ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM IN

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

MASTER’S DEGREE THESIS

ON

IMPROVEMENT OF OPERATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY OF

MAINTENANCE AND ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES
THROUGH THE USE OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
-A CASE STUDY ON ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES

Submitted to Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Technology, Department of

Mechanical Engineering, in Partial Fulfillment for the Award of the Degree of
Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Industrial Engineering Stream)

Thesis Advisor: Prof. D.G.L Chandra Rao

By Behailu Assamenew

December 2006
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Acknowledgement

The study on this thesis is made in the Faculty of Technology, Addis Ababa University.
While conducting this research many people have provided their kind and unreserved support
directly and indirectly. Without their help, this thesis wouldn’t have come to the present stage.
It is my pleasure to take this opportunity to thank all those who sacrificed their precious time
for the successful completion of this thesis.

First of all, I would like to express my deepest and heartfelt thanks to my advisor Prof.D.G.L
Chandra Rao for his unreserved and continuous assistance while doing this thesis. His
encouragement, excellent guidance, creative suggestions and critical comments have greatly
contributed to this thesis. I am really indebted to his daily supervision and motivation that has
reflected in this work. I enjoyed the discussions we had while doing this thesis. I have learnt a
great deal of knowledge and skills from his guidance.

Next, I am highly indebted to Ethiopian Airlines to give me the permission to conduct my

case study in the maintenance and engineering division. I would like to thank all employees in
the company especially those in the “TQM” department in laying out the foundation for my
research study by providing me with the necessary inputs and information and helping me to
effectively communicate with other departments in the division.

Moreover, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr.Eng. Daniel Kitaw for his important
comments and suggestions in doing this thesis. I had considerable and very useful discussions
while conducting the thesis.

Last but not least, my appreciation goes to my father who has encouraged and inspired me for
the successful completion of this thesis and provided me with considerable help in my work.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Abstract
Total Quality Management (TQM) has become a frequently used term in the discussions
regarding quality. The international and national competitive environment is in a process of
constant change by the globalization of markets and increased interdependence of economic
agents. This process of change has brought increased demands on the organizations’
competitiveness and the customers have gained a central role in the organizations’ focus.
TQM is considered to be an important management philosophy, which supports the
organizations in their efforts to maintain satisfied customers.

The aviation industry is the most safety requiring industry where a single malfunction or fault
may lead to the fatal and catastrophic accident of life and property. Organizations engaged in
this industry should constantly monitor all tasks in order to assure the safety of flight and to
stay as a working unit in the competitive market and serve their customers. This will come
true when existing employees in these organizations are trained to acquire all the demands
placed on this technology and when they are satisfied with the environment in the
organizations to develop the sense of belongingness and inspiration so as to satisfy and
exceed their customers’ needs and aspirations.

In the aviation industry, operators need to be licensed by regulatory bodies to exist in the
industry. However, the major focus of these regulatory bodies is conformance to requirements
instead of system wise quality management. Hence a need has come for the airlines to
establish total quality achievement to be better competitors in the industry.

This thesis focuses on the improvement of operational productivity of aircraft maintenance

and engineering activities in Ethiopian Airlines through the use of TQM. A thorough
investigation of TQM implementation is conducted in the maintenance and engineering
division of the airline by assessing the accomplishment of the existing quality related
activities in relation to TQM philosophies. The results obtained by studying the
implementation of TQM in this division indicate that still a lot of effort is required to achieve
productivity improvement through TQM. The existing “TQM” department in this division is
actually performing quality assurance activities. This is more elaborated in this study and a
model TQM implementation is suggested later to actually obtain the benefits of TQM
implementation.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

List of Tables

S.No Table Title Page No

1 2.1 The American quality gurus compared 25
2 2.2 TQM culture change 27
3 2.3 Maintenance requirements compared to ISO series 34
requirements
4 3.1 Various areas of quality audits for a medium size airline 62
5 3.2 Inputs to determine dispatch reliability 68
6 3.3 Inputs to determine alert status 69
7 4.1 Flight cancellation rate 71
8 4.2 Flight delay rate 72
9 4.3 Flight total hours delay rate 73
10 4.4 Number of revenue departures 74
11 4.5 Average% dispatch reliability 75
12 4.6 Frequency of technical incidents 77
13 4.7 Yearly employee turnover 78
14 5.1 Summery of data collected 83
15 5.2 Force Field Analysis 88
16 5.3 Result conversion 90
17 5.4 Frequency table 91
18 5.5 RxC Observed value for customer focus approach & 93
management commitment
19 5.6 Expected frequency table 94
2
20 5.7 calculated value 94
21 5.8 RxC Observed value for employee performance 95
measurement & customer focus
22 5.9 Expected frequency 95
2
23 5.10 calculated value 95
24 6.1 TQM implementation and cost estimation 123
25 6.2 TQM monetary benefit 124

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

List of figures
S.No Figure Title Page No
1 1.1 Organization of the thesis and summery of methodology 5
followed
2 2.1 Benefits of the TQM programme 15
3 2.2 How TQM works 16
4 2.3 The Deming’ s improvement cycle 18
5 2.4 Cost of quality 31
6 3.1 Organization Chart 39
7 3.2 Typical maintenance and engineering organization 41
8 4.1 Cancellation run chart 71
9 4.2 Delay run chart 72
10 4.3 Total hours delay run chart 73
11 4.4 Revenue departure run chart 74
12 4.5 Dispatch reliability run chart 76
13 4.6 Technical incidents run chart 77
14 4.7 Histogram of employee turnover 78
15 5.1 Graphical display of questionnaire result 84
16 5.2 Relations diagram 89
17 5.3 Pareto chart 90
18 5.4 Decision alternatives 92
19 5.5 5HODWLRQVKLSEHWZHHQ740HOHPHQWVEDVHGRQ WHVW 96
20 6.1 A frame work of TQM 100
21 6.2 A Model of TQM Implementation Practices 101
22 6.3 TQM Implementation Action Plan 121
23 6.4 TQM Implementation Processes with the Deming’ s PDCA 122
cycle

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

List of abbreviations

A&P Airframe & Power plant

ANSI American National Institute of Standards
ASQC American Society for Quality Control
ATA Air Transport Association
B-757 Boeing 757
CAA Civil Aviation Authority
CASS Continuing Analysis & Surveillance Systems
CEO Chief Executive Officer
CFR Code of Federal Regulation
CMM Component Maintenance Manual
COO Chief Operating Officer
EAL, ETHIOPIAN, ETH Ethiopian Airlines
EASA European Association of Suppliers Agency
ECAA TD Ethiopian Civil Aviation Technical Directive
F-50 Fokker 50 Aircraft
FAA Federal Aviation Administration
FAR Federal Aviation Regulation
FR Foreign Repair
HFM Human Factors in Maintenance
IPM Inspection Procedure Manual
IOSA IATA Operational Safety Audit
ISO International Organization for Standards
MCC Maintenance Control Center
M&E Maintenance and Engineering
MPD Maintenance Planning Data Document
MPE Maintenance Program Evaluation
NDT/NDI Non Destructive Test/Inspection
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
OJT On-Job Training
PDCA Plan Do Check Act
PFA Prevention, Appraisal Failure
QC &QA Quality Control & Quality Assurance
RPM Reliability Program Manual
SWOT Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat
TCCA Transport Canada Civil Aviation
TQC/M Total Quality Control/Management
TPPM Technical Policies and Procedures Manual
VP Vice President

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1Background

In capturing increased market share, quality has been the main concern of every manufacturer
or service giving organization since olden days. Started with the inspection concept, it is
moved to the quality control concept, when it was realized that making the inspection
department responsible for the quality would be less productive. Concept of quality control
emphasizes self-inspection and appropriate systems to assure quality by identifying defectives
and eliminating them. Later the concept of quality assurance came in to practice. But the
quality movement did not stop with this and the attempt is to continuously improve the
quality and assure higher and higher standards of quality, offer better products and services to
the customer .It was felt that quality was not only the job of quality control department but
also of other departments like sales, procurement, material handling, accounting, industrial
relations, design, production, forecasting, marketing, stores and after sales service. Thus
quality is the responsibility of all the employees. The workers should run the system;
managers should design and improve the system; while the top management should provide
leader ship and team spirit. Total Quality Management (TQM) 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. TQM is at first glance seen primarily as a change
in an organization'
s technology of doing work. In the human services, this means the way
clients are processed the service delivery methods applied to them and ancillary
organizational processes such as paperwork, procurement processes, and other procedures.
Next TQM is also a change in an organization'
s culture , its norms, values, and belief systems
that aims to provide, and continue to provide, its customers with products and services that
satisfy their needs and even to exceed their expectations. 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. And finally, it is a change in an organization'
s political
system, decision-making processes and power bases. For substantive change to occur,
changes in these three dimensions must be aligned: TQM as a technological change will not
be successful unless cultural and political dimensions are attended as well.
Effective TQM results in greater customer satisfaction, fewer defects, less waste, reduced
costs, improved profitability and increased productivity. For the effectiveness of TQM
programme a careful analysis of the customer’ s needs, and an assessment of the extent to

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

which these needs are currently met, and a suitable plan to fill up the gap between the current
level and expectation is necessary. For the success of TQM, top managers must provide vision
mission and, reinforce values emphasizing quality, set quality goals, and deploy necessary
resources for these quality programs. For this purpose, training and development free flow of
information is essential. The top managers must continuously monitor, evaluate, get feedback
about TQM program and take necessary steps for its improvement.
Customer satisfaction is one of the most important aspect of TQM .The customer may be
external to the organization or maybe inside the organization. Meeting the needs of outside
customers depends on meeting the needs of inside customers. Inside customer is an individual
or department receiving the output of another individual or department of the concern. From
the above we can say that TQM involves effective decision-making, problem solving and
integration of quality planning, quality implementation and quality improvement strategies of
all the departments of an organization, committed and involved employees, lower costs,
higher revenue and higher profit for the organization.

1.2 Statement of the problem

In the modern, global and competitive aviation industry, survival in a market is the result of
continuous struggle and strive for delivery of better products and services. Products and
services will constantly address the needs and expectations of customers only if an
organization is able to manage the quality of its products/services systematically. Though
Ethiopian Airlines has longstanding experience in the aviation industry, there are still many
problems of quality that need to be addressed through an effective and efficient
implementation of TQM. Here are few of them to list:

a) Paying more attention to quality control and conformance to regulatory bodies’

requirements but with less achievement in quality assurance activities and total quality
management.

b) Considerable flight delays, cancellations and technical incidents which result in

customers’ dissatisfaction.

c) Huge employee turnover mainly to get a better standard of living in developed

countries.

d) Extension/postponding of Maintenance and Engineering tasks over the scheduled time.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

e) Lack of most optimum quality management technique for production planning and
control tasks in the maintenance and engineering areas.

f) Lack of awareness of quality by most employees and sections in performing their

specific tasks.

g) Minimum aircraft utilization, lower dispatch reliability below the objective and higher
maintenance man-hour.

h) Minimum commitment to conduct trainings as per training schedules.

1.3 Objective of the thesis

Taking the above problems in to consideration, this thesis attempts to achieve the following
objectives:

1.3.1 General objectives

a) To find out the most optimum way of assuring quality of maintenance and engineering
activities.
b) To make every employee responsible for quality and continuous improvement.
c) To direct the vision, mission and guiding principles of quality towards TQM.
d) To help attain a potential of satisfying and exceeding internal and external customers’
needs.
1.3.2 Specific objectives
a) Deep analysis of problems created by poor quality management systems that lower
operational performance.
b) Identifying the causes of quality problems.
c) Suggesting possible solution to improve quality through the use of TQM.

1.4 Scope of the thesis

This thesis entirely focuses on exercising TQM implementation in the M&E division of
Ethiopian Airlines. On this basis, a deep investigation and study has been conducted to
examine the existing quality related activities currently underway in this division and there by
evaluate the actual practice of TQM philosophies and the benefits that can be derived from it.
Hence a thorough investigation has been conducted in all those sections under the M&E

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

division and other related divisions which may serve as inputs to the collection of information
and data.

1.5 Methodology

• Literature review: The survey will include about Total Quality Management (TQM).
• Survey of previous relevant works. Review of previously accomplished thesis works,
relevant articles and other documents on TQM on ETHIOPIAN and other industries.
• Interview ETHIOPIAN employees and representatives of regulatory bodies.
• Distribution of Questionnaires to ETHIOPIAN employees to gather the necessary
information, consultation and personal observation at the ETHIOPIAN.
• Relevant data collection, interpretation and analysis.
• TQM model development and interpretation, and finally conclusion and
recommendation.

1.6 Application of the thesis results

Ethiopian Airlines (EAL) will benefit from the application of the thesis result in:
• Operational Productivity improvement of maintenance and engineering activities
through the actual implementation of TQM.
• Maintaining consistent customer satisfaction and increased market share.
• Creating a conducive environment and changing traditional methods and culture of
quality control and quality assurance to a modern way of TQM in the organization.
The result can also be applied with slight modification to other manufacturing and service
giving organizations.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Figure 1.1 Organization of the thesis and summery of methodology followed

Preparation Stage (1)

Related Projects, Self Consulting

Books Thesis& Articles Knowledge

Information Gathering& Data Collection (2)

Personal Questionnaire Employee ETHIOPIAN

Observation Interview Document
Investigation

Result Discussion (3) Result Analysis (3)

2
Result Force Field Cause & Relationship test
Discussion Pareto Effect

Model Development (4)

TQM Action Plan Implementation

Frame Work Model & Schedule & Cost
Implementation Benefit Analysis
process

Conclusion & Recommendation (5)

Conclusion Recommendation

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Chapter 2: Literature review

2.1 Definition of quality

The term quality is a relative term and has different meanings to different people or authors.
Some of them are:
According to Garvin. D.A:
*Quality is a multi-dimensional perspective-based concept: Performance, features,
reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics and perceived quality. [12]
According to Deming:
*Quality can be defined only in terms of the agent. Who is the judge of quality? Thus,
quality may mean different things to different people.
According to Juran:
*Quality is fitness for use. Therefore, quality products should meet or exceed customer
requirements.
According to Crosby:
*Quality is conformance to requirements. Thus requirements must be clearly stated so that
they cannot be misunderstood [4].

It is also possible to define quality by looking at it from different angles such as:
a) Customer based: Fitness for use, meeting customer expectations.
b) Manufacturing based: Conforming to design, specifications, or requirements.
Having no defect.
c) Product based: The product has something that other products don’ t, that adds
value.
d) Value based: The product is the best combination of price and features [6].

