A quality management case study defects in spacecraft electronics components Share Share CASE STUDY Quality Management, Complexity June $1999$ Project Management Journal Kuprenas, John A$.|$ Kendall, Randolph L$.|$ Madjidi, Farzin How to cite this article: Kuprenas, J$.$ A$.,$ Kendall, R$.$ L$.,$ & Madjidi, F$.(1999).$ A quality management case study: defects in spacecraft electronics components. Project Management Journal, $30(2),1421.$ Reprints and Permissions John A$.$ Kuprenas, University of Southern California, Department of Civil Engineering, $122$ S$.$ Larchmont Boulevard, Los Angeles, California $90004$ USA Randolph L$.$ Kendall, The Aerospace Corporation, $2350$ E$.$ El Segundo Blvd$.,$ El Segundo, California $90245$ USA Farzin Madjidi, Pepperdine University, Graduate School of Education and Psychology, Malibu, California $90263$ USA $$ Abstract Production of spacecraft components presents a management challenge in that the systems are complex, costly to build and launch, and once a spacecraft is launched, it is extremely difficult and expensive to repair. For these reasons, strict standards for quality and reliability are essential. This paper presents a project quality management case study for the production of spacecraft electronics components as part of an overall spacecraft project. Printed circuit board data is examined by project managers using a Pareto analysis of different defect types to reveal process problems. Corrective actions to the production process that were implemented by project managers are explained, and ideas to improve future quality management studies, regardless of the industry, are discussed. Keywords: quality management; quality planning; quality assurance; quality control; Pareto analysis Successful project management entails balancing competing demands among project scope, time, cost, and quality. Certain types of projects, however, may dictate that a manager place more emphasis on one particular element. Project management within the spacecraft industry requires a strong emphasis on quality because spacecraft systems are complex, costly to build and launch, and once a spacecraft is launched, it is extremely difficult and expensive to repair. Given this unforgiving nature of the spacecraft industry, production processes have to utilize strict standards for quality and reliability. This paper describes how project managers performed project quality management of a spacecraft component production process as part of an overall spacecraft project. This paper presents the data collection and analysis, Pareto diagram creation and interpretation, and subsequent management conclusions and actions as part of a quality management study of the production of spacecraft electronics components. One of the principal PMBOK$$ Guide processes is quality management. Quality management of any process consists of three tasks: quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge $($PMBOK$$ Guide$)$ further describes each of these components. Quality planning is the identification of quality standards and the development of methods to satisfy them. Quality assurance is the collection of the overall actions used to ensure confidence that standards are met. Quality control is the evaluation of results relative to standards and the elimination of causes of unsatisfactory performance $($Project Management Institute Standards Committee, $1996).$ The study described in this paper illustrates how successful project quality management requires the use of all three elements. The Pareto Principle is based upon the observation of Vilfredo Pareto in nineteenth century Italy that $20\%$ of the population controlled about $80\%$ of the wealth. Quality researchers applied Pareto$$s concept to the causes of quality failures and suggested that, in most cases, quality losses are distributed in such a way that a vital few quality defects or problems make up the largest portion of overall quality losses $($Juran & Gryna, $1988).$ The Pareto diagram is a graphic representation of this concept. The Pareto diagram itself is a histogram with the category or cause of failure data arranged in order from the largest to the smallest. Used in quality applications, Pareto diagrams graphically allow the separation of the vital few items from which the majority of defects are generated from the trivial many from which relatively few defects are generated. Quality improvement resources are then directed to the correction of the vital few defects, thus maximizing the effective use of available resources. Used in such a fashion, Pareto diagrams are an excellent project quality management control tool. Pareto diagrams have been used in a variety of processes requiring quality control, such as patient waiting times $($Buckle & Stuart, $1996),$ worker safety $($Kuprenas$,$ Kenney, & Nasr, $1999),$ and engineering management $($Graves$,1993).$ Problem Description and Analysis The project quality management study examines for defects fo