Quality Glossary

3P: the production preparation process is a tool used for designing lean manufacturing environments. It is a highly disciplined, standardized model. 3P results in the development of an improved production process where low waste levels are achieved at low capital cost.

5S: a lean tool used for workplace organisation and standardisation. Benefits include prompt problem detection and clear standards. In addition, routine disciplines are established to keep the workplace in order and ensure that materials are in the correct location to maximise productivity. The 5Ss are sifting, sweeping, sorting, sanitising and sustaining.

8D is a problem-solving methodology for product and process improvement. It is structured into eight disciplines, emphasizing team synergy. 

Accreditation Certification by a duly recognized body of the facilities, capability, objectivity, competence, and integrity of an agency, service or operational group or individual to provide the specific service(s) or operation(s) needed.

Accredited Registrars  Qualified organizations certified by a national body (e.g., the Registrar Accreditation Board in the U. S.) to perform audits to the QS-9000 and to register the audited facility as meeting these requirements for a given commodity.

Activity-based costing: an accounting system that assigns costs to products based on the amount of resources used to design, order or make a product.

AIAG  Automotive Industry Action Group

Andon board: a visual control device in a production area, such as a lighted overhead display. It communicates the current status of the production system and alerts team members to emerging problems.

ANSI  American National Standards Institute

AQL  Acceptable quality level

AS9100  Quality system requirements for suppliers to the aerospace industry (previously known as AS9000).

ASQ  American Society for Quality

Assessment  An evaluation process including a document review, an on-site audit and an analysis and report. (see Quality audit)

Assignable cause  See Special cause

ASTM  American Society for Testing and Materials

Attributes  Qualitative data that can be counted for recording and analysis. Examples include characteristics such as the presence of a required label and the installation of all required fasteners.

Audit   Systematic, independent and documented process for obtaining audit evidence and evaluating it objectively to determine the extent to which audit criteria are fulfilled. 

Audit client  Organization or person requesting an audit. 

Audit conclusion  Outcome of an audit provided by the audit team after consideration of the audit objectives and all audit findings. 

Audit criteria  Set of policies, procedures or requirements used as a reference (while conducting an audit). 

Audit evidence  Records, statements of fact or other information which are relevant to the audit criteria and verifiable.  

Audit findings  Results of the evaluation of the collected audit evidence against audit criteria.  

Audit program  Set of one or more audits planned for a specific time frame and directed towards a specific purpose.  

Audit team  One or more auditors conducting an audit.  

Auditee   Organization being audited.  

Auditor   Person with the competence to conduct an audit.  

Availability  The ability of an item to perform its designated function when required for use. 

Average or mean  The most common expression of the centring of a distribution. It is calculated by totalling the observed values and dividing by the number of observations. 

Balancing the line: the process of evenly distributing both the quantity and variety of work across available work time, avoiding overburden and under use of resources. This eliminates bottlenecks and downtime, which translates into shorter flow time.

Benchmark Data The results of an investigation to determine how competitors and/or best-in-class companies achieve their level of performance. 

Bimodal Distribution   A distribution with two identifiable curves within it, indicating a mixing of two populations such as different shifts, machines, workers, etc. 

BS  British Standard

BSI  British Standards Institution 

CAI  Computer aided inspection

Capability  The total range of inherent variation in a stable process. (See Process Capability)  

CASCO  ISO Committee on Conformity Assessments 

CC  Critical characteristic 

CE Mark  European Union product safety certification symbol:  

Cell: an arrangement of people, machines, materials and equipment--with the processing steps placed right next to each other in sequential order--through which parts are processed in a continuous flow. The most common cell layout is a U shape.

CEN  European Committee for Standardization 

CENELEC  European Committee for Electro-technical Standardization 

Certificate of compliance  A document signed by an authorized party affirming that the supplier of a product or service has met the requirements of the relevant specifications, contract, or regulation. 

Certificate of conformance (Certificate of conformity)  A document signed by an authorized party affirming that a product or service has met the requirements of the relevant specifications, contract, or regulation. 

Certification  The procedure and action by a duly authorized body of determining, verifying, and attesting in writing to the qualifications of personnel, processes, procedures, or items in accordance with applicable requirements. 

