Contents
Quality Management Techniques Used By Intel 4
Flowcharts and process mapping. 9
Critical Areas of Improvements. 10
Improve As Security Framework User 10
Invest In Mobile Technology. 10
Corporate Social Responsibility. 11
Leadership Styles and Quality Policies. 11
Mechanisms Adopted By the Company to Motivate Employees in Achieving Quality Improvements 13
Implementation Plan with Justification. 14
Developing Measurable Goals. 15
Agree On Meaningful Indicators of Progress. 15
Gather Evidence Of Progress. 15
Use the Results to Build Further Success. 15
Other Information about the Organization. 15
Introduction
Intel was founded in 1968 by two physicists, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, who worked at San Jose-based Fairchild Semiconductor and initially the company was known as NM Electronic, but it was later changed to Intel (Integrated Electronics). The company went public when it produced its first microprocessor moved its headquarters to Santa Clara, California and in 1979, Andy Grove was named as the first president of the company. In 2005, Intel was the largest manufacturer and supplier of semiconductors which were used in central processing units and other electronics with Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HP) being its largest consumers of the semiconductors.
The company also manufactures and supplies motherboard chipsets, network interface controllers, embedded processors, integrated circuits and other wide range of storage and devices related to communication and computing. The company has a simple slogan “Intel Inside” which is used to identify any product which has been manufactured using the company’s products and many PCs has a sticker bearing the slogan to depict that the electronic have chips from Intel. The mission statement “delight our customers, employees and shareholders by relentlessly delivering the platform and technology advancements that become essential to the way we work and live,” speaking of the organization intent and further illustrated by the company’s chart as follows.
Quality Management Techniques Used By Intel
Six Sigma Model
The model was first formulated by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986 as a set of practices which were designed to improve manufacturing process and eliminate defects so that the customer’s specifications could be met as expected by the manufacturer. The six sigma projects has two project methodologies which has five stages each and they include DMAIC used to help in improving existing business process and DMADV which is used for creating new product or process designs (George & George, 2003).
Pareto chart
The chart was named after was named Vilfredo Pareto and it has been extensively used by the company in quality control by reflecting the most common sources of defect, the highest occurring type of defect and the complaints the customers have often. The company has used the various data collected from the customers to help to resolve this problem and from the recent statistics collected following set of data was available (Panat, et al 2014)
| complaint | Count (in millions) |
| Problem in Quality | 45 |
| Slow service | 600 |
| High prices | 1000 |
| Faulty deliveries | 200 |
Then the data above is sorted cumulatively to get percentages which are then used to come up with a Pareto chart
| complaint | Count (in millions) | Cumulative (in millions) | Percentage |
| Problem in quality | 45 | 45 | 2.44 |
| Slow service | 600 | 645 | 32.52 |
| High prices | 1000 | 1645 | 54.2 |
| Faulty deliveries | 200 | 1845 | 10.84 |
Cause and effect diagram
The cause and effect diagram also has been one of the tools Intel has employed extensively to explore the problems affecting the company so that they can come up with the best solutions to diagnose the problem. The cause and effect has been one of Intel’s tool which have helped it to establish the root cause of problems especially in defect microchips and processors which are the main expensive products manufactured by the company. The company main problem from the above diagram is the high price of the product which is aggravated further by the defects especially in processors and microchips which are the main products it produces. The company has used the diagram enables the company to identify the cause of the problems and this can be done through conducting surveys to establish the main primary cause of the problems (Wang & Shih, 2013).
Check sheets
Companies use check sheet to collect vital qualitative and quantitative data in real time from the location where the data emanates. Intel uses the check sheets to check the shape of the probability distribution of a process, quantify all types and location of defects, cause and keep track on the implementation of the vital steps. In this case, the check sheet is appropriate since the data can be observed repeatedly at the same location by different people. The check sheet will enable the company to determine the frequency of occurrence and establish the trends, defects, locations, and causes. The following shows a check sheet containing the problems and their frequencies;
| complaint | Count (in millions) |
| Problem in Quality | 45 |
| Slow service | 600 |
| High prices | 1000 |
| Faulty deliveries | 200 |
Form the above statistics the main problem Intel is having is the high prices of its products as it has the highest frequency (Dawson-Haggerty, Krioukov, & Culler, 2009).
Histogram
Histograms are used to show distribution of numerical data in the form of a graph. Histograms are used for continuous data and they are used to show the frequency of the issues in a business. In this case, the histograms will show the issue with the highest frequency and the company can develop a solution to address the issue.
