Proposed new DoD standard for product acceptance

Abstract

Total quality and productivity improvement is a basic tenant in the DoD/Defense industries Quality Excellence Program. As part of this program, the DoD stated that Military and Federal Specifications which prescribe fixed levels of defects, such as acceptable quality levels and lot tolerance percent defectives, inhibit quality and productivity improvement and have been eliminated. In response to this mandate, the Technical Concepts Committee of the American Defense Preparedness Association (ADPA) has developed a new Standard (herein called STD-XXX) for product acceptance which emphasizes prevention versus detection. This paper describes STD-XXX, how it is intended to be used, and the underlying details of its development. This standard offers a practical approach for continuous improvement of the procurement process, and encourages industry innovation and flexibility to achieve the benefits of total quality. Furthermore, the new standard allows the transition from ineffective, inefficient, and costly sampling inspection to prevention by process control and improvement to be made in partnership with the Government.