I, for one, am tired of the quality flavor of the month. It isn’t quite that bad but it seems like it at times. Have you been through statistical quality control, TQM, total quality speed, re-engineering, zero defects, quality circles, SPC, Motorola Six Sigma, AlliedSignal Six Sigma, GE Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, ISO 9000, TS 16949, DFSS, DFM and more combinations than I care to count? They seem to come fast and furious. Thomas Pyzdek calculated quality fads occur an average of roughly every four years. Have you ever wondered how fads get started and why they die?Let us start with how fads are started. Someone in a company develops a new technique to solve an existing problem and it works. This technique is used in another part of the company to solve another problem and it works. Next the word travels outside the company and other companies use it. Once this technique is tried in other companies and it works, it will continue to spread. Another fad has been born and will grow and flourish for a while. Fad is a poor choice of words, for it’s truly a quality program. I don’t want to appear to be against all quality endeavors, because I’m not. Some of these programs have changed our viewpoint forever.

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