What are Philip Crosby's 14 Steps to Quality Improvement?

Who was Philip Crosby?

Philip Crosby was a businessman and an author who started out his career as a quality engineer in 1952. He grew in the domain across many organizations and developed the Zero Defect's Concept in Martin's Company, through which he was credited with a 25% reduction in the rejection rate, and a 30% reduction in scrap costs.

He moved to the top management of the quality domain in the year 1965 and started the management consulting company Philip Crosby Associates in the year 1979. He has published several works or articles on quality ever since.

What are Crosby's 14 Steps to Quality Improvement?

1. Management Commitment

2. Quality Improvement Team

3. Quality Measurement

4. Cost of Quality Evaluation

5. Quality Awareness

6. Corrective Action

7. Zero Defects Program

8. Supervisor Training

9. Zero Defects Day

10. Goal Setting

11. Error Cause Removal

12. Recognition

13. Quality Councils

14. Do it Over Again

Step 1: Management Commitment

Talk to the management regarding the quality improvement that is required, and convey the benefits on doing so. Also, make sure you point out all the negative impacts on not doing the same. Prepare a written document that clearly conveys what quality program is and list down the requirements for accomplishing the same. It is not just important to convey, but take steps to get approval for execution.

Step 2: Quality Improvement Team

Bring together all the teams involved in the program. Make sure their heads participate at least in the initial meetings until decisions are made. Clearly communicate, which part of the program is owned by whom and what role each team plays. Ensure it is agreed upon by the decision-makers of each team, and appoint the program owner.

Step 3: Quality Measurement

List down the list of metrics that need to be tracked to figure out the performance of the Quality Improvement Program. Find out the sources from which it can be tracked and create a metrics dashboard.

This will give insight on where we currently stand and we can clearly quantify, where we want to reach and the percentage of improvement needed to be accomplished. Keep track of the metrics throughout and after the program's completion.

Step 4: Cost of Quality Evaluation

It is necessary to measure the cost of Quality Evaluation as precisely as possible. Though it may seem overwhelming to get the perfect numbers in the early stages of the program, it is necessary to make accurate predictions. Take the help of the Quality Controller and the Finance Departments to get to the numbers. The higher the cost of quality is directly proportional to the correction that needs to be made.

Step 5: Quality Awareness

Now that you have figured out the costs, you need to convey it to your team and let them know the costs incurred due to the poor quality delivered. This practice is not to judge anyone's work but to let people know the impact of the work. Without awareness, they may not even know how their work would actually matter to the Customers.

Step 6: Corrective Action

Now that awareness is created to all, it is important to understand all the corrective actions that need to be taken. One shouldn't restrict the quality improvement program to just the defects found in inspection or audit but needs to extend it to all the issues reported by all workers from all domains. This will help in covering most of the problems in the program, without letting it escalate to the next level.

Step 7: Zero Defects Program

Create a small group or committee in charge of the Zero Defects Program. It is not a mere motivational program, but a program that actually drives and implements the concept of zero defect in all product groups. This committee will be responsible to track issues not taken seriously in some meetings, and getting resolutions to them as well. A Zero defects program is not just restricted to

Step 8: Supervisor Training

Management needs to understand the program to communicate it rightly with every member of the organization. Hence, conduct supervisor training to all managers and keep them posted on the Quality Improvement Program and its initiatives.

Step 9: Zero Defects Day

Zero defects day need to be conducted on repetition like a year or a quarter to understand how far they have come since the last Zero Defects day, and how far they need to go to actually achieve the Zero Defects for all their products.

Step 10: Goal Setting

During team meetings, it is advised that measurable goals are made with employees for a duration of a month or a quarter and discuss the previous goals that were set. Quality Improvement is a continuously evolving process, and goals need to keep evolving with time.

Step 11: Error Cause Removal

Talk to employees to understand what causes them problems that prevent them from building error-free processes. Ask them if they think there is any possible solution that can be implemented. If they have figured it out take a note of it. If they haven't thought about any solutions yet, let the committee deal with it. Make sure, employees are not judged or scolded for their opinion. Also, make sure you acknowledge the issue within a day so that employees don't lose trust in the program.

Step 12: Recognition

Make sure people are recognized for pointing out bugs or to get them fixed. This will keep them motivated to improve their product. However, remember not to give any financial recognition for the same, as it may cause negative impacts on the program.

Step 13: Quality Councils

Set up a recurring meeting for the members of the quality council to discuss the new quality issues and the performance of the program.

Step 14: Do it Over Again

Remember it is a never-ending process and thus, keep doing it over and over again. Typically one Quality Improvement Program lasts for a year or two. Discuss the performance of the program, and keep changing the committee members now and then for better efficiency.