International Journal for Quality Research

5

Authors: A.D. Sialakouma, G.A. Palmer, M. Botsaki, X. Papanikou and N.M. Vaxevanidis

Biomedical science is a sensitive discipline and presents unique challenges due to its social character, continuous development and competitiveness. The issue of quality management systems and accreditation is gaining increasing interest in this sector. All over Europe, Health Services Units have started to introduce quality management systems and harmonization of criteria for accreditation is of increasing importance. Moreover, clinical laboratories, like the Assisted Reproduction laboratories and biochemical laboratories are required to apply a Quality Management System in order to ensure their correct, scientific and effective operation. Ultimately, it is a moral obligation for every health care organisation to supply the best possible care for the patient. The specific features and the diversity of clinical laboratories led to the introduction (2003) and, recently to the revision (2007) of the international standard ISO 15189, which is the first international standard developed specifically to address the requirements for accreditation of this type of laboratory. The basic principles for the quality assurance in the clinical laboratories are: x Complete and unambiguous standardized operating procedures. x Complete and unambiguous directives of operation. x Obligatory detailed written documentation, i.e., how each action is done, who will do it, where will this action take place and when. x Suitable scheduling of calibration/control/preventive maintenance of laboratory equipment and recording of each activity. x Distribution of responsibilities among the staff and continuous education and briefing according to current scientific data. x Complete and informed record file keeping. x Continuous improvement which is monitored with the adoption of quantified indicators. x Internal and external audit of all activities. x Troubleshooting. All these principles should be supported by the Management in order that the necessary adaptations should be made in the provision of human resources, equipment, supplies and working environment and the resolution of organisational problems. This article deals with the planning and the implementation of a Quality Management System, in accordance with ISO 15189 (2007), in the Assisted Reproduction Laboratory in one of the biggest Maternity Clinics in Greece. The benefits resulted; both for medical laboratory service and patients are also presented and discussed.

5

Authors: K.G. Durga Prasad, K.Venkata Subbaiah, K. Narayana Rao

Cost engineering helps the firms in decision-making with respect to product development. It is primarily concerned with cost estimation and cost control. Decisions made during the design phase have a significant influence on development and life cycle costs. The effective cost management during the design phase of a product is essential to develop a product with minimum cost and desired quality of the customer. In this paper a mathematical model is established by incorporating cost engineering techniques such as Target Costing (TC) and Value Engineering (VE) with Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to develop a product. An illustrative example is also presented.

7

Authors: Aleksandar Vujovic, Zdravko Krivokapic

Tis paper represents research of several years which is conducted at the Centre for Quality at The faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Podgorica. The main objective was to obtain performances improvement measures for business processes by gathering various approaches and techniques and by underlying importance of integrated approach. This paper gives completely new approach in management systems which aim to provide business continuity according to previous defined goals. Following this, it has been created a system for risks prediction and elimination that could endanger organization functionality and could also deteriorate its performances. In this vein, a base for functioning of intelligent decision-making support system is provided. Hence, we accomplished preconditions for organizational performances improvement and knowledge acquisition concerning areas that must be under special treatment in order to enhance firm performance level.

12

Authors: Rouhollah Mojtahedzadeh, Veeri Chettiar Arumugam

This paper presents a model to conduct an empirical study in Iranian automotive industry in order to improve their performance. The quality culture plays a vital role in determining the performance in Iranian manufacturing industries. In this research, a model has been developed that includes the factors of Total Quality Management and quality culture to study their effect on the performance of Iranian automotive industry. It is hoped that this paper can provide an academic source for both academicians and managers due to investigate the relationship between Total Quality Management, Quality Culture, and Performance in a systematic manner to increase successful rate of Total Quality Management implementation.