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Abstract
Quality control circle (QCC) has been implemented worldwide for many years with substantially positive results and acclaim in various domains. However, situations such as employee business trips, absences, and schedule conflicts have decreased the attendance rates of QCC activities. Paper-based meeting records have not only limited QCC members' access but also hindered energy conservation and carbon reduction efforts. To address these problems, this study applies cloud computing to QCC activities. Specifically, the U-Office Force software is employed to implement cloud-based QCC activities in a small business through the plan-do-check-action method. The results reveal that the introduction of cloud service increases the attendance rate of QCC members regardless of their location, improves the access to data, reduces paper consumption, enhances managers' monitoring of the progress of QCC activities, and enables employees to clearly understand of the operation and procedure of QCC activities.
Keywords: Management, Quality Control Circle, Cloud Service, PDCA
Introduction
Quality Control Circle (QCC) activities are performed by frontline members on-site to address the quality issues within an organization. In addition, these activities involve using creativity, self-reflection, and mutual inspiration to enhance quality control (QC) ideas and practices. To improve QCC activities in organizations by increasing the attendance rate of QCC member discussions and enhancing the efficiency of searching for data and accessing records, this study implemented a cloud computing system through the U-Office Force (UOF) software developed by eExcellence. The cloud software enables convenient online QCC activities and discussions that are not hampered by distance. Even if employees are away from the office, QCC activities can still be held as usual, because discussions can be conducted anytime, with the relevant records, documents, and data stored in the cloud. As employees can access all these data at their convenience, the cloud service truly facilitates the synergy of mutual learning between employees and the organization as a whole.
Literature Review
Numerous studies have researched QCC activities. Juran (1967) claimed that QCC groups consist of departmental work leaders and line operators who voluntarily spend time in meetings and discussion outside of their work hours. Rieker (1985) claimed that QCC is the heart of a quality program that is constituted of voluntary members of normal organizational work crews and their supervisors. Peters (1987) proposed that once...