A systems view of quality

Caterpillar, a leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines, is committed to continually improving the quality of their products. Caterpillar currently employs many of the well-known quality techniques, such as statistical process control, yet experience varying levels of quality improvement success across the enterprise. This thesis explores possible causes of the variation amongst the business units. Benchmarking and a literature search are used to identify possible variables and provide frameworks and a basis for comparison. The problem is explored from a systemic perspective with a focus on market served and organizational learning. Conclusions regarding the sources of differences and recommendations for the enterprise and business units are included.

Department dc:contributor.department

Sloan School of Management.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Utley, Tana L. (Tana Leigh)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Nelson P. Repenning.

• Sloan School of Management.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39509

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39509