Quality makes or breaks an organization. Without continuous quality improvement, performance fails, sales drop, and organizations die. This course delves into three essential truths: 1) the customer is the ultimate judge of quality; 2) every process has variation, which must be fully understood before it can be improved; and 3) a lean, mean, structured plan will make problem solving a cinch when it comes to process improvement. Students will learn more than just the technical aspects of quality management; they will also learn the history and modern application of quality, quality management tool interfaces, and what it takes to be a leader in quality as a profession. prereq: none, but knowledge of statistics will be very helpful.