Total quality management (TQM)

Total quality management (TQM) is a management philosophy and strategy designed to

involve all members of an organization in the process and responsibility for producing quality
products and services. TQM is based on the ideas of W. Edward Deming, Philip B. Crosby,
and Joseph M. Juran, quality-control experts in the United States and Japan. TQM was first
associated with the Toyota production system. Companies using a total quality management
system typically incorporate
• just-in-time production (JIT) systems
• business process reengineering, analyzing and redesigning the work environment
• traditional quality systems such as ISO 9000
As a corporate philosophy, TQM includes eight principles.
• Define quality in terms of customers and their requirements.
• Pursue quality at the source.
• Stress objectives rather than subjective measurement and analysis.
• Emphasize prevention rather than detection of defects.
• Focus on process rather than output.
• Strive for zero defects.
• Establish continuous improvement as a way of life.
• Make quality everyone’s responsibility.
The nine total quality management principles lead to sets of activities that will vary,
depending on the nature of the organization. Management professor Robert J. Trent
developed a set of activities for applying TQM to supply-chain management (purchasing),
including the following.
• Identify internal supply-chain customers and establish communication linkages.
• Conduct regular performance reviews.
• Create performance measures that quantify expectations and requirements.
• Involve suppliers early in product and process development.
• Develop a consistent source-selection procedure.
• Upwardly migrate supplier-performance targets.
• Use longer-term contracts selectively.
Traditionally issues of product inspection and quality are associated with manufacturing
processes, but in a total quality management system quality is perceived to be the concern of
all members of the organization. TQM consultant Rod Collard describes the implications of
total quality management programs as
• reductions in staff numbers, particularly those previously responsible for directing others
• changes to a flatter management style, including teamworking and cross-functional teams
• less control of tasks by individuals, since everyone is responsible for quality
While TQM remains a popular and widely used management practice (a 1997 United
Kingdom survey indicated over two-thirds of the country’s 500 largest companies had
implemented TQM), it is subject to a variety of criticisms. Dr. Edward Lestrade, one of the
leading critics of total quality management practices in the United Kingdom, describes the
goal of TQM as being “designed to be motivational, in that it increase the responsibilities of
the employees in the organization and widens the scope of their duties. However, the reality
is that the natural outcome of the organizational total quality management system is to drive
the employee to work harder and longer hours thereby increasing the potential for incidences
of stress-related illness.” In Japan the term karoshi (death from overwork) is associated with
the stress and demands made in organizations practicing TQM. Lestrade concludes, “I
recommend therefore that organizations using TQM, should, for legal, ethical as well as
commercial reason, investigate other methods of management as a matter of some urgency.”
Other critics of TQM are less dramatic than Dr. Lestrade. Many organizations have found
total quality management too deliberative and quantitatively oriented to utilize in fast-
changing markets. Author John Addey identified a variety of myths associated with quality
systems, one of which is the idea that staff follow quality control procedures during their
daily work. Addey suggests that workers actually tend to do what they think will work,
ignoring often-boring and inaccurate or inappropriate quality-control guidelines. Another
myth is that quality audits are a good way to find problems, and managers welcome auditors
as a means of identifying opportunities to improve. As Addey points out, though, quality
audits review only the past, not current situations. Since they are based on samples and are
usually carried out by external staff, they may be resisted by workers in the affected unit.
Addey notes, “In quality management systems effectiveness is rarely assessed; most audits
only check compliance.” He provides many other myths about quality management as well,
including the statement, “If everything is controlled, all will be well.” Addey suggests instead
that sometimes the best control is no control at all.
While it is still espoused in many organizations, TQM probably peaked as a management
system in the United States in the mid-1990s.
See also Deming’s 14 points.

 
Total quality management is a management system for a customer
focused organization that involves all employee in continual improvement
of all aspects of the organization.

TQM concepts is an integrative system that use strategy, data, and

effective communication to integrate the quality principles into the culture
and activities of the organization.

Principles Of  TQM

1- Be Customer focused:

whatever you do for quality improvement, remember that ONLY

customers determine the level of quality, whatever you do to foster

quality  improvement, training employees, integrating quality into

processes management, ONLY customers determine whether your efforts

were  worthwhile.

  2-Insure Total Employee Involvement:

 This done after you remove fear from work place, then empower

employee ... you provide the proper environment.

 
 

3- Process Centered:

 Fundamental part of TQM is to focus on Process thinking.

4- Integrated system:

 All employee must know business mission and vision, must monitor the

process. An integrated business system may be modeled by MBNQA or

ISO 9000.

5- Strategic and systematic approach:

Strategic plan must integrate quality as core component.

6-  Continual Improvement:

Using analytical and creative thinking in finding ways to become more

effective.

7- Fact Based Decision Making:

Decision making must be ONLY on data, not personal thinking or

situational.

8-  Communication :
Communication strategy, method and timeliness must be well defined.

TQM Implementation Approaches

No one solution is effective for planning and implementing TQM

concepts in all situations.

Following are generic models for implementing total quality management

theory:

1- Train top management on TQM principles.

2- Assess the current : Culture, customer satisfaction, quality

management system.

3- Top management determine the core values and principles to be used

and communicate them.

4- Develop TQM master plan based on steps 1,2,3.

5- Identify and prioritize customer needs and determine products or

service to meet those needs.

6- Determine the critical processes to produce those products or services.

7- Create process improvement teams.

8- Managers should support effort by planning, training, time .... to the

team.
9- Integrate changes for improvement in daily process management and

standardizations take place.

10- Evaluate progress against plan (step 8) and adjust as needed.

11- Constant employee awareness and feedback on status are provided

and a reward/ recognition process is established.

Strategies to develop TQM

1-TQM elements approach:

Take key business process and use TQM Tools to foster improvement.

e.g.: quality circles, statistical process control, taguchi method, quality

function deployment.

2 - The guru approach:

Using the guides of one of the leading quality thinker.

3- Organization model approach:

The organization use Benchmarking or MBNQA as model for excellence.

4- Japanese total quality approach:

Companies want to get deming prize use deming principles.

Total Quality Management is an approach to the art of management that originated in
Japanese industry in the 1950's and has become steadily more popular in the West since the
early 1980's.

Total Quality is a description of the culture, attitude and organization of a company that aims
to provide, and continue to provide, its customers with products and services that satisfy their
needs. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the company's operations, with things
being done right first time, and defects and waste eradicated from operations.

Many companies have difficulties in implementing TQM. Surveys by consulting firms have
found that only 20-36% of companies that have undertaken TQM have achieved either
significant or even tangible improvements in quality, productivity, competitiveness or
financial return. As a result many people are sceptical about TQM. However, when you look
at successful companies you find a much higher percentage of successful TQM
implementation.

Some useful messages from results of TQM implementations:

 if you want to be a first-rate company, don't focus on the second-rate companies who
can't handle TQM, look at the world-class companies that have adopted it
 the most effective way to spend TQM introduction funds is by training top
management, people involved in new product development, and people involved with
customers
 it's much easier to introduce EDM/PDM in a company with a TQM culture than in
one without TQM. People in companies that have implemented TQM are more likely
to have the basic understanding necessary for implementing EDM/PDM. For
example, they are more likely to view EDM/PDM as an information and workflow
management system supporting the entire product life cycle then as a departmental
solution for the management of CAD data

Important aspects of TQM include customer-driven quality, top management leadership and

commitment, continuous improvement, fast response, actions based on facts, employee

participation, and a TQM culture.

Customer-driven quality

TQM has a customer-first orientation. The customer, not internal activities and constraints,

comes first. Customer satisfaction is seen as the company's highest priority. The company

believes it will only be successful if customers are satisfied. The TQM company is sensitive

to customer requirements and responds rapidly to them. In the TQM context, `being sensitive
to customer requirements' goes beyond defect and error reduction, and merely meeting

specifications or reducing customer complaints. The concept of requirements is expanded to

take in not only product and service attributes that meet basic requirements, but also those

that enhance and differentiate them for competitive advantage.

Each part of the company is involved in Total Quality, operating as a customer to some

functions and as a supplier to others. The Engineering Department is a supplier to

downstream functions such as Manufacturing and Field Service, and has to treat these

internal customers with the same sensitivity and responsiveness as it would external

customers.

