Victor E. Sower - Böcker

Thoroughly tested and used by students and proven to help students taking the American Society for Quality’s Certified Quality Improvement Associate exam, Essentials of Quality is highly accessible, experiential, and unique in its coverage of current quality management topics, from creative and innovative improvements and approaches to today’s economic environment to ways of developing metrics for measuring and evaluating programs. With non-academic, reader-friendly writing, the text features many chapter exercise and cases that provide students with hands-on experience.

This book provides the business professional a concise guide to the creation and effective use of both internal and external cost models. Development of internal cost models is discussed with illustrations showing how they can be deployed to assist in new product development, pricing decisions, make-or-buy decisions and the identification of opportunities for internal process improvement projects.The creation and use of external cost models are discussed providing insight into how their use can drive collaborative improvement efforts among supply chain partners, better prepare for price negotiations, and keep negotiations focused on facts rather than emotions—all while allowing for future discussions with preferred suppliers to focus on more strategic and operational improvement initiatives, and less on pricing. A number of detailed cost model examples are provided to educate on both how cost models are constructed, and to demonstrate how they have been effectively deployed.

RFID (radio-frequency identification) is increasing its presence in our personal and business lives—you name it and RFID is likely to be finding its way there. RFID has many advantages over other auto-ID technologies, including its ability to read tags at the item level while the items are still in boxes and pallets and out of line of sight. In addition, RFID tags are reusable, which helps reduce the costs associated with an RFID system. RFID is a technology that can provide decision makers with real-time information to result in better and timelier decisions. It can help increase efficiency, security, and asset control. This second edition contains updated information on the technology and its uses, new and updated examples, and a new case study. This book provides readers with no prior knowledge of RFID with the basics of the technology, guidelines for considering its use, examples of how RFID is being used effectively in a variety of organizations, and guidelines for implementing an RFID system.