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SUMMMARY
Throughout the post-WWII evolution of various quality concepts, many tools and methodologies have been developed to deal with how companies should respond if they are so unfortunate as to have a defective product or service reach their customer. These unfortunate events are frequently referred to today as Quality Problems. Obviously these problems need to be resolved in order to maintain customer satisfaction. As the quality requirements of customers have become more demanding over the years, the methods of solving problems have become more disciplined and analytical. Also, the emphasis in many cases has appropriately shifted from Problem Solving to include Problem Prevention techniques. Further, the systems and processes used to address these issues have expanded in some cases to include Process Improvement. Because of this progression, it is now more difficult to discuss Problem Solving without some reference to these other processes. In fact, at times the language can actually get confusing and various quality tools can even be misapplied. This paper will try to focus primarily on Analytical Problem Solving by defining "Problems" from a somewhat narrow viewpoint that makes it practical to identify useful tools and processes for dealing with this important "after the fact" quality process. The methodology of Problem Solving will be presented here in Four Phases with a discussion of various tools that can be effectively applied at each phase.
INTRODUCION
It seems that for many companies, one of the first broad based employee training efforts they engage in (after perhaps Orientation) is the exposure of a large number of employees to some Problem Solving methodology. There is a lot of acceptance for the notion that it is a good idea for a lot of people in the organization to have good problem solving skills so that they can immediately spring into action at the first notification that something has gone wrong. And thing go wrong frequently enough that an "all hands on deck" approach to fire fighting seems to make some intuitive sense. Some companies may think this because for them, the first inkling that they need to improve their quality comes from a sense that their company is receiving too many customer complaints. The reaction is entirely understandable.
This notion, that Problem Solving training should...