Basic Overview of Total Quality Management

1. Basic Overview of Total Quality Management The implementation of total quality management (TQM) requires a wide and far- reaching change in a company. It creates impact upon all other operational management decisions. The decision to implement overall quality management concepts is strategic in nature and need firm commitment to set the direction.  The present day concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) focuses on integrating quality into the process rather than simply inspecting poor quality after production. TQM is customer- driven and covers the company as a whole.  Before you proceed, you should know the four quality cost categories. These are the costs of prevention and evaluation, which are costs to prevent poor quality, and the costs of internal and external failure. To understand the evolution of TQM philosophy, one should know 7 concepts of TQM- • Customer focus • Continuous improvement • Employee empowerment • Use of quality tools • Product design • Process management

2. Supplier quality management Total quality management (TQM) is an integrated organizational effort aimed to improve quality at all levels. What is quality? There is no universal definition of quality today. However, the term “quality” can be defined on the basis of a few factors- • Standard performance: Meets the defined performance level.  • Meeting customer needs: Depends on its meeting the requirement of every customer.  • Satisfying the customer: The focus is on satisfying the customers’ needs.  • Conformance to specifications: Measures how well the product or service meets its designers’ objectives and tolerances • Suitability to use: The focus is on the execution of the intended function or use of the product. • Value against price: Quality defined in terms of usefulness of the product or service for the price paid. .

4. Support services: Quality defined in terms of the support provided following the purchase of the product or service. • Psychological criteria: Focuses on evaluating the excellence of the product or service. Evolution of Total Quality Management (TQM) The concept of quality has changed and evolved over time.  • In the early 20th century, quality management focused on inspection of products to ensure that they met the requirements.  • In the 1940’s, quality became more statistical and the focus shifted on monitoring the production process through keeping quality control charts.  • In the 1960s, with the help of so- called “quality gurus” the concept took on a broader meaning as part of the whole organization. • In the late 1970s, the meaning of quality altogether changed. Quality started to have a strategic significance with competitive advantage became one of the major factors. • Today, successful firms know that quality offers a competitive advantage. They put the client first and define quality as meeting or exceeding the expectations of the client.

5. Constituents of Total Quality of Management (TQM) What characterizes TQM is that it focuses on identifying and correcting the root causes of quality problems at source rather than inspecting the product after it has been produced. Here we examine the specific concepts, which make up TQM’s philosophy. 1. Customer Focus: Quality is explained as meeting or exceeding the expectations of the customer. The goal is to identify and then meet customer requirements. TQM recognizes that a perfectly manufactured product has little value if the customer does not want it. We can therefore say that quality is driven by the customer. 2. Continuous Improvement: Another focus of TQM philosophy is continuous improvement. Continuous improvement requires the company to constantly strive to improve itself by learning and solving problems. Since we can never achieve perfection, we always have to evaluate and take measures to improve our performance. 3. Employee Empowerment: The new quality concept, TQM, gives employees incentives to identify quality issues. Employees are considered a crucial element in achieving high quality. Their contributions are highly valued and their proposals are put into practice. Employees are provided with continuous and extensive training in quality measurement tools to perform this function. 4. Use of quality tools: Quality control tools are very useful in identifying and analysing problems related to quality. 

6. 5. Product design: Product design should meet customer requirements in order to deliver quality. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a helpful tool in improving the communication between various functions such as marketing, operations and engineering. 6. Process management: To develop a quality product, a quality process is required. Quality should be built and managed into the process.  7. Supplier quality management: TQM extends the quality concept to suppliers and ensures that they follow the same quality practices.

7. Key Points • Total quality management (TQM) differs from the old concept of quality management because it focuses on serving customers, identifying the causes of quality issues and integrating quality into the production process. • The seven most prominent people, who shaped today’s quality concept, are: Walter A. Shewhart, W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran, Armand V. Feigenbaum, Philip B. Crosby, Kaoru Ishikawa and Genichi Taguchi. • The TQM philosophy combines seven features: customer focus, continuous improvement, employee empowerment, use of quality tools, product design, process management and supplier quality management.  Published by Brainware University