Managing quality improvement

The reasons behind the quality explosion are discussed, with emphasis on Pratt & Whitney´s (P&W´s) response to the quality imperative. P&W´s long-term strategy, now in place, is called Quality Plus (Q+). It stands for quality, productivity, and participative involvement in everything P&W does. The Q+ process began three years ago and, as of now, P&W has trained more than 5000 employees, including executives and managers. The first phase involved awareness and the creation of a disciplined structure of teams representing all areas of company business. About 100 teams are now in place, managing all phases of quality improvement activities. The results to date have been excellent. For instance, P&W´s product scrap and rework has been reduced by more than 50%, and, on its product flow lines, P&W has removed a significant amount of waste by reducing hardware travel time from six miles on the factory floor to a quarter-mile. Processing time for class II engineering changes has been reduced from 180 days to 30 days, and the rejection rate for engineering drawings has been improved by 50%