Patent ID: 7577486

Claim:
A quality improvement system, connected to an input device and external databases for storing quality data obtained through manufacturing processes, the quality improvement system comprising: a knowledge use processing device including a storage device for storing analysis procedure information; and a data processing device for acquiring analysis subject data from the plurality of external databases according to the analysis procedure, analyzing the analysis subject, and generating an analysis result; wherein the knowledge use processing device is operable for: appending engineer comments relating to the analysis result, the engineer comments being input from the input device and stored in the storage device; determining the level of importance of the engineer comments, and extracting suitable analysis procedure information in accordance with the level of importance from the storage device; determining whether specific conditions are met when a problem occurs in the manufacturing processes, the specific conditions including: (i) there is no successful past example coping with said problem in the storage device; (ii) an operator engaged in the manufacturing processes does not select a past example coping with said problem among candidates coping with said problem; and (iii) a coping result in which a past example selected by an operator engaged in the manufacturing processes among the candidates coping with said problem is unsuccessful; alerting when at least one of the specific conditions is met; and determining and outputting a countermeasure for coping with said problem when none of the specific conditions are met.