Discussion Board #2 – Designing for Quality
Cheryl Koznetski
MGMT645 – B01
Introduction
Quality is a fundamental consideration when approaching project management.
Irrespective of the type of project, the quality of planning, designing, building, testing,
deploying, and monitoring and control all must adhere to the highest quality standards. Fulfilling
customer needs and providing satisfaction are key success measurements and are unique to the
receiver. Therefore, it is important to clearly understand and align on quality acceptance. Dr.
Joseph Juran’s development of six steps to build in the cost and benefits of quality in a project is
the premise for this paper. The author will present a current project, Wrigley Factory Conversion
Project, and correlate Juran’s Quality by Design step into the project lifecycle highlighting any
gaps and the steps taken to close the gaps.
Establish the Project and Design Goals
The subject project’s main goal is to transfer gum and mints manufacturing from a legacy
software system in use at the time of acquisition, to the standard global Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) system within the Mars Wrigley, Inc. technology platform. This goal is in line
with the overall Mars Wrigley strategic vision of a single global operating system for cross-
segment manufacturing. This includes standardizing processes in the areas of data, procurement,
quality control, warehousing, and go-to-market management with systems as an enabler. This
breadth of the project covers five manufacturing facilities, two of which supply products
globally. Dr. Juran theorizes design should take place project by project and that design is
specific rather than general (McGraw-Hill Create, 2020). Planning for this project is in general
and serves as a starting point, however, each location goes through a specific planning phase to
understand the unique needs of the customer. A gap during the planning phase was the absence
of factory leadership. This was in part due to an unfilled role within the strategic planning team.
In the interim, the IT project Senior Lead took on the role until a representation was complete.
Planning for a project and establishing goals for a specific need is the first step and must take
time and collaboration to be successful. The Bible teaches us in Psalms 20:4 that if these
stakeholders have to desire to meet or exceed stakeholder expectations and do so purposely as if
doing so for God, God will make all the plans succeed (New International Version Bible). The
key component of this step is to understand the voice of the customer.
Identify the Customer
The customers affected by the project are both internal and external to the organization.
McGraw-Hill Create (2020) presents the second step in Juran’s process emphasizing customers
are many and meeting each customers’ unique needs is the goal. The conversion project’s main
customer is the factory operations team. They are the operators running the equipment to make
the Mars Wrigley finished goods. These customers touch every aspect of the go-to-market
process. It is imperative when executing a large-scale systems transformation project, the needs
of the customer are of utmost importance. The goal is to provide a like-for-like operations
conversion so as to not disrupt operations but to also deliver new and more efficient proven
processes within a global community. Gaps in this step are easy to miss if not all customers are
under consideration. During the author’s project, a recent gap in a process providing packaging
suppliers visibility to product specifications has come to light due to a dependency on a parallel
project. The application providing visibility will not be operational at the point of the project go-
live. This will have a significant impact on the supplier’s ability to execute changes to
specifications and deliver packaging materials on time and within specification. The gap closure
is resourcing to manually interact with suppliers with requests for specification requests or an
alternative database must be available in the interim. Scripture tells us throughout the Bible our
relationship with God is through how we treat others and our service. Service to others may not
always be simple but in doing so we must remember we will receive our rewards in eternity.
Understanding what the customer needs are, also includes considering those customers with
dependencies.
Discover the Customers’ Needs
Dr. Juran infers customers’ needs are not the only consideration. Customer’s emotions,
wants, desires, and perceptions are all part of the discovery of customer needs (McGraw-Hill
Create, 2020). Still, not all customer needs are of the highest priority. Understanding the “voice
of the customer” and the “voice of the market” helps to prioritize customer needs in an agreed-
upon way (McGraw-Hill Create, 2020). During a project, every customer has a need. Not all
needs can take priority, especially when implementing an agreed proven solution to run the
business. Discussions and agreements are vital to prioritizing and delivering what is best for the
organization as a whole. Unknown gaps arise as a potential scope creep. An example on the
conversion project relates to the printing of an acceptance to quality standards on work orders
which has been a long-time process at the Wrigley Company. To overcome this gap, the Mars,
Inc. process of conducting annual training with end-user acceptance documentation is the
process going forward. This is also an example of developing the product or service features
which is the next step in quality by design.
