ABSTRACT
A quality tracking system was designed, using a powerful data-management system, McCormack and Dodge (M&D) Millennium. Heading the department is a senior manager who is a long-time employee of M&D but with no previous experience in quality. The outline of the Quality without Limits process was presented to the M&D executive and management committees in October of 1987, and won quick approval. A director intent on revitalizing a quality process should first do his or her homework and, then, armed with incontrovertible proof that this is a serious bottom-line proposal, speak with top management. Besides the involvement of top management, there are two major hurdles encountered by every quality process: middle management resistance and misunderstanding of what a quality process does. Senior managers must be active in the definition of a quality process as well as in its maintenance and, when necessary, its revitalization and evolution.
