To illustrate the benefits of implementing QM in PACS, a successful case based on the Six Sigma approach is given below. It involves a project aiming at the 2005 Hong Kong Quality Management Award. A brief description of the Award and its judging criteria is given, followed by an outline of the Grand Award holder’s submission and the Project Leader’s clarification of project-related issues during the Judging Panel interview. Hong Kong Quality Management Association and the Hong Kong Productivity Council have jointly organized the “Hong Kong Quality Management Convention” on a bi-annual basis at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre since 1991. The Convention is a renowned quality event in Hong Kong with active participation from both Hong Kong and Mainland China (e.g. over hundred of delegates from various cities of China in 2003). With the rapid development of quality circles in local organizations, the Hong Kong Quality Circle Award was introduced in 1993, being the exclusive award to recognize employees’ effort and contribution towards the improvement of productivity in their industry via quality circles. The purpose of the Award is to reward employees’ contribution in quality enhancement and to recognize the companies’ commitment in quality management. Over the years, award-winners have been recognized for their determination to tackle issues from the grass-root level in pursuit of operational efficiency and effectiveness. This Award offers the participating companies excellent opportunities to benchmark their quality practice among their counterparts and enhance their competitive advantage in their industry. It also improves their corporate image and enhances the morale of the circle members. Organizations with principal activities based in Hong Kong are eligible to compete for the Award. The final and binding decisions on the award are vested with the Hong Kong Quality Management Association and the Hong Kong Productivity Council. To qualify for the award, the participants have to undergo a stringent adjudication process.
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To illustrate the benefits of implementing QM in PACS, a successful case based on the Six Sigma approach is given below. It involves a project aiming at the 2005 Hong Kong Quality Management Award. A brief description of the Award and its judging criteria is given, followed by an outline of the Grand Award holder’s submission and the Project Leader’s clarification of project-related issues during the Judging Panel interview.
Hong Kong Quality Management Association and the Hong Kong Productivity Council have jointly organized the “Hong Kong Quality Management Convention” on a bi-annual basis at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre since 1991. The Convention is a renowned quality event in Hong Kong with active participation from both Hong Kong and Mainland China (e.g. over hundred of delegates from various cities of China in 2003).
With the rapid development of quality circles in local organizations, the Hong Kong Quality Circle Award was introduced in 1993, being the exclusive award to recognize employees’ effort and contribution towards the improvement of productivity in their industry via quality circles. The purpose of the Award is to reward employees’ contribution in quality enhancement and to recognize the companies’ commitment in quality management. Over the years, award-winners have been recognized for their determination to tackle issues from the grass-root level in pursuit of operational efficiency and effectiveness.
This Award offers the participating companies excellent opportunities to benchmark their quality practice among their counterparts and enhance their competitive advantage in their industry. It also improves their corporate image and enhances the morale of the circle members. Organizations with principal activities based in Hong Kong are eligible to compete for the Award. The final and binding decisions on the award are vested with the Hong Kong Quality Management Association and the Hong Kong Productivity Council. To qualify for the award, the participants have to undergo a stringent adjudication process.
The adjudication criteria are shown in Table 1. The total Awards comprise one Grand QC Award and four QC Awards. Five best teams among the applications would be selected by a panel of judges based on the adjudication criteria to award the QC Award. The panel of judges comprises academic staff from four local universities and public listed company CEOs representing professional bodies such as the Association for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and the Toy Manufacturers Association. The Government of Hong Kong Special Administration Region has defined a small and medium enterprise (SME) as a manufacturing business that employs fewer than 100 persons or a non-manufacturing business that employs fewer than 50 persons in Hong Kong (HK SAR Government, 2005).
Table 1. Judging criteria for the 2005 Quality Circle (QC) Award
| QC Activities | Evaluation Criteria | Max. Scores |
| Team Work | • Meetings are regularly held and with good attendance rate.
• Members’ suggestions are implemented and adopted for improvement.
• Advice or help is sought from internal or external parties. | 5 |
| Project Selection | • Project selection based on assessment of background information, organizational constraints and previous statistics.
• Project meets sectional or departmental requirements. | 5 |
| Problem Identification | • Problems are clearly identified and defined.
• Specific targets are formulated. | 10 |
| Analytical Techniques | • Analytical techniques and methodology such as graph, Fishbone Diagram, Pareto Diagram, check sheet, chart, etc are effectively used.
• Systematic approach in identifying and verifying the most probable causes is adopted, with proper application of the Plan-Do-Check-Action (PDCA) approach. | 10 |
| Improvement Initiatives and Implementation | • Alternative solutions are stated.
• Solutions are properly evaluated.
• Recommended solution is sound and practical.
• Solutions are creative and innovative. | 15 |
| Results Achieved | • Tangible results have been achieved.
• Intangible results have been achieved.
• Variation (s) between results and original target (s) is explained. | 25 |
| Standardization | • Standardization is realized through changes in procedures or other arrangements.
• Follow-up actions are taken to ensure compliance with new procedures. | 10 |
Self-examination and
Future Plans | • Teams are aware of their problems.
• Difficulties in accomplishing the project are considered.
• Teams’ next project is stated and sufficient reasons are given. Alternatives to overcome its limitations and problems are considered. | 10 |
| Report Presentation | • Professionalism in data collection and analysis are demonstrated. | 10 |
| Overall | | 100 |