2.2 Evolution of quality management

The development of quality management can be defined in four stages:
(a) Quality inspection stage;
(b) Quality control stage;
(c) Quality assurance stage;
(d) Total quality management stage.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

2.2.1 Quality inspection stage

Quality management started with simple inspection-based systems. Under such a system, one
or more characteristics of a product are examined, measured or tested and compared with
specified requirements to assess its conformity. This system is used to appraise incoming
products, manufactured components and assemblies at appropriate points in the production
process. It is undertaken mainly by staff employed specifically for this purpose. Products
which do not conform to specification may be scrapped, reworked or sold as lower quality
items. In some cases, inspection is used to grade the finished products. The system is an after-
the-fact screening process with no prevention content other than, perhaps, the identification of
suppliers, operations or workers manufacturing non-conforming products. Simple inspection-
based systems are usually wholly in-house and do not directly involve suppliers or customers
[7].

2.2.2 Quality control stage

Under a system of quality control, product testing and documentation control became the
ways to ensure greater process control and reduced non-conformance. Typical characteristics
of such systems were performance-data collection, feedback to earlier stages in the process,
paperwork control, use of basic statistics, basic quality planning, product testing and self-
inspection. While screening, inspection was again the main mechanism for preventing
products which were outside the specification from being shipped to customers. Quality
control measures led to greater process control and a lower incidence of non-conformance.
[7].

2.2.3 Quality assurance stage

The quality assurance stage came with the change away from product quality towards system
quality. In this stage, an organization sets up a system for controlling what is being done and
the system is audited to ensure that it is adequate both in design and use. A major part of this
change is the use of both second-party and third-party audits to assess the efficiency of the
system. The major characteristics of this stage are the use of quality manuals, procedures,
work instructions, quality planning, quality audits, etc. The fundamental difference is that
quality assurance is prevention-based while quality control is inspection-based [7].

2.2.4 Total quality management stage

Total quality management stage is the highest level, involving the application of quality
management principles to all aspects of the business. Total quality management requires that

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

the principles of quality management be applied in every branch and at every level in an
organization. Typical of an organization going through a total quality process would be a clear
and unambiguous vision, few interdepartmental barriers, time spent on training, excellent
supplier and customer relations and the realization that quality is not just product quality but
also the quality of the whole organization, including sales, finance, personnel and other non-
manufacturing functions [7].

2.3 The total quality approach

Total quality is an approach to doing business that attempts to maximize the competitiveness
of an organization through the continual improvement of quality of its products, services,
people, and environment [8].

2.3.1 How total quality is achieved?

Total quality approach has the following characteristics:

a) Strategically based: Total quality organizations have comprehensive strategic plan that
contains at least the following elements: Vision, mission, broad objectives, and
activities that must be completed to accomplish the broad objectives. The strategic
plan of total quality organization is designed to give it a sustainable competitive
advantage in the market place.
b) Customer focus: In a total quality setting, the customer is the deriver. This point
applies to both internal and external customers. External customers define the quality
of product or service delivered. Internal customers help define the quality of the
people, processes, and environment associated with the product or service.
c) Obsession with quality: In a total quality organization, internal and external customers
define quality. With quality defined, the organization must then become obsessed with
meeting or exceeding this definition. All personnel at all levels approach all aspects of
the job from the perspective of “How can we do this better?”. When an organization is
obsessed with quality, good enough is never good enough.
d) Scientific approach: Although it is true that people skills, involvement and
empowerment are important in a total quality setting, they represent only a part of the
equation. Another important part is the use of scientific approach in structuring work
and decision making and problem solving that relates to the work. This means hard

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

date is used in establishing benchmarks, monitoring performance and making

improvements.
e) Long-term commitment: Organizations that implement management innovations after
attending short-term seminars often fail in their initial attempt to adopt the total
quality approach. This is because they approach total quality as just another
management innovation rather than as a whole new way of doing business that
requires a whole new corporate culture.
f) Team work: In traditionally managed organizations, the best competitive efforts are
often between departments with in the organization. Internal competition tends to use
energy that should be focused on improving quality and in turn, external
competitiveness.
g) Continuous process improvement: Products are developed and services are delivered
by people using processes with in environments (systems). To continually improve the
quality of products or services-which is a fundamental goal in a total quality setting-it
is necessary to continually improve systems.
h) Freedom through control: In a quality leadership there is control, yet there is freedom.
There is control over the best-known method for any given process. Employees
standardize processes and find ways to ensure every one follows the standard
procedures. They reduce variation in input by reducing variation in the way work is
done. As these changes take hold, they are free to spend time eliminating problems, to
discover new markets and to gain greater mastery over processes.
i) Unity of purpose: From the perspective of total quality, who or what is to blame for
adversarial management-labor relation is irrelevant. To apply total quality approach,
organizations must have unity of purpose. This means that internal politics has no
place in a total quality organization. Rather, collaboration should be the norm.
j) Employee involvement and empowerment: This is one of the most misunderstood
elements of the total quality approach and one of the most misrepresented by its
detractors. It is the recognition that many decisions made in an organization can be
made better by soliciting the inputs for those who may be affected by the decision. It
is an understanding that people at all levels of an organization possess unique talents,
skills, and creativity that can be of significant value if allowed to be expressed. The
basis of involving employees is twofold. First, it increases the likelihood of a good
decision, a better plan, or a more effective improvement by bringing more minds to
bear on the situation-not just any minds, but the minds of the people who are closest to

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

the work in question. Second, it promotes ownership of decisions by involving the

people who will have to implement them. Empowerment means not just involving
people but involving them in ways that give them a real voice. The difference between
involvement and empowerment is just having input and input that is heard, seriously
considered and followed up on whether it is accepted or not [8].

2.4 Leadership and change

2.4.1 Leadership defined

Leadership is the ability to inspire people to make a total, willing and voluntarily
commitment to accomplish or exceeding organizational goals. [8]
This definition contains a key concept that makes it particularly applicable in a total quality
management: The concept of inspiring people. Inspiring people is a higher order of human
interaction than motivating them. Inspiration means motivation that has been internalized and
therefore comes from within employees, as opposed to motivation that is simply a temporary
response to external stimuli. Motivated employees commit to the organization’ s goals while
inspired employees make those goals their own. When employees are inspired, the total,
willing and voluntarily commitment described in the definition follows naturally.

2.4.2 Critical things leaders must be able to do

a) Overcome resistance to change: Some people in management positions attempt to do

this using power and control .Those who are leaders overcome resistance by achieving
a total, willing and voluntary commitment to shared values and goals.
b) Broke the needs of constituency groups inside and outside the organization: When the
needs of the company and one of its suppliers appear to conflict, leaders must be able
to find ways of bringing the needs of both organizations together without
shortchanging either of them.
c) Establish an ethical framework within which all employees and their company as a
whole operate: This is best accomplished by setting an example of ethical behavior,
choosing ethical people as team members, communicating a sense of purpose for the
organization, reinforcing appropriate behaviors with in the organization and outside of
it, articulating ethical positions, internally and externally [8].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

2.4.3 Leadership versus misleaders

In his book Managers for the Future: The 1990’s and Beyond, Peter Drucker makes the point
that leadership is not a function of charisma. Too many managers have been led to believe
that dressing for success and developing a charismatic appearance are the keys to being a
good leader. Although there is something to be said to for personal appearance, and charisma
is certainly not a negative quality, one shouldn’ t make the mistake of confusing image with
substance. Those who place image above substance and try to lead are misleaders, not leaders.
What follows are several criteria Drucker uses to distinguish leaders from misleaders.
a) Leaders define and clearly articulate the organization’ s mission.
b) Leaders set goals, priorities and standards.
c) Leaders see leadership as a responsibility rather than a privilege or rank.
d) Leaders surround themselves with knowledgeable and strong people who can make a
contribution.
e) Leaders earn trust, respect and integrity [8].

2.4.4 Leadership style in TQM

Leadership styles have to be with how people interact with those they need to lead.
Leadership styles usually fall in five categories namely, autocratic, democratic, participative,
goal-oriented, and situational leadership styles. The appropriate leadership style in TQM is
participative leadership taken to a higher level. Whereas participative leadership in the
traditional sense involves soliciting employee input, in TQM setting it involves soliciting
inputs from empowered employees, listening to that input and acting on it. Collecting
employee input is not new. However, collecting input, logging it in, tracking it, acting on it in
an appropriate manner, working with employees to improve weak suggestions rather than
simply rejecting them and rewarding employees for improvements that result from their input-
all of which are normal in TQM setting-extended beyond traditional approach to participative
leadership[8].

2.4.5 Leadership characteristics in TQM that build and maintain followership

Leaders build and maintain follower ship by earning the respect of those they lead. Some of
their characteristics are:

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

a) Sense of purpose: Successful leaders know where they fit in the organization and the
contributions their areas of responsibility make to the success of the organization.
b) Self-discipline: Through self-discipline, leaders avoid negative self-indulgence,
inappropriate displays of emotion such as anger and counterproductive responses to
the everyday pressure of the job and they set an example of handling problems and
pressures with equilibrium and positive attitude.
c) Honesty: Successful leaders are trusted by their followers. This is because they are
open, honest and forthright with other members of the organization and with
themselves.
d) Credibility: Successful leaders have credibility. Credibility is established by being
knowledgeable, consistent fair and impartial in all human interaction; by setting a
positive example; and by adhering to the same standards of performance and behavior
expected of others.
e) Common sense: Successful leaders have common sense. They know what is important
in a given situation and what is not. They know that applying tact is important when
dealing with people. They know when to be flexible and when to be firm.
f) Stamina: Successful leaders must have stamina. Frequently they need to be the first to
arrive and the last to leave. Their hours are likely to be longer and the pressures they
face more intense pressures than others.
g) Commitment: Successful leaders are committed to the goals of the organization, the
people they work with and their own ongoing personal and professional development.
They are willing to do every thing within the limits of the law, professional ethics and
company policy to help their team succeed.
h) Steadfastness: Successful leaders are steadfast and resolute. People don’ t follow a
person they perceive to be wishy-washy and noncommittal [8].

2.4.6 Pitfalls that can undermine followership

Mangers should also be aware of several common pitfalls that can undermine follower-ship
and the respect managers must work so hard to earn. Some are:
a) Trying to be buddy: Positive relations and good rapport are important, but leaders are
not the buddies of those they lead. The nature of the relationship doesn’ t allow it.
b) Having an intimate relationship with an employee: This practice is unwise and
unethical. A positive manager-employee relationship can’ t exist under such

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

circumstances. Few people can succeed at being the lover of the boss, and few things
can damage the morale of the team so quickly and completely.
c) Trying to keep things the same when supervising former peers: The supervisor-
employee relationship, no matter how positive, is different from peer-peer
relationship. This can be a difficult task to accept and a difficult adjustment to make.
But it is an adjustment that must be made if the peer-turned-supervisor is going to
succeed as a leader [8].

2.4.7 Leadership versus management

Leadership and management, although both are needed in the modern work place, are not the
same thing. According to John P. Kotler, leadership and management are two distinctive and
complementary systems of action. Kotler lists the following differences between management
and leadership:
a) Management is about copying with complexity; leadership is copying with change.
b) Management is about planning and budgeting with complexity; leadership is about
setting the direction for change through the creation of a vision.
c) Management develops the capacity to carryout the plans through organizing and
staffing; leadership aligns people to work toward vision.
d) Management ensures the accomplishment of plans through controlling and problem
solving; leadership motivates and inspires people to want to accomplish the plan.

Field Marshall Sir Williamk Slim, who led the British Army’ s brilliant re-conquest of Burma
during World War II, made the distinction between leadership and management as:
“Managers are necessary, leaders are essential….Leadership is of the spirit, compounded
of personality and vision ….Management is of the mind, more a matter of accurate
calculation, statistics, methods, timetables and routine.”
In summery:
a) Managers administer; leaders innovate.
b) Managers are copies; leaders are originals.
c) Managers maintain; leaders develop.
d) Managers focus on systems and structures; leaders focus on people.
e) Managers rely on control; leaders inspire.
f) Mangers take the short view; leaders take the long view.
g) Managers ask how and when; leaders ask what and why.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

h) Managers accept the status quo; leaders challenge it.

i) Managers do things right; leaders do the right thing [8].

2.5 Total quality management (TQM)

2.5.1 TQM defined

It has come as a reality that customers place a higher value on quality and price is no longer
the determining factor in customers’ choice. Price has been replaced by quality. Today’ s
business environment is such that managers must plan strategically to maintain a hold on
market share, let alone increase it. As quality is the concern of all in an organization in the
total quality concept, total quality concepts should be integrated with effective and efficient
management/leadership philosophy to yield TQM [18].

TQM is a management philosophy that seeks to integrate all organizational functions

(marketing, finance, design, engineering, and production, customer service, etc.) to focus on
meeting customer needs and organizational objectives.

TQM views an organization as a collection of processes. It maintains that organizations must

strive to continuously improve these processes by incorporating the knowledge and
experiences of workers. The simple objective of TQM is "Do the right things, right the first
time, every time". TQM is infinitely variable and adaptable. Although originally applied to
manufacturing operations, and for a number of years only used in that area, TQM is now
becoming recognized as a generic management tool, just as applicable in service and public
sector organizations. There are a number of evolutionary strands, with different sectors
creating their own versions from the common ancestor [17].

Total Quality Management (TQM)

Total: Quality involves everyone and all activities in the company.

Quality: Conformance to requirements (meeting customer requirements).

Management: Quality can and must be managed.

TQM: A process for managing quality; it must be a continuous way of life; a philosophy of
perpetual improvement in everything we do [22].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

TQM is the foundation for activities, which include: Commitment by senior management and
all employees ,meeting customer requirements ,reducing development cycle times ,just in
time/demand flow manufacturing ,improvement teams ,reducing product and service costs
,systems to facilitate improvement ,line management ownership ,employee involvement and
empowerment ,recognition and celebration ,challenging quantified goals and benchmarking
,focus on processes / improvement plans ,specific incorporation in strategic planning. This
shows that all personnel, in manufacturing, marketing, engineering, R&D, sales, purchasing,
HR, etc, must practice TQM in all activities [24].
2.5.2 The benefits of TQM programme

Benefits for the customers

Fewer problems Better customer Greater

with the product or care satisfaction
service

Benefits for the company

Quality Staff is more Productivity

improvement motivated increases

Cost reduction Defects fall Problems resolved

faster

Benefits for staff

Empowerment More training, More recognition

more skills

Figure 2.1 Benefits of the TQM programme

Some of these benefits are common to many quality initiatives. Advantages which are unique
to TQM are as follows [28]:
› It makes the company a leader, not a follower.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

› It fosters team work.

