Defects create a tremendous amount of waste. Clients can be lost, reputation damaged, material wasted or at best it leads to a loss of time and effort related to complaint resolution, inspection efforts like super control and quality walls, and the capacity that was lost that initially created the defect.

Improving the quality of the products and services delivered by an organization too often is under the responsibility of a separate quality department. This leads to a lack of responsibility for and autonomy in improving quality in the process itself. However, this is where quality in the end is made.

More and more, therefore, the focus of quality improvement shifts towards process quality and the involvement of all associates in improving this quality. Based upon her experience, Dumontis supports organizations in this shift of focus from product to process quality and the transformation towards an organization in which quality is produced by the process instead of inspected in.

This might first involve the introduction of proper visual standards, boundary samples and standard reactions involving red bins, multi-level Quick Response Quality Control (QRQC) and related management routines. In properly handling defects we can support quality improvements using Employee Involved Suggestion Systems, Small Group Activities (SGA) or Quality Control Circles (QC-Circles) that make use of Structured Problem-Solving like 8D or A3 thinking.

Subsequently Dumontis can assist companies in moving toward a quality system based upon Jidoka (built-in-quality), which may involve fail-proofing using warning and control Poka Yokes and Andon, successive and self-inspection including AQM (Auto-Quality Matrices) and source inspection.

Dumontis thereby also helps with translating the consequences of Jidoka for the Quality functions and the subsequent transformation, integrating Jidoka principles into Mini Companies and autonomous teams.