A First Course in Quality Engineering ― Integrating Statistical and Management Methods of Quality

The book is a compilation of essential methodologies that have been developed over several decades for obtaining the needs of customers, designing a product that meets those needs, designing the processes to make the product, making the product according to those designs, and packaging and delivering the product so the customer receives the product they will be satisfied with. These methodologies use fundamentals for many disciplines, which can be broadly classified as statistical and managementmethods. This book includes the methods from both these areas in a balanced way so that those who are trained using this book will be able to make and deliver products that will meet customer needs.

K.S. Krishnamoorthi, PhD, is a professor of industrial engineering in the industrial and manufacturing engineering and technology department of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He has a BE degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras, India, an MA in statistics and a PhD in industrial engineering from the University of Buffalo. He teaches statistics and quality engineering, among other industrial engineering subjects, and conducts research in the area of quality costs, process capability indices, and statistical thinking. He has provided consultation to several small and large corporations in process and product quality improvement using statistical tools.

V. Ram Krishnamoorthi, MD, MPH, is an attending internist at the University of Chicago Medical Center and an assistant professor of medicine at University Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University, and his MD and MPH from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. He is involved in health services research and quality improvement initiatives at the U of Chicago Hospitals, and is interested in problems of quality and access to affordable healthcare at the national level.

Arunkumar Pennathur, PhD, is an associate professor of instruction in the industrial engineering program at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He holds a BE degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras, India, an MS degree in industrial engineering from Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, and a PhD in industrial engineering from the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Pennathur has taught courses in process engineering, quality control, design of experiments, operations research, tooling engineering, systems engineering, and human factors. His research in sociotechnical systems engineering, human factors, and engineering education have been funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the US Army Research Laboratory, and a host of industry sponsors. Dr. Pennathur has been the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Industrial Engineering, and has served on numerous editorial boards. He has authored/co-authored over 150 publications including 2 edited books on industrial productivity and enhancing resource effectiveness.