An exceptionally thorough treatment of quality, this bestselling text provides practical instruction for students as well as for those responsible for quality implementation and management. The authors address reliability against the backdrop of increasing litigation in the area of product performance. Complete chapters provide a historical perspective for Six Sigma and discuss the concepts of service excellence within healthcare organizations. The authors also provide an expanded analysis of process quality management and quality function deployment, parameters for customer satisfaction, ways to organize for TQM, and the use of control charts to account for variables.