Quality (with a capital “Q”) is an organization-wide attribute. It pervades your products and services, your business processes, and your people.
Quality includes not only product reliability and functionality but also such areas and capabilities as customer service, the buying experience, problem-solving and the ability to learn and adapt to new circumstances.
Quality requires leadership and management commitment, tight control of business processes, and creative problem solving. The company that learns the fastest has the best chance of generating consistently high quality and a steady supply of satisfied customers.
Quality includes not only product reliability and functionality but also such areas and capabilities as customer service, the buying experience, problem-solving and the ability to learn and adapt to new circumstances.
Quality requires leadership and management commitment, tight control of business processes, and creative problem solving. The company that learns the fastest has the best chance of generating consistently high quality and a steady supply of satisfied customers.
Meet the
Expert
About E. Michael
- Global head-of-quality executive at Silicon Valley technology companies, leveraging Japan manufacturing expertise to monetize quality and turn it into profit.
- Head-of-quality for $220m~$1b firms, leading up to 55 staff; regional roles at $2~14b firms.
- Leadership roles in quality at Symmetricom, Extreme Networks, Juniper Networks, Quantum Corporation, AlliedSignal, Bose Corporation.
- Saved employers millions of dollars in warranty/rework and tens of millions in retained at-risk accounts; added certifications which opened up new opportunities.
Experience
Quality Consultant
•
Business Process Excellence
Jan, 2009
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Present
- Supply Chain SCOR assessment for solar tracker manufacturer NEXTracker (a FLEX company)
- Disaster recovery & Business Continuity program for Semiconductor firm Microsemi
- Cloud data center infrastructure manufacturing quality system deployment (Large Cloud vendor)
- Project management in Concept Engineering—web-based consulting platform design
- Customer Experience — beta testing on SAS Customer Experience solution
- Process Management Software research and white paper author (BPMN 2.0)
- Executive Coaching and Training, interim head of Silicon Valley practice (45 person team)
- Lean Agile Hoshin Kanri panelist with Dr. Gail Ferreira (Matrix) and Alan Leeds (y-change.com)
- Supported quality, supply chain evaluation and regulatory process development and deployment for LeapFrog, an electronic educational manufacturer.
- Community advisor to Sutter Health on voice of customer for patient-facing IT system upgrade.
- Pro-bono work for local non-profits.
VP Quality
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Symmetricom
May, 2010
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Dec, 2013
- Led a 30-person quality and engineering services team in transitioning to primarily outsourced and off-shore production.
- Responsible for manufacturing QC, supplier QE, QA, NPI process, BPI/program office, homologation, component reliability, environmental engineering.
- Reported to EVP Ops and CEO.
VP Quality
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Extreme Networks
Apr, 2004
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Dec, 2008
- Responsible for quality management systems, hardware field performance, reliability prediction, software process quality, product environmental compliance, new product introduction program management, and corporate strategy.
- Recruited to recover Gen II product reliability and customer satisfaction challenges. Led staff of 25 in NPI program management, corporate quality, engineering services, and strategy for CEO.
- Slashed warranty >$5m by design for MTBF, better field statistics, and actioning pareto causes.
Director - Corporate Quality
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Juniper Networks
Apr, 2001
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Apr, 2004
- Head of quality for approximately $750M enterprise.
- Brought in to retain key accounts struggling with reliability, managing staff of 17 in multiple design centers. Reduced returns by over 30 percent with quality and reliability improvements.
- Implemented TL 9000 with zero non-conformities.
Sr. Manager - Corporate Quality
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Quantum Corporation
Jan, 1998
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Apr, 2001
- Maintained effective quality infrastructure between design centers and Japanese multinational contract manufacturer.
Quality Manager
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AlliedSignal
Jun, 1995
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Oct, 1997
- Instituted quality systems for new venture product line in LCD and lighting industry.
- Supported quality assurance, procurement and some IT functions for aerospace and automotive ventures in Tokyo.
- Direct interface with chairman & CEO, divisional presidents.
Quality Manager
•
Bose Corporation
Jan, 1989
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Jun, 1995
- Maintained quality levels in parts per million delivering 100 percent on time to Nissan, Honda, Mazda and Sony in Japan from U.S. factories.
Education
Thunderbird School of Global Management
MBA, Masters of Business Administration, 1988
University of Notre Dame
BA, Government & International Relations, Modern Languages - Japanese, 1987
Licenses & Certifications
Certified Six Sigma Black Belt (ASQ); Six Sigma Executive Sponsor (Six Sigma Academy); Six Sigma Green Belt (Fuller-Jones); Language Processing
Selecting the Right Opportunities
Voice of Customer (The Center For Quality of Management); TQC Dissemination Lead (Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers); Team Performance
Strategic Visioning
Graphic Facilitation
Mastery of Facilitation (The Grove Consultants International); ISO 9001/TL 9000 Lead Auditor (SAI-Global); Mapping Specialist
Process-Based Auditor (Business Enterprise Mapping).
Awards
- 2011 CEO Top Performer Award (Symmetricom)
Panels
- Center for Quality of Management – West Coast 2002 Quality Management Mutual Learning Summit, “Quality Improvements at Juniper Networks”
- ASQ Silicon Valley – Best Practices Conference 2009 , “Quality Management System Integration: Best (and Worst) Practices – Reflections On Results”
- Lean Agile – San Francisco MeetUp 2015 – “Agile 2015: Hoshin Kanri: Collaborating to Chart and Manage Strategies”
Academia
- Guest lecturer in International Business, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Business School 2009
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