According to the findings from histogram, Intel’s major issue affecting the customers’ satisfaction is high prices. Therefore, the company should develop a solution to address the problems to ensure customer satisfaction and also improve the quality.
Control charts
Control charts indicate the process of changes over time in business operations and this has been a tool which Intel has used extensively to assess the quality of its products over time and time. The data acquired from research is plotted in time order and the central line indicates the average while the upper line and the lower line represent the upper and lower limits respectively.
Flowcharts and process mapping
The has used flowchart in process engineering where there is a big requirement of depicting the relationship between major components only, such as processors and microchips as sequential manner through pictures. In this case, the Intel’s major problem is lack of customer satisfaction and this has been highly attributed to the high prices. Therefore, the process indicates the administrative or service process that will help deal with the problem. The flow chart will help the company to understand the process, improve the process, communicate about the process, document the process and plan a project most successive strategy it should adopt.
Critical Areas of Improvements
Cyber Security
At the contemporary times, a framework which touches on issues of security especially against the cyber bullies is critical for the company of the Intel size and products which are the first to be attacked and compromised should there be an attack especially on their production processes. Even though security has been on e of the Intel’s priority, a lot need to be done especially in availing power-efficient performance and connectivity co that it can be able to concentrate its innovation processes and efforts in the industry.
Improve As Security Framework User
The company was one of the earliest adopters of the security frameworks which involve participation in development of a framework with like minded entities so that they can share cost and also ideas which will help shape the responding strategy of the affiliates as one company. Intel needs to invest more on coming up with new frameworks with the like minded partners to help mitigate the myriad threats that are evolving everyday due to technological advancement experienced today in the industry. A good framework will reduce the counter fake products which are prevalent in the industry especially those purporting to be made by the Intel itself but are of lower quality and are prone to fail within the short run as they do not meet the standards.
Invest In Mobile Technology
Intel has predominantly specialized in the manufacturing of computers chips which have driven its growth for the past few decades as one of the best computer assembler in the entire world as most of the PCs available are using Intel’s component. In the recent times the company faces stiff competition from mobile technology which has become very popular and accessible to almost every individual globally as the technology is less expensive and very efficient. The company can have a huge positive turn especially on revenues if it speeds the adoption of mobile technology which today makes the PCs somehow to become less popular and therefore the company should invents a new product which will make it move forward. By taking the advantage of the publicity the company has, investment in mobile technology could prove to be a success as we believe the company gives the best, and due that notion the company should benefit more as most of the people are royal to the company’s products.
Corporate Social Responsibility
The company has done a lot in this regard but a lot needs to be done also since the company is one of the multinational corporations in the world with a lot of publicity due to its capabilities in giving products that suites the user’s needs more than any other competitor. One of the area the company should intensify its efforts is on the environmental issues as most of its wastes are dangerous to the human health as they are carcinogenic in nature and as such proper ways should be devised to dispose the wastes safely. Furthermore, the company should invest in the projects that should benefit the general public especially in their areas of operation so that their influence can be felt even by those who do not have the capacity to use PCs.
Leadership Styles and Quality Policies
When the company was launched in later 1960s Robert Noyce introduced a laissez-faire management style which appealed to the brilliant engineers Grove and Gordon Moore who helped to shape the future of the company and also coined the Moore’s law of exponential growth. For a few years the company operated under this type of leadership with the cofounders succeeding each other as chairman until 2005 when the Paul Otellini was elected as the president and CEO and grove as chairman of the board.
At this stage, the company success demanded a new type of leadership, and when Grove took the reins he became more refined and autocratic, a system that could prove crucial for the Intel’s long-term survival in the computer industry. For instance, Craig Barret exemplifies the autocratic- leadership structure by emphasis on the copy exactly strategy which he developed to minimize the expenditures the company was incurring particularly those that are related to the manufacturing processes.
In addition to the above styles, Total quality management is another type of leadership which has been adopted by the Intel and it helps to integrate all functions of the business so that it can be able to deliver high quality products to its consumers. The system aims to bring all stakeholders inside the company so that customer satisfaction as well as the quality of the products is the responsibility of all employees from the CEO to the line worker functioning as a team sharing one mission and vision. Intel encourages the system as it helps the employees to grow and learn to participate in improvements by either being part of the decision makers or implementers of decision made (Curley, 2006).
Quality Control
The company has a quality system handbook which it uses to manage quality throughout technology development of quality products that fits into the customer’s specifications and this is the culture which keeps the company at the fore front of the semiconductor industry and technology. Since the inception of the company in late 1960s numerous quality policies have been implemented to ensure the company upholds the vision and mission which exemplifies the intent of the company to offer quality and superior products in the industry.
