Process Improvement & Quality Fundamentals

For an organization to pursue excellence and control costs, there must be internal capability for effective and sustainable process improvement.  In this training, participants will learn the tools, techniques and necessary planning to improve a business process and achieve better outcomes, with increased efficiency.  This course will enable participants to contribute to process improvement initiatives, while getting a comprehensive understanding of how quality management has and continues to evolve in all business sectors.

Quality improvement involves methods such as PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act), Lean and kaizen.  These are tools and methods all quality systems expect an organization to have in place and use. An added value for participating in this multi-week course is preparation to attain the  Certified Quality Improvement Associate (CQIA) status (a lifetime certification) with the American Society for Quality (ASQ).

Who should attend? Leadership team members and individual contributors who want to gain the knowledge and skills of a quality practitioner who participates in, or leads, process improvement projects.  Also, this course is a great foundation for other courses such as auditing, risk management, corrective action and business process management.

What you should expect In conjunction with the training, participants work on a project throughout the course with instructor feedback and guidance.   Each participant will need a sponsor for their project (most likely the participant’s manager or another leader from their company) that will support applying the tools to actual work that is value-added for the company.   We will give sponsors regular updates on course content and suggestions for helping implement course content at work.

Suggested projects include:

• • Cycle time analysis and reduction
  • Root cause analysis
  • Process measurement & improvement
  • Customer dissatisfaction
  • Process audit & improvement

Course Outline

• Session 1:  Quality management systems, terms and philosophies
  • ISO 9001 fundamentals; quality terms in common use
  • The history of quality and the pioneers that helped chart the course
• Session 2: Fundamentals of quality assurance
  • Risk analysis; customer requirements capture and establishing process capability prior to full production
  • Measuring COPQ (the cost of poor quality) and how QA lowers these costs
• Session 3:  Fundamentals of quality control (internally and supplier) and corrective action
  • 100% inspection vs. sampling inspection; control on nonconforming product; effective corrective action steps & tools.  In-process quality control and the 1-10-100 cost multiplier rule
• Session 4: Process improvement planning
  • Identifying and evaluation the merit of a CI project; forming and chartering a CI team; identifying key project stakeholders; CI roadmaps (basic 7-step model vs. the DMAIC model)
  • Champions, sponsor and coaches for CI teams
• Session 5: Process improvement steps, tools and templates
  • PDCA/PDCA thinking; lean & six-sigma tools
  • Running effective meetings; team development (forming, storming, norming & performing.
  • Tools for decision making & for resolving conflict

Read below what participants and one sponsor of this course said about their experience:

“The Process Improvement and Quality Fundamentals course was extremely useful.  Not only was I able to gather the knowledge to obtain the certification for ASQ’s CQIA, but I was also able to learn many different tools to help me lead continuous improvement projects and corrective actions.  Being able to learn the tools but also apply them to a real project was extremely helpful in understanding what the course was really about.”
– Stacey Reeve, Quality Engineer, Chroma Technology 

“I just passed my CQIA exam! The course references were great, as well as the class handouts and presentations.  With a little brushing up, I really went into this exam with a feeling of confidence. Thank you for all the hard work you and the VMEC/ASQ team put into the class, I will highly recommend it to others!”
– Matt DeAngelis, Safety & Quality Manager, LEDdynamics Inc.

“The Process Improvement and Quality Fundamentals course hosted by VMEC had a positive impact on our organization.  The materials and tools presented within the class enabled us to refine a key processes as well as adequately prepare for, and pass, the ASQ certification exam. I would recommend it to other organizations looking to further the capabilities of their quality system and staff.”
– Justin Worth, VP of Operations, LEDdynamics Inc. and sponsor to Matt DeAngelis

“This is one of the better courses I’ve taken. In some ways, the online format was better than in-person (more convenient, no travel). The instructor was very knowledgeable and the pace was fast enough to cover lots of material and keep me engaged. I enjoyed meeting the other participants – a great group!”
– Ben Wallace, Director of Supply Chain and Continuous Improvement, IVEK Corporation 

Test Dates View this link and scroll to “Computer-Based Testing Dates”.

What is the value of certified employees?  Investing in staff quality skills and knowledge will bring value and a market differentiator to your organization.  ASQ certification offers these benefits:

• Knowledgeable employees who assure product and service quality
• Internationally recognized credentials from the global voice of quality
• Greater employee loyalty and retention
• A more competent Vermont workforce

Note: Included in the course fee is “The ASQ Certified Quality Improvement Associate Handbook”; this will be shipped to you prior to the start of the course.