Abstract:

International Journal of Performability Engineering has been regularly publishing special issues highlighting important current research topics within the scope of the journal. This special issue on New Trends in Quality Engineering and Management is the fourteenth such special issues of the journal in 8 years. This issue focuses on the latest theoretical as well as applied research worldwide in the broad areas of quality. After an initial screening, 20 papers were short listed for review by the experts in the field. Based on the referee comments and theme of the special issue, finally 11 papers have been selected for publishing in this special issue.

The first paper, Research Trends in Quality Engineering and Management by V.N.A. Naikan, Joydeep Majumdar, and B.K. Vijaykumar outlines the levels of knowledge currently held in the areas of quality engineering and management, and identifies the trend of exploratory improvements which have caught the imagination of academics and industries alike in this area. The paper also explores the frontiers of quality and its state of the art applications in both production and service sectors and identifies future potential research areas.

The second paper, Process Monitoring and Feedforward Control for Proactive Quality Improvement, by Lihui Shi and Kailash C. Kapur focuses on engineering process control (EPC). This article discusses the rationales for feedforward control and proposes a new philosophy on its application for process improvement. The paper also addresses important issues on process monitoring, feedback control, feedforward control and feasibility conditions for application.

The third paper, A Product Quality and Process Feasibility Modeling System, by David Kazmer and Liang Zhu presents methods to derive the feasible universe of process settings satisfying the specification limits. The authors consider three different types of feasibilities viz., global set that establishes the extreme limits of feasibility by allowing all the process variables to vary simultaneously within their allowable range, local set that shows the immediate feasibility for each process setting holding other process variables at their current setting, and controllability that indicates the range that may be obtained for each quality attribute while holding other quality attributes at their current value.

The fourth paper, System Dynamics Approach for Modeling Cost of Quality, by Biswajit Mahanty, V.N.A. Naikan, and Thuleswar Nath presents the dynamics of quality costs in an Indian manufacturing company using a system dynamics model. The paper presents simulation models to study the time dependent quality deterioration process, quality perception, market reaction and the effects of investments on quality activities.

The fifth paper, Quality Surveillance Methodology for Pipe Welding: An Industrial Case Study, by R.M. Chandima Ratnayake and K.T. Vik presents a practical methodology to recognize the most vulnerable welding procedure specifications (WPSs) that contribute to the majority of defective welds. Based on the identified WPSs, it also suggests a methodology to recognize the most critical imperfection groups and the related imperfection sub-groups.

The sixth paper, Fuzzy Control Charts for Correlated Multi-Attribute Quality Characteristics, by Sai Anjani Kumar K. V. N. and Pratap K. J. Mohapatra, considers the subjective estimate of the quality experts’ correlated multiple-attribute quality characteristics to find the aggregate fuzzy values of the samples, using interactive fuzzy addition and presents two fuzzy control charts, one based on possibility measure and the other on the necessity measure. The paper proposes a novel approach that uses the concept of the α-level and β-level set to identify the specific quality characteristic(s) that are responsible for an out-of-control condition of the process.

The seventh paper, Challenges and Barriers to Total Quality Management: An Overview, Connie Rokke and Om Prakash Yadav, provides a historical journey of TQM from its beginnings through its evolutionary transformation into today’s business climate. The paper discusses fundamental principles of TQM and the challenges and barriers that prohibit many companies from achieving successes by sustaining this management technique founded on sound quality principles.

The eighth paper, Relationships among Total Quality Management Practices -An Empirical Study in Turkish Industry, by Cemal Zehir, and Esin Sadikoglu investigates the relationships between TQM practices and multiple performance measures using a cross-sectional survey among the 750 randomly selected ISO 9001:2000 certified companies in Turkey. Using structural equation modeling, the study shows interdependency and interaction between TQM practices and performance.

The ninth paper, Identification of Quality Improvement Strategies using COPQ in Software Industry, by Yeong-SeokSeo, Donghwan Shin, Gookhyun Kim, Jongmoon Baik, and Doo-Hwan Bae, investigates the methods, COnstructiveQUALity Model (COQUALMO) and Defect Amplification Model (DAM) that are commonly used as the quality estimation model, to estimate software COPQ in a software development organization that starts establishing software quality improvement strategies. The paper also derives a relationship for software COPQ from the software defect data that collected from the organization and make an analysis of the additional experimental results by using the data.

The tenth paper, A Fuzzy Model for Early Software Quality Prediction and Module Ranking, by Ajeet Kumar Pandey, and N. K. Goyal, presents a new approach for early software quality prediction and ranking by classifying software modules as fault-prone and not fault-prone. The authors propose ranking of modules using software metrics and fuzzy ordering algorithm on the basis of their degree of fault proneness.

The eleventh paper, Utilizing Quality Tools: A Predictive Maintenance Perspective, by Aamer Hanif and Mujtaba Hassan Agha presents the application of SPC and quality tools to a maintenance process in a local oil refinery and shows that the results have great value especially when the facts and findings are linked with the cost of quality. The study shows that quality tools help to identify factors causing maintenance problems, high cost and downtime.

The last paper, entitled, Optimal Distribution of Software Testing Time considering Multiple Releases, by Qingpei Hu, Rui Peng and Gregory Levitin, is actually a Short Communication, which is a regular feature of this journal and discusses a software development scenario where a software development team develops, tests and releases software, version by version. The paper proposes a modeling framework to study the expected number of remaining faults, the optimal development time and testing time for each version.

Lastly, I like to thank all the authors, who have contributed to this special issue, for their cooperation and patience. I am highly grateful to all the referees who gave their valuable time to review the papers timely.

I am thankful to Professor Krishna B. Misra, Editor-in-Chief of IJPE, for inviting me and in providing all the help in organizing this special issue.

I sincerely believe that the papers in this issue present the glimpses of current research being carried out in the vast area of quality engineering and management and I do hope - this special issue will highlight some salient features of the current research in this area and motivate academicians, researchers and engineers as well for further research leading to the achievement of sustainable quality of products and services.

V. N. A. Naikan, is currently a Professor of Reliability Engineering and Industrial Engineering & Management at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. He had been Head of the Reliability Engineering Centre, IIT Kharagpur, which is a unique centre of its kind in India, founded in 1983 by Krishna B. Misra (Editor-in-Chief of IJPE) to offer formal educational, research and consultany facilities in reliability, quality, safety and allied areas in India. Naikan graduated in mechanical engineering with second rank from the University of Kerala and earned his M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees from Reliability Engineering Centre of IIT Kharagpur, India. Before joining the Reliability Engineering Centre as faculty, he also worked with Indian Space Research Organization, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Union Carbide India Limited in various capacities. He has published more than 90 research papers in international journals and conferences, and a book on Reliability Engineering and Life Testing and a chapter on SPC in the Handbook on Performability Engineering edited by Krishna B. Misra. He is the regional editor of the International Journal of Performability Engineering, advisory and editorial board member of several other journals. He had been the technical chair of several international conferences. He has guided about 100 students for their B.Tech., M.Tech., and Ph.D. theses. He is a member of professional societies including, IEEE, IEI, SREI, System Society of India, etc. He has been doing consultancy and research projects for organizations like ISRO, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Defence Forces, and Ministry of Textiles.