› It makes the company more sensitive to customer needs.
› It makes the company adapt more readily to change.
› It lets staff from different departments meet each other.

2.5.3 How does TQM work?

As shown in Figure 2.2, a TQM programme creates continuous improvement. This reduces
waste and improves customer satisfaction. Both these factors lead to more profit [28].

TQM
program

Continuous
improvement
Reduce
waste and Satisfies
error customer’ s
needs

Reduces Increases
cost sales

Increases
profit

Figure 2.2 How TQM works

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

2.6 Learning from the quality pioneers

2.6.1. W. Edwards Deming

W. Edwards Deming was born on October 14, 1900 in Sioux, Iowa. Deming graduated with a
B.S in physics from the University of Wyoming in 1921, and graduated from Yale with a
Ph.D in mathematical physics in 1928. He worked for the U.S Census Bureau during and after
World War II. In 1950, Deming went to Japan to help conduct a population census, and
lectured to top business leaders on statistical quality control. Deming told the Japanese they
could become world -class quality leaders if they followed his advice. Today Deming is
generally regarded as the top leader in quality management, and still cited as the founder of
the third wave of the industrial revolution (the first wave occurred in the early 19th century
with simple automation, the second wave occurred with assembly concepts in the late 19th
century, and the third wave is occurring with the information /computer revolution) [16].

Deming has summarized his quality philosophies into 14 steps. These are:

a) Create constancy of purpose towards improvement of product and service.

b) Adopt the new philosophy. Management must learn that it is a new economic age and
awaken to the challenge, learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
c) Cease dependence on mass inspection. Require, instead, statistical evidence that quality
is built in.
d) End the practice of awarding contract on the basis of low price.
e) It is management’ s job to work continually on the system of production and services,
to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly reduce cost.
f) Institute modern methods of training on the job.
g) Institute leadership. The purpose of leadership should be to help people and
technology work together.
h) Drive out fear, so that every one may work effectively for the company.
i) Break down barriers between departments so that people can work as a team.
j) Eliminate numerical goals, posters, and slogans for the workforce asking for new
levels of productivity without providing methods.
k) Eliminate quotas and management by objectives. Substitute leadership.
l) Eliminate barriers that rob employees of their pride of workman ship.
m) Institute a vigorous program of education and retraining.
n) Make the transformation everyone’ s job and put everyone to work no it.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Deming’ s seven deadly diseases

The fourteen points summarize Deming’ s view on what a company must for a positive
transformation from business as usual to world-class quality. The seven deadly diseases
summarize the factors that he believes can inhibit such a transformation.
a) Lack of consistency of purpose to plan products and services that have a market
sufficient to keep the company in business and provide jobs.
b) Emphasis on short-term profits
c) Personal review systems for managers and management by objectives without
providing methods or resources to accomplish objectives.
d) Job hopping by managers.
e) Using only visible data and information in decision-making with little or no
consideration given to what is not known or can’ t be known.
f) Excessive medical costs.
g) Excessive costs of liability driven up by lawyers who work on contingency fees. [8]

The Deming Cycle which means, “Plan - Do - Check - Act " is also known as the control
circle or PDCA. It is a four step, never ending process for solving problems, planning,
making decisions and process improvement.
Plan
Do

Check
Fig.2.3 The Deming’ s improvement cycle Action
Cycle

Deming uses the PDCA cycle to unite his seven deadly diseases, fourteen points, and
statistical techniques into continuous, never-ending process of TQM. The PDCA cycle
provides a model or process for teams. It can be applied to any process including a budget,
vacation, company goals, or any correction actions. It is based on the simple premise that to
achieve quality one must plan for it, do (implement) it, check (analyze) the results, and act
(take action) for improvement [18].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

2.6.2 Joseph M. Juran

Joseph M. Juran was born in 1904 in Romania, and came to the United States in 1912. A
holder of degree in engineering and law, he advanced to the positions of quality manager at
Western Electric Company, government administrator and professor of engineering at New
York University before embarking on a consulting career in 1950. Juran is regarded as one of
the architects of the quality revolution in Japan, where he lectured and consulted frequently,
starting in 1954. In 1979, he founded the Juran institute, which conducts quality training
seminars and publishes quality-related works.

Juran’ s idea of meeting customer’ s needs was based on five quality characteristics:
Technological (strength); Psychological (beauty); Time oriented (reliability); Contractual
(guarantee); and Ethical (sales staff courtesy).
Quality management according to Juran consisted of three basic processes (Juran Trilogy):
a) Quality Planning: - A process, which identifies the customers, their needs, product
service features, and the process that will deliver all the right attributes and then
facilitate this knowledge through out the organization.
b) Quality Control: - A process where products are examined and evaluated against the
original requirements of the customer. And then any corrections needed are made.
c) Quality Improvement: - A process in which a sustaining mechanism for continuous
quality improvement are placed. It involves the establishment of permanent structure to
pursue quality and maintain the gains already secured.

He also recommended a project-by-project approach for any improvement process, and the
selection of project should be based on their estimated return on investment.
Juran was the first to recognize that there are two types of customers in an organization:
Internal and external. Internal customers are those that receive products/service with in the
organization. External (final, existing) customers are the final consumer of the product/service
that is offered by the organization. Internal and external customers are important to the
organization and any improvement process must take into account both.
Like Deming, Juran put the cause for any quality problems to management rather than to
employees. He also laid out two types of problems, Sporadic and Chronic, and each should be
dealt differently. Chronic problems need more of ’ breakthrough’ principles while sporadic
problems need ‘Control’ principles. He has elaborated the activities for each [16].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Juran has formulated ten steps of quality improvement approach, which are summarized as:

a) Build awareness and conducive environment for change and improvement.

b) Set improvement goals and decide control points.
c) Organize to reach goals - forming diagnostic groups to identify and prioritize goals.
d) Provide training to create understanding of the systematic approach to quality
improvement.
e) Carryout problem solving projects .Steering council should guide and track the
effects.
f) Report progress .Diagnostic group should analyze problems, propose solution and
report progress.
g) Give recognition - public recognition like certificate & plaques.
h) Communicate results in terms of cost of quality.
i) Keep score of the improvements made.
j) Maintain momentum by making annual improvement efforts as part of the regular
systems and process of the company [4].

2.6.3 Philip B. Crosby

Philip B. Crosby was born in 1926 in Wheeling, West Virginia. Crosby obtained a degree in
podiatry (His father’s profession) but decided he did not like it. In 1952 he became a
reliability engineer for Crosby Corporation in Richmond, Indiana.
Crosby’s name is best known in relations to the concepts of Do It Right First Time and Zero
Defects .He offered fourteen management steps to quality improvement.
Crosby’ s fourteen steps to quality improvement are:
a) Make it clear that management is committed to quality
b) Form quality improvement teams with representatives from each department.
c) Determine where current and potential quality problems lie.
d) Evaluate the cost of quality and explain its use as a management tool.
e) Raise the quality awareness and personal concern of all employees.
f) Take actions to correct problems identified through previous steps.
g) Establish a committee for the zero defects programme.
h) Train supervisors to actively carry out their part of the quality improvement
programme.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

i) Hold a ‘zero defects day’ to let all employees realize that there has been a
change.
j) Encourage individuals to establish improvement goals for themselves and their
groups.
k) Encourage employees to communicate to management the obstacles they face in
attaining their improvement goals.
l) Recognize and appreciate those who participate.
m) Establish quality councils to communicate on a regular basis.
n) Do it all over again to emphasize that the quality improvement programme
never ends.

Crosby has four absolutes of quality:

♦ Definition –conformance to requirements.
♦ System –prevention.
♦ Performance standard –zero defects.
♦ Measurement-price of nonconformance [8].

2.6.4 Armand V. Feigenbaum

Feigenbaum'
s nineteen steps of quality improvement are:
a) Total quality control defined: TQC may be defined as an effective system for
integrating the quality development, quality maintenance, and quality improvement
efforts of the various groups in an organization so as to enable marketing, engineering,
production, and service at the most economical levels which allow for full-customer
satisfaction.
b) Quality versus quality: "Big Q" or quality refers to luxurious quality where as "little q"
refers to high quality, not necessarily luxury. Regardless of an organization'
s niche,
little q must be closely maintained and improved.
c) Control : In the phrase " quality control" the word control represents a management
tool with four steps:
1. Setting quality standards.
2. Appraising conformance to these standards.
3. Acting when the standards are exceeded.
4. Planning for improvements in the standards.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

d) Integration: Quality control requires the integration of often uncoordinated activities

into a framework. This framework should place the responsibility for customer-driven
quality efforts across all activities of the enterprise.
e) Quality increases profits: Total quality control programs are highly cost effective
because of their results in improved levels of customer satisfaction, reduced operating
losses and field service costs, and improved utilization of resources.
f) Quality is expected, not desired: Quality begets quality. As one supplier becomes
quality oriented, other suppliers must meet or exceed this new standard.
g) Human impact quality: The greatest quality improvements are likely to come from
human improving the process, not adding machines.
h) TQC applies to all products and services: No person or department is exempted from
supplying quality services and products to its customer.
i) Quality is a total life-cycle consideration: Quality control enters into all phases of the
industrial production process, starting with the customer’s specification, through
design engineering and assembly to shipment of the product and installation.
j) Controlling the process: These controls fall into four natural classifications: New
design control, incoming material control, product control, and special process studies.
k) A Total quality system may be defined as the agreed companywide and plant wide
operating work structure, documented in effective, integrated technical and managerial
procedures for guiding the coordinated actions of the people, the machines, and the
information of the company and plant in the best and most practical ways to assure
customer quality satisfaction and economical costs of quality.
l) Benefits: Benefits often resulting from total quality programs are improvements in
product quality and design, reduction in operating costs and losses, improvements in
employee morale, and reduction of production-line bottlenecks.
m) Cost of quality: Quality costs are a means for measuring and optimizing total quality
control activities. Operating quality costs are divided into four different classifications:
Prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs, and external failure costs.
n) Organize for quality control: It is necessary to demonstrate that quality is everybody’s
job. Every organizational component has a quality-related responsibility; for example ,
marketing for determining customers’ quality preferences, engineering for specifying
product quality specifications and shop supervision for building into the product.
o) Quality facilitators, not quality cops: The quality control organization acts as a
touchstone for communicating new results in the company, providing new techniques,

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

acting as a facilitator, and in general resembles an internal consultant, rather than a

police force of quality inspectors.
p) Continuous commitment: Management must recognize at the outset of its total quality
control program that this program is not a temporary quality improvement or quality
cost reduction project.
q) Use statistical tools: Statistics are used in an overall quality control program whenever
and wherever they may be useful, but statistics are only one part of the total quality
control pattern.
r) Automation is not a panacea: Automation is complex and can become an
implementation nightmare. But the best human-oriented activities are implemented
before being convinced that automation is the answer.
s) Control quality at the source: The creator of the product or the deliver of the service
must be able to control the quality of their product or service [16].

2.6.5 Kaoru Ishikawa

Kaoru Ishikawa was born in 1915, and earned a degree in applied chemistry from the
University of Tokyo in 1939. Later, he became president of the Musashi Institute of
Technology. Until his death in 1989, Dr. Ishikawa was the foremost figure in Japan regarding
quality control. He was the first to use the term total quality control, and developed the "seven
tools" that he thought any worker could use.

The other contribution that Ishikawa made is the introduction of quality circle concept. He
argued that neither workers nor managers know the correct solution to a problem. But by
working together they would have a better capacity to solve any problem that may arise. This
would also enhance the participation of all employees in quality improvement activities.

Ishikawa’ s view of quality can be summarized as follow:

a) Quality control (QC) is the responsibility of every body in the company. It is a discipline
that combines knowledge with action.
b) Management should put quality at the top of its list, plan for long term benefit and stamp
out any sectionalism.
c) TQC management is a team work not an individual act.
d) TQC fails if there is no cooperation among all employees from president to line worker.
e) TQC is a company wide activity and also based on respect for humanity.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

f) Middle management will be the focus point in TQC and thus subjected to frequent
involvement and criticism.
g) Care should be taken not to confuse objective with means.
h) QC circle activities are part of TQC [5].

2.6.6 Comparison of the three American quality gurus

The three American Gurus: A small group of American quality experts or ‘gurus’ has been
advising industry thorough out the world on how it should manage quality. The approaches of
Philip B. Crosby, W. Edwards Deming, and Joseph M. Juran, their similarities and difference,
are presented briefly below.

The similarities and differences among Deming, Juran and Crosby are:
• The common elements (similarities) are:
1. Constant high levels of training and education
2. Create awareness of opportunity and constant search for improvement-permanence
of the process
3. Error-friendly problem-solving environment
4. Prevention orientation and attention to detail
5. Use of self-defined measurement by all employees
6. Control of suppliers by SPC or auditing
7. High levels of non-financial recognition of employees
8. Open communication of results of projects and business performance
9. Concept of ‘internal customer’ and management of processes
• Differences are:
1. Use of Quality Circles-Crosby
2. Zero defects as a performance standard-Crosby
3. Hold a zero defects day to celebrate commitment to quality-Crosby
4. Single sourcing of suppliers-Deming
5. Eliminate management by objectives and pay linked to output-Deming
6. Extensive market research-Deming
7. Use of cross-functional action teams to attack problems on a project by project
basis-Juran
8. Individual goal setting- Crosby and Juran

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 Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

The other way to compare directly the various approaches of the three American gurus is in
tabular form. Table 2.1 shows the differences and similarities, classified under 12 different
factors [18].

Table 2-1: The American quality gurus compared

Factor Crosby Deming Juran
Definition of Conformance to A predictable degree of Fitness for use
quality requirements uniformity and
dependability at low
cost and suited to the
market
Degree of senior Responsible for quality Responsible for 94 % of Less than 20
management quality problems % of quality
responsibility problems are due to
workers
Performance Zero defects Quality has many Avoid campaigns to
standard/motivation ‘scales’ . Use statistics ‘do perfect work’
to measure performance
in all areas. Critical of
zero defects
General approach Prevention, not inspection Reduce variability by General
continuous management
improvement. Cease approach to quality-
mass inspection especially ‘human’
elements
Structure Fourteen steps to quality Fourteen points for Ten steps to quality
improvement management improvement
Statistical process Rejects statistically Statistical methods of Recommends SPC
control (SPC) acceptable levels of quality control must be but warns that it can
quality used. lead to ‘tool-driven’
approach
Improvement basis A ‘process’ , not a Continuous to reduce Project-by-project
programme. Improvement variation. Eliminate team approach
goals goals without methods

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 Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Teamwork Quality improvement Employee participation Team and quality

teams. Quality councils in decision-making. circle approach
Break down barriers
between departments
Costs of quality Cost of non-conformance. No optimum- Quality is not free-
Quality is free continuous there is an optimum
improvement
Purchasing and State requirements. Inspection too late- Problems are
goods received Supplier is extension of allows defects to enter complex. Carry out
business. Most faults due system through AQLs. formal surveys
to purchasers themselves Statistical evidence and
control charts required
Vendor rating Yes and buyers. Quality No-critical of most Yes, but help
audits useless systems supplier improve
Single sources of Yes No-can neglect to
supply sharpen competitive
edge

2.7 Organizational change

In a competitive and rapidly changing market place, industrial companies are constantly
involved in the development of strategies for keeping up, staying ahead, and setting new
directions. Managers do to play a positive role in the process by:
a) Having a clear vision and corresponding goals.
b) Exhibit a strong sense of responsibility.
c) Being effective communicator.
d) Having a higher energy level.
e) Having the will to change.
To respond effectively to the change, organizations must continually apply at least the
following strategies:
a) Promote a “we are in this together” attitude toward change.
b) Make sure all employees understand that change is driven by market forces,
not management.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

c) Involve everyone who will be affected by the change in planning and

implementing the response to it [1].

2.8 Culture and Climate

The culture of an organization is the shared values and norms of behavior of the individuals
within the organization. Management behavior is the predominant of organization culture and
it remains a fact that the nearer the top of the ladder someone is, the more his/her behavior
influences the prevailing culture. Culture of an organization can be sensed at three levels
.Firstly by the visible artifacts: Physical conditions, receptions areas, organization structure,
office layouts and designs. Secondly by stated values: Statements made by senior figures,
press reports, annual reports and other publications to represent the organization’ s attitude
toward those with whom it interacts. The stated values may not reflect the reality. The goal of
customer satisfaction may be number one in the stated values where as the reality may be far
from this. The third means to sense an organization’ s culture is by the basic assumption,
which constitutes the most deeply rooted layer of the organization’ s culture. They are
embedded in the organization’ s history, its traditions, its geography, the values and beliefs
brought to it by its owners, managers and employees over many years. The simplest way of
representing these assumptions is “the way we do things around here” [3].

Table 2-2: TQM culture change

From To
Grapevine and secrecy Open communication
Control of staff Empowerment
Inspection and fire fighting Prevention
Internal focus on rules External focus on customer
Cost and schedule Quality of conformance
Stability seeking Continuous change and improvement
Adversarial relations Co-operative relations
Allocating blame Solving problems at their roots

The majority of cultural changes implied above are related to management style and attitude
towards employees. Management practices them and employees take over, like in the case of
blame allocating. Lack of open communication between managers and their subordinates is
among the cultural barriers, the one which needs to be broken down. Employees should be

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

empowered to contribute their best while control of staff could do almost nothing for the
improvement of an organization.

TQM must be carefully implemented to take advantage of the organization strengths and
avoid a culture clash, which may lead to culture shock too early. Though changing the culture
is partly the purpose of TQM itself, it is also in many cases a necessary prerequisite in an
attempt to install TQM [5].

2.9 Costs of quality

Manufacturing a quality product, providing a quality service, or doing a quality job – one with
a high degree of customer satisfaction – is not enough. The cost of achieving these goals must
be carefully managed, so that the long-term effect of quality costs on the business or
organization is a desirable one. These costs are a true measure of the quality effort. A
competitive product or service based on a balance between quality and cost factor is the
principal goal of responsible management. This objective is best accomplished with the aid of
competent analysis of cost of quality (COQ).

The analysis of quality related costs is a significant management tool that provides:
-A method of assessing the effectiveness of the management of quality.
-A means of determining problem areas, opportunities, savings, and action priorities.
The costs of quality are no different from any other costs. Like the cost of maintenance,
design, sales, production/ operations, and other activities, they can be budgeted, measured and
analyzed [9].

2.9.1 Prevention costs

These are costs of all activities specifically designed to prevent poor quality in products or
services. They are associated with the design, implementation, and maintenance of the total
quality management system. Prevention costs are planned and are incurred before actual
operation. Prevention includes:

a) Product or service requirements: The determination of requirements and the setting of

corresponding specifications (which also takes account of process capability) for
incoming materials, processes, intermediates, and finished products or services.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

b) Quality planning: The action of quality, reliability, and operational production, supervision,
process control, inspection and other special plans, e.g. pre- production trials, required to
achieve the quality objective.

c) Quality assurance: The creation and maintenance of the quality system.

d) Supplier’ s/vendor’ s capability survey: The cost associating the survey made to check the
capability of suppliers.

e) Process capability evaluations: The survey made to determine the company’ s capability.

f) Quality improvement team meetings: Formation of a team for continuous quality

improvement.
g) Inspection equipment: The design, development and/or purchase of equipment in
inspection work.

h) Training: The development, preparation, and maintenance of training programs for

operators/ technicians, supervisors, staff, and managers both to achieve and maintain
capability.

i) Miscellaneous: Clerical, travel, supply, shipping, communications and other general office
management activities associated with quality. Resources devoted prevention give rise to
the cost of “doing it right first time” [18].

2.9.2 Appraisal costs

The costs associated with measuring, evaluating or auditing products or services to assure
conformance to quality standards and performance requirements. It includes:

a) Incoming and source inspection/test of purchased material: The inspection/test made on

the suppliers facility and on arrival destination.

b) In-process and final inspection/test: Inspection made during intermediate and final
stages of a product/operation.

c) Verification: Checking of incoming materials , process set-up , first-offs , running

processes , intermediate and final products, services, including product or service
performance appraisal against agreed specifications.

d) Quality Audits: To check that the quality system is functioning satisfactorily.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

e) Inspection equipment: The calibration and maintenance of equipment used in all

inspection activities.

f) Vendor rating: The assessment and approval of all suppliers, foreign repair/maintenance
organizations of both products and services. Appraisal activities result in the cost of
“checking it is right” [18].

2.9.3 Internal failure costs

These costs occur when the results of work fail to reach designed quality standards prior to
delivery or shipment of the product or the furnishing of a service, to the customer takes place.
Internal failures include:

a) Waste: The activities associated with doing unnecessary work or holding stocks as the
result of errors, poor organization or poor communications, the wrong material, etc.
b) Scrap: Defective product, material or stationery that cannot be repaired, used or sold.
c) Rework or rectification: The correction of defective material or errors to meet the
requirements.
d) Re-inspection: The re-examination of products or work that have been rectified.
e) Downgrading: A product that is usable but doesn’ t meet specifications may be
downgraded and sold as a “second quality” at a lower price.
f) Failure analysis: The activity required to establish the causes of internal product or
service failure [18].

2.9.4 External failure costs

These costs occur when products or services fail to reach design quality standards but are not
detected until after transfer to customer. External failure includes:

a) Repair and servicing: Either of returned products or those in the field.

b) Warranty claims: Failed products that are replaced or service re-performed under some
form of guarantee.
c) Complaints: All work and costs associated with handling and servicing of customer’ s
complaints.
d) Returns: The handling and investigation of rejected or recalled products or materials,
including transport costs.
e) Liability: The result of product or service liability litigation and other claims, which
may include a change of contract.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

f) Loss of goodwill: The impact of reputation and image, which impinges directly on
future prospects for sale.

External and internal failures produce the “ costs of getting it wrong” .

Order re-entry, retyping, unnecessary travel and telephone calls, conflict are just few
examples of the wastage or failure costs often excluded [18].

2.9.5 Total quality costs

The sum of the above costs: This represents the difference between the actual cost of a
product or service and what the reduced cost would be if there were no possibility of
substandard service, failure of products or defects in their manufacture.

Failure

Appraisal

Prevention
Quality-related costs

Total quality-related
Costs

Quality awareness and improvement

Figure 2.4 Cost of quality

The relationship between the quality related costs of prevention, appraisal, and failure and
increasing quality awareness and improvement is shown in figure 2.4. Where the quality
awareness is low, the total quality related costs are high, the failure costs predominating. As
awareness of the cost to the organization of failure gets off the ground, through initial
investment in training, an increasing in appraisal cost usually results. As the increased
appraisal leads to investigation and further awareness, further investment in prevention is
made to improve design futures, processes and systems. As the prevention action takes effect,
the failure and appraisal costs fall the total cost reduces. The P-F-A model suggests that there
is an optimum operating level at which the combined costs are the minimum [18].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

2.10 ISO 9000 series

The ISO 9000 series contains three guidelines and three standards.
¾ ISO 8402 defines terms used in the series.
¾ ISO 9000 provides quality management and quality assurance standards and general
guidelines for selection and use. It defines the elements that comprise each standard.
¾ ISO 9001 covers (external) quality systems and provides a model for quality assurance
in design, development, production, installation, and servicing. It is clearly the most
comprehensive standard.
¾ ISO 9002 covers (external) quality systems and provides a model for quality assurance
in production, and installation. Eighteen of the elements in 9001 (excluding design and
service) are used.
¾ ISO 9003 covers (external) quality systems and provides a model for quality assurance
in final inspection and testing. This standard also has a significantly lower
conformance requirement. Registration requires twelve of the twenty elements
(excludes contract review, design, control, purchasing, purchaser-supplied product,
process control, correction action, internal quality audits, and servicing).
¾ ISO 9004 covers (internal) quality management and quality system elements of
standards 9001 to 9003. It provides specific guidelines for specific industrial
applications.
¾ ISO 9004-2 covers (internal) quality management and quality system elements of
standards applicable to all forms of services [15].
The ISO 9000 series of standards, and their European equivalent (EN 29000), are derived
from the British quality management standard (BS 5750) which was built on a military
standard, the UK Ministry of Defense’ s Def Stan 0521. The quality system requirements of
ISO 9001 are aimed at preventing nonconformity at all phases of the product life cycle from
design and/or development through servicing. These requirements are complementary to the
technical specifications of the product. They do not replace the technical requirements, and
are not alternative to them .Increasingly, large companies are insisting that suppliers should be
accredited. Dealing with accredited suppliers provides them with a sense of security, and
reduces the effort required to control the supplier'
s products. From the supplier'
s point of
view, accreditation provides a quality image, customer confidence, and access to markets
where quality certification is obligatory. In addition, the introduction of a quality management

32
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

system may have a major effect on internal performance. The accreditation process usually
takes between one and two years.

When an organization’s quality system has been assessed against ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO
9003 by an accredited independent certification body, then the quality system is registered,
and can be used as evidence of quality assurance in tendering for contracts. Quality systems
produced in accordance with these quality system requirements are subject to regular third
party assessment based on documented, objective evidence of compliance [19].

2.10.1 TQM compared to ISO 9000

ISO 9000 is a quality system management Standard. TQM is a philosophy of perpetual

improvement. The ISO quality standard sets in place a system to deploy policy and verifiable
objectives. An ISO implementation is a basis for a total quality management implementation.
Where there is an ISO system, about 75 percent of the steps are in place for TQM. The
requirements for TQM can be considered ISO plus. . In short, implementing TQM is being
proactive concerning quality rather than reactive [21].

33
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Table 2.3 Maintenance requirements compared to ISO series requirements [13]

ISO9000 requirement 9001 9002 9003 Maintenance

Management responsibility * * * *
Documented quality system * * * *
Review of customer contracts * *
Implement process controls * *
Document control * * * *
Purchasing control * * *
Supplier control * * *
Product traceability * * * *
Documented processes * * *
Inspection and testing * * * *
Calibration of tools and test * * * *
equipment
Inspection and test of products * * * *
Control of non conforming products * * *
Document corrective action * * *
Protect parts, etc. from damage, * * *
theft, etc.
Quality records required * * * *
Internal quality audits * * *
Document training * * * *
Track servicing * *
Use statistical techniques to track * * * *
quality

2.11 Why TQM fails

TQM fails for several reasons such as: Top management sees no reason for change, not
concerned for its staff, not committed for TQM programme, loses interest in the programme
after a few months, TQM is imposed on the work force, no performance measures set etc.

34
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Chapter 3: Background for the case study

3.1 Focus area of the thesis

Established in 1946, Ethiopian Airlines (EAL) provides domestic and international flights,
maintenance and engineering services in specific approved capabilities for local and external
customers. To maintain higher performance, availability, excellent competitiveness, and
increased market share, it is mandatory to assure continuous improvement of all maintenance
and engineering activities through the use of TQM so that every employee will be aware of
and responsible for quality of all operations.

3.1.1 Vision

To be Africa’ s world-class Airline that ensures satisfaction of its customers and other
stakeholders.

3.1.2 Mission

-Ethiopian is a business enterprise committed to the basic objective of providing safe, reliable
and profitable air transport services for the passenger and cargo as well as other aviation
related services.

-The airline renews its pledge to further develop its total network with continued emphasis on
interconnecting Africa and linking it with the rest of the world.

-Ethiopian is committed to the provision of quality service to its customers. In order to ensure
this, the airline will strive to maintain a highly trained, motivated and dedicated workforce
and enhance its internal capacity in various fields.

-Through the use of modern and environmentally friendly technology in all areas, Ethiopian
endeavors to play an important role in the well being of the society and equip its employees
with a high level of skill through transfer of technology.

-The airline will continue to contribute its share towards the development of trade and tourism
in Ethiopia through the provision of essential air transport. It will also strive to maintain its
role as a major player in the development of aviation in Africa.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.1.3 Approved capabilities on the maintenance and engineering division

3.1.3.1 Airframe maintenance

The maintenance base provides complete package maintenance on:

-Boeing Models B767, B757, B737, B727, B707

-Lockheed Model L-100

-ATR Model ATR-42-300

-Bombardier Model DHC-5 and DHC-6

-Fokker Model F-50

3.1.3.2 Engines maintenance

-Complete repair, modification, overhaul and testing

-Modular maintenance

-Engine performance test

-A range of special process shops for parts salvage work and modification

3.1.3.3 Component overhaul/testing

-Repair, overhaul and testing of components fitted on the above-mentioned fleets (refer to the
paragraph under “ Airframe maintenance” )

-The avionics component shop utilizes a state-of-the-art Automatic test Equipment, ATEC
5000, for Avionics components

3.1.3.4 Non-destructive testing (NDT); with specialized inspection

-X-ray
-Radiography
-Eddy current

36
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

-Ultrasonic
-Magnetic particles and

- Dye penetrant

3.1.3.5 General engineering support

-Development of

-Major repair/modification

-Engineering orders

-Maintenance programs

-Complete inspection/check work packages

-Operational assistance through

-Aircraft performance analysis

-Engine condition monitoring

-Handling of -technical records keeping, technical planning functions,

Reliability analysis

-Facility evaluation, development plans and recommendation.

