Quality Reference Library - Developing some basic quality training resources

[Bill Pflanz]

I am working with a consultant to develop some basic quality training. Since students may ask for advice on how to get started, I have identified a list of quality books that can be referred to for more detailed information.

Maybe some of you could look at the list and make other recommendations. Also feel free to provide comments on the value of the books or even suggest any that should be removed from the list. Generally I tried to stay away from listing books that were very statistical or unique topics (ISO, Gage R&R, DOE etc.).

Here is the list in no particular order.
Bill

Out of the Crisis, W. Edwards Deming
Guide to Quality Control, Kaoru Ishikawa
Quality Planning and Analysis, J.M. Juran
Quality Control Handbook, J.M. Juran and Frank M. Gryna
Quality is Free: The Art of Making Quality Certain, Philip Crosby
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, Eliyahu M. Goldratt
Statistical Quality Control, Eugene L. Grant and Richard S. Leavenworth
Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success, Masaaki Imai
Total Quality Control, Armand V. Feigenbaum
Six Sigma: A Breakthrough Strategy for Profitability,Mikel J. Harry
The Theory of Constraints, Eliyahu M. Goldratt
The Six Sigma Way, Peter S. Pande and Robert P. Neuman and Roland R. Cavanagh
Reengineering the Corporation, M. Hammer and J. Champy
The Team Handbook, P. Scholtes, B. Joiner, and B. Streibel
The New Economics, W.E. Deming

[Jennifer Kirley]

I didn't catch what industry you are working in or developing these materials for, or at what development level your employees currently are placed. But what occurred to me is the list is full of fine, detailed, high end books that people like you and I understand. Yet you said you were designing a "basic course" on quality. I am concerned that making a curriculum based on these materials could potentially be too heavy--making the students feel like they were being landed on by a pile of something wet, heavy and smelly, sigh.

VICA makes a good Total Quality Curriculum, with 17 modules that cover the basic quality tools and elements of TQM. The instructor's guide has activities, well-constructed overhead templates and evaluations. I bought a copy and I approve. I forget how much it costs, less than $200 I think. Here's a site that explains it.

http://www.skillsusa.org/tqcpage.html

Jennifer

[WALLACE]

Bill,
May I suggest you use the designations of;
(1) Introductory or Basic
(2) Intermediate
(3) Advanced

I assisted in the set-up of a teaching library of resources in a past quality life and, the 3 mentioned categories worked very well.
Wallace.

[Graeme]

Bill,

You have an excellent start on that list. I also agree with Wallace about gouping them as introductory, intermediate and advanced. Here area few others to consider, again in no particular order.

The Five Pillars of TQM, Bill Creech.
A Passion for Excellence: The Leadership Difference, Tom Peters and Nancy Austin
The Deming Management Method, Mary Walton
Deming Management at Work, Mary Walton
Managing the Metrology System, C. Robert Penella *
Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product, Walter A. Shewhart *
The Quality Toolbox, Nancy R. Tague *
Manual on Presentation of Data and Control Chart Analysis, ASTM **

* = published by ASQ Quality Press, http://qualitypress.asq.org/
** = published by ASTM International, http://www.astm.org/

(I have flagged the ones published by ASQ and ASTM because it is far easier to get those books directly from the organizations than to go through other channels.)

Here are two other books that I have found useful. They are not directly "quality" related; in fact, both are more related to managing change. However, introducing new things into an organization is change and there will be a wide range of reaction to it. The change agents must be prepared to deal with it, and from what I have seen it is easier if the people participating in the process are all familiar with the dynamics of change.

Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future, Joel Arthur Barker
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey