Selecting the best strategy to improve quality, keeping in view the cost and other aspects

Abstract: The purpose with the thesis was to create a general model that can help companies to take the best decision when it comes to improving the quality of an object. The model was created to solve the problem formulation; How to find the best way to improve the quality of an object, focusing primarily on the relationship between cost and quality but also take other important aspects into consideration. Before the model was created a literature study was performed in ELIN without any useable result. After the literature study was performed quality models like Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Total Quality Management (TQM) were studied. The study of QFD and TQM showed that they are somewhat complicated and often consider the entire organisation. Simple Quality Model is a smaller model and focuses only at one object at a time. TQM and QFD have however been good inspiration for the creation of SQM. The model was tested in a real-time situation at Saab Communication. Together with Saab Communication we decided to apply SQM to the Swedish defence telenetwork (FTN). In FTN the model was tested at the basic connections. SQM generated 7 different alternatives to improve the dependability in a basic connection. After the application of SQM it showed that alternative 7 was the best alternative. Alternative 7 was to decrease the switch over time. The switch over is today not handled by a special employee and is instead shared among several workers. By employing two new employees there is a possibility to lower the switch over time with 50% down from today’s 60 minutes to 30. To implement this alternative would bring a cost of 5 374 034 SEK and a quality increase of 0,1398955% for the basic connections in the Swedish defence tele-network.