The IMACIA® system is unique in the fact that it blends the principles of several business competitiveness and quality philosophies into one fluid program that has, built-in, the flexibility needed in the ever changing manufacturing business paradigms. The IMACIA® system is designed to incorporate new business competitiveness bench marking tools, statistical analytical tools, project management techniques, and ISO, along with competitiveness concepts in a common sense approaches to attaining, managing and controlling manufacturing business superiority at five (5) major levels of operation. These levels are: Customer, Employee, Materials, Equipment, and Product.
The IMACIA® resembles aspects of the human body. The heart of this system is Quality Assurance. This function is responsible for monitoring customer acceptance for the product quality. In addition, it is responsible for monitoring supplier quality. It then utilizes inputs from customers and suppliers in enhancing internal product quality and problem solving. The quality status must be reviewed periodically by an Executive Quality Committee followed by Quality Clearing House meetings with various department managers involved in product or service making. The objectives of these meetings are to:
• Review all complaints from previous period.
• Review specification waivers and exceptions either internal or from customers.
• Review profile of customer rejections.
• Review process inspections and improvement efforts.
The muscle of this system is Process Improvement and is responsible for issuing processing instructions, running and recording design of experiments DOE’s results. That is in addition to testing, conducting audits and process capability studies. This department also leads supplier reviews, and enters liability claims against suppliers.
Communications is typified as the blood of this system. This includes the planning function, inspections, quality reports, immediate response systems, CIT (continuous improvement teams), analytical reports, and E-Mail notifications.
The nerve system is represented by the Technical Service function. This function gives the feedback of customers’ perception to quality, service, support, and development efforts. It provides the field support for trials entered to resolve quality issues. This department offers the expertise to help with customers’ problems in their manufacturing facilities.
The R&D and Product Development departments completes the system by offering the customers support in answering the expectation for continuous improvements to existing products as well as development of products that are on the leading edge of technology in support of customer’s futuristic outlook. This can be related to as the skin as it performs a combination effect of providing the contact sensory perception by keeping customers aware of the commitment to support their efforts, individually as customers and collectively as an industry.
The IMACIA® system uses an approach that everyone comes in contact with everyday. This approach utilizes the traffic stop light signals (red, yellow, green) in analytical charts of various data plotted for control purposes. Targets are set in each shaded area (red, yellow, green). Once the plotted data enters the yellow or red shaded area then certain controls are brought into effect. This system brings the everyday cautionary concept to the manufacturing floor in order to convey a real feel of the urgency of a quality situation. Furthermore, the data collected under the traffic light format is molded into the predictor model. The predictor model is used to predict quality problems before they occur to support decision making for prevention, keeping anticipated variability of the future reduced as seen in current time.
Quality in business today is the same moving target that it has been since the days of Juran, Crosby and many others gurus’ of their day. It will always be the way because customer expectations will continually exceed their requirements thereby raising the bar. The rest of this manual gives the methodology of IMACIA® system to the five (5) levels of a manufacturing business unit.
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