Yamaha CPX900 User Guide - Page 23

Quality Control from concept to service Yamaha takes the concept of "quality control" way beyond simply checking finished products for defects. In fact, Yamaha maintains dedicated staff and certified world-class facilities that are devoted solely to quality control, ensuring that all products are designed, developed, manufactured, shipped, and serviced with maximum quality maintained throughout the entire process. The Yamaha quality control process can be broadly divided into 6 phases that begin at a guitar's conception and continue for long after it is sold and in the player's hands. 1: Virtual Review - Creating Quality on Paper 2: Initial Prototype - Ideas Become Reality 3: Pre-production Prototype - Refining the Process 4: Production - Non-stop Quality Control 5: Spot Checks and Feedback from the Field -Continued Vigilance 6: In the Player's Hands - Lasting Quality Severe Quality Testing Since quality cannot be fully assured on the basis of theory alone, it becomes necessary to subject actual instruments and parts to "controlled abuse" that tests their actual performance, stability, and reliability to extremes. Yamaha maintains a number of facilities dedicated to physical testing and quality control - including the world-class Yamaha Quality Support Center that houses some of the most advanced and sensitive testing facilities for electronic devices available anywhere, plus some tortuous durability tests that are almost shocking in their severity. The Ultimate Goal The ultimate goal of Yamaha quality control is total customer satisfaction. That not only means delivering guitars that are stable and reliable, but also instruments that fulfill the player's musical needs and are capable of growing and improving along with the player. And when a problem occurs, responsive and effective support becomes an essential element of the quality equation as well. Easier said than done. Like the products themselves, quality management must continually evolve to keep pace with continuously changing markets, user needs, and technology. Yamaha is right at the leading edge. 45 Yamaha Essential Knowledge YASB (Yamaha Artist Services, Burbank) Yamaha's goal is to create guitars that ideally meet the real world needs of professional and amateur musicians who depend on their instruments for their livelihood, art, and enjoyment. Acquiring feedback directly from and cooperating with players in the development of designs and features is the most meaningful, effective way to refine the instruments we produce. With that understanding, Yamaha places great emphasis on communicating with players and providing opportunities for them to evaluate instruments and suggest improvements. YASB is located at the heart of the LA music scene. Most artists are keenly aware of their own needs as well as those of other musicians around them, and are usually happy to evaluate prototypes and share ideas and opinions on how instruments can be improved whenever the opportunity arises. Thus the quality of Yamaha guitars is not only dependent on the designers, craftsmen, and support staff at Yamaha's guitar divisions and factories, but also to a large degree on the players who use them. Yamaha Essential Knowledge 46