This Thesis has been carried out in a market which is expected to grow rapidly in the next decade. Because of this, actors in the market like Alpha want to strengthen their business position through refining the quality of their products and processes. One of the internal targets of MD, a mechanical design department within Alpha, referred to “premium product quality parameters” although these were not defined. Hence, this Thesis intends to contribute in the definition and understanding that Alpha has of the concept of Premium Quality. The data used comes from two sources; on one side, a literature research about the concepts of premium, quality, quality management schools and knowledge management. On the other side, an internal research collecting opinions from the different departments involved in the development of mechanical components, with the objective of highlighting problems and suggesting solutions for getting closer to a “premium quality”. BPMN diagrams, DSMs, the KJ method and Fishbone diagrams have been used for analysing the collected information. The findings have been organised through Garvin’s five approaches to quality and the 4 P’s suggested in the Toyota Way. Thus, this Thesis is delivering an interpretation of the concepts of Premium and Quality, a definition of Premium Quality tailored for MD and a set of recommendations for MD, such as a suggestion of indicators to be used in the internal targets and indications of what interdepartmental information flows should be revised.

Outgoing