TQM leadership from top management

TQM is a way of life for a company. It has to be introduced and led by top management. This

is a key point. Attempts to implement TQM often fail because top management doesn't lead

and get committed - instead it delegates and pays lip service. Commitment and personal

involvement is required from top management in creating and deploying clear quality values

and goals consistent with the objectives of the company, and in creating and deploying well

defined systems, methods and performance measures for achieving those goals. These

systems and methods guide all quality activities and encourage participation by all

employees. The development and use of performance indicators is linked, directly or

indirectly, to customer requirements and satisfaction, and to management and employee

remuneration.

Continuous improvement

Continuous improvement of all operations and activities is at the heart of TQM. Once it is
recognized that customer satisfaction can only be obtained by providing a high-quality

product, continuous improvement of the quality of the product is seen as the only way to

maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. As well as recognizing the link between

product quality and customer satisfaction, TQM also recognizes that product quality is the

result of process quality. As a result, there is a focus on continuous improvement of the

company's processes. This will lead to an improvement in process quality. In turn this will

lead to an improvement in product quality, and to an increase in customer satisfaction.

Improvement cycles are encouraged for all the company's activities such as product

development, use of EDM/PDM, and the way customer relationships are managed. This

implies that all activities include measurement and monitoring of cycle time and

responsiveness as a basis for seeking opportunities for improvement.

Elimination of waste is a major component of the continuous improvement approach. There

is also a strong emphasis on prevention rather than detection, and an emphasis on quality at

the design stage. The customer-driven approach helps to prevent errors and achieve defect-

free production. When problems do occur within the product development process, they are

generally discovered and resolved before they can get to the next internal customer.

Fast response

To achieve customer satisfaction, the company has to respond rapidly to customer needs.

This implies short product and service introduction cycles. These can be achieved with

customer-driven and process-oriented product development because the resulting simplicity

and efficiency greatly reduce the time involved. Simplicity is gained through concurrent

product and process development. Efficiencies are realized from the elimination of non-

value-adding effort such as re-design. The result is a dramatic improvement in the elapsed
time from product concept to first shipment.

Actions based on facts

The statistical analysis of engineering and manufacturing facts is an important part of TQM.

Facts and analysis provide the basis for planning, review and performance tracking,

improvement of operations, and comparison of performance with competitors. The TQM

approach is based on the use of objective data, and provides a rational rather than an

emotional basis for decision making. The statistical approach to process management in both

engineering and manufacturing recognizes that most problems are system-related, and are not

caused by particular employees. In practice, data is collected and put in the hands of the

people who are in the best position to analyze it and then take the appropriate action to reduce

costs and prevent non-conformance. Usually these people are not managers but workers in

the process. If the right information is not available, then the analysis, whether it be of shop

floor data, or engineering test results, can't take place, errors can't be identified, and so errors

can't be corrected.

Employee participation

A successful TQM environment requires a committed and well-trained work force that

participates fully in quality improvement activities. Such participation is reinforced by reward

and recognition systems which emphasize the achievement of quality objectives. On-going

education and training of all employees supports the drive for quality. Employees are

encouraged to take more responsibility, communicate more effectively, act creatively, and

innovate. As people behave the way they are measured and remunerated, TQM links

remuneration to customer satisfaction metrics.

A TQM culture

It's not easy to introduce TQM. An open, cooperative culture has to be created by

management. Employees have to be made to feel that they are responsible for customer

satisfaction. They are not going to feel this if they are excluded from the development of

visions, strategies, and plans. It's important they participate in these activities. They are

unlikely to behave in a responsible way if they see management behaving irresponsibly -

saying one thing and doing the opposite.

Product development in a TQM environment

Product development in a TQM environment is very different to product development in a

non-TQM environment. Without a TQM approach, product development is usually carried on

in a conflictual atmosphere where each department acts independently. Short-term results

drive behavior so scrap, changes, work-arounds, waste, and rework are normal practice.

Management focuses on supervising individuals, and fire-fighting is necessary and rewarded.

Product development in a TQM environment is customer-driven and focused on quality.

Teams are process-oriented, and interact with their internal customers to deliver the required

results. Management's focus is on controlling the overall process, and rewarding teamwork.

Awards for Quality achievement

The Deming Prize has been awarded annually since 1951 by the Japanese Union of Scientists

and Engineers in recognition of outstanding achievement in quality strategy, management and

execution. Since 1988 a similar award (the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award) has

been awarded in the US. Early winners of the Baldrige Award include AT&T (1992), IBM

(1990), Milliken (1989), Motorola (1988), Texas Instruments (1992) and Xerox (1989).