-Technical evaluation/damage assessment on aircraft at any location.

3.1.5.6 Line station technical handling

-In addition to the base at Addis Ababa, EAL offers service at various international stations
such as, Nairobi, Bombay, Cairo, and Lagos.

3.1.3.7 Mobile technical team and crew secondment:

-Experienced technician and flight crew for a short and long-term assignment upon request.

37
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.1.3.8 Spare parts inventory

-Exchange/loan of parts for Boeing, Fokker, ATR, De-Havilland & Lockheed aircrafts

-Sale of surplus aircraft parts

-Automated stores and inventory control services [11]

38
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Board of Mgt.

3.2 Organization chart

CEO

VP Internal Audit& Legal Council

Corporate QA

Executive VP Chief Operating EVP Strategic EVP Finance &

Corporate Service Officer (COO) Business Units Strategic Planning

VP Human VP Flight Director Spray

Resource Mgt. Operations Services VP Finance

VP Information VP Commercial Director Catering

Technology VP Strategic
Planning

VP Change Mgt VP Maintenance & Director Base

Engineering Services

Director Safety& VP Customer Director African Figure 3.1 Organization

Security Services Aviation Academy Chart

Director Special
Projects
39
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.3 The maintenance and engineering organization

3.3.1 Organization of maintenance and engineering

The structure for an effective maintenance and engineering organization will vary with the
size and type of organization. It may also vary with the management philosophy of the
company. But one thing must be kept in mind: organizational structure must allow the
company to meet its goals and objectives and each unit within the company must be endowed
with sufficient personnel and authority to carry out those objectives and meet those goals.

The following structure was determined, from experience and observation, to be the most
efficient and effective one for a mid-sized commercial airline. For application to large or
small airlines, this structure will have to be modified; but all of the functions identified here
will have to exist separately or in combination to accomplish all the functions and activities
identified below [13].

3.3.2 Organization structure

The basic organization structure for a mid-sized airline is shown in Fig.3.1. There are three
basic concepts underlying the structure defined. Two of these come from traditional
management thinking. These are the concepts of span of control and the grouping of similar
functions. The third concept some what unique to aviation: the separation of production
activities (maintenance and engineering) from the oversight functions of inspection, control,
and monitoring (quality assurance, quality control, reliability and safety) [13].

40
 Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

VP
M&E

Technical Aircraft Shop Maint.Pro

Service Mainte Maintena Material gram
nance nce Evaluation

Technical
Service Hangar Engine Purchases QA

Planning Line Avionics Stores QC

Training MCC Mechanical Inventory Reliability

Publications
Structure Receiving Safety

Computer

Figure 3.2 Typical maintenance and engineering organization

3.3.2.1 Span of control

The span of control concept may be considered passé to some, but it is still a useful concept.
This concept states that a supervisor or manager can effectively supervise or control three to
seven people. Any less than three would be ineffective use of time and manpower and any
more than seven would spread the boss too thin. In the organizational structure shown in Fig
3.2, we have adhered to this concept. The VP of maintenance and engineering supervises five
directors. Each director has the necessary number of managers under him or her to carry out
the prescribed functions of the directorate. We find that by limiting the number of people that
a manger has to supervise, the organization’ s work is divided into pieces that are more easily
managed without losing the people to-people contact that is so necessary for a happy and
efficient work force.

41
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

At the lower levels of the organization, where the actual maintenance work is performed by
workers with many different skills, the span of control is usually not so narrow. A line or
hanger maintenance supervisor may have as many as 20 or 30 of these specialists to
supervise. But at the upper management levels, we like to keep the span of control at the
lower number. This is not to say that a wider span cannot be utilized, however. All
management activities must be organized to work with the available resources and within the
current management’ s capabilities and philosophy.

3.3.2.2 Grouping of similar functions

The second basic concept of the organizational philosophy currently underway is the grouping
of similar functions under one director, manager, or supervisor. What this comes down to is
that all maintenance activities (line, hangar, and MCC) are under one manager. All
maintenance overhaul shops functions (electrical and electronics shops, mechanical shops,
hydraulics, etc.) are likewise grouped .All inspection activities whether it is inspecting the
company’ s workers, inspecting parts or inspecting the suppliers of parts are grouped into one
organization (maintenance program evaluation functions) .Those handling the purchase of
supplies, those performing engineering work, and those doing the planning are also grouped
accordingly so that the managers and directors can maintain proper surveillance and control
over areas in which they have expertise.
3.3.2.3 Separation of production and oversight functions

A third concept that is applied here may be unique to the maintenance organization. Under the
FAA philosophy, an airline receives certification to operate as a commercial air transport
company and that authorization is, for all practical purposes, permanent. Some foreign airlines
must be recertified by their regulatory authority annually. Under the FAA rules, for and
airline to be certificated, it must have certain programs in place including a self –monitoring
function to ensure that it is performing according to the rules(its own rules as well as those of
the regulator authority). This alleviates the FAA from having to recertify each airline every
year. This requirement for self-monitoring is usually in the form of quality assurance (QA),
quality control (QC), reliability, etc.. It is recommended, and generally practical that these
self-monitoring functions operate separately from the maintenance and engineering functions
they are monitoring to prevent any conflict of interest problems. This separation is built into
the organizational structure shown in Fig.7-1 and is discussed below by selective grouping
[13].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.3.3 The M&E organizational chart

Figure 3.2 is the basic organizational chart for the maintenance and engineering organization
of a “ typical” medium sized airline. Following is discussion of each layer and each function.
The structure starts with the VP level and continues downward with designations Director,
Manager and Supervisor as appropriate.

3.3.3.1 Vice-president of maintenance and engineering

The head of the entire maintenance and engineering function within the airline should be at a
relatively high level of the airline’ s structure. He or she should be directly under the head of
the airline or under the head of the company operational activity (President, Chief Operating
Officer, or whatever title is used).The VP of M&E position should also be at the same level as
the head of flight operations (VP Flight Ops or whatever he or she is called). Flight operations
and maintenance are considered to be two sides of the same coin: they complement each other
and carry equal weight.

The flight operations department is responsible for conducting the air transportation
operations; i.e., the flying. Maintenance and engineering, on the other hand, is responsible for
delivering airworthy vehicles to the operations department to meet the flight schedule. The
M&E department is responsible for conducting all scheduled maintenance, modification, etc.
on the vehicles within the specified limits of the maintenance schedule and still meets the
operations department’ s flight schedule. Without maintenance, flight operations would be
quite limited in their activities; without flight operations, maintenance wouldn’ t have much
purpose in maintaining the equipment. They need each other and the airline needs both [13].

3.3.3.2 Directors of major functions

The five major functions shown in Fig. 3.2 are technical services (which includes engineering,
planning, training, technical publications, and computing); aircraft maintenance (flight line,
hangar, out stations, and maintenance control center);overhaul shops(for off-aircraft
maintenance, repair, and overhaul); material services (responsible for ordering and
maintaining supplies, handling warranties, and moving repairable and consumable parts
through the system); and maintenance program evaluation (the monitoring activity for the
organization, its workers and its suppliers).

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.3.3.3. Managers and supervisors

Within each directorate, there are several managers. Each of these managers has a specialized
area of responsibility within the overall scope of the directorate’ s function. Specific activities
within each manager’ s area of responsibility require staffs of specialists with supervision by
knowledgeable people. In some large organizations, the supervisor may need additional
separation of activities or duties and appoint “ leads” or “ straw bosses” to decrease his span of
control to a workable size. However, for most operators, the span of control can be much
wider at this level [13].

3.3.4 Manager level functions-technical services directorate

The technical services directorate contains numerous activities and services that support the
maintenance and inspection functions. In the typical setup of Fig. 3.2 various activities for
each directorate are identified. Each activity is under the direction of a manager. There may
be further echelons of management such as supervisors and leads as necessary.

3.3.4.1 Engineering

The manager of engineering is responsible for all engineering functions of the M&E
organization. This includes (a) the development of the initial maintenance program (tasks,
intervals, schedules, blocking, etc.); (b) the evaluation of service bulletins; (SBs) and service
letters (SLs) for possible inclusion in to the airline’ s equipment; (c) oversight of the
incorporation of those SBs and SLs that they deem beneficial; (d) overseeing the
incorporation of airworthiness defectives (ADs), the modifications that are required by the
regulatory authority; (e) the evaluation of maintenance problems determined by the reliability
program and for problems (if any) resulting from the maintenance checks performed by
maintenance; and (f) for establishing the policies and procedures for the M&E organization.
The engineering department employs a cadre of engineering specialists, usually enough to
cover, with a high degree of expertise, any and all specialties within the aircraft’ s technical
realm: power plant, structures, avionics, aircraft performance, and systems (hydraulic,
pneumatic, etc.). These positions are at the supervisor level with several engineers in each
group with their own specialties, if required.

The engineering department is also involved in the planning of facilities (new hangars,
maintenance shops, storage facilities, buildings, etc.) for the airline, which are to be used by

44
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

the M&E organization. Although engineering usually will not actually do the design and
engineering work, they will work which the engineering consulting firm or contractor that has
responsibility for the project to ensure that the final result meets the airline’ s requirements.

3.3.4.2 Production planning and control

The manager of production planning and control (PP&C) is responsible for maintenance
scheduling and planning. This function must plan and schedule the manpower, parts,
facilities, tools, and any special assistance required for all maintenance or modification
activities. Included in the functions of PP&C are the following (a) all planning activities
related to maintenance and engineering (short, medium, and long term); (b) the establishment
of standards for man-hours, materiel, facilities, tools, and equipment; (c) work scheduling;(d)
control of hangars; (e) on-airplane maintenance; and (f) monitoring of work program in the
support shops.

3.3.4.3 Training

The manager of technical training is responsible for curriculum, course development,

administration, and training records for all formal training attended by the M&E unit’ s
employees. The organization coordinates any training required outside the unit (vendor
training) and coordinates with line and hangar maintenance personnel for the development of
on-the-job training and remedial or one-time training activities. The training section must be
able to establish new and special training courses to meet the needs of the airline. These
course requirements are often the result of problem investigation by reliability, incorporation
of new equipment or modifications, or the addition of aircraft types to the fleet.

3.3.4.4 Technical Publications

The manager of technical publications is responsible for all technical publications used by the
M & E organization. Technical publications (or Tech pubs) keeps a current list of all
documents received from manufactures and vendors as well as those produced in-house by the
airline. Also on record are the numbers of copies, in paper, microfilm, or compact disc (CD)
format that each work center should receive. The Tech Pubs organization is also responsible
for ensuring that appropriate documents and revisions are distributed to these various work
centers. Work centers are responsible for keeping their own documents current, but Tech
Pubs usually conducts periodic cheeks to see that this is being done. The pub is also

45
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

responsible for maintaining the main technical library and any satellite libraries within the
airline’ s system, including those at out-stations.

3.3.4.5 Computing services

The manager of computing services is responsible for the definition of the M & E
organization’ s computing requirements: (a) selections of software and hardware to be used,
with usage information and requirements inputs from the individual units: (b) training of
maintenance, inspection, and management personnel on computer usage; and (c) provide
continuing support to the using organizations [13].

3.3.5 Manager level functions –aircraft

3.3.5.1 Maintenance Directorate

The aircraft maintenance directorate has responsibility for the major aircraft maintenance
activities: maintenance on the flight line and maintenance performed in the hangar. Three
managers report to the director of airplane maintenance: hangar, line and MCC managers.
For airlines with different model aircraft or with two or more maintenance bases, the number
of aircraft maintenance managers many be increased as for the scope of the operation.

3.3.5.2 Hangar Maintenance

The manager of hangar maintenance is responsible for compliance with the airline’ s polices
and procedures relative to all work done on the aircraft in the hangar, such as modifications,
engine changes, “ C” checks (and higher ), corrosion control, painting, etc. The hanger
maintenance functions also include various support shops (Welding, seat and interior fabric,
composite, etc.) as well as ground support equipment.

3.3.5.3 Line Maintenance

The manger of line maintenance is responsible for compliance with the airline’ s policies and
procedures relative to the work done on the aircraft on the flight line while the aircraft is in
servicing, daily checks, short interval checks (less than “ A” check interval) and “ A” checks.
Sometimes, simple modification can be done by line maintenance may also be utilize to
perform line maintenance activities but he or she is often part of the home base MCC
operation.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.3.5.4 Maintenance Control Center

The function known as the maintenance control center (MCC) keeps track of all aircraft in
flight and at outstations. All maintenance needs of these vehicles are coordinated through the
MCC. The MCC also coordinates downtime and schedule changes with the flight
department. Some airlines might have a supervisor of line stations to coordinate outstation
activities but he or she is often part of the home base MCC operation [13].

3.3.6 Manager level functions – overhaul

3.3.6.1 Shops Directorate

The overhaul shops directorate consists of those maintenance shops that perform maintenance
on items removed from the aircraft. These shops include engine shop(s), electrical shop,
electronics (or avionics) shop, and various mechanical shops. These may be separate shops or
some may be combined for convenience, depending on the operation. Some of these shops
may also perform contract work for other airlines.

3.3.6.2 Engine Shops

The manager of the engine overhaul shops is responsible for all maintenance and repair done
on the organization’ s engines and auxiliary power units (APUS). If more than one type
engine is used, there may be a separate engine shop for each type performing the work, but
these would usually be under or senior manager with a supervisor for each engine type. The
engine build up activities would generally come under the engine shop manager.

3.3.6.3 Electrical and electronics (avionics) shops

The manager of electrical/electronics shops is responsible for all off-aircraft maintenances of

electrical and electronics components and systems. There are a variety of components and
systems in this field with wide variation in the equipment and in the skills needed to address
them. There may be several shops (radio, navigation, communications, computers, electric
motor-driven components, etc) with separate supervisors. Shops are combined at times,
however, to optimize manpower and space and to reduce test equipment inventories.

