Zealot for quality

Dr. David Spong, director for business excellence of the Integrated Defense Systems unit of the Boeing Co., describes himself as a "zealot" for quality, after bagging the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) twice.

The US Congress created the MBNQA to encourage and improve quality and competitiveness among American companies.

Speaking before the Philippine Society for Quality, Spong shared his singular experience of leading two Boeing business units to the MBNQA: C-17 maker Boeing Airlift and Tanker Program in 1998 and service provider Boeing Aerospace Support in 2003.

The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a four-engine, long-haul, multi-service, military-transport aircraft that can carry large equipment, supplies and troops directly to small airfields in harsh terrain and unpredictable conditions. It has delivered worldwide cargo for the US government since the 1990s.

Spong worked on the C-17 development program beginning 1991, using the Baldrige criteria to address "a chaotic work environment plagued by lack of confidence, quality problems, cost overruns and unending delay."

Applying the Baldrige criteria of leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; human resource focus; process management; and results, Spong was able to integrate existing management approaches, champion the quality initiative to over 8,000 employees and turn the situation around such that the company won the California Quality Award in 1996, and then the MBNQA in 1998.

"The Baldrige framework will work in any business situation, whether you are in manufacturing or in services. It can turn a crisis to a non-crisis, a losing company to a profitable one, a non-crisis situation to a successful one, and a successful company to an even more improved one," says Spong.

He says Baldrige adoption allows companies to manage and improve diverse business situations through a single, disciplined approach and the empowerment of process owners, whether their job is in the factory or in an office cubicle.

He added that the costs of implementing a quality initiative such as the Baldrige framework are small compared to the benefits of savings on rework and repair, long-term customer satisfaction and business sustainability.

Spong was in Manila, on the invitation of the Lopez group of companies, to share his expertise in the application of Baldrige criteria for the benefit of Philippine companies that have committed to quality improvements for global competitiveness. First Sumiden Circuits, Inc. (FSCI), a member of both the Lopez group and the Philippine Society for Quality, is among the country’s leading advocates of quality. FSCI manufactures and exports flexible printed circuits, earning $3.7 million in profits from revenues of $55.4 million in 2005.