Needed: A quality and reliability institute for industry

Several years ago in these pages, I called for a "GI Bill for industry," arguing that small and medium-size industries have difficulty undertaking activities such as research and development, which help them survive and grow.

I offered a solution that I compared to the GI Bill: providing vouchers to be redeemed at the university in exchange for free research, development and training.

Today, I revisit this issue in a more specific way. I propose to establish an "institute" at Syracuse University for quality and reliability.

Quality and reliability are two key attributes in manufacturing and service industries. Reliability is the ability of an entity to perform its function in the conditions specified for it, for the duration of its mission; for example, the probability that our car will take us to our parents' and back without problems during the holiday season.

Quality is moreelusive to define, but pertains to the properties we desire from a product or service, including its durability, ease of use, appearance, etc.

Q&R are relatively expensive because they are specialized functions. Q&R are also difficult to measure and "visualize" in a product, in competition with other, more readily visible activities. This is better understood through an example.

Suppose we manufacture small, brown paper cups, which start leaking after 10 minutes. Our product sales are down and we decide to spend $1,000 to improve this situation. We can change the design of the cups, making them brighter and more appealing to prospective customers, or we can prevent the leaking. Changing the design can improve sales; stopping the leakage can retain the new customers. We cannot afford both with our reduced budget. So we decide to change the design, because to "retain" customers, we first need to "acquire" them.

The importance of Q&R has been readily recognized by those who can afford it. For example, the military requires Q&R in its equipment, and they fund the Reliability Analysis Center in Rome to provide consulting, training and other Q&R services for the Defense Department and its contractors.

I propose an institute to provide some of these services - free - to qualifying small and medium-size companies in the area. This would help them grow and keep well-paying jobs in this area.

How would this project work? Engineering students taking a course in Q&R would work as interns or research assistants. Under a professor's guidance, they would provide free assessments and assist qualifying industries in implementing their recommendations. Students would get hands-on instruction, faculty would gain better insight on pressing industry needs, and industries that cannot afford it would get this badly needed service.

Such an ideais not unrealistic. Another institute at SU already performs similar activities in the area of energy. The Department of Energy supports it, and the free audits save energy and strengthen the country's energy policy.

The same would occur with a Q&R institute. Its "stockholders" (the National Science Foundation that supports engineering education; federal, local and state governments interested in creating and retaining good jobs) would also receive ample benefits.

Such an institute would not compete with established Q&R organizations or consultants, since it would not take away paying customers. On the contrary, it would provide a "proof of concept" to all satisfied customers.

The subject of such an institute was explored in a technical talk on the subject at this month's meeting of the Syracuse Chapter of the American Society for Quality. We are establishing links with similar organizations at other universities and research centers to gain insight from their experience. I welcome hearing from anyone interested in helping promote and establish such a Q&R institute at SU, or in providing commentary or suggestions.

Jorge Luis Romeu is a research professor at Syracuse University, where he teaches industrial statistics, and a senior research engineer with the Reliability Analysis Center in Rome. His e-mail address is jromeu@ecs.syr.edu.