Retrognostics: Reverse Quality Management

This paper points out that a great reduction of time and cost is possible by introducing PHM technology and by measuring quality from the viewpoint of the customer. Up to now, quality has been measured for verification at each manufacturing process unit to secure the quality of a final product required by design specifications. Therefore, it is nothing other than producer’s quality. But if customer’s quality or customer’s satifaction is fed back more straightforwardly, most of such verification procedures can be eliminated. This quality management is reversed from the traditional one, which is one way from upstream to downstream processes and is very much producer-centric. PHM technology plays a very important role for feeding back customer’s expectations and such a pattern classification mthods as Mahalanobis-Taguchi System will serve for realizing such a truly customer-driven quality management.