47
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.3.6.4 Mechanical components shops

The manager of mechanical component shops has responsibilities similar to those of the
manager of avionics shops. The only difference, of course, is that these shops would address
mechanical components: actuators hydraulic systems and components aircraft surfaces (flaps,
slats, and spoilers), fuel systems, oxygen, pneumatics, etc.

3.3.6.5 Structures

The structures shop is responsible for maintenance and repair of all aircraft structural
components. This includes composite material as well as sheet metal and other structural
elements [13].

3.3.7 Manager level functions-materiel directorate

The material directorate is responsible for the handling of all parts and supplies for the M&E
organization: (a) purchasing; (b) stocking and distribution (stores); (c) inventory control; and
(d) shipping and receiving of parts and supplies used by the M&E organization. This includes
not only the parts and supplies used in the maintenance, servicing, and engineering of the
aircraft but also the supplies used for the administration and management of M&E (i.e., office
supplies, uniforms, etc.).

3.3.7.1 Purchasing

The manager of purchasing is responsible for buying parts and supplies and tracking these
orders through the system. This begins with the initial issue of parts when a new aircraft is
added to the fleet and a continual replenishment of those parts based on usage. The
purchasing unit is also responsible for handling warranty claims and contract repairs.

3.3.7.2 Stores

The manager of stores takes responsibility for the storage, handling, and distribution of parts
and supplies used by the maintenance personnel in line, hangar, and shop maintenance
activities. Stores areas, or parts issue points, are placed near the various work centers to allow
mechanics quick access to parts and supplies and minimize time spent in obtaining those parts
and supplies.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.3.7.3 Inventory control

The manager of inventory control is responsible for ensuring that the parts and supplies on
hand are sufficient for the normal, expected usage rate without typing up excessive funds in
nonmoving items and without running out of stock too soon or too often for commonly used
items.

3.3.7.4 Shipping and receiving

Manager of shipping and receiving is responsible for packing, waybill preparation, insurance,
customs, etc. for outgoing materials as well as customs clearance, unpacking, receiving
inspection, tagging etc. for incoming materials. This includes all parts being shipped into and
out of the airline [13].

3.3.8 Manager level functions-maintenance program evaluation directorate

The maintenance program evaluation (MPE) directorate is an organization tasked with the job
of monitoring the maintenance and engineering organization. The MPE unit will be
responsible for the CASS activities. The unit’ s functions include quality assurance, quality
control, reliability, and safety.

3.3.8.1 Quality assurance

The manager of quality assurance is responsible for assuring that all units of M&E adhere to
the company policies and procedures as well as FAA requirement. The manager of QA sets
the standards for the M&E operation and the QA auditors ensure compliance to those
standards through year audits. Quality assurance is also responsible for auditing outside
suppliers and contractors for compliance with the company’ s, as well as the regulatory
authority’ s rules and regulations.

3.3.8.2 Quality control

The manager of quality control is responsible for conducting routine inspections of

maintenance and repair work, certifying maintenance and inspection personnel, and
management of the required inspection items (RIIs) program. This latter function involves the
identification of RIIs and the certification of specific personnel authorized to inspect and
accept the work. The QC organization is also responsible for the calibration of maintenance

49
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

tools and test equipment and performs or oversees the nondestructive testing and inspection
(NDT/NDI) procedures.

3.3.8.3 Reliability

The manager of reliability is responsible for conducting the organization’ s reliability program
and ensuring that any problem areas are promptly addressed. This responsibility includes data
collection and analysis, identification of possible problem areas (which are then addressed in
detail by engineering), and publication of the monthly reliability report.

3.3.8.4 Safety

The safety organization is responsible for developing, implementing, and administering the
safety and health related activities with in the M&E organization. The safety manager is also
responsible for handling all reports and claims regarding M&E safety issues [13].

3.4 Quality related activities in ETHIOPIAN maintenance and engineering

division

The major tasks given more attention by ETHIOPIAN in assuring quality of maintenance and
engineering activities are presented in this section.

3.4.1 Preparing a document that contains the list of approved foreign maintenance
organizations.
Important elements of this document are [11]:

- Distribution list i.e. to which sections it should be distributed.

- Table of contents
- List of effective pages
- Record of revision
- Approved validity period of the document
- Names and addresses of the maintenance organizations
- Effective date of approval
- Expiry date of approval
- Original certificate validity date
- Certification number
- Certifying authority

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

- Certification validity duration.

3.4.2 Preparing a document that contains list of approved suppliers for parts and
materials.

Suppliers of aircraft parts or component should provide a certificate issued by FAA which
will be periodically renewed for the confirmation of airworthiness of their parts .Some
suppliers provide ISO and ESA (European Suppliers Agency) certificate along with their
FAA certificate. A sample approval certificate of a supplier issued by FAA may have the
following format [11].

?=+.OZK\^WOX^YP>\KX]ZY\^K^SYX

0ONO\KV+`SK^SYX+NWSXS]^\K^SYX

+S\+QOXMc-O\^SPSMK^O

8_WLO\IIIIII

>RS]MO\^SPSMK^OS]S]]_ON^Y

-YWZKXcB

ARY]OKNN\O]]S]$IIIIIIII

?ZYXPSXNSXQ^RK^S^]Y\QKXSdK^SYXMYWZVSO]SXKVV\O]ZOM^]

aS^R^RO\O[_S\OWOX^]YP^RO0ONO\KV+`SK^SYX<OQ_VK^SYX]

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51
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Sometimes ratings and limitations of the foreign company are attached with the certificate.
For instance the certificate holder is authorized with the following ratings and /or
limitations.
Limited ratings Manufacturer Make /Model Limitations

Airframe Airbus A-319 All series Limited to quick change

Moreover the activities that the foreign maintenance organization is authorized and not
authorized to do will be described. In some cases foreign maintenance and repair
organizations or vendors may provide ISO certificates with the scope of registration.

3.4.3 Preparing certified foreign repair station or vendor capability list

Foreign repair stations and vendors capability lists indicate the authorized tasks that can be
accomplished or supplied by them. It is a major criterion to prepare the list of tasks they are
able to perform for the safety of flight. Capability list is also a major criterion of ISO
standards. A sample capability list for FR stations or Vendors may have the following main
elements [11]:

-Reference number and revision date of the list

-Name of the repair station
-Part description (e.g. Igniter plug)
-Part number (e.gAA725)
-ETHIOPIAN part number (R721-1607)
-ATA No (74-22-01)
-FAA rating
-Capability level (repair or overhaul)

3.4.4 Preparing CAA approved ETHIOPIAN capability List

The maintenance tasks that are with in the capability of ETHIOPIAN maintenance and
engineering division will be described in this capability list and approved by CAA and later
by FAA. The main elements of this list are [11]:
-Reference, revision date and number
-Part name or description of components
-Manufacturing part number

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

-Ethiopian part number

-Vendor name
-ATA number
-Capability level (or repair overhaul)
-Aircraft type

3.4.5 Quality audits

3.4.5.1 Internal quality audits (first party audits performed by employees of ETHIOPIAN)

As stated in the Technical policy and procedure Manual, the objectives of internal quality
audits are [11]:
-To determine conformity or nonconformity of the quality system elements with specified
requirements.
-To determine the effectiveness of the implemented quality system in meeting specific
requirements.
-As a need for meeting regulatory requirements.
-To afford an opportunity to improve quality system.

Audit Frequency

-Management … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ...bi annually

-Inspection … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ...bi annually
-Maintenance (hangars, shop stations & outstations)… … .......bi annually
-Stores… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ...bi annually
-Support shops… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ..bi annually
-Training program… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … bi annually
-Records… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ...bi annually

For instance a sample audit check list prepared for component maintenance shops has the
following elements:
1. References used to prepare the audit check list
-Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA) approved inspection procedure manual
-ECAA Technical Directive (ECAA TD) Chapter 4
-Code of Federal Aviation Administration (CFR) Part 145

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

2. Areas of audit
-Human resource/manpower (number, currency of licenses, on job trainings, qualification
record of each technician)
-Housing, facilities & house-keeping (space adequacy and suitability for machines& tools,
suitability of assembly space, sealing of floor, adequacy of light and ventilation for the
shop , availability of compressed air & water, racks, shelves, arrangement and cleaning of
shops, controlling temperature and humidity of shops CFR145.35)
-Equipment and tools (regular maintenance and calibration of tools IPM 07-01-1, approval
of equivalent equipment or test apparatus CFR part 43.13 &part 145.109& IPM 07-05-
1,toolbox check as per IPM 07-03-2, replacement of tools with in a reasonable period of
time IPM 07-03-7)
-Safety (abut fire control organization , inspectors’ report on unsafe practices and poor
housing conditions, first aid kits, protective equipment such as safety goggles and glasses,
emergency exits etc.)
-Availability, current status, revision, proper signing and filing of documents manuals and
records [11]:
3.4.5.2 Third party audit conducted by FAA to renew ETHIOPIAN certificate.
3.4.5.3 Extrinsic quality audits

Suppliers and approved foreign maintenance organizations or FR are audited by ETHIOPIAN

every three years. As per ISO the important elements to be considered are:
-Audit plan (check list)
-Supplier quality system audit report
-Audit discrepancies report
-Corrective action request.
The audit checklist of ETHIOPIAN includes primary points and secondary points under each
primary point. Major points included are: [11]

-Certification of the supplier or foreign repair station. –Shelf life program

-Quality control status _Tools and test equipment
-Inspection status _Training
-Technical data _Housing and facilities
-Safety/Security/Fire protection _Storage
-Work processing _Shipping
-Scraped parts

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.4.5 Receiving and inspection

The airline may need to send aircraft or engine components/parts to a foreign repair station or
may need to buy new equipment or parts form vendors. Upon receiving, inspection is
performed. Foreign repair stations or vendors will attach authorized release certificate along
with the repaired components or with the materials being purchased. Currently ETHIOPIAN
accepts mainly 3 types of release forms. These are the following:

1. Authorized release certificate approved by TCCA

2. Authorized release certificate approved by EASA
3. FAA form 8130-3
Major elements of these forms include: [11]
-Description of the item (e.g. Oxygen mask) -Approving Authority (e.g. FAA)
-Part number -Approved organization name
-Quantity -Form tracking number
-Serial/Batch number of component -Work order /Contract/invoice
- Status /work performed (e.g. overhauled, repaired, new) -Address of the company
-Remarks (e.g. this article was overhauled & inspected -Authorized signature
in accordance with ZODIAC CMM 35-13-63 -Date, Name& signature of
with revision date ) responsible person

Ethiopia batch tag will be attached with the authorized release certificate of the foreign
company. This batch tag will indicate the person who received and inspected the item, the
shelf life, receiving date, expiry date, stamp etc. Once the release certificate is attached with
the incoming material and when the FR station or vendor is commonly known, only visual
inspection will be done on the item. Detail inspection will be done for a new FR station or
vendor item. The material receipt form will accompany the item until the
production/maintenance process is over.

3.4.7 Rejection of non-conforming parts/items/FR delivery

When purchased/repaired parts or components coming from FR stations are nonconforming

(for reasons such as release certificate is not original, “ bogus parts” , part number change, not
as purchase order etc.) the unit will be rejected and will be kept in Quarantine until it gets

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

decision with the vendor or FR station. A unit rejection form contains the description of the
part, manufacturing date, ETH part number, serial number, quantity and reason for rejection.
Quarantine slip which is used for rejection contains the following major elements [11]:
- Manufacturer part No & ETH part No
-Serial No (may or may not be applicable)
-Purchase order /repair work order
-Document No, quarantine quantity
-Quarantine reason ( such as order not in data base, part No/ serial No unmatched, part No not
on file, over shipment, short shipment, Item with out approved/wrong certificate, item in
unserviceable condition, incomplete kits/ assembly etc.)
-Quarantine remark
-Disposition (such as accept to store, functional test, repair/ modify/rework, return to vendor
for replacement or without replacement, scrap with or without replacement from supplier
etc.).The procedure of rejection of non-conforming items is matched to the ISO
requirement.

3.4.8 Control of inspection, measurement and test equipment

To ensure the repeatability and accuracy of special tools, jigs, equipment, and instruments,
they must be periodically checked, inspected, adjusted, modified, and repaired. This action is
called calibration. The three international quality standards all require some level of control
over calibrated tooling. ANSI/ASQC Q9001 and ANSI/ASQC Q 9002 are identical in their
requirements for calibrated tooling. ANSI/ASQC Q9003 is very close to the other two
international quality standards in its requirement for calibration ,except that the emphasis is
only on the control of final inspection, measuring and test equipment .The FARs are not as
clear as the international quality standards when identifying the requirements for calibration
system. With the exception of FAR part 145, for repair stations, professional interpretation
may be needed. The quality system requirements for a repair station have a very clear
description of the requirements for a calibration system. FAR sub part 145.47(b) states that:

“ The repair station shall ensure that all inspection and test equipment is tested at regular
intervals to ensure correct calibration to a standard derived from the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) or to a standard provided by the equipment manufacturer.”
[23]

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

The company has a calibration center which calibrates test and measuring instruments found
in different sections. Each month calibration due date reminder is prepared for all technical
sections using computer software. This reminder indicates due month or year of all measuring
and test equipment in each section/ department including serial/tag number, description of the
item, frequency of calibration, the person who did the calibration and the first date of
calibration.

3.4.9 Purchasing

To select appropriate supplier or FR/Maintenance organization, assessment or evaluation will

be conducted. This evaluation consists of two major parts:
1. Document evaluation (pre assessment)
Document evaluation (pre assessment): This assessment is performed at the beginning of
the contact. Factors mainly focused are [11]:
A. Financial aspects
-Labor rate at supplier/FR station e.g. $45/hr
-Free on board (FOB) point i.e. delivery destination after job completion e.g. Dubai,
Addis Ababa etc.
- Terms of payment (on cash or loan), if loan, how many days?
-Parts price mark-up e.g. 7%, 3%, N/A etc
-Sub contract mark-up 7%, 3%, N/A etc
-Labor escalation rate e.g. 3%, 0%, N/A etc.
2. Physical audit (post assessment) at the supplier’ s site (Extrinsic /third party audit).Auditors
assigned from “ TQM” department conduct evaluation at the suppliers or FR stations’ base
every three years.

