comfortable chairs
dimmable lighting

(We did NOT have video conferencing - something I would have added had I kept the company.)

I want to stress this was completely separate from employee break rooms and that each machine operator and Quality person also had a separate desk and computer in a sound-proofed room adjacent to the production floor (computers had links to the machines so programming could be done in a comfortable, seated area.)

I forgot to mention that nowhere in our entire facility did we have banners, posters, or slogans touting any aspect of quality; we didn't need or want them!

ok. In mine line of work i Have the task of maintaining the company notice boards. Here we put all kinds of stuff. At present my the company is cerified against HACCP and ISO 9001. Initially i started with one newsletter, and now the boss wants me to split the two systems. its been 12months and now my mind cannot think straight. Problem is i am sure most of the guys at this establishment dont read the material.

ok. In mine line of work i Have the task of maintaining the company notice boards. Here we put all kinds of stuff. At present my the company is cerified against HACCP and ISO 9001. Initially i started with one newsletter, and now the boss wants me to split the two systems. its been 12months and now my mind cannot think straight. Problem is i am sure most of the guys at this establishment dont read the material.
Comment (no aspersions intended):
Folks READ interesting material. If it doesn't hold their interest - no matter how important is may be - they simply won't.

Evidence:
Look how many folks get caught in bad contracts (credit, jobs, sales, etc.) simply because the contract wasn't "interesting" enough to bother reading and understanding!