This set of materials (CD-ROM, video and book) serves as a solution-based multimedia software tool to help companies quickly and inexpensively attain ISO 9000 management and systems quality assurance standards. It integrates advanced networked multimedia graphics, 3-D animation and sound technologies to offer a step-by-step methodology and a suite of software tools on a single CD-ROM to provide a simple, cost-effective business solution. The application was designed specifically to help small, medium and large business users reduce the expense and time necessary to prepare for various levels of ISO certification.
This package is designed to help reduce cycle time by providing ISO 9000 project management methodology and software. The planning function establishes the delegated tasks and milestones for an ISO team, and the status functions offer a way to monitor their progress, preventing problems and delays. Furthermore, it can help reduce up to 80% of the documentation design activities associated with the creation of ISO 9000 policies procedures. The system provides a validated, electronic Quality and Procedure Manual and templates that can be modified to suit particular business needs. An integrated On-Line Manual Function and virtual consultants help ensure maintenance of ISO status through current on-line maintenance of a company's policies and procedures. Also, through the use of the ISO 9000 consulting forum on the Internet, users can communicate with experts about their unique quality requirements, ask questions, and even download policies and procedures for validation.
Harrington is international quality advisor at Ernst & Young, and Mathers is general secretary of TC176 (the ISO 9000 standard working group).
Performance Measurement for World Class Manufacturing: A Model for American Companies, by Brian H. Maskell, Productivity Press, 429 pages, $55, ISBN 0-915299-99-2
This book describes the new methods of performance measurement and how they are used in a changing environment. For manufacturing managers, it provides a theoretical foundation of these innovative methods supported by extensive practical examples.
Along with an in-depth discussion of the new manufacturing environment, the book specifically addresses performance measures for delivery, process time, production flexibility, quality, and finance.
Characteristics of the new performance measures are described. The book explains how a manager can use the results of the new measures for reporting and establishing new performance targets. It includes a comparison of performance measures used in Europe, Japan and the U.S.
Demass: Transforming the Dinosaur Corporation, by M.M. Stuckey, Productivity Press, 283 pages, $25, ISBN 1-56327-042-0
This book shows how inside many of America's manufacturing giants, sheer size - massiveness - has become an obstacle to staying competitive. Demassification, or "demass," is a structural remedy to the inflexibility and relatively slow time-to-market of these giant corporations.
The book provides a model for radical decentralization and improved speed-to-market with a thorough description of the demass process, what is needed for its implementation, and a study of successful demass at Eastman Kodak.