Elementary Mr. Watson: Running the Signal Gauntlet
The Shaughnessy Report: Winning the Signal Integrity Battle
Connect the Dots: How to Avoid Five Common Causes of Board Failure
Happy’s Essential Skills: The Need for Total Quality Control (Six Sigma and Statistical Tools): Part 1
January 13, 2016 | Happy HoldenEstimated reading time: 11 minutes
The key principles[2] of TQC are:
1. Management Commitment
Top management has to drive any system as large or as complex as TQC. Until management makes that commitment, a bottoms-up approach of sending engineers or workers to SPC or quality classes will not take root. My experience with this started when our group VP introduced TQC to his staff. He gave each of them a personal project and then had each of them train their staff after which they gave out individual projects. This 4 Episodes of TQC was labeled LUTI for Learn, Use, Teach, Individualize, and so forth, down through the structure until it got to the individual supervisor and worker.
Figure 2: TQC Improvement Circle consisting of plan-do-check-act.
2. Process Improvement
The TQC Improvement Circle or PDCA steps are used in a continuous manner to assess the current situation, propose and implement solutions, test effectiveness of the solution, and standardize the process on those solutions that are found effective (Figure 2). Data is used to prioritize the improvements on which to work.
• Plan (drive, direct)
• Do (deploy, support, participate)
• Check (review)
• Act (recognize, communicate, revise)
3. Employee Empowerment
• Training
• Suggestion scheme
• Measurement and recognition
• Excellence teams
4. Fact-Based Decision Making
• SPC (statistical process control)
• DOE, FMEA
• The 6 statistical tools
• TOPS (Ford 8D—team-oriented problem solving)
Continuous Improvement
• Systematic measurement and focus on CONQ
• Excellence teams
• Cross-functional process management
• Attain, maintain, improve standards
Customer Focus
• Supplier partnership
• Service relationship with internal customers
• Never compromise quality
• Customer-driven standards
The Concept of Continuous Improvement by TQC
TQC is mainly concerned with continuous improvement in all work, from high-level strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed execution of work on the shop floor. It stems from the belief that mistakes can be avoided and defects can be prevented. It leads to continuously improving results, in all aspects of work, because of continuously improving capabilities, people, processes, technology and machine capabilities.
Continuous improvement must deal not only with improving results, but more importantly with improving capabilities to produce better results in the future. The five major areas of focus for capability improvement are demand generation, supply generation, technology, operations and people capability.
Figure 3: TQC central principles and what it is NOT.
A central principle of TQC (voiced by Dr. Deming) is that people may make mistakes, but most of them are caused, or at least permitted, by faulty systems and processes. This means that the root cause of such mistakes can be identified and eliminated, and repetition can be prevented by changing the process[3]. There are three major mechanisms of prevention:
1. Preventing mistakes (defects) from occurring (mistake-proofing or poka-yoke).
2. Where mistakes cannot be absolutely prevented, detecting them early to prevent them from being passed down the value-added chain (inspection at source or by the next operation).
3. Where mistakes recur, stopping production until the process can be corrected, to prevent the production of more defects (stop in time).Page 2 of 4
Share on:
Testimonial
"Our marketing partnership with I-Connect007 is already delivering. Just a day after our press release went live, we received a direct inquiry about our updated products!"
Rachael Temple - AlltematedSuggested Items
Alternative Manufacturing, Inc. (AMI) Announces Commitment to Excellence in Industrial, Defense, Aerospace, Renewables, and Robotics Markets
09/16/2025 | Alternative Manufacturing, Inc.Alternative Manufacturing, Inc. (AMI), a 100% employee-owned contract manufacturer, proudly reaffirms its leadership in the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry with a continued commitment to delivering high-quality PCBAs and box builds across the industrial, defense, aerospace, renewable energy, and robotics markets.
Sustainability and Selective Soldering
09/15/2025 | Dr. Samuel J. McMaster, Pillarhouse InternationalSustainability is more than just a buzzword for the electronics industry; it’s a key goal for all manufacturing processes. This is more than a box-ticking exercise or simply doing a small part for environmentally friendly processes. Moving toward sustainable solutions drives innovation and operational efficiency.
Trouble in Your Tank: Implementing Direct Metallization in Advanced Substrate Packaging
09/15/2025 | Michael Carano -- Column: Trouble in Your TankDirect metallization systems based on conductive graphite are gaining popularity throughout the world. The environmental and productivity gains achievable with this process are outstanding. Direct metallization reduces the costs of compliance, waste treatment, and legal issues related to chemical exposure. A graphite-based direct plate system has been devised to address these needs.
EV Group Achieves Breakthrough in Hybrid Bonding Overlay Control for Chiplet Integration
09/12/2025 | EV GroupEV Group (EVG), a leading provider of innovative process solutions and expertise serving leading-edge and future semiconductor designs and chip integration schemes, today unveiled the EVG®40 D2W—the first dedicated die-to-wafer overlay metrology platform to deliver 100 percent die overlay measurement on 300-mm wafers at high precision and speeds needed for production environments. With up to 15X higher throughput than EVG’s industry benchmark EVG®40 NT2 system designed for hybrid wafer bonding metrology, the new EVG40 D2W enables chipmakers to verify die placement accuracy and take rapid corrective action, improving process control and yield in high-volume manufacturing (HVM).
Integrating Uniplate PLBCu6 With the Digital Factory Suite
09/12/2025 | Giovanni Obino and Andreas Schatz, MKS' AtotechPrinted circuit board manufacturing is rapidly changing, driven by miniaturization, stringent reliability requirements, and growing pressure for sustainable production. Meeting these challenges requires more than incremental improvements; it demands a combination of precise equipment and real-time process intelligence. The pairing of Uniplate® PLBCu6 with the Digital Factory Suite (DFS) demonstrates how hardware and software can work together to create more responsive, resource-efficient manufacturing.