3.4.10 Training

The company conducts training activities in its recurrent training center although the rate is
not to a satisfactory level. The recurrent training center releases annual training schedule for
maintenance personnel to participate in various training activities. However, the willingness
from departments to send their staff to the training center is not encouraging. This problem
seems to be partially solved after the audit conducted by IOSA. To substantiate this fact the
training record of trainees participated on various training activities obtained from the center
is presented next [11]:

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

2002-2003: 462 maintenance personnel including 31 customer trainees participated on

trainings.
2003-2004: 408 maintenance personnel including 39 customer trainees participated on
trainings.
2004-2005: 464 maintenance personnel including 121 customer trainees participated on
trainings.
2005-2006 beginning of June: 764 maintenance personnel including 48 customer trainees
participated on trainings. (i.e. after the remark made by IOSA).
2006(June – September): Regulation 157 trainees, human factors 240 trainees and 113
trainees for different courses, a total of 510 trainees with in four months were registered.
The improvement in training activities is the result of the remark made by IOSA.
Although the participants of trainees have increased after the audit made by IOSA, still
some 50% of maintenance personnel are not included in the training activities.

3.4.11 The corporate quality manual

One major and important decision made in the recent time is the effort underway to establish
a quality management system and to emphasize on the management’ s accountability for
quality. This is described in the corporate quality manual of company. The corporate quality
manual of ETHIOPIAN was issued first on July 13, 2006. It has the following major elements
[11]:
a) Record of revision pages
b) Revision to this quality manual
c) Chapter 0: Procedures to control the original issuance of the corporate quality
manual and subsequent revisions made now and then to insure that those
persons who are issued receive revisions.
d) Chapter 1: Quality policy.
e) Chapter 2: ETHIOPIAN quality management structure.
f) Chapter 3: Quality management system.
g) Chapter 4: Internal evaluation
h) Chapter 5: Quality and safety oversight
i) Chapter 6: Monitoring and corrective action
j) Chapter 7: Quality audit
k) Chapter 8: Quality system training and chapter 9 is about Quality audit forms
(compatible to the current forms required by ISO)

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 Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Audit subjects Hangar Line Shops Contractors Vendors Fuel Tech.Lib Logbooks Checks Material Tools Training
1. Adequacy & * * * * * * *
Upkeep of
Facilities
2. Adequacy &
Serviceability * *
Of GSE
3. Serviceability
& calibration * * * * *
of tools &test
Equipment
4. Use of technical * * * *
Manuals
5. Availability of
Skilled &qualified * * * * * *
Personnel
6. Paper work * * * * * *
Handling
7. Required inspection * * *
Items handling
8. Personnel records * * * *
9. Parts: availability * * * * *
Handling, control

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 Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Audit subjects Hangar Line Shops Contractors Vendors Fuel Tech.Lib Logbooks Checks Material Tools Training
10. Fuel &Oil: Dispensing * *
&storage
11. Dicing Chemicals *
Dispensing &Storage
12. Compliance with * *
Airline Requirements
13. Capabilities * *
14. Cleanness Quality *
Of fuel
15. Periodic Test
&inspection of Fuel *
Facilities
16. Fuel handling equipment *
17. Fueling procedures * *
18. Revision status of *
Manuals
19. Distribution procedure *
Of manuals
20. Proper Revision Sign Off *
21. Currency &Completeness * * * * *

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 Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Audit subjects Hangar Line Shops Contractors Vendors Fuel Tech.Lab Logbooks Checks Material Tools Training
22. Completeness of Logbooks *
23. Proper Sign Off of * *
Discrepancies
24. Transfer of Data to Tracking *
System
25. Improper Maintenance * *
Write-ups in Logbook
26. Completeness of Check *
Packages
27. Inspection Stamp Usage * * *
28. Airplanes Identified *
29. Receiving Inspections *
30. Serviceable Tag Sign Off *
31. Shop finding reports * * * *
32. Quarantine Areas *
33. Shelf life control (store) *
34. Separation of serviceable *
From unserviceable
35. Currency of Calibration *
Stickers
36. Re-Calibration control *
System
37. Traceability of Standards *
(NIST)

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 Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Audit subjects Hangar Line Shops Contractors Vendors Fuel Tech.Lib Logbooks Checks Material Tools O2 Training Safety
38. Cleanness of Tools, * *
Work areas, Parts
40. Proper Storage of O2 *
Bottles
41. Quality of oxygen *
42. Availability of safety * * * *
Equipment
43. Safety training *
44. Accident/incident * * *
Reporting
45. Identification of * * * * *
‘No smoking areas’
46. Hazardous materials * * * *
Labeling& handling
48. Training course *
Syllabus
49. Maintenance of
training Records *
50. Processing warranty *
Claims

Table 3.1 Various areas of quality audits for a medium size airline [13].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.5 Technical training

An airline is responsible for the proper training of its personnel. This includes flight crews,
cabin crews, and ground handling crews, maintenance mechanics, and technicians, inspectors,
auditors, managers, computer operators, and administrative personnel. A significant portion of
their training –especially for flight crews, cabin crews, and maintenance personnel- is usually
accomplished prior to hiring in to the airline. This involves, formal, specialized training
sanctioned by the FAA and the issuance of an FAA license for the particular specialty [13].

3.5.1 Training for aviation maintenance

A) Formal training: It is usually accomplished before the mechanic is hired. Airframe and
power plant (A&P) or avionics mechanics and technicians may come from FAA approved
A&P schools, from technical/trade schools with appropriate aviation curricula, or from
military services. The FAA approved schools usually graduate students with the appropriate
licenses. The other sources of training require that the applicant arrange with the FAA or
national civil aviation authority such as CAA to take the necessary tests for attending the
desired license.
B) Organizational training: This training is developed and conducted by the airline
organization itself and covers the airline’ s basic policies and procedures, papers, work, and
specific aviation systems and equipment in use at the airline. These curricula could include
full courses for a particular airframe and its systems or could involve only the difference
between the airline’ s equipment and that for which the mechanic has current experience. All
training courses should address the safety and human factors issue as applicable.

C) Manufacturer or vendor training: Airframe, engine, and aircraft equipment manufacturers

often offer specialized training on their products or on special activities related to their
products either at their facilities or at the airline. The airline training department makes all
arrangements and monitors the activity.

D) Quality training: Quality assurance auditors require training in auditing procedures and
techniques as well as refresher training on regulations and airline policies; quality control
inspectors need to be trained on inspection techniques and on tool and equipment calibration.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Mechanics authorized to perform required inspection items (RIIs) must receive special
training from the airline or an outside organization in inspection techniques.

E) On-job training (OJT): It involves special procedure that can’ t be covered completely
or effectively in classrooms sessions and those that can only be accomplished by
hands-on experience on the job.
F) Upgrade training: It is required when new equipment is incorporated in the unit’ s
vehicles or fleet or when new procedures are implemented in the maintenance
activities. Other upgrade training classes may be conducted (on- or off-site) to permit
mechanics to upgrade their licenses or their work status.
g) Refresher training: It is required whenever it is noted that the mechanic or technician
is “ rusty” and needs to review or re-verify certain skills. This may occur because the
mechanic has extended periods of time where he/she wasn’ t exposed to the equipment
or maintenance activities. Upgrade and refresher trainings are usually developed by
the organization and are done “ as necessary” basis.
h) Maintenance resource management: Considerable interest has developed recently in
the subject of human factors in maintenance. In the 1990s efforts begun to identify and
correct errors in the maintenance activities that contribute to aircraft accidents and
incidents. This activity-human factors in maintenance (HFM)-has developed in to the
maintenance resource management (MRM) program. The FAA has issued Advisory
Circular AC 120-72, maintenance resource management training to outline the
requirements for this type of training
i) Airframe manufacturers training: When an airline buys one or more aircraft from the
airframe manufacturers (Boeing, Lockheed, Airbus, etc.) they usually get, as a part of
the purchase price, a certain number of training slots for the manufacturer’ s training
classes on that model. This would include courses on airframe, power plant and
avionics equipment installed. Airframe, engine and equipment manufacturers may
provide a variety of “ onetime” program at the airline venue. This might include
training on extended range operations with two engine airplane(ETOPS), corrosion
protection and control program(CPCP), maintenance error detection program(MEDA),
non-destructive test and inspection techniques(NDT/NDI), aviation safety, reliability
programs and the like [13].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.6 Reliability in broad sense

Reliability is one of the major tools currently underway in the aviation industry to continually
evaluate quality and performance. Military standard defined reliability as “ The probability
that an item will perform a required function without failure under stated conditions for a
stated period of time.”
In this part, reliability has a special approach in aviation. There are two main approaches to
the concept of reliability in aviation industry [13].
1. One looks essentially at the whole airline operation or the maintenance and engineering
operation with in the whole. This is the case with EAL.
2. The other looks at the maintenance program in particular.

The first approach is measured by dispatch reliability i.e. how often the airline achieves an on-
time departure of its scheduled flights. An on-time departure means that the aircraft has been
“ pushed back” from the gate with in 15 minutes of the scheduled departure time. Airlines
using this approach track delay. Very often airlines using this approach to reliability overlook
any maintenance problems (personnel or equipment related) that don’ t cause delays and track
and investigate only those problems that cause delay. The second approach is to consider
reliability as a program specifically designed to address the problems of maintenance whether
or not they cause delay –and provide analysis of and corrective actions for those items to
improve the overall reliability of the equipment. This contributes to the dispatch reliability as
well as the overall operation.

3.6.1 Types of reliability

There are four types of reliability one can talk about related to maintenance activity [13].

3.6.1.1 Statistical Reliability: It is based upon collection of and analysis of failure, removal,
and repair rates of systems or components. These various maintenance actions are called
events. Event rates are calculated on the basis of events per 1000 flight hours or events per
100 flight cycles. This is used for the purpose of the analysis. It is recommended to use this
approach in airlines with more number of aircrafts (>30) in order for the statistical
calculations to be very significant. Moreover, this approach may not indicate reliability of
components which are engaged in work for a smaller duration .For instance whether radars
may be engaged only for two months in a year and there will be scarcity of data.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.6.1.2 Historical Reliability: It is simply comparison of current event rates with those of past
experience. It can be used in the case when there is no sufficient data to perform statistical
analysis. It is just looking at the last year’ s data for the same equipment, same period of time.
If current rates compare favorably with past experience, then it is okay; if there is significant
difference in data from one year to the next that would be an indication of a possible problem.

3.6.1.3 Event oriented reliability: It is concerned with one time events such as bird strikes,
hard landings, in-flight shutdowns, lightening strikes, or other accidents or incidents. These
are events that don’ t occur on a regular basis and therefore produce no usable statistical or
historical data. Nevertheless, they do occur from time to time, and each occurrence must be
investigated to determine the cause and to prevent or reduce the possibility of recurrence of
the problem.

3.6.1.4 Dispatch reliability: It is a measure of the overall effectiveness of the airline operation
with respect to the on-time departure. It receives considerable attention from regulatory
authorities as well as from airlines and passengers. If there are 4 delays and cancellations in
100 flights this means a 4% delay rate. A 4% delay rate would translate in to a 96% dispatch
rate. In other words, the airline dispatched 96% of its flights on time.
The use of dispatch reliability at the airlines is, at times, misinterpreted. The passengers are
concerned with timely dispatch for obvious reason. To respond to FAA & Aircraft
manufacturers pressures on dispatch rate, airlines often react. Some airlines maintenance
reliability program (such as ETHIOPIAN) track only dispatch reliability; that, they only track
and investigate problems that result in a delay or cancellation of a flight. But this is only part
of an effective program and dispatch reliability involves more than just maintenance. An
example will bear this out.
An aircraft pilot in a command is 2 hours from his arrival station when he experiences a
problem with the rudder controls. He writes up the problem in the aircraft logbook and reports
it by radio to the flight following unit at the base. Up on arrival at the base, the maintenance
crew meets the plane and checks the log for discrepancies. They find the rudder control write-
up and begin troubleshooting and repair actions. The repair takes a little longer than the
scheduled turnaround time and, therefore, causes a delay. Since maintenance at the work and
the rudder is the problem, the delay is charged to maintenance and the rudder system would
be investigated for the cause of the delay. This is an improper response. Did maintenance
cause the delay? Did the rudder equipment cause the delay? Or was the delay caused by poor

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

airline procedures? To put in to another way: could a change of airline procedures eliminate
the delay? Let the events remain as they are happened .It is possible to change them for the
better.
If the pilot and the flight operation organization knew about the problem 2 hours before
landing, why wasn’ t maintenance informed at the same time? If they had been informed, they
could have spent the time prior to landing in studying the problem and performing some
troubleshooting analysis. It is quite possible, then, that when the airplane landed, maintenance
could have met it with a fix in mind. Thus, this delay could have been prevented by
procedural changes. The procedure should be changed to avoid such delays in the future.
While maintenance organizations and the airline could benefit form this advance warning
system, it will not always eliminate delays. The important thing to remember is that if a delay
is caused by procedure, it should be attributed to procedure and it should be avoided in the
future by altering the procedure. That is what a reliability program is about: detecting where
the problems are and correcting them, regardless of who or what is to blame.
Another fallacy in over emphasizing dispatch delay is that some airlines will investigate each
delay (as they should) but an equipment problem is involved, the investigation may or may
not take in to account other similar failures that did not cause delays. For example, if there are
12 write-ups of rudder problems during the month and only one of these caused a delay, there
are actually two problems to investigate: (a) the delay, which could be caused by problems
other than the rudder equipment and (b) the 12 rudder write-ups that may, in fact, be related to
underlying maintenance problem. One must understand that dispatch delays constitute one
problem and the rudder system malfunction constitutes the other. They may indeed overlap
but they are two different problems. The delay is an event oriented reliability problem that
must be investigated on its own; the 12 rudder problems (as this constitutes a higher failure
rate) should be addressed by the statistical (or historical) reliability program. The
investigation of the dispatch delays should look at the whole operation. Equipment problems-
whether or not they caused delays- should be investigated separately [13].

