Quality and Reliability Engineering in Service Industry: A Proposed Alternative Improvement Framework

Abstract

Quality and reliability engineering technique are widely used as improvement tools in manufacturing industries, involving the design experiments, quality function deployment (QFD), and survival analysis, focuses on improving the lifecycle of products. However, started at early last decade, some researches in improving the service lifecycle in some service industry consider to implements design of experiment in service industry, followed by other tools such as QFD, and the reliability engineering tools. This research proposed alternatives incorporated quality and reliability engineering methods in evaluating and improving the lifecycle of service. Starting with evaluating the weaknesses of service using SERVQUAL method, finding the improvement plan by implementing QFD, designing the robust service design using Taguchi designed experiment methods, and then implementing survival analysis for ensuring the reliability of designed services. This framework has successfully implemented in designing and evaluating existing airport service system with some recommendation generated in.

Identifying Control Factors for Business Process Improvement in Telecom Sector Using Taguchi Approach

“…After wide application in manufacturing industries, a visible research trend using design of experiments now exists in improving the service lifecycle in service sector. Some examples include application in the hotel industry for improving service quality by focusing customer satisfaction [70], optimization of user experience in mobile applications by studying subjective and subconscious quality characteristics of user experience [71], identification of healthcare service quality dimensions and their effects on patients using a Taguchi experiment [72], proposal of an improved framework based upon quality and reliability engineering and its application to study and evaluate existing airport services and generate new service design for ensuring customer satisfaction [73]. The common thread in these applications is improvement is customer experience and satisfaction regardless of the application domain.…”