EVOLUTION OF

QUALITY IN XEROX
Presented by,
Group 1
Jappreet S. Bhatia
Lokesh Yadav
Deepak Jain

XEROX

Xerox Corporation 1906 and 1959 - Xerox 914

Manufactures

color

and

black-and-white

printers,

multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production

printing presses
New players- IBM Kodak, Canon, and Sevin
David T. Kearns took over as the CEO
Leadership Through Quality in 1983 and Lean Six
Sigma in 2003
Goal was

to achieve superiority in quality, product

reliability and cost

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XEROX HISTORY

Continuous
Improvement

1980
1983
1989
1990s

AWARDS
The Deming Award (Japan) In 1980
The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award In 1989
The European Quality Award In 1992

ISSUES IN CASE
During the 1970s, however, IBM and Kodak entered the
high-volume copier businessXeroxs principal market.
Several Japanese companies introduced high-quality lowvolume copiers, a market that Xerox had virtually
ignored, and established a foundation for moving into the
high- volume market
Xerox was soon losing market share to Japanese
competitors, and by the early 1980s it faced a serious
competitive threat from copy machine manufacturers in
Japan; Xeroxs market share had fallen to less than 50
percent

CONTD
In comparing itself with its competition, Xerox
discovered that it had nine times as many suppliers, twice
as many employees, cycle times
That were twice as long, 10 times as many rejects, and
seven times as many manufacturing defects in finished
products. It was clear that radical changes were required

LEADERSHIP THROUGH
QUALITY PROGRAM AT XEROX
In 1983, company president David T. Kearns became
convinced that Xerox needed a long-range, comprehensive
quality strategy as well as a change in its traditional
management culture .
The strategy for cultural change in Xerox that enables and
empowers people with quality tools and processes to,
1. Meet customer requirements
2. Achieve business priorities
3. Continuously improve

THE PLAN - LEADERSHIP

THROUGH QUALITY

1983-the year of start-up activities

1984- the year of awareness and understanding

1985- the year of transition and transformation

1986 the year when results would achieved

1987 the year of approaching maturity

XEROX QUALITY POLICY

STATEMENT
Kearns and the companys top 25 managers wrote the Xerox
Quality Policy, which states:
Xerox is a quality company.
Quality is the basic business principle for Xerox.
Quality means providing our external and internal customers
with innovative products and services that fully satisfy their
requirements.
Quality is the job of every Xerox employee

OBJECTIVES ACHIEVED
To instill quality as the basic business principle in Xerox,
and to ensure that quality improvement becomes the job
of every Xerox person.
To ensure that Xerox people, individually and
collectively, provide our external and internal customers
with innovative products and services that fully satisfies
their existing and latent requirements.
To establish, as a way of life, management and work
processes that enable all Xerox people to continuously
pursue quality improvement in meeting customer
requirements

4 GOALS PREVAILED IN XEROX

Customer goal
- to become an organization with whom customers are
eager to do business
Employee goal
- to create an environment where everyone can take pride
and feel responsible
Business goal
- to increase profits and to grow faster
Process goal
- to use leadership through quality in Xerox

1983 XEROX IMPERATIVE

BENCHMARKING
Benchmarked more than 200 processes with
those of non competitive companies
Ideas for improving production scheduling
Cummins engine company
Improving

distribution

system

L.L.Bean

(Logistics co.)
Improving billing processes American Express
More than 40,000 surveys were mailed in one
month to understand the customer satisfaction
level, and resolved the dissatisfaction within no

XEROX S BENCHMARKING
MODEL
Planning
Analysis
Integration
Action
Maturity

IMPORTANT SUPPORTING
ELEMENTS
Recognition
and
Reward

Tools
and
Processes

Transition
Team
Xerox is a
Total Quality
Company

Training

Communication

Senior
Management
Behavior

RESULTS OF LEADERSHIP
THROUGH QUALITY
o Rejection rate fell from 10,000 ppm to 300 ppm
o No inspection was required for the supplied parts
o Number of suppliers were cut down drastically
o Cost of purchase was reduced to 45 percent
o Production time reduced by 60 percent
o Quality improved by 93 percent
o Customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction resulted in
increased market share and more profits

Xeroxs Outcome
Initially:
Failed to focus adequately on core work processes
and statistics.
Plan was not integrated with business processes.
Not tuned to the company culture and the need to
change it.
Did not pick the right quality czar at the start.
Did not push the operating units hard enough.

WHAT XEROX DID RIGHT

1. It made an appropriate diagnosis of how to cure
the ills of the company.
2. Quality was the right process for the right solution
at the right time.
3. The necessary commitment was made by senior
management.
4. A constituency was built starting at the top in a
very calculated
and deliberate way.
5. Employee compensation was tied to quality.

5. Information systems use was effectively aligned with

its business objectives and processes to achieve them
6. Executive compensation was tied to quality.
7. Innovations and successes of the TQM program were
well publicized.
8. The pursuit of the Baldridge Award was an energizing
effort within the company.
9. It achieved measured results.

RESTRENGTHENING
QUALITY

INFORMATION
SYSTEMS SUPPORT
Xerox had over 375 major information systems

supporting the total business.

Over 175 of these systems related specifically to the

management, evaluation and planning of quality.

The validity, accuracy and timeliness of information

systems are assured by the use of a Data Systems Quality

Assurance process during the design, construction and
major upgrade of each information system.

XEROXS LEAN SIX SIGMA

Performance excellence process

Supports clearer, simple alignment of corporate

direction to individual objectives
Clear links to market trends, benchmarking, lean Six
Sigma
Supports a simple business model Baldrige type
DMAIC
Define, measure , analyze , improve , control
Based on six sigma with speed and focus
Capture opportunities

XEROXS LEAN SIX SIGMA

Market trends and Benchmarking
Reinforce market focus
Disciplined approach
Encouraging employees
Strong linkage between Performance excellence
process and DMAIC
Behaviors and Leadership
Reinforce customer focus
Expands interactive skills to have more team
effectiveness
Faster decision making
Supports leadership skills

Performance excellence
process

WHAT LESSONS MIGHT THIS EXPERIENCE

PARTICULARLY IN RESPONDING TO THE NEW
CRISIS- HAVE FOR OTHER ORGANIZATIONS?
Decreased focus on quality by top management
Technology downturn
Led to quality renewal
New Quality in 2001 and onwards
Lean Six Sigma

LEARNING'S
Customer focused employees
Quality
Participation, speed, teamwork based on trust and learning
Process is objective aligned to the companys direction
Benchmarking, both internal and external
DMAIC- desire, measure, analyze, improve and control
Lean Six Sigma

QUALITY IS A RACE
WITHOUT A FINISH LINE AT
XEROX
Quality is a never ending process
New technology
Skill full employees and management
Lean six sigma just a part

AT MOTOROLA
Flexible Manufacturing
1981 launched a project to improve the quality
Learnt it from Dominos Pizza
2002 won The Baldrige Award
QSR
Competitive Benchmarking

THANK YOU