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Table 3.2 Inputs to determine dispatch reliability

767-300 767-200 737-700 757-PAX 7575-CAR 737-260 DH-6 F-50 L-100-30

A/C type
T(hr) Lnd T(hr) Lnd T(hr) Lnd T(hr) Lnd
Flt.hr& Lnd. 426.28 89 239.17 115 230.55 58 201.15 257
424.3 89 258.45 112 119.03 43 202.43 247
446.55 106 373.12 145 328.15 82 163.43 201
413.68 92 246.03 86 314.48 101 145.12 172 -- --
421.95 95 251.15 120 289.7 83 62.55 57 196.02 212 -- --
405.82 101 260.4 88 158.2 40 90.83 62 49.07 50

Total Hrs(A) 2538.6 572 260.4 88 1367.9 578 1281.9 367 158.2 40 90.83 62 111.62 107 906.15 1089
A/C days in
the month 31*6=186 31*1=31 31*5=155 31*1=31 31*1=31 31*1=31 31*2=62 31*5=155 --
Service
days(B) 186 13 155 31 31 31 62 155
A/C in
service 6 1 5 5 1 1 2 5 --
Daily
utilization(C)
A/B 13.6 8.4 8.8 8.3 5.1 2.9 1.8 5.8 --
Average
sector
time=A/Lnd 4.4 3 2.5 3.7 4 1.5 1.04 0.9
No of delay
Or
cancellation 5 4 5 2 0 0 0 13
Dispatch
reliability % 99.1 95.5 99.1 99.4 100 100 100 98.7

*Dispatch reliability= (Total No of landing with out delay or cancellation/ Total No of landing or departure)*100%
For instance for B-767 D.R = ((574-4)/572)*100%=99.1% [11]

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

3.6.2 Alert status determination for aircraft systems

Sample example for Boeing 767-300, ATA No 2150(Cabin Cooling)

Data used for alert value calculation is from year 2005.

Table 3.3 Inputs to determine alert status [11]

Month J F M A M J J A S O N D ™; x̄ ™ Xi-x̄ )2

Xi 0.5 1.1 1.7 5 1.8 4.7 1.7 2.1 2.3 1.3 0.4 1.6 24.2 2.02
(Xi-x̄ )2 2.3 0.8 0.1 8.8 0.04 7.2 0.1 0.006 0.07 0.5 2.60 0.2 22.9

¥™ ;i- x̄ )2/n-1 = 1.44

UCL= x̄  

Xi refers to monthly event rate in 1000 flight hours for the previous 12 months excluding the
three months from the current month.

To determine the value of Xi:

-Revenue flight hour for the particular month under consideration will be recorded for all
aircrafts in the fleet. Revenue flight hour is the total flight hour of the fleet excluding training
and other non revenue generating flights.

-Number of failures of the specific component in that month will also be registered.
Xi = (1000*Number of failures)/Revenue flight hours.

For Boeing 767-300 fleet the revenue flight hour in May 2006 was 2538.58
Three pilot writ-ups were registered for cabin pressure control whose ATA No is 2130.
Hence its rate for 1000 flight hours will be
Xi = (1000*3)/2538.58=1.18

Three month rate: Is average of the event rates for the last three months including the current
month. This is done for every three months on a rolling basis.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Reliability status:
-Clear, if 3 months average is < UCL
-Alert, if 3 months average is > UCL
-Remains in alert if two or more consecutive 3 months rates > UCL.
-If monthly rate falls below UCL, status returns to clear even if 3 months rate remains above
UCL.
Investigation of the alert items by engineering often results in the need to change the
maintenance program. This may result in:
a) Adjustment in the interval at which maintenance tasks are performed.
b) Change in the maintenance process (HT, OC, CM) to which components are assigned.

A change in the task may mean rewriting maintenance and/or test procedures or in
implementing new, more effective procedures.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Chapter 4: Problem identification

Nowadays survival and competitiveness of a business company in a market is highly

dependant on the quality of products or services that it provides to customers. Although
advanced technology contributes a lot for quality outputs, this is nothing without an efficient
quality management of those tasks being accomplished. Though Ethiopian Airlines has
secured longstanding tradition and experience in transport aircraft maintenance and
engineering tasks, there are also big issues of quality that need to be addressed by
implementing and experiencing TQM. Some of these problems are:

4.1 Flight cancellation

Table 4.1 Flight cancellation rate [11]
Aircraft type
Year B767 B757 B737 DH6 F50
1999 1 2 1 6 4
2000 5 3 3 5 9
2001 4 11 1 12 15
2002 7 4 3 5 10
2003 5 7 6 6 24
2004 3 4 5 4 21
2005 5 6 2 1 13

Flight Cancellation

30
Cancellation frequency

25
B767
20
B757
15 B737
10 DH6
F50
5

0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Year

Figure 4.1 Flight cancellation run chart

As it can be seen from the graph, the highest rate of flight cancellation is observed on F-50
fleet. This is the major cause of customer dissatisfaction in the local flight. Although the trend

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

indicates that the rate of flight cancellation decreased recently, F-50 fleet is the still showing
the largest flight cancellation rate compared to other fleets. So far the highest flight
cancellation scored in one year is 24 in the F-50 fleet. The other fleets have also shown
considerable cancellation rate. Specially, the B-757 and DH-6 had high rate in the year 2001.
In the recent times, the cancellation rate seems to be declining for the F-50, B-737and DH-6
fleets while increasing for the B-767 and B-757 fleets.

4.2 Flight delay

Table 4.2 Flight delay frequency [11]
Aircraft type
Year B767 B757 B737 DH6 F50
1999 107 121 25 65 65
2000 130 160 29 81 96
2001 120 113 55 87 105
2002 112 94 65 52 109
2003 72 121 83 27 109
2004 89 145 77 19 155
2005 146 137 49 34 168

Flight delay frequency

180
160
B767
Delay frequency

140
120 B757
100 B737
80 DH6
60 F50
40
20
0
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Year

Figure 4.2 Flight delay run chart

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

4.3 Total hours delayed

Table 4.3 Flight total hours delay 1 [11]
Aircraft Type
Year B767 B757 B737 DH6 F50
1999 318.2 280.76 73.7 197.14 158.7
2000 303.16 262.36 57.6 257.38 281.3
2001 147.13 201.23 65.6 167.7 163.4
2002 236.37 109.32 91.91 90.65 191.92
2003 125.45 198.04 367.07 50.14 252.27
2004 187.91 202.88 140.07 22.16 313.02
2005 311.9 242.62 133.1 137.36 421.59

Total hours delayed

450
400
350 B767
300
Delay hour

B757
250
B737
200
150 DH6
100 F50
50
0
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Year

Figure 4.3 Total hours delay run chart

The flight delay frequency and delay hour are important parameters to show the effectiveness
of the airline to evaluate the performance of its aircraft fleet in order to obtain the highest
dispatch reliability. The trend of total delay hour has increased since 2001, 2002 and 2003 for
the fleets F-50, B-757, B-767 respectively. The highest total flight hour delay is observed in
the F-50 fleet in the year 2005. The B-757 and B-767 fleets which are engaged in the
international flight service are also subjected to increasing delay hours. The cumulative
effects of these circumstances are dissatisfaction of both internal and external customers,
compensation that should be made for customers such as covering hotel rent along with other
services, and the delay of the next scheduled flight.

1
Technical delays of 15 minutes and above are only considered

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

4.4 Revenue departure (Flight departure to generate income excluding training and other
flights.)
Table 4.4 Number of revenue departures [11]
Aircraft Type
Year B767 B757 B737 DH6 F50
1999 5327 6532 953 4267 8055
2000 5483 6682 1051 3809 10119
2001 5110 6219 2654 3197 11169
2002 6264 6132 2479 2509 11614
2003 4172 6404 3268 2032 10691
2004 5826 6530 5301 1695 10871
2005 6632 5765 6632 1551 10647

Revenue departure

14000
12000
Departure number

10000 B767
B757
8000
B737
6000
DH6
4000
F50
2000
0
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Year

Figure 4.4 Revenue departure run chart

The revenue departure measures the number of departures made by the airline fleet to
generate income. It will not include departures made for other purposes such as training, flight
test etc. It can serve as one means of measuring the performance of the airline since it may
indicate the increase of flight routes or the increase of flight departure frequency in the
existing flight lines. As it can be seen from the plot, the revenue departure is more or less
constant for the B-575 fleet, increasing and then coming to a constant level for the F-50 fleet,
increasing for the B-737 and B-767 fleets and totally declining for the DH-6 fleet.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

4.5 Average dispatch reliability

Table 4.5 Average% dispatch reliability [11]

Aircraft type
B767 B757 B737 DH6 F50
Year
1999 Planned 98.6 98.6 98.6 97 97
Actual 98 97.7 97.5 98.5 99.24
2000 Planned 98.6 98.6 98.6 97 97
Actual 97.53 96.97 98.6 97.88 98.96
2001 Planned 98.6 98.6 98.6 97 97
Actual 97.8 97.4 97.86 97 98.93
2002 Planned 98.6 98.6 98.6 97 97
Actual 97.8 98.24 97.23 97.74 98.96
2003 Planned 98.6 98.6 98.6 97 97
Actual 98.2 97.6 97.3 98.33 98.7
2004 Planned 98.6 98.6 98.6 97 98.6
Actual 98.4 97.9 96.7 98.66 98.4
2005 Planned 98.6 98.6 98.6 97 98.6
Actual 95.3 97.2 99.25 97.75 98.3

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

B-767 B-757

99 98.8

Average dispatch reliability

Average dispatch reliability
98.6
98.5
98.4
98 98.2
97.5 98
Actual Actual
97 97.8
Planned 97.6 Planned
96.5
97.4
96 97.2
95.5 97
95 96.8
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Year Year

B-737 F-50

99.5 99.5

Average dispatch reliability

Average dispatch reliability

99 99

98.5 98.5
Actual Actual
98 98
Planned Planned
97.5 97.5

97 97

96.5 96.5
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Year Year

DH6

98.8
Average dispatch reliability

98.6
98.4
98.2
98 Actual
97.8
97.6 Planned
97.4
97.2
97
96.8
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006
Year

Figure 4.5 Dispatch reliability run chart

Dispatch reliability measures the capability of an airline to achieve an on-time departure of its
scheduled flights. As it can be seen for the graph plotted, B-767 fleet had lower dispatch
reliability than the planned one for the past seven consecutive years. The variance had even
grown to larger value in the year 2005. In the same manner the B-757 fleet had dispatch
reliability lower than the planned one for the same period. Unlike the B-767 and B-757 fleet,
the DH-6 fleet had actual dispatch reliability greater than the planned value for this duration.
The actual dispatch reliability of B-737 and F-50 was below the planned value for
considerable consecutive years, though the situation was improved later.

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4.6 Technical incidents

Table 4.6 Frequency of technical incidents [11]
Aircraft Type
Year B767 B757 B737 DH6 F50
1999 5 13 5 19 10
2000 7 15 2 16 22
2001 10 9 2 25 27
2002 20 7 9 15 30
2003 5 12 15 7 52
2004 10 20 12 4 40
2005 12 12 7 10 42

Technical Incidents

60
Incident frequency

50 B767
40 B757
30 B737
20 DH6
10 F50
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Year

Figure 4.6 Technical incidents run chart

Technical Incidents include:

-Return from taxi-way -Return from flight
-Return from take-off block -Engine in-flight shutdown
-Aborted take-off -Fire warning
-Diversion due to mechanical problem only

4.7 Employee turnover

Employee turnover is a critical cost deriving for any business organization. The cost of
recruiting and filling vacancies, lost productivity from vacant jobs, and the cost of training

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new employees increases operating cost, reduces out put and declines profit. Based on the
five years executive summery of employee turnover, the following data is provided.

Table 4.7 Yearly employee turnover [11]

Fiscal year Average No of No of labor Turnover %
employee turnover
2000/2001 3848 156 4.1
2001/2002 3970 170 4.3
2002/2003 4129 227 5.5
2003/2004 4487 206 4.6
2004/2005 4610 199 4.3
Average 4210 192 4.6

Percent turnover

4
% turnover

0
2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05
Year

Figure 4.7 Histogram of employee turnover

4.7.1 Turnover by profession

During 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 1 chief executive, 19 Pilots , 83 marketing personnel , 16
financial personnel, 51 technicians, 39 cabin crew, 7 engineers , 10 IT personnel, and 179
other different personnel left the company due to various reasons.
4.7.2 Causes of turnover

1. Economic reason (main reason) and pursuit of a better life in developed countries.

2. Threats from Middle East countries in taking more pilots and aircraft technicians of EAL.
This situation is expected to continue since these countries are expanding airline
business.

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Improvements undertaken to minimize employee turnover

1. Salary scale adjustment

2. Recently ETHIOPIAN has taken initiatives to facilitate the process for employees to have
their own house.

However, considerable employees point out that the performance appraisal payment technique
and the variable payment technique are not equally rewarding employees’ effort. The latter is
used for mechanics, pilots& cabin crew while the former is used for office workers and other
staff members. In variable payment technique, measurement is time. It compares the standard
man hour and the actual time taken to complete a certain task. For instance if a mechanic
finishes a task 3 hours earlier than the standard man hour, it will be registered for him. Like
wise the hours will be accumulated in a month and a payment in addition to his salary will be
made. But in case of performance appraisal payment, monthly activity report of workers will
be collected and a certain performance level will be given to the workers .The problem is that
in giving a higher performance level it requires justification to be made by bosses or higher
managers. Usually bosses and higher managers are not willing for this justification and they
put a performance level just below the higher required value for additional payment and as a
result a higher extra payment may not be achieved.

4.8 Training

Though the company conducts training activities, still a lot effort is required to strictly adhere
to the schedules released by the training centers. Many departments still hold their staff
members from participating on training activities. The reason they put forward for this is that
lack of man power will happen if they allow their staff members to participate on training
activities. This situation has shown a little improvement after the audit conducted by IOSA.

4.9 Quality assurance

The major aspect of quality assurance in aviation industry is the internal audit performed with
in the company and external audit performed on the site of suppliers/vendors and foreign
repair stations. This audit practice of ETHIOPIAN was non systematic and inferior to the
audit requirements of ISO. There were no standard corrective action request system, audit

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

discrepancies record system and audit follow-up system. This problem has been solved quite
recently to some extent after the audit conducted by IOSA.

4.10 Major emphasis to quality control

In order to continue in the airline business, EAL has to be evaluated by the Ethiopian Civil
Aviation Authority and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). FAA is the responsible
organization to renew ETHIOPIAN operating certificate after periodic evaluation by its
representatives. The evaluation of these regulatory bodies mainly emphasizes on conformance
to requirements outlined by FAA. The evaluation scheme doesn’ t pay much attention to
standard quality assurance systems or total quality management philosophies. It is up to the
organization to develop a standard quality management system and apply the philosophies of
TQM. The researcher noticed that although there was TQM department under the
maintenance and engineering division, implementation of TQM was by far below the
requirement. The quality control aspect has been well practiced while the quality assurance
practice has remained traditional and non standard until very recent time. The quality
assurance practice has exhibited improvement after the audit activities made against
ETHIOPIAN by IOSA.

As far as its operating certificate is renewed by FAA, ETHIOPIAN has the right to continue
operation for the approved duration. To renew the certificate of the maintenance organization,
designated representatives of FAA perform the following major evaluations:

1. