3rd Term- Construction Quality Management

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S.R.P** 3RD_{TERM –CONSTRUCTION QUALITY MANAGEMENT} _{Page 301}

Quality Control

 Quality control refers to the activities that are carried out on the production line to prevent / eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance.

 In the manufacturing industry including production of ready mixed concrete & fabrication of pre-cast units, the major functions of quality control are control of incoming materials , monitoring of production process & testing of finished product.

 For ex. during production, the strength of concrete is continuously monitored via routine testing & statistical analysis of test results so as to detect when the mean strength or the variability of strength shows a significant change.

 The control mechanism then goes on to rectify the detected change , thereby preventing a potential problem from developing into a real one.

 In the building industry, it is the traditional practice to have separate contracts for design & construction with the designer lso taking up the role of supervision of construction.

 The quality of finished works is controlled by way of inspection & testing as construction proceeds

 For ex. the quality of concrete & other materials on site is judged by random sampling & testing, & thorough inspection of finished works is performed without exception before final acceptance.  The major drawback of this „inspectorial system‟ is that it identifies the mistakes after the event.  Even high strength concrete can be defective if it is not properly compacted & cured & the

potential hazards of steel corrosion will not surface until some years later on.

 Unlike consumer goods, defective building work is very difficult , if not impossible to replace.  To show commitment to quality, senior management of the company must provide adequate

resources on the site to avoid poor quality workmanship & also should have comprehensive  record of in-process inspection which is essential to ensure that the intended verification is

actually done

QUALITY ASSURANCE

 A survey conducted by building research establishment in UK indicates that 40% of the building defects occur during the construction phase.

 In most cases the defects are found to be the result of  Misinterpretation of drawings & specifications  Use of superseded drawings & specifications

 Poor communication with architect/engineer, subcontractors & material suppliers  Poor coordination of sub-contracted work

 Unqualified operators

 Inadequate supervision & verification on site

 It is obvious that the defects arising in construction are mostly caused by poor management & communication

 It is wrong to assume that the mistakes appearing on site are actually made @ site.

 These mistakes may be traced to purchase of incorrect or incompatible materials & the failure to retrieve the out-dated drawings

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 Preventive measures must be taken to minimise the risk of managerial & communication problems

This is the basic concept of Quality assurance

 If consistent quality is to be assured, then all the staff in the organisation, both @ head office & site must :

Must have appropriate organisation structure, clear lines of responsibility & communication

Must have correct specifications & drawings

Must have proper training, appropriate procedures & ready access to necessary instructions

Must have appropriate checking, measurement & testing of products Must keep proper records & specified certificates

Must have right resources, plant & materials

 To practise quality assurance, an organisation has to establish & maintain a quality management system ( qms) in its day to day operation

 A quality system contains a st of documented procedures for various processes carried out by the organisation.

 Implementing a quality system ensures that the appropriate type & amount of verification is performed when & where it is planned to be done.

 A quality system is also referred to as QA/ QC programme.

 It is unfortunate that that the adoption of quality assurance in construction industry has been mainly led by client.

 Of course, it costs to implement & maintain a quality system.

 Significant investment in terms of money & staff are needed for QA especially for document preparation & staff training.

 Even though some people see this as an overhead for the company, the overall quality relate costs dcreases rapidly as awareness among the staff increases.

 A questionnaire survey of contractors in Hongkong has indicated that setting up of cost ranges from US 1,28,000 dollars to 3,85,000 dollars with a running cost of 0.2% of contract value

 An analysis of seven building projects of various sizes in Australia has indicated that though the implementation of quality system is about 1% of the project value ( prevention cost), the expenditure as a result of failure/repair has dropped from 10% to 2% resulting in savings of 8%.

 For a contracting company, a well established quality system is a marketing tool which helps them in promoting the image of the company, provides the much needed edge in the competitive market & the improved market share will pay more than the investment.

Perceived outcomes of quality system

Strengths:

 Less rework or repair  Stronger client focus

 Higher efficiency in operation

 Improved external / internal communication

 Systematic record keeping

Opportunities

 More business locally, inter-state & overseas

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QUALITY SYSTEM STANDARD

 A quality system has to cover all the activities leading to the finished product/service/facility  Depending upon the scope of operation of the organisation, these activities encompass

planning, design development, purchasing, production, inspection, storage, delivery & after-sales service.

 A reference base is required against which the adequacy of the quality system can be judged.  Such a reference base is called “ Quality System Standard”.

 The ISO 9000( International Organisation for Standardization) family of standards provides the foundation for quality management

 It is simply collection of principles of sound management that have proven their value over many years.

 The quality system that is portrayed is based on international consensus & is capable of being tailored to fit any enterprise in the world.

The following are the various standards:

 ISO 9000:2000 = Quality management Systems ( Concepts & Vocabularies)

 ISO 9001 2000= Quality management systems ( requirements for design development, production, installation & servicing)

 ISO 9004: 2000 = Quality management systems ( guidelines)  ISO 10011: 2000 = Guidelines for auditing quality systems

 In the evolution of ISO 9000, there has been general shift towards Total quality management (TQM) which is a management philosophy emphasizing on quality, teamwork & decisions based on data.

 To attain high quality in construction, all parties involved namely client, architect, engineer, contractor, subcontractor, material supplier must work together as a team.

 TQM promotes good relation ships both within the individual organisations & between organisations

 The pursuit of quality is gradually progressing from quality control to quality assurance to total quality management

 Implementing ISO 9000 is an important part of quality journey

 Whoever is still @ the cross roads, should not hesitate any longer & should march towards the goal.

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QUALITY SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

 To cover the full range of activities, pertaining to quality assurance, the ISO 9000 family of standards has identiifed twenty elements of the quality system & sets out definitive requirements appropriate to each.

 For each element, the required control is prescribed & it is upto the management to establish & maintain documented procedures to ensure that these requirements are consistently met with.

ISO 9001 Clause No

Quality System element

Quality Functions required

4.1 Management responsibility

 Define, document, Publicise quality policy  Define & document responsbility, authority &

interrelation of staff

 Identify & provide adequate resources  Appoint quality manager

 Review quality system @ regular intervals. 4.2 Quality System  Establish , document & maintain quality system

 Prepare & effectively implement documented procedures

 Define & document how quality planning is conducted for a project including preparation of quality plan

4.3 Contract review  Review tender before submission  Review contract before signing

 Review variation order before acceptance & transfer the amended requirements to functions concerned 4.4 Design Control  Plan Design activities

 Identify & review design input

 Review, verify & validate design output 4.5 Document & data control  Review & approve documents prior to issue

 Review & approve document changes prior to issue 4.6 Purchasing  Evaluate & select contractors on the basis of

capabilities for quality

 Exercise appropriate control over sub-contractors  Review & approve purchase documents prior to

release of funds

 Allow the client or his representative to verify sub-contracted work @ the contractor‟s/ sub-contractor‟s premises where ever specified in contract

4.7 Control of customer supplied product

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4.8 Product identification & traceability

 Identify material & semi-finished product ( ex.

Prefabricated units) from receipt & during all stages of production, delivery & installation wherever appropriate  Provide unique identification of individua; product or

batches where specifically required

4.9 process control  Identify, plan & control production, installation &

servicing processes including provision of procedures / equipment

 Assign qualified operators to carry out the special processes

4.10 Inspection & testing  Conduct inspection & testing of incoming materials & components

 Conduct in-process inspection & testing of semi-finished work in a accordance with quality plan

 Conduct final inspection & testing of finished work in accordance with quality plan

 Maintain records of inspections & tests 4.11 Control of inspection,

measuring &test equipment

 Use inspection, measuring & testing equipment capable of giving necessary accuracy & precision 4.11 Control of inspection,

measuring & test equipment

 Calibrate the equipment at at prescribed intervals & indicate the calibration status

 Review previus result when the equipment is found to be out of calibration

4.12 Inspection & test status  Indicate by suitable means the conformance/  Non-conformance of a product/work with regard to

inspection & tests performed 4.13 Control of non-conforming

product

 Identify & segregate any non-conforming product/work  Review & dispose off the non-conforming product by an

authorized person & test the product again after repair 4.14 Corrective & preventive

action

 Investigate cause of non-conformities, including client complaints

 Take corrective / preventive action to eliminate potential cause of non-conformities

 Implement & record changes to documented

procedures resulting from corrective / preventive action  Ensure that the corrective / preventive action is taken &

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SUMMARY

 The benefits of quality assurance may take years to materialise. In the meantime, quality system keeps on evolving

 Most criticisms of ISO 9000 applied to construction are due to people‟s inertia & misconceptions. Training is essential for a quality system to become effective.

 ISO 9000 is applicable to both small & large business. For the latter, the system requirements may be tailored to suit. A flexible approach by the company & its assessors would make certification achievable & worthwhile.

 The practice of TQM must be the goal of every company that values the satisfaction of customers.

4.15 Handling, storage, packing preservation & delivery

 Establish methods of handling product that prevents damage or deterioration

 Use designated storage areas to prevent damage / deterioration

 Assess condition of stock @ regular intervals  Protect product during delivery

4.16 Control of quality records  Retain quality records for prescribed period

 Maintain quality records in such a way that they are they are secured against damage, deterioration or loss

4.17 Internal Quality audits  Plan & schedule Internal Quality audits

 Assign independent personnel to carry out internal quality audits

 Conduct follow up audits, if necessary 4.18 Training  Identify training needs of the staff

 Provide training required

4.19 Servicing  Verify that servicing meets specified requirements 4.20 Statistical Techniques  Identify the need for statistical techniques in quality

control

 Implement & control the application of statistical techniques

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Project Quality Management:

Includes the processes required to ensure that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.

Includes all activities of the overall management function that determine the quality policy, objectives, and responsibilities and implements these by means such as quality planning, quality assurance, quality control, and quality improvement within the quality system.

Must address both the management of the project and the product or service of the project. Failure to meet quality requirements in either dimension can have serious negative

consequences for the project stakeholders. For example:

 Meeting customer requirements by overworking the project team may produce negative consequences in the form of increased employee attrition.

 Meeting project schedule objectives by rushing planned quality inspections may produce negative consequences when errors go undetected.

Modern quality management complements project management. For example,

bothdisciplines recognize the importance of:

o Customer satisfaction: Understanding, managing, and influencing needs so that customer expectations are met.

Requires a combination of conformance to requirements and fitness for use. (the product/service must satisfy real needs)

 Prevention over inspection: the cost of preventing mistakes is always muchless than the cost of correcting the mistakes, as revealed by inspection.

 Management responsibility: success requires the participation of all membersof the team, but it remains the responsibility of management to provide theresources needed to succeed.

 Processes within phases: the repeated plan-do-check-act cycle described byDeming and others is highly similar to the Project Management Processes.

Quality:

 Is the totality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs. Stated and implied needs are the inputs to developing project requirements.

 Should not be confused with grade. Grade is a category or rank given to entities having the same functional use but different technical characteristics. Low quality is always a problem; low grade may not be. For example:

 A software product may be of high quality (very few defects, a readable user‟s manual) but of low grade meaning it has a limited number of features.

 Or, a software product may be of low quality but of high grade meaning it has many defects but lots of customer features.

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S.R.P** 3RD_{TERM –CONSTRUCTION QUALITY MANAGEMENT} _{Page 306} Quality Planning (8.1): (Process Group: Planning)

 The process of identifying which quality standards are relevant to the project and determining how to satisfy them.

 One of the key facilitating processes during project planning, meaning it should be performed regularly and in parallel with other project planning processes. For example:

 The changes in the project product/service required to meet identified quality standards may require cost or schedule adjustments.

o The desired product/service quality may require a detailed risk analysis of an identified risk source.

 Quality should be planned in, not inspected in.

 Inputs include: Quality policy, scope statement, product description, standards and regulations, and other process outputs.

Quality policy:

 The overall intentions and direction of an organization with regard to quality, as formally expressed by top management.

 When a formal quality policy is not available, or in the case of joint ventures involving multiple performing organizations, the project management team will need to develop a quality policy for the project.

 Regardless of origin, the project management team is responsible for ensuring that the project stakeholders are fully aware of the quality policy.

o Other process outputs: outputs from other knowledge areas that should be considered as part of quality planning. For example, procurement planning may identify contractor quality requirements.

 Methods used during

quality planning

include: benefit/cost analysis, benchmarking,

flowcharting, and design of experiments.

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1. Benefit/cost analysis:

i. Must consider benefit/cost tradeoffs during quality planning. · The primary benefit of meeting quality requirements is less rework which translates to higher productivity, lower costs, and increased stakeholder satisfaction.

ii. The primary cost of meeting quality requirements is the expense associated with project quality management activities.

iii. The benefits of the quality management discipline outweigh the costs.

2. Benchmarking: involves comparing actual or planned project practices to those of other projects (either within the performing organization or external) to generate ideas for improvement and to provide a standard by which to measure performance.

3. Flowcharting: a technique which creates a diagram that displays how various elements of a system relate. Can assist the project team with anticipating what and where quality problems may occur and with developing approaches for addressing the problems.

Flowcharts commonly used in quality management include:

i. Cause-and-effect diagrams: illustrate how various factors may be linked to potential problems or effects. (also referred to as Ishikawa or fishbone diagrams)

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ii. System or process flow charts: show how various elements of a system interrelate.

4. Design of experiments:

i. A statistical method that helps identify which factors might influence specific variables.

ii. Is applied most frequently to the product of the project (e.g., automotive designers may wish to determine which combination of suspension and tires will produce the most desirable ride characteristics at a reasonable cost.)

Can also be applied to project management issues such as cost and schedule tradeoffs. Example: senior engineers will cost more than junior engineers but will usually complete the assignment in less time. An appropriately designed experiment which computes project costs and duration for various combinations of senior and junior engineers will often yield an optimal solution from a relatively limited number of cases.

5. Cost of quality:

Refers to the total cost of all efforts to achieve product/service quality.

Includes all work to ensure conformance to requirements as well as all work resulting from nonconformance to requirements.

Three types of incurred costs: prevention, appraisal, and failure where failure is broken down into internal and external costs.

6. Quality Management Plan:

Describes how the project management team will implement its quality policy.

In ISO 9000 terminology, it should describe the project quality system: the organizational structure, responsibilities, procedures, processes, and resources needed to implement quality management.

Provides input to the overall project plan and must address quality control, quality assurance, and quality improvement for the project.

May be formal or informal, highly detailed or broadly framed, depending on the requirements of the project.

7. Operational definitions:

Describes in very specific terms what something is and how it is measured by the quality control process.

Also called metrics in some application areas.

8. Checklists:

i. Usually a list of specific items that are used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed.

ii. May be simple or complex.

iii. Usually phrased as imperatives (“Do this!”) or interrogatories (“Have you done this?”).

iv. Standardized in many organizations for frequently performed tasks.

v. Available from professional associations or commercial service providers in some application areas.

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activity in another area.

10. Outputs include: Quality Management Plan, operational definitions, checklists, and inputs to other processes.

Quality Assurance (8.2): (Process Group: Executing)

The process of evaluating overall project performance on a regular basis to provide confidence that the project will satisfy the relevant quality standards. ¸ Should be performed throughout the project.

Often, although not always, provided by a Quality Assurance Department or similarly titled organization.

Internal quality assurance: assurance is provided to the project management team and to the management team of the performing organization.

External quality assurance: assurance is provided to the customer and others not actively involved in the work of the project.

Inputs include: Quality Management Plan, results of quality control measurements, and operational definitions.

o Results of quality control measurements: records of quality control testing and measurement in a format for comparison and analysis.

Methods used include: quality planning tools and techniques and quality audits. – Quality planning tools and techniques: includes benefit/cost analysis, benchmarking, flowcharting, checklists, etc.

Quality audits:

A structured review of other quality management activities.

The objective of a quality audit is to identify lessons learned that can improve performance of this project or of other projects within the performing organization.

 May be scheduled or random; may be carried out by trained in-house auditors or by third parties such as quality system registration agencies.

¸ Outputs include: quality improvement.

o Includes taking action to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the project to provide added benefits to the project stakeholders.

o In most cases will require preparation of change requests or taking corrective action and will be handled according to the procedures for integrated change control.

Quality Control (8.3): (Process Group: Controlling)

 The process of monitoring specific project results to determine if the results comply with relevant quality standards and identifying ways to eliminate causes of unsatisfactory performance.

 Should be performed throughout the project.

 Project results include both product results such as deliverables and project management results such as cost and schedule performance.

 Often, although not always, provided by a Quality Control Department or similarly titled organization.

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 Project management team should have a working knowledge of statistical quality control, especially sampling and probability, to help evaluate quality control outputs.

 The team may find it useful to know the differences between: o Prevention: keeping errors out of the process, versus,

Inspection: keeping errors out of the hands of the customer.

– Attribute sampling: the result either conforms or it does not, versus, Variables sampling: the result is rated on a continuos scale that measure thatdegree of conformity.

– Special causes: unusual events, versus,

Random causes: normal process variation.

– Tolerances: the result is acceptable if it falls within the range specified by the tolerance, versus,

Control limits: the process is in control if the result falls within the control limits.

Note: Result can be within the control limits of a process but out of tolerance.

Inputs include: work results (both process and product results), Quality Management Plan,

operational definitions, and checklists. .

 Methods used during quality control include: inspection, control charts, pareto diagrams, statistical sampling, flowcharting, and trend analysis.

A. Inspection:

 Includes activities such as measuring, examining, and testing undertaken to determine whether results conform to requirements.

 May be conducted at any level (e.g., the results of a single activity may be inspected or the final project product).

 May be called reviews, product reviews, audits, and walkthroughs.

 Note: in some application areas these terms have narrow and specificmeanings.

B. Control charts:

i. Graphic displays of the results over time of a process.

ii. Used to determine if the process is “in control” (e.g., are differences in the results attributed to random variations or unusual events whose causes must be identified and corrected?) iii. Although most frequently used to track repetitive activities such as manufacturing lots,

control charts may be used to monitor any type of output variable. Examples: cost and schedule variances, volume and frequency of scope changes, errors in project documents, etc.

C. Pareto diagrams:

 Histograms ordered by frequency of occurrence that display how many results were generated by type or category of an identifiable cause.

 Rank ordering is used to guide corrective action with the assumption that the project team should take action to fix the problems that are causing the greatest number of defects, first.

 Are conceptually related to Pareto‟s Law which holds that a relatively small number of causes will typically produce a large majority of the problems or defects.

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 This is commonly referred to as the 80/20 principle where 80% of the problems are due to 20% of the causes.

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D. Statistical sampling:

1. Involves choosing a population of interest for inspection. (e.g.,selecting ten engineering drawings at random from a list ofseventy-five).

2. Appropriate sampling can often reduce the cost of quality control.

3. In some application areas, the project management team must befamiliar with a variety of sampling techniques.

E. Trend analysis:

i. Uses mathematical techniques to forecast future outcomes based on historical results. ii. Often used to monitor technical performance (how many errors or defects have been

identified, how many remain uncorrected) as well as cost and schedule performance (how many activities per period were completed with significant variances.)

Outputs include

: quality improvement, acceptance decisions, rework, completed

checklists, and process adjustments.

A. Acceptance decisions: Decisions to either accept or reject the inspected items. Rejected items may require rework.

B. Rework: Action taken to bring a defective or nonconforming item into compliance with requirements or specifications. Rework, especially unanticipated, is a frequent cause of project overruns in most application areas.

The project team should make every reasonable effort to minimize rework.

a. Process adjustments: Immediate corrective or preventive action as a result of quality control measurements. In some cases, the process adjustment may need to be handled according to procedures for integrated change control

b. c. C. Checklists:

i. Usually a list of specific items that are used to verify that a set of required steps has been performed.

ii. May be simple or complex.

iii. Usually phrased as imperatives (“Do this!”) or interrogatories (“Have you done this?”).

iv. Standardized in many organizations for frequently performed tasks.

v. Available from professional associations or commercial service providers in some application areas.

D. Inputs to other processes: The quality planning process may identify a need for further a. activity in another area.

E. Outputs include: Quality Management Plan, operational definitions, checklists, and inputs to other processes.

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Definition of Quality: (from Ireland book)

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

 Some goals of quality programs include:

o Fitness for use. (Is the product or service capable of being used?)

o Fitness for purpose. (Does the product or service meet its intended purpose?)

o Customer satisfaction. (Does the product or service meet the customer‟s expectations?) o Conformance to the requirements. (Does the product or service conform to the

requirements?)

Quality Movements:

 ISO (International Organization for Standardization) o A worldwide federation of national standard bodies.

o The work of preparing international standards is done by ISO technical committees. o ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 are a set of complementary standards with a focus on quality.

 ISO 9001 specifies requirements for a quality management system that can be used for internal application, ISO certification, or for contractual purposes.

 ISO 9004 provides guidance on a wider range of objectives of a quality management system than ISO 9001. It emphasizes the continual improvement of an organization‟s overall performance, efficiency, and effectiveness. Used in organizations whose top management wishes to move beyond the requirements of ISO 9001 in pursuit of continual improvement. ISO 9004 is not used for ISO certification or contractual purposes.

o Requirements are centered around a methodology called Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA)  Plan: Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in

accordance with customer requirements and the organization‟s policies.  Do: Implement the processes.

 Check: Monitor and measure processes and product against policies, objectives, and requirements for the product and report the results.

 Act: Take actions to continually improve process performance.

Philip Crosby (ITT): Quality is Free

– Four absolutes of quality management: 1. Quality is conformance to requirements. 2. The system of quality is prevention.

3. The performance standard is zero defects

4. The measurement of quality is the price of nonconformance.

14 steps to improving quality.

1. Management commitment 2. Quality improvement team 3. Measurement

4. Cost of quality 5. Quality awareness 6. Corrective action 7. Zero defects planning

8. Employee education 9. Zero defects day 10.Goal setting

11.Error cause removal 12.Recognition

13.Quality councils 14.Do it over again

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Quality Concepts:

1. Zero Defects

a. Implies that there is no tolerance for errors within the system.

b. The goal of all processes is to avoid defects in the product or service. c. Similar to six sigma: almost zero defects

2. The Customer is the Next Person in the Process

a. The internal organization has a system that ensures the product or service is transferred to the next person in the process in a complete and correct manner.

b. The product or service being built is transferred to another internal party only after it meets all the specifications and all actions at the current work station.

c. Avoids incorrectly assembled components and poor workmanship. 3. Do the Right Thing Right the First Time (DTRTRTFT)

a. Implies that it is easier and less costly to do the work right the first time than it is to do it the second time.

b. Entails the training of personnel to ensure sufficient skills and tools to correctly complete the work.

4. Continuous Improvement Process (CIP) (From Japanese word, Kaizen)

a. A concept which recognizes that the world is constantly changing and any process that is satisfactory today may well be unsatisfactory tomorrow.

b. A sustained, gradual change to improve the situation.

c. Differs from innovation -- does not make a sudden jump to a plateau where it matures over time. (see Ireland, I-6)

d. Focuses on 11 principles: constancy of purpose, commitment to quality, customer focus and involvement, process orientation, continuous improvement,system-centered management, investment in knowledge, teamwork,conservation of human resources, total involvement, and perpetual commitment.

e. Rather than manage the output of the project, the focus is on managing the total process and subprocesses. The process is held constant only after it has been proven capable of the work. Hence, the product naturally meets the requirements.

5. CIP steps: Define and standardize processes (and subprocesses). Assess process performance. Improve processes. Measure progress.

Project Characteristics / Attributes that bear on

quality:

1. Producibility (technology required)

a) Ability of a product or service to be produced within the existing technology,human resources, skills, knowledge, and materials at a cost compatible withmarket expectations. b) Producibility is one of the most critical aspects of developing any new product.

2. Usability (effort expended to use)

a) The ability of a product to perform its intended function for the specified user b) under the prescribed conditions.

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c) Usability is determined by examining performance, function and condition of a product.

3. Reliability (Mean-Time-Between-Failure: MTBF)

a) The degree to which a unit of equipment performs its intended function under

b) specified conditions for a specified period of time.

c) Computed by 2 methods of Mean-Time-Between-F ailure (MTBF): Predicted MTBF: Based on a mathematical computation of a component failure using a tree diagram to determine sequential failure aspects of the component rated periods. Least desirable method because it cannot

d) account for environmental variations that can degrade components to lower rates. Actual MTBF: Use of field collected data to compute the failures under realistic operating conditions to find the average time between failure. The actual reliability will seldom be the same as the predicted reliability.

4. Maintainability (Mean-Time-To-Repair: MTTR)

The ability of a unit to be restored within a specified time to its performance capability under the environmental operating conditions within a specified, average period of time.

5. Availability (Probability of performance)

The probability of a product being capable of performing a required function under the specified conditions when called upon.

The key parts of availability are reliability and maintainability.

6. Operability (Expected conditional use)

The ability of a product to be operated by human resources for specified periods of time under given conditions without significant degradation of the output.

7. Flexibility (Expected variable use)

The ability of a product to be used for different purposes at different capacities and under different conditions.

8. Social Acceptability (Environment and safety)

The degree of compatibility between the characteristics of a product or service and the prevailing values and expectations of the relevant society

The degree to which a public accepts a product for use. 9.Affordability (Return for quality required)

a) The ability to develop, acquire, operate, maintain, and dispose of a product over its life. The cost of each phase of ownership has a different value based on such items as design, manufacture, maintainability, reliability, and use.

b) There must be a balance between the initial cost of a product and the operation and c) maintenance costs. For example: a $30,000 automobile with maintenance costs of 20

cents per mile may be considered more affordable than a $100,000 automobile with maintenance costs of 1 cent per mile or a $5,000 automobile with maintenance costs of $2 per mile.

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Cost of Quality: (from Quality Management by Ireland)

 Cost of quality is the total price of all efforts to achieve product or service quality. This includes all work to build a product or service that conforms to the requirements as well as all work resulting from nonconformance to the requirements.

 Quality programs also have costs that are not apparent. The general categories of additional direct costs include:

o Cost to build right the first time o Training programs

o Statistical Process Control (SPC) Costs

 Cost of a quality system is often viewed as a negative cost because errors in work have been traditionally accepted as a cost of doing business.

Cost of Non-Quality:

 Cost of non-quality is estimated to be 12-20% of sales versus the “should cost” of 3-5% of sales for a quality program.

 ¸ Waste of time and materials

 ¸ Rework of poor quality products and additional material for rework  ¸ Delays in schedule

 ¸ Product and service image  ¸ Corporate image

Cost of Conformance:

 Planning

 Training and indoctrination  Process control

 Field testing

 Product design validation  Process validation

 Test and evaluation  Inspection/Quality audits  Maintenance and calibration

Cost of Nonconformance

 ¸ Scrap  ¸ Rework  ¸ Expediting

 ¸ Additional material or inventory  ¸ Warranty repairs or service  ¸ Complaint handling

 ¸ Liability judgments  ¸ Product recalls

 ¸ Product corrective actions

Major Cost Categories of Quality:

1. Prevention Cost - cost to plan and execute a project so that it will be error-free

2. Appraisal Cost - cost of evaluating the processes and the outputs of the processes to ensure the product is error-free

3. Internal Failure Cost - cost incurred to correct an identified defect before the customer receives the product

4. External Failure Cost - cost incurred due to errors detected by the customer. Thisincludes warranty cost, field service personnel training cost, complaint handling, and future business losses.

5. Measurement and Test Equipment - capital cost of equipment used to performprevention and appraisal activities.

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Opportunities for Reducing Cost:

1. Just-in-Time - concept of zero inventory in a manufacturing plant. Reduces cost of storing and moving parts; cost of inventory; cost of parts damaged through handling,etc.

2. Product Life Cycle Cost - concept of reducing overall product life cycle cost by linking the cost areas of the product life cycle (R&D, acquisition, and operations and maintenance) and considering each one‟s cost implications for the other.

3. Product Maturity - Identifying, documenting, and correcting failures early helps products achieve stability earlier in the life cycle. (see Ireland, IV-9)

4. Areas of Waste in Projects

a. Waste in rejects of completed work b. Waste in design flaws

c. Waste in work-in-process

d. Waste in motion for manpower (under-trained employee) e. Waste in management (Improper direction of work) f. Waste in manpower (Misplaced or waiting workers) g. Waste in facilities (Ordering excess material)

h. Waste in expenses (Unnecessary meetings, travel)

Statistical Quality Control:

 Method used to measure variability in a product for evaluation and corrective actions  Normal Distribution Curve or Bell Curve

 – Six standard deviations (+/- 3 Sigma) encompass 99.73% of area o Four standard deviations (+/- 2 Sigma) encompass 95.46% of area o Two standard deviations (+/- 1 Sigma) encompass 68.26% of area  ¸ Sigma (s) = Standard Deviation

Quality Control Systems:

I.

Process Control Charts

o Statistical techniques used for monitoring and evaluating variations in a process.

o Identifies the allowable range of variation for a particular product characteristic by specifying the upper and lower bounds for the allowable variation.

o Upper Control Limit (UCL), Lower Control Limit (LCL), process average: the mean of the averages for the samples taken over a long period of time. (seeì Ireland V-2 through V-7. Also see PMBOK Guide 2000 Figure 8-4.)

o Visual patterns indicating out-of-control state or a condition that requires attention:

a. 1. Outliers: a sample point outside the control limits (also referred to as out-of-control) 2. Hugging control limit: a series (run) of points that are close to a control limit. Requires

correction to prevent data points from going outside the control limit. Rule of Thumb: Considered abnormal if two of three, three of seven, or four of ten data points fall within the outer one-third of the chart.

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4. Trend: A series of consecutive points which reflect a steadily increasing or decreasing pattern. Rule of Thumb: Considered abnormal when seven or more consecutive data points reflect a steadily increasing or decreasing pattern.

5. Run: A series of 7 or more consecutive points (observations) fall on the same side of the average (mean) (Ireland V-6, V-7) Rule of Thumb: Considered abnormal if seven consecutive points, ten of eleven, or twelve of fourteen data points are above or below the process average.

II .Acceptance Sampling

o Used when expensive and time-consuming to test 100%. Random sampling may be used to check the characteristics and attributes of a given lot of goods.

o Determines whether or not the lot conforms to the specifications or standards necessary to support the overall project requirements.

o Inspection and test standards must be established to ensure that procedures are adequate to determine whether a lot is conforming or nonconforming to specifications.

o Standards must also be set for qualification of the sampled lot.

o Important to select a sample size that will provide sufficient information about the larger lot of goods without costing a great deal of money.

o Must determine in advance the number of allowable defects before the lot is rejected.

Quality Management Tools: 1. ¸ Histograms

a. Shows frequency of occurrence of items within a range of activity.

b. Can be used to organize data collected for measurements done on a product or process. 2. ¸ Pareto Diagram

a. Ranks defects in order of frequency of occurrence to depict 100% of the defects. (Displayed as a histogram)

b. Defects with most frequent occurrence should be targeted for corrective action. c. 80-20 rule: 80% of problems are found in 20% of the work.

d. Does not account for severity of the defects

3. ¸ Cause and Effect Diagrams (fishbone diagrams or Ishikawa diagrams) a. Analyzes the inputs to a process to identify the causes of errors.

b. Generally consists of 8 major inputs to a quality process to permit the characterization of each input. (See Ireland, V-13)

4. ¸ Scatter diagrams

a. Used to determine the relationship between two or more pieces of corresponding data. b. The data are plotted on an “X-Y” chart to determine correlation (highly positive, positive,

no correlation, negative, and highly negative) (See Ireland, V-14) 5. ¸ Other Tools

 Graphs

 Check sheets (tic sheets) and check lists  Flowcharts

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1. PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Project quality planning

 Clauses 4.7 to 4.15 of ISO 9001:2000 are mainly applicable for site operations  Quality planning is a crucial step.

 It should be amalgamated with the traditional project planning in such activities as nomination of subcontractors & suppliers, determination of construction methods, construction programming, site layout, identification of manpower requirements,, training needs, material & plant acquisition etc.

 The foremost task of quality planning is to deliberate on the construction methods to be followed.

 In one project, it may be convenient to use slip form while in other project off-site precasting may be an economical alternative.

 For these special processes, technical procedures/work instructions may not exist in quality system documentation & must be developed specifically for the project.

 If a project requires special skills that are not available, arrangement should be made for such skills to be acquired through training of existing staff or by recruiting new staff.

 The construction programme will be updated as construction proceeds, but comprehensive scheduling at an early stage paves way for on-time delivery of final product.

 As a substantial proportion of work is sub-contracted, coordination of sub-contractors & suppliers is central to smooth running of the project.

 Sub-contractors of different trades are required to start work @ different stages of construction. Similarly, suppliers of different materials are scheduled to supply @ different times.

 A schedule should be drafted based on the construction programme showing the dates the sub-contractors are expected to join & suppliers to make delivery.

 Another major task of quality planning is to identify the inspection & testing of both the materials received & works constructed.

 Materials used for the project may be categorised according to the level of verification required. Ex. For a building project, samples of items like tiles, sanitary fittings, paints etc are to be submitted to architect/ engineer for approval, but no verification other than receiving inspection is necessary.

 There are materials like joints, bearings cables etc which require sophisticated testing to evaluate their performance. These materials are normally tested @ place of production & test certificates are supplied with the products

 Cement, bricks, reinforcing bars are normally sampled on site for tests. The type & frequency of tests are extracted from the specifications for the material.

 If possible an accredited laboratory is commissioned to undertake the test in due course.

 In the spirit of quality assurance, the responsibility for process control rests with the contractor, with the architect/engineer taking a monitoring role.

 The site supervisors should regularly inspect the work in progress, then either permit the work to proceed or identify any non-conforming work & report the same to project manager for disposition.

 Written records are kept of all verification activities.

 The quality plan is the linchpin of the project. It is normally entrusted to key members of the project team assisted by quality manager in head office.

 Inputs are also sought from other staff who are responsible for contracts, purchasing & logistics.  Quality plan is an important function of Project quality management.

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 Quality plan is certainly needed before commencement of work & has to be accepted by the client before being implemented.

 Typically a quality plan contains most, if not , all of the following: Brief description of the project

List of contract documents & drawings Project quality objectives

Site organisation chart with names of personnel Responsibilities & authorities of project staff Site layout plan

Construction programme

List of quality procedures & work instructions applicable to the project by making reference to company‟s quality manual & procedures.

List of quality records to be kept, including pertinent quality records from sub-contractors Frequency of internal quality audits

Frequency of updating the quality plan

Schedules of material procurement, subcontractor nomination etc based on construction programme

List of project specific procedure, work instructions, inspection checklists or target dates for their provision.

 Quality plan is a “ live document”.

 It should be updated periodically in the light of changes of contractual requirements, staffing & other circumstances which arise during the progress of project

 Normally, the project manager reviews the quality plan & amends it if necessary, after a period of say six months

 An amendment sheet is included for recording the details of each amendment such as contents amended, date of effect, pages replaced & signatory evidence of updating.

2.INSPECTION & TEST PLAN

 An inspection & test plan of a construction / installation process is a document which shows the inspection/test to be taken during the process & the criteria for acceptance of each inspection/ test.

 Construction & installation process for which ITP‟s are normally prepared include these but not limited to the following

 Foundation work e.g piling, & excavation

 Concrete work including formwork & prestressing  Erection of steel work

 Water proofing

 Plumbing & drainage work

 Installation of fire fighting equipment  Installation of building services

 Installation of cladding, façade & curtain walls

 Special processes such as woodwork for acoustic effects.

 The inspection/ test plan to be done by supervisory staff include checking of dimensions, levels, inspection of reinforcement layout before concreting etc & the test plan to be done by an independent body may encompass concrete sampling & testing, trial run of fire fighting equipment etc.

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 The ITP is signed either by a representative from architect/ engineers office or by the person in-charge of gang which has finished the work

A.Project Management Review:

 With a building construction project such as multi-storey building, a shopping centre or block of apartments, an interval of 4 to 6 months is appropriate for reviewing & it has to be more frequent if non-conformance is encountered time & again.

 The review meeting is convened by he project manager assisted by the quality officer in charge of site. Sub-contractors may be asked to attend the meeting if non-conformance is found in their work.

 In the review meeting, non-conformities discovered & client complaints received since the last review are taken up for discussion. The performance of suppliers & sub-contractors are also discussed.

 The quality plan is updated to incorporate the changes made. The revised document is issued & distributed.

B.Client’s role in Quality assurance

 Quality Assurance starts with the client.

 In order to get the desired quality i.e fitness for purpose, the client has to define the purpose of product in the first instance.

 In other words, the architect / engineer acting as client‟s representative has to express the requirements unambiguously, explicitly & clearly in terms of contract drawings & specifications.  Phrases like “ to the satisfaction of architect” which clearly do not show the desired quality will

have no place in the contract.

 The specifications must be capable of interpretation & application without reference to an external supervisor.

 In a quality assurance based contract, the responsibility of supervision & verification lies with the contractor even though the architect/ engineer reserves the right to monitor the work

 In addition to the above, the client or his representative should take the following actions in a timely manner:

 Select the appropriate quality system requirements for each contract.

 Clearly specify the quality system requirements in tender & contract documents  Evaluate & select sub-contractors on their ability to satisfy specified requirements  Review & accept quality system documentation specified for supplier

 Collect, review & control quality records that the contractor is contracted to supply.

 When the contractor acquires the services of a sub-contractor, he has the same responsibilities as a client. He should prepare the sub-contract in such a way that it clearly & truly reflects the requirements specified in the main contract. He has also to indicate that at what stage of sub-contracted work his site agent will be present for inspection or test.

3.Developing a quality system

 Quality Assurance of construction works begins at the time the project brief is developed & passed on to architect / engineer.

 The architect / engineer makes use of another quality system to control the design process such that client‟s requirements are fully incorporated in the drawings & specifications

 The contractor implements yet another quality system to ensure that the construction is carried out in accordance with the specified details.

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 Establishing a quality system should be an important endeavour of the company in its evolution, with repercussions on operational efficiency & business prospect in future.

 Failure to provide adequate resources for the task & reluctance to release staff for quality awareness training are signs of lack of commitment.

 Despite its importance, establishing a quality system is no big deal.

 It simply means putting the house in order, clarifying everyone‟s responsibility, putting current practices in writing & ensuring that they are adhered to

 In fact, the collective wisdom worldwide has been distilled into five guidelines which are:  Involve as many staff as possible in development process

 Establish the quality system to suit the organisation, but not the organisation to suit the quality system

 Develop the quality system @ a pace that the organisation can cope with

 Keep the documentation to the minimum, yet enough to achieve effective control  Implement the quality system progressively.



3.1 Getting Started

 To get started, a person is appointed to be in charge of a specific task.  This person must have access to & confidence of top management  Under his/ her leadership, quality assurance team is set up.

 The first job of QA task force is to appraise themselves of their knowledge of QA principles & practices.

 The outcome of the appraisal will lead to a decision whether to employ a quality consultant or not.

 The services offered by a QA ranges from induction course to complete package of documentation, training, implementation, & fine tuning of quality system.

 While a consultant may be helpful in kick starting the process of system development, the need of his/her service diminishes as the developmental work proceeds.

 As developmental work proceeds, it is best for the consultant to train up the QA taskforce & guide them in training the quality system by themselves.

 The process of establishing a quality system takes about 15 to 30 months. Necessary actions are identified & put into logical sequence. These normally include:

 Reviewing current practices  Preparing documentation

 Training operators in documented procedures  Implementing the quality system

 Internal quality audit

 Reviewing the quality system

 Arranging for third party certification  Pre-assessment audit

 Certification audit.

3.2 Reviewing Current practices

 The review process is, in essence, to scrutinise the written/unwritten procedures & to rationalise them in the process

 This is achieved by conducting interviews , examining how the operators work & examining whatever documentary evidence is available.

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 What type of jobs are sub-contracted?

 Are all type of sub-contractors evaluated before employment?  Who is in-charge of evaluation of sub-contractors?

 Are sub-contractors always selected from appropriate list?

 If a sub-contractor on the list does not measure upto expectations, what are the steps taken to delete his name from the list & by whom?

3.3 Preparing quality system documents

 A quality manual is a document stating the quality policy & describing the quality system of organisation. The golden rule to be followed here is what, when, who, Where & how.

 In simple terms, the quality manual lays down what the company intends to do to achieve quality.

 The quality manual is a single volume document covering everything pertaining to quality system, but more often it is one document supported by other documents, in several tiers, each tier becoming progressively more detailed.

 The quality manual shows the framework of quality system while the quality procedures describe the administrative processes, work instruction & technical details.

 Quality system documents are controlled documents. Each document should be reviewed & approved before use.

 Quality system documents are meant to be consulted by staff at all levels & they should be precise, concise & clearly understood.

3.4 Quality related training

 To make a quality system work, it is essential that all personnel understand what it is about & what role each one has to play.

 Appropriate training should be provided to different levels of staff at different stages of development & implementation of quality system.

 At the initial stage, the members of QA task force get benefited by associating themselves with QA consultant.

 Training is also needed for drafting quality documents, for familiarising the operators with documented procedures so that they are able to follow in their daily work

 Quality audit also needs effective training. A quality system will not be able to bring about expected results if the internal quality auditors are unable to discover quality deficiencies or disinclined to disclose them in their report.



4. Implementing Quality System 4.1 Trial period

 When major parts of documentation is completed, it is time to put the quality system into practice.

 Translating the documented procedures into smoothly operating functions requires time & patience

 Implementing a quality system normally takes 3 to 6 months.

 No matter how carefully & intelligently the quality system documents have been prepared, there may be a hitch.

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 Sometimes the procedure needs to be changed because it may be impractical & inefficient  In an organisation, the performance of an individual could directly or indirectly affect the quality

of product.

 Many times the quality system breaks down just because few people do not adapt themselves to it.

 To promote awareness & to bring awareness, motivation & training are necessary which together constitute the recipe for success

4.2 Motivation

 Installing a new quality system into an organisation produces a cultural change, even though the system has been developed from existing practices.

 Quality assurance is the joint responsibility of management & workforce

 Everyone in the organisation must realise the importance of quality output to the company & be willing to play his /her part in achieving it.

 Without the genuine support of all concerned, the benefits of quality assurance will never materialise

 Penalising & giving bonus for bad / good work done may not prove to be productive in the long run.

 Instead the following motivators have been proven to be effective  Commitment & leadership

 Staff involvement

 Recognition of accomplishment

 Some people in the organisation think in a mistaken way that pre-determined system is thrust on them

 This type of feeling should not be allowed to take roots.

 For this reason, a dialogue must take place between QA taskforce& the operators right from the start.

 During implementation, provide opportunities for comment & treat the feedback seriously.  All this will promote a sense of involvement in hammering out a workable system

 It is natural inclination of the people that their efforts be duly recognised.  They will be motivated if they see that rewards are linked to efforts

 These days companies are making it known that support & promotion for quality system is one of the criteria for promotion & repeated neglect of the same is cause for disciplinary action.

4.3 Training

 A quality system by itself, is nothing more than a sophisticated skeleton.

 No matter how well it is articulated, it requires human intelligence to bring it to life.

 Quality training is carried out in two stages i.e while the quality system is being developed , the concepts of QA is preached among the staff at all levels. It is particularly important that every member of staff understands the company‟s quality policy & realises the management‟s firm commitment to quality. Quality policy is conspicuously displayed in places such as notice boards & reception area etc which serves as a constant reminder to the staff of their responsibility for QA.

 When the quality procedures are ready, it is time to embark on second stage of quality training. Workshops & mock-up exercises are organised both @ office & site. The operators/foreman must be made proficient in filling up the various forms involved & the staff also needs some practice before feeling comfortable with new routine.

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 Quality training is not only required when it is implemented, but also after the system is in full operation.



4.4 Internal Quality Audit

 An internal quality audit is a systematic & independent examination, performed by company‟s own staff to verify whether quality activities & related results comply with planned arrangements whether these arrangements are suitable to achieve the quality objectives.

 A series of internal quality audit should start within 2 to 3 months after the documented procedures are in use.

 The audit tends to expose the teething problems of the quality system so that they can be speedily resolved.

 Objective evaluation of quality system should include the following activities / areas  Organisational structures

 Administrative, operational & quality system procedures  Personnel equipment & material resources

 Operations & processes  Products being produced

 Documentation, reports & record-keeping.

 Internal quality audit provides evidence on how much the staff understand & follow the quality procedures.

 Departure from a documented procedure noted in the audit provides an opportunity to streamline the process- either by changing the way of working or by educating the staff in the way work should be done.

 Absence of irregularities in the sample does not necessarily mean that they do not exist, but if they are found they would probably occur again unless appropriate action is taken to prevent their recurrence.

 An internal quality audit is a planned exercise. The functional unit or the site being audited should be given ample notice of intended visit.

 Not only the auditors prepare for the task, but the auditees must get ready to show the quality records as demanded during audit.

4.5 Quality Auditors

 Quality Auditing is a highly professional activity.

 Attributes of a good auditor should be combination of analytical skill, communication skill, impartiality, diplomacy, keen observation & sound judgement.

 Quality auditing promotes quality awareness brings good learning experience.

 Internal quality auditors are drawn from different levels of staff such as managers, supervisors & general staff

 The internal quality auditors being either technical or administrative personnel, are unlikely to possess the skill & experience to perform the task efficiently.

 The staff concerned are sent for a short term course offered by a professional body.  This should take place before the quality system is in full operation.

4.6 Planning a quality audit

 In construction company, internal quality auditing goes on two fronts i.e system audit & project audit