Chaku-Chaku: a Japanese word that means "load-load." It is a method of conducting single-piece flow in which the operator proceeds from machine to machine, taking a part from the previous operation and loading it in the next machine, then taking the part just removed from that machine and loading it in the following machine. Chaku-chaku lines allow different parts of a production process to be completed by one operator, eliminating the need to move around large batches of work-in-progress inventory.

Characteristic  Distinguishing feature  

CIM  Computer Integrated Manufacturing

Common Cause  A source of variation that is always present as part of the random variation inherent in the process itself. Its origin can usually be traced to an element of the system which only management can correct. 

Competence   Demonstrated ability to apply knowledge skills.  

Compliance  An affirmative indication or judgment that the supplier of a product or service has met the requirements of the relevant specifications, contract, or regulation; also the state of meeting the requirements. 

Component  Any raw material, substance, piece, part, software, firmware, labelling, or assembly which is intended to be included as part of the finished, packaged, and labelled device. 

Concession   Permission to use or release a product that does not conform to specified requirements.  See Waiver

Conformance  An affirmative indication or judgment that a product or service has met the requirements of the relevant specifications, contract, or regulation; also the state of meeting the requirements. 

Conformity   Fulfilment of a requirement.  

Conformity The fulfilling by an item or service of specification requirements. 

Continual improvement  Recurring activity to increase the ability to fulfil requirements.  

Continuous flow: a concept where items are processed and moved directly from one processing step to the next, one piece at a time. Also referred to as "one piece flow" and "single piece flow."

Control Chart  A graphic representation of a characteristic of a process, showing plotted values of some statistic gathered from that characteristic, and one or two control limits. 

Control Limit  A line (or lines) on a control chart used as a basis for judging the significance of the variation from subgroup to subgroup. Variation beyond a control limit is evidence that special causes are affecting the process. Control limits are calculated from process data and are not to be confused with engineering specifications. 

Control Plans  Written descriptions of the systems for controlling parts and processes. 

Correction   Action to eliminate a detected nonconformity.  

Corrective action  Action to eliminate the cause of a detected nonconformity or other undesirable situation.  

Corrective Action Plan  A plan for correcting a process or part quality issue. 

CQA  Certified Quality Auditor

CQE  Certified Quality Engineer

CQMgr  Certified quality manager 

CRE  Certified Reliability Engineer

Customer   Organization or person that receives a product.  

Customer satisfaction  Customer's perception of the degree to which the customer's requirements have been fulfilled.  

Cycle time: the time required to complete one cycle of an operation. If cycle time for every operation in a complete process can be reduced to equal takt time, products can be made in single-piece flow.

Defect   Non-fulfilment of a requirement related to an intended or specified use.   

Dependability   Collective term used to describe the availability performance and its influencing factors: reliability performance, maintainability performance and maintenance support performance.  

Design and development  Set of processes that transforms requirements into specified characteristics or into the specification of a product, process or system.  

Design Failure  Mode and Effects Analysis (DFMEA) An analytical technique used by a design responsible engineer/team as a means to assure, to the extent possible, that potential failure modes and, their associated causes/mechanisms have been considered and addressed. 

Design for Manufacturability and Assembly A simultaneous engineering process designed to optimize the relationship between design function, manufacturability, and ease of assembly. 

Design input  The physical and performance requirements of a device that are used as a basis for device design. 

Design review  A documented, comprehensive, systematic examination of a design to evaluate the adequacy of the design requirements, to evaluate the capability of the design to meet these requirements, and to identify problems. 

Design Validation  Establishing by objective evidence that device specifications conform with user needs and intended use(s). 

Design Validation Testing to ensure that product conforms to defined user needs and/or requirements. Design validation follows successful design verification and is normally performed on the final product under defined operating conditions. Multiple validations may be performed if there are different intended uses. 

Design Verification Testing to ensure that all design outputs meet design input requirements.

Detection or inspection   A past-oriented strategy that attempts to identify unacceptable output after it has been produced and separate it from the good output. (See Prevention and Nonconforming) 

Deviation permit   Written authorization, prior to production or provision of a service, to depart from specified requirements for a specified quantity or for a specified time. 

Deviation permit Permission to depart from the originally specified requirements of a product prior to realization.  

DFA  Design for assembly

DFM  Design for manufacturing 

DFMEA  Design Failure Mode and Effects Analysis 

DIN  Germany Standards Institute

Distribution  The population (universe) from which observations are drawn, categorized into cells, and form identifiable patterns. It is based on the concept of variation that states that anything measured repeatedly will arrive at different results. These results will fall into statistically predictable patterns. A bell-shaped curve (normal distribution) is an example of a distribution in which the greatest number of observations occur in the centre with fewer and fewer observations falling evenly on either side of the average. 

Document   Information and its supporting medium.  

Documentation  Written material defining the process to be followed (e.g. test procedure, quality manual, operation sheets). 

DOE  Design of Experiments

Durability The probability that an item will continue to function at customer expectation levels, at the useful life without requiring overhaul or rebuild due to wear out. 

EC  European Community 

Effectiveness   Extent to which planned activities are realized and planned results achieved.  

Efficacy  (see effectiveness below)

Efficiency   Relationship between the result achieved and the resources used.  

EFTA  European Free Trade Association 

EN  European Standard 

EQS  European Committee for Quality System Assessment and Certification 

Error proofing: a process used to prevent errors from occurring or to immediately point out a defect as it occurs. If defects don’t get passed down an assembly line, throughput and quality improve. See "poka-yoke."

ETSI  European Telecommunications Standards Institute 

Feeder lines: a series of special assembly lines that allow assemblers to perform preassembly tasks off the main production line. Performing certain processes off the main production line means fewer parts in the main assembly area, the availability of service-ready components and assemblies in the main production area, improved quality and less lead time to build a product.

Flow: the progressive achievement of tasks along the value stream so that a product proceeds from design to launch, order to delivery, and raw materials into the hands of the customer with no stoppages, scrap or backflows.

FMEA method (FMECA)  Failure Mode and Effect (and Criticality) Analysis, a powerful method of risk assessment and failure analysis for use in risk management and product liability control. (see Risk Analysis article)

Frequency distribution  A statistical table that presents a large volume of data in such a way that the central tendency (average/mean/median) and distribution are clearly displayed. 

FTA  Fault Tree Analysis

Functional Verification  Testing to ensure the part conforms to all customer and supplier engineering performance and material requirements. 

GD&T  Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing

GMP  Good Manufacturing Practice

GR&R  Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility

Grade   Category or rank given to different quality requirements for products, processes or systems having the same functional use.  

Heijunka: the creation of a "level schedule" by sequencing orders in a repetitive pattern and smoothing the day-to-day orders to correspond to longer-term demand.

Histogram  See Frequency distribution

Hoshin Kanri:  a strategic decision making tool that focuses resources on the critical initiatives necessary to accomplish the business objectives of the company

IEC  International Electro-technical Commission 

IEEE  Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 

Infrastructure (of an organization)  System of facilities, equipment and services needed for the operation of an organization.  

Inspection   Conformity evaluation by observation and judgement accompanied as appropriate by measurement, testing or gauging.  

Inspection  Activities, such as measuring, examining, testing, gauging one or more characteristics of a product or service, and comparing these with specified requirements to determine conformity. 

Interested party  Person or group having an interest in the performance or success of an organization.  

ISO  International Organization for Standards 

ISO 14000 International environmental management system standard administered by ISO 

ISO 9000  International Standard for Quality Systems (see ISO 9000 Fans and ISO 9000:2000)

JIGS  Japan Industrial Standards

JUSE  Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers

Just-in-time: a system for producing and delivering the right items at the right time in the right amounts. The key elements of just in time are flow, pull, standard work and takt time.

Kaikaku: radical improvement of an activity to eliminate waste.

Kaizen Taken from the Japanese words kai and zen, where kai means change and zen means good. The popular meaning is continual improvement of all areas of a company not just quality. 

Kaizen: a Japanese word that means "continuous improvement." It refers to  incremental improvement of an activity to create more value with less waste. A kaizen event is a highly focused, action-oriented workshop that typically involves a team of five to 15 individuals. It usually lasts three to five days. The goal of a kaizen event is to concentrate on improving one specific process.

Kanban: a Japanese word that means "card" or "visible record." It refers to a small card attached to boxes of parts that regulates pull by signalling upstream production and delivery.

Kitting: a process in which assemblers are supplied with kits--a box of parts, fittings and tools--for each task they perform. This eliminates time-consuming trips from one parts bin, tool crib or supply centre to another to get the necessary material.

LCL  Lower control limit (see Control limit)

Lead time: the total time a customer must wait to receive a product after placing an order.

Lean manufacturing: a manufacturing philosophy that shortens the time between the customer order and the product build and shipment by eliminating sources of waste. It attacks waste within a plant or process; waste elimination results in cost reduction

Lot or batch  One or more components or finished devices that consist of a single type, model, class, size, composition, or software version that are manufactured under essentially the same conditions and that are intended to have uniform characteristics and quality within specified limits. 

LSL  Lower specification limit (see Specification)

Maintainability  Ability of an item under stated conditions of use to be retained in, or restored to, within a given period of time, a specified state in which it can perform its required functions when maintenance is performed under stated conditions and while using prescribed procedures and resources. 

Maintainability The probability that a failed system can be made operable in a specified interval or downtime. 

Management   Coordinated activities to direct and control an organization.  

Management system  System to establish policy and objectives and to achieve those objectives.  

MBNQA  Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (see MBNQA)

Measurement control system  Set of interrelated or interacting elements necessary to achieve metrological confirmation and continual control of measurement processes.   

Measurement process  Set of operations to determine the value of a quantity.  

Measuring equipment  Measuring instrument, software, measurement standard, reference material or auxiliary apparatus or combination thereof necessary to realize a measurement process.  

Metrological characteristic  Distinguishing feature which can influence the results of measurement.  

Metrological confirmation  Set of operations required to ensure that measuring equipment conforms to the requirements for its intended use.  

   Function with organizational responsibility for defining and implementing the measurement control system.  

Monument: any design, scheduling or production technology with scale requirements necessitating that designs, orders and products be brought to the machine to wait in queue for processing. The opposite of a right-sized machine.

MRB  Material review board

MSA  Measurement System Analysis 

MTBF  Mean time between failures

Muda : Japanese term for waste. See "waste".

NACCB  National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies (UK) 

NDT  Nondestructive testing

NIST  National Institute of Science and Technology

Non-conformance  Product or material which does not conform to the customer requirements or specifications. 

Nonconformities  Specific occurrences of a condition that does not conform to specifications or other inspection standards; sometimes called discrepancies or defects 

Nonconformity   Non-fulfilment of a requirement.  

Nonconformity  A process which does not conform to a quality system requirement.  

Nonconformity  The non-fulfilment of specified requirements. 

Normal Distribution  See Distribution

Numerical reliability  The probability that an item will perform a required function under stated conditions for a stated period of time. (See MTBF)  

Objective evidence  Data supporting the existence or verity of something,  

One-piece flow:  the opposite of batch production. Instead of building many products and then holding them in queue for the next step in the process, products go through each step in the process one at a time, without interruption. It improves quality and lowers costs.

Organization   Group of people and facilities with an arrangement of responsibilities, authorities and relationships.  

Organizational structure  Arrangement of responsibilities, authorities and relationships between people.  

Parts Per Million (PPM)  PPM is a way of stating the performance of a process in terms of actual or projected defective material. 

PFMEA  Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis

Point of use:  a technique that ensures people have exactly what they need to do their job--the right work instructions, parts, tools and equipment--where and when they need them.

Poka-yoke:  a Japanese word that refers to a mistake-proofing device or procedure used to prevent a defect during the production process. See "error proofing."

Population  The universe of data under investigation from which a sample will be taken. 

Prevention  A future-oriented strategy that improves quality by directing analysis and action toward correcting the production process. Prevention is consistent with a philosophy of never-ending improvement. 

Preventive action  Action to eliminate the cause of a potential nonconformity or other undesirable potential situation.  

Procedure   Specified way to carry out an activity or a process.  

Process   Set of interrelated or interacting activities which transforms inputs into outputs.  

Process  The combination of people, machine and equipment, raw materials, methods, and environment that produces a given product or service. 

Process Capability  The measured, built-in reproducibility (consistency) of the product turned out by the process. Such a determination is made using statistical methods, not wishful thinking. The statistically determined pattern or distribution can only then be compared to specification limits to decide if a process can consistently deliver product within those parameters. 

Process Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (PFMEA)  An analytical technique used by a manufacturing responsible engineer/team as a means to assure that, to the extent possible, potential failure modes and their associated causes/mechanisms have been considered and addressed. 

Process quality audit  An analysis of elements of a process and appraisal of completeness, correctness of conditions, and probable effectiveness. 

Process validation  Establishing by objective evidence that a process consistently produces a result or product meeting its predetermined specifications. 

Product   Result of a process.  (May be services, software, hardware or processed materials, or a combination thereof.)  

Product liability or Service liability  A generic term used to describe the onus on a producer or others to make restitution for loss related to personal injury, property damage, or other harm caused by a product or service. 

Product quality audit  A quantitative assessment of conformance to required product characteristics. 

Project   Unique process, consisting of a set of coordinated and controlled activities with start and finish dates, undertaken to achieve an objective conforming to specific requirements, including the constraints of time, cost and resources.  

Pull production:  the opposite of push production. It means products are made only when the customer has requested or "pulled" it, and not before. Doing so prevents building products that are not needed.

QFD  Quality Function Deployment (see QFD FAQ)

QMS  Quality Management System (see Quality system)

QS-9000  Quality system requirements for suppliers to Daimler Chrysler, Ford and General Motors

QSR  Quality System Requirements 

Qualification process  Process to demonstrate the ability to fulfil specified requirements.   

Quality   Degree to which a set of inherent (existing) characteristics fulfils requirements. 

Quality  The totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. 

Quality  The totality of features and characteristics that bear on the ability of a device to satisfy fitness-for-use, including safety and performance. 

Quality assurance   All those planned or systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality. 

Quality assurance  Part of quality management focused on providing confidence that quality requirements will be fulfilled.  

Quality audit (also quality assessment, or conformity assessment)  A systematic and independent examination and evaluation to determine whether quality activities and results comply with planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable to achieve objectives. (se Quality system audit) 

Quality characteristic  Inherent characteristic of a product, process or system related to a requirement.  

Quality control  Part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements.  

Quality control  The operational techniques and the activities used to fulfil requirements of quality. 

Quality engineering  That branch of engineering which deals with the principles and practice of product and service quality assurance and control. 

Quality improvement  Part of quality management focused on increasing the ability to fulfil quality requirements.  

Quality loop;  Quality spiral Conceptual model of interacting activities that influence the quality of a product or service in the various stages ranging from the identification of needs to the assessment of whether these needs have been satisfied. 

Quality management  Coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to quality.  

Quality management  The aspect of the overall business management function that determines and implements the quality policy. 

Quality management system  Management system to direct and control an organization with regard to quality.  

Quality manual  Document specifying the quality management system of an organization.  

Quality measure   A quantitative measure of the features and characteristics of a product or service. 

Quality objective  Something sought, or aimed for, related to quality.  

Quality Plan  A document setting out the specific quality practices, resources, and activities relevant to a particular product, process, service, contract, or project. 

Quality plan  Document specifying which procedures and associated resources shall be applied by whom and when to a specific project, product, process or contract.  

Quality plan audit   See Quality system audit

Quality Planning   A structured process for defining the methods (i.e., measurements, tests) that will be used in the production of a specific product or family of products (i.e., parts, materials). (See Quality Plan)  

Quality planning  Part of quality management focused on setting quality objectives and specifying necessary operational processes and related resources to fulfil the quality objectives.  

Quality policy   The overall intentions and direction of an organization as regards quality as formally expressed by top management. 

Quality policy  Overall intentions and direction of an organization related to quality as formally expressed by top management.  

Quality surveillance  The continuing monitoring and verification of the status of procedures, methods, conditions, products, processes, and services, and analysis of records in relation to stated references to ensure that requirements for quality are being met. 

Quality system audit   A documented activity performed to verify, by examination and evaluation of objective evidence, that applicable elements of the quality system are suitable and have been developed, documented, and effectively implemented in accordance with specified requirements. 

Quality system review   A formal evaluation by management of the status and adequacy of the quality system in relation to quality policy and/or new objectives resulting from changing circumstances. 

Quality system  The organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes, and resources for implementing quality management. 

RAB  Registrar Accreditation Board (U.S.)

Range  A measure of the variation in a set of data. It is calculated by subtracting the lowest value in the data set from the highest value in that same set. 

Reaction Plan  The action specified by a Control Plan when nonconforming product or process instability is identified. 

Realization (as used in ISO 9000:2000)  The carrying out of an action or process to completion.   [dictionary]

Record   Document stating results achieved or providing evidence of activities performed.  

Registrar  A company that conducts quality system assessments to the Quality System Requirements. 

Regrade   Alteration of the grade of a nonconforming product in order to make it conform to requirements differing from the original ones.  

Relative quality  Degree of excellence of a product or service. 

Release   Permission to proceed to the next stage of a process.  

Reliability  The ability of an item to perform a required function under stated conditions. 

Reliability engineering   That engineering function dealing with the principles and practices related to the design, specification, assessment, and achievement of product or system reliability requirements and involving aspects of prediction, evaluation, production, and demonstration. 

Reliability  The probability that an item will continue to function at customer expectation levels at a measurement point, under specified environmental and duty cycle conditions. 

Repair   Action on a nonconforming product to make it acceptable for the intended use.  

Repair Action  taken on nonconforming product so that the product will fulfil the intended usage although the product may not conform to the original requirements. 

Requirement   Need or expectation that is stated, generally implied or obligatory.   

Review   Activity undertaken to determine the suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the subject matter to achieve established objectives.  

Rework   Action on a nonconforming product to make it conform to the requirements.   

Rework  Action taken on a nonconforming product so that it will fulfil the specified requirements before it is released for distribution. 

Rework  Action taken on nonconforming product so that it will meet the specified requirements. 

Right sizing:  a process that challenges the complexity of equipment. It examines how equipment fits into an overall vision for how work will flow through the factory. When possible, right sizing favours smaller, dedicated machines rather than large, multipurpose, batch-processing machines.

Runs  The patterns in a Control Chart within which a number of points line up on only one side of the central line. 

RvC  Raad voor de Certificatie (Dutch Council for Certification) 

SAE  Society of Automotive Engineers 

Sample   One or more individual events or measurements selected from the output of a process for purposes of identifying characteristics and performance of the whole. 

Sanitizing:  one of the 5Ss used for workplace organisation. Sanitising is the act of cleaning the work area. Dirt is often the root cause of premature equipment wear, safety problems and defects.

SCC  Standards Council of Canada 

Scrap   Action on a nonconforming product to preclude its originally intended use.   

Sifting:  one of the 5Ss used for workplace organisation. Sifting involves screening through unnecessary materials and simplifying the work environment. Sifting is the separating of the essential from the nonessential.

Sigma ()  The Greek letter used to designate the estimated standard deviation. 

Simulation  The practice of mimicking some or all of the behaviour of one system with a different, dissimilar system. 

Simulation: a 3D technique used to balance the line. It involves using cardboard, wood and plastic foam to create full-sized equipment mock ups that can be easily moved around to obtain an optimum layout.

Simultaneous Engineering  A way of simultaneously designing products, and the processes for manufacturing those products, through the use of cross-functional teams to assure manufacturability and to reduce cycle time. 

Single-piece flow:  a process in which products proceed, one complete product at a time, through various operations in design, order-taking and production without interruptions, backflows or scrap.

Six Sigma  Quality process, developed at Motorola, focused on reducing defects to a six sigma level (3.4 defects per million parts; 0.00034%), for all practical purposes zero defects.

Six Sigma:  a standard of operational excellence used in lean manufacturing environments. It is a process that designs and monitors everyday business activities in ways that minimise waste while increasing customer satisfaction. Six Sigma objectives are directly and quantifiably connected to the objectives of the business.

SMWT  Self-managed work teams 

Software  An intellectual creation consisting of information expressed through supporting medium. 

Sorting:  one of the 5Ss used for workplace organisation. Sorting involves organizing essential materials. It allows the operator to find materials when needed because they are in the correct location.

SPC  Statistical Process Control (see below)

Special Cause   A source of variation that is intermittent, unpredictable, unstable; sometimes called an assignable cause. 

Specification   Document stating requirements  

Specification  The document that prescribes the requirements with which the product or service has to conform. 

Specification  The engineering requirement for judging acceptability of a particular characteristic. Chosen with respect to functional or customer requirements for the product, a specification may or may not be consistent with the demonstrated capability of the process (if it is not, out-of-specification parts are certain to be made). A specification should never be confused with a control limit. 

SQC  Statistical Quality Control (see below)

Stakeholder  An individual or group of individuals with a common interest in the performance of the supplier organization and the environment in which it operates. 

Standard Deviation   A measure of the spread of the process output or the spread of a sampling statistic from the process (e.g., of subgroup averages), denoted by the Greek letter  (sigma) for the estimated standard deviation. See Sigma 

Standard work instructions:  a lean tool that enables operators to observe the production process with an understanding of how assembly tasks are to be performed. It ensures that the quality level is understood and serves as an excellent training aid. It enables absentee replacement individuals to easily adapt and perform the assembly operation.

Standard work:  a precise description of each work activity specifying cycle time, takt time, the work sequence of specific tasks and the minimum inventory of parts on hand needed to conduct the activity.

Statistical Control  The condition describing a process from which all special causes have been removed, evidenced on a control chart by the absence of points beyond the control limits and by the absence of non-random patterns or trends within the control limits. 

Statistical Process Control   The application of statistical techniques to the control of processes. (See SPC tutorial)  

Statistical Process Control  The use of statistical techniques such as Control Charts to analyze a process or its output to take appropriate actions to achieve and maintain a state of statistical control and to improve the capability of the process.   (See SPC tutorial) 

Statistical Quality Control  The application of statistical techniques to the control of quality. 

Stratification  The process of classifying data into subgroups based on characteristics or categories. 

Supplier   Organization or person that provides a product.  

Sustaining:  one of the 5Ss used for workplace organisation. Sustaining is the continuation of sifting, sweeping, sorting and sanitizing. It is the most important and the most difficult, because it addresses the need to perform the 5S’s on an on-going and systematic basis.

Sweeping:  one of the 5Ss used for workplace organisation. Sweeping involves collecting nonessential goods and removing them from the work area.

System  Set of interrelated or interacting elements.   

Takt time:  a reference number that is used to help match the rate of production to the rate of sales. In other words, the rate at which customers require finished units. It is determined by dividing the total available production time per shift by the customer demand rate per shift. "Takt" is a German word for pace or beat.

Technical expert (in an audit)  Person who provides specific knowledge of or expertise on the subject to be audited. 

Test   Determination of one or more characteristics according to a procedure.   

Testing  A means of determining the capability of an item to meet specified requirements by subjecting the item to a set of physical, chemical, environmental, or operating actions and conditions. 

TGA  Germany Association for Accreditation

TL 9000  Quality system requirements for suppliers to the telecommunications industry

Top management  Person or group of people who directs and controls an organization at the highest level.  

TPM  Total productive maintenance 

TQM  Total quality management

Traceability   Ability to trace the history, application or location of that which is under consideration.  

Traceability  The ability to trace the history, application, or location of an item or activity and like items or activities by means of recorded identification. 

UCL  Upper control limit (see Control limit)

USL  Upper specification limit (see Specification)

Validation   Confirmation, through the provision of objective evidence, that the requirements for a specific intended use or application have been fulfilled.  

Validation  Confirmation by examination and provision of objective evidence that the particular requirements for a specific intended use can be consistently fulfilled. 

Value stream mapping:  the process of directly observing the flows of information and materials as they now occur, summarizing them visually, and then envisioning a future state with much better performance. It raises consciousness of the enormous waste of time, effort and movement that occurs. The relevant actions to be mapped consist of two flows: orders travelling upstream from the customer and products coming downstream from raw materials to the customer.

Value stream:  the specific activities required to design, order and provide a product, from concept to launch, order to delivery, and raw materials into the hands of the customer. Whenever there is a product for a customer, there is a value stream. Up to 90 percent of the actions and 99.99 percent of the time along a typical value stream can consume resources, but create no value for customers.

Value:  a capability provided to a customer at the right time at an appropriate price, as defined by the customer.

Variables  Those characteristics of a part that can be measured. Examples are length in millimetres, resistance in ohms, closing effort of a door in kilograms, and the torque of a nut in foot pounds. (See Attributes) 

Variation  The inevitable difference among individual outputs of a process. The sources of variation can be grouped into two major classes: Common Causes and Special Causes. 

Verification &