Develop the Product or Services Features
According to Juran, a feature is something the customer uses to meet a need (McGraw-
Hill Create, 2020). Features are plenty when deploying a new technology but not all features are
in use. The approach to the project is the delivery of a pre-defined standardized template, which
specific features active to operate the business. However, since each factory is a specific project,
unique requirements are available if governance and needs are justifiable. A feature that became
a requirement to optimize the new operating system relates to the two factories which supply
gum base to the global internal customers. The current technical constraints do not provide a
solution for disparate systems to communicate with each other. Therefore, new development is
underway to build interfaces for the legacy Wrigley factories not yet using the new system, to
present orders to the new system factories. This gap will close when the interfaces are complete
and pass testing requirements. Once the development of the product and service feature goals
are complete, the development of process features is necessary to ensure the accomplishment of
such goals.
Develop the Process Features
In this step, the processes must adjoin to the product requirements. The expectation of
the product or service is that of the customer. How to meet the expectations is through
processes that support the result. Meeting quality expectations is highly important when
developing processes because it requires both internal and external requirements
(Subramanian et al., 2019). Processes are the operating instructions customers will use
to reach satisfaction with the product or service. Adherence to process maintains
efficiencies and improves productivity across all stakeholders touching the finished
product. One of the key features of the conversion project is the elimination of manual
spreadsheet reporting and supplier communications. The prioritization of the electronic
reporting process and delivery allows customers to utilize flexible reporting features to
meet the needs of external customers and suppliers. In addition, the major goals of the
project are to provide the means to consolidate financial reporting, standardize processes
and operations in line with the global community, integrate with a global knowledge
expert community, and deliver efficiencies to increase speed to market competitive
advantage. 1 Corinthians 14:40 teaches us “But all things should be done decently and in
order” (English Standard Version Bible). The process provides the guidance necessary to
achieve the desired result.
Develop Process Controls and Transfer to Operations
During the planning phase, it is important to ensure the processes are meeting the needs
and have the capabilities to deliver the requirements set forth by the project. McGraw-Hill
Create (2020), controlling processes provide the ability to acquire feedback for process
improvements. The quality of controlling process presents uniformity and standardization, large
deviations from the process highlight the need for further analysis to determine the root cause.
Daoutidis et al., 2016 offer “Process control is a key enabling technology for developing and
implementing sustainable solutions” which is what keeps an organization competitive. In a
consumer food products company, it is imperative processes are robust and meet requirements.
Having process owners responsible for execution and improvements are necessary. It is
important to collect the feedback and act upon the information. Deuteronomy 30:16-18 tells us
to remain obedient to the Lord and do what is right and just by God’s law (New International
Version Bible)
Transfer to Operations
Transferring the operations process to operations owners is the closeout of quality by
design. The success of the product or service relies on the continuation of process control.
Involving subject matter experts and knowledge owners early on in the process is key to success.
The author’s experience on the project is engaging with process owners to ensure the transfer of
knowledge and understanding from the start. Current and future process improvements are
important for improving efficiencies and customer satisfaction and needs fulfillment.
References
Daoutidis, P., Zachar, M., & Jogwar, S. S. (2016). Sustainability and process control: A survey
and perspective. Journal of Process Control, 44, 184-206.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jprocont.2016.06.002
English Standard Version Bible. (2021). ESV.org. 1 Corinthians 14 | ESV.org
McGraw-Hill Create (2020). Project Quality Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: McGraw-
Hill Education
New International Version Bible. (2021). New International Version Bible - Read Free Online
(biblestudytools.com)
Subramanian, N., Gunasekaran, A., Abdulrahman, M. D., & Qiao, C. (2019). Out-in, in-out
buyer quality innovation pathways for new product outcome: Empirical evidence from
the chinese consumer goods industry. International Journal of Production
Economics, 207, 183-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2016.11.009
