SeaPort-e Multiple Award Contract (MAC)
Quality Assurance

Our quality initiatives focus on the Six Sigma web site definition of quality management based solely on value added for the end product and value to the customer. To be a value added action quality actions must meet all three of the following criteria: a) the customer is willing to pay for this activity, b) it must be done right the first time, c) the action must somehow change the product or service in some manner.

In a competitive environment costs that do not contribute to value adding must be reduced to a minimum, not passed on to customers. We have achieved this by eliminating waste. Waste in a process is any activity that does not result in moving the process closer to final output or adding quality to the final output. There are seven main wastes: overproduction, inventory, waiting, transportation, motion, process (useless steps in a process) and defects. NextGen Aeronautics delivers quality through a practice of continuous process improvement using the following steps:

a. Select a process that, if improved, will have a positive impact on the organization. It could affect finances, quality, delivery, customer satisfaction or a combination of these. The object is not to eliminate people - it is to improve the process so people can be freed up to increase throughput or take on additional business for customer satisfaction.

b. The process must have a clearly defined beginning and end; otherwise the scope will be too broad to accomplish any meaningful objectives. All processes involve steps that are processes in their own right and may be the subject for another improvement project.

c. No process improvement can take place without involvement of a process owner. NextGen Aeronautics engineers take pride in accepting responsibility for taking ownership of processes with encouragement and authority to lead reengineering the process and to implement recommended changes from senior management. The process owner is expected to communicate their desire to improve the process and provide support and guidance to the process improvement team.

d. A team is organized by the process owner to map the process, reengineer it and implement the new process plan. This team is made up of personnel who represent and are key participants in the operations, internal or external customers and possibly knowledgeable outsiders. We avoid the temptation of hiring consultants as a substitute for the team. NextGen Aeronautics strongly feels that nobody knows our processes as well as our own people.

e. The process must be mapped (or diagrammed) as it actually is, not as people think it works or how it was originally designed to work. To avoid bias, small teams work in areas that they are not involved in themselves. Often, steps are uncovered that teams or process owners were not aware of. The map is then assembled by the whole team for analysis.

f. After the map is complete the team studies each of the steps with the goal of shortening the process. There is the obvious reason that a shorter process means quality delivered at less cost, but there are other considerations as well. A process with fewer steps means there are fewer chances for things to go wrong and if they do go wrong it is easier and quicker to fix them. Also, a shorter process means results are in customers’ hands sooner.