One of the methodologies employed by the company to ensure the quality of its product is “copy exactly” which was an efficient system of maintaining quality and also transferring the same technology by ensuring quality is not compromised. The company has also employed other systems and strategies such as the six sigma, total quality management to make sure that they compete genuinely especially in the world of microprocessors which is the core product the company deals in (Yoo, 2013).
Recently, the company has adopted the ISO 9001:2015 an international standard used in quality management systems which have been set by the world governing bodies, to ensure that all companies adhere to the stipulated regulations in production of goods and services. ISO aims to eliminate the fake products circulating in the market and also ensuring that consumers get safer products by pushing for the use of the right tools a Mechanisms adopted by the company to motivate employees in achieving quality improvements.
Mechanisms Adopted By the Company to Motivate Employees in Achieving Quality Improvements
Planning
Intel’s vision and mission spells clearly the intent the company has when it comes motivating its employees so that they can give all to the industry in order to fulfill the objectives set forth in the mission statement which details expectations of the company. For instance, the company ensures that all employees are well trained by offering them the best training so that they can deliver well which will then help them to execute their duties effectively and efficiently.
Organizing
The company has a developed a culture which is designed to ensure that quality is not compromised at any single step of their operations especially the system of copy exactly which was implemented to facilitated production of high quality products for the customers’ needs. The leadership ensures that employees are well organized and everyone knows what is expected of him since everyone is empowered to act on the best interest of the company while accomplishing their duties (Noe, 2010).
Leadership
As detailed above one of the secret Intel has used extensively is the kind of freedom it affords to their employees and this makes every employee to make decision which suites the company needs rather than employees waiting for the senior manager to decide what is best for the company. Through the group/team kind of management, communication of ideas is simplified and each individual within the social network participates fully as any new aspect affecting production activities are discussed in advance to all members.
Controlling
As enumerated above, Intel has employed and invested heavily on quality management policies which are aimed to control the activities of those engaged in the production process so that they do not compromise on the quality of the products manufactured. Strategic human resources department has been put in place to facilitate in the training as well as ensuring that every employee is designated a duty that he/she can execute well and every system is manned well while it is in operation. All the policies and systems which are discussed above plus others many more have been implemented to ensure the company operates in line with the vision and mission statements which act as guideline to the whole corporate (Wang & Mahoney, 2009)..
Implementation Plan with Justification
One of the key drivers which have been driving the enterprise to the skyrocketing levels is the research and evaluation which is illustrated in the Intel’s mission and vision desire to get the evidence that they achieving their set goals in the statements. Research and evaluation have several steps which must be implemented as per the formula if the implementers will be able to achieve the goals they are aiming to achieve using the strategy and Intel have included following steps in most of their strategies;
Developing Measurable Goals
Intel key to success is coming up with actionable plans which have facilitated them to improve every sector of their industry in the recent past especially in a field which requires a lot of organization and coordination if the plan will be fruitful.
Agree On Meaningful Indicators of Progress
The company has set meaning indicators in its vision and mission statement which are the parameters it has persistently used to measure its service delivery success’s over the years and this is the main strengths the company has over its competitors.
Gather Evidence Of Progress
The company has enough evidence from the day it commenced its activities in United States back in 1960s and today it has many other branches in other continents which provide firm evidence that the company has progressed over the decades tremendously.
Use the Results to Build Further Success
The company has well used the accumulated and reserved resources to grow its size especially the expansion strategy which has been enhanced by the extensive research and evaluation of its activities and implementing strategies and systems which helps the entity have the cut ending in all its endeavors.
Other Information about the Organization
The company has introduced a program by the name supplier Continuous Quality Improvement which aims to award the Intel’s key suppliers to strive for excellence and continuous improvement through giving out the best services they can. Currently the Intel Company is under a strategic transformation from a PC company to smart computing devices and its first-quarter GAAP revenue is $13.7 billion, operating income is $2.6 billion and the net income amount to $2.6 billion. Its first-quarter non-GAAP revenue is $13.8 billion and the company generated approximately $4.0 billion in cash from operations and paid dividends of $1.2 billion (Intel Corporation, 2016).
Conclusion
Intel over the years has illustrated how a corporation should take advantage of the existing and also new knowledge in advancement of growth in terms of revenues and more importantly improvement in technology over the years. The company has implemented various quality management tools over the years to help the company scale the heights of development and facilitate the needs of the corporation as they become complex. Intel’s achievement over the years serves us how management can use the tools which are affordable and available at its disposable to help them achieve the growth they are been seeking.
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