Quality 101 - Recommendations on books, etc. for someone new to Quality Engineering

[e006823]

Hello,

I’m looking for some recommendations on material for someone new to the Quality Engineering function. I keep coming up with 4 or 5 books from my library but to me that is a bit overwhelming. Ideally it would be one reference, to give them a general overview of quality concepts and quality management systems. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Bob

[Craig H.]

Originally Posted by e006823

Hello,

I’m looking for some recommendations on material for someone new to the Quality Engineering function. I keep coming up with 4 or 5 books from my library but to me that is a bit overwhelming. Ideally it would be one reference, to give them a general overview of quality concepts and quality management systems. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Bob

Hi, e.

At first, Juran and Gryna's "Quality Planning and Analysis" came to mind, as well as Juran's "QC Handbook". But, for someone totally new to Quality, and maybe not used to reading "heavy" texts, Crosby's "Quality is Free" may be a good fit. Also Walton's "The Deming Management Method" is an easier read than "Out of the Crisis", in my opinion.

Can you give some more information on the type of person that you are introducing to Quality Engineering, such as education?

Hope this helps.

Craig

[Bill Pflanz]

e,

Craig's recommendations are right on the mark if you are already in the quality field and want to learn more about how the various quality gurus presented their vision of quality. Collectively they will tell you what you want but not individually. Juran's Quality Control Handbook probably tell you almost anything you would want to know about quality. The problem is that it is so overwhelming (all 800+ pages of it) that it does not work as an introduction.

A university professor gave me an extra copy of a college text on quality that may be what you are looking for. I am not promoting this book per se but there are colleges that teach quality as a course and may have similar books.

The book is Quality by Donna C. S. Summers, Prentice Hall, 1997. The author is connected with the University of Dayton. An instruction manual is available and the book included a student version of SQCpack. The book covers everything from the early history of quality, the concepts of quality and continuous improvement, a brief introduction to basic statistics and statistical tools plus chapters on quality costs, Malcolm Baldrige, ISO and benchmarking.

There are numerous examples and case studies to demonstrate the concepts. It has a logical order to how the information is presented. Since the copy I have is 5 years old, it does not include current topics on Six Sigma, lean manufacturing etc.

If you wanted to teach quality over a series of classes, it could be done by chapter. If you wanted to teach a particular subject e.g. control charts, it would be very easy to just use the chapter on it. It looks easy enough to read that it could even be made available for someone to just read through it to gain the overall concepts.

Hope this helps.

Bill Pflanz

[e006823]

Thanks for all your responses. I looked at Quality by Donna C. S. Summers, and it pretty much seems to be what I was looking for, a good general overview of the subject.


Bob