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HIROSHIMA, Japan—Mazda Motor Corporation has received the first
Taguchi Award ever given by Japan's Quality Engineering Society. The
award was conferred in recognition of Mazda's innovative quality control
techniques that utilize quality engineering approaches on its production
lines. These quality controls have yielded a number of successful outcomes
as well as excellent reviews. Mazda's Production Engineering Division was
selected as the company's recipient organization. The Quality Engineering
Society first announced that Mazda was to receive this award on April
24, 2006.
The award ceremony, a part of the 14th annual Quality Engineering Conference,
was held on June 15, 2006, in Tokyo. Yasuto Tatsuta, executive officer
and general manager of Mazda's Production Engineering Division, was present
to receive the award.
The Quality Engineering Society (QES) bestows the Taguchi Award on a
company or organization that continuosly strengthens its structured approaches to
R&D and production, delivers solid outcomes as evidenced by the company's
improved business performance and has demonstrated the value of quality
engineering through improving the quality of its engineering disciplines. The
Taguchi Award was inaugurated in 1997 with funds donated by Dr. Taguchi
to commemorate his induction in the Automotive Hall of Fame in the United
States. However, until now, it has never been awarded to any company or organization
.
Why Mazda received this award, as outlined by the Quality Engineering
Society
Mazda won the award because it developed quality engineering approaches
for its production technologies and demonstrated their benefits
with a corresponding positive impact on company performance.
Mazda's systematic, cumulative study and implementation of quality
engineering approaches into its production technologies was a
major contributor to its positive business performance. It
also led to a stronger corporate image—"Mazda, a technology
company"—and improved quality engineering. In particular, QES
noted the following:
| (1) |
Quality engineering, as applied to production line control, demonstrates the effectiveness of the loss function theory. This theory maintains there is a loss for both society and in manufacturing as a deviation or variability from a design parameter. Correspondingly, a decreased amount of social loss is linked to an appreciable reduction in internal defects. |
| (2) |
Bottlenecks on production lines are regarded as engineering
problems. Mazda has turned numerous technologies that used
to be regarded as impossible into feasible technologies by
pursuing functionality according to Signal-to-Noise ratios
(SN ratio, which indicates the strength of the system function
against noise). Also, functions were adjusted to become multipurpose
applications and the strategic application of parameter design
was pioneered by selecting and focusing on applicable areas. |
| (3) |
Based on its continuous human resources development initiatives,
Mazda aims to achieve product design and facility design that
does not require it to backtrack, while also optimizing its
production lines through the application of quality engineering
approaches so that quality engineering-focused, systematic
pilot production processes and management technologies are
established for further productivity improvement. |
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