Accession Number:

ADP002820

Title:

A Quality Improvement Strategy for Systems Acquisition,

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

AERONAUTICAL SYSTEMS DIV WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH

Personal Author(s):

• Thielen,G. J.

Report Date:

1983-01-01

Pagination or Media Count:

5.0

Abstract:

Affordability and readiness are among the most prominent concerns in the defense establishment today--to say nothing about the Congress and the media. Any number of techniques, procedures and controls have been established to improve management of systems acquisition and to minimize cost growth, the perennial nemesis of large, complex human endeavors. Costschedule control systems and reporting, for example, are now standard practice. No one technique, or combination of techniques, has yet been found to provide a satisfactory solution for todays acquisition managers. It is our purpose to portray quality in systems acquisition from this commercially-oriented perspective. An improvement strategy which is relevant to both readiness and affordability is outlined. It treats quality in its broadest, multifunctional sense. The bottom line is that if qualityproductivity improvement is important to us in defense, then we must manage to get it. The strategy to be discussed is not a one-shot program or a quick fix. Rather, it is a basic shift in how we approach our work and is based on application of successful commercial practice to the system acquisition environment.

Descriptors:

• *Quality assurance
• *Contract administration
• *Government procurement
• Acquisition
• Quality
• Industrial production
• Productivity
• Management planning and control
• Quality control
• Manufacturing
• Symposia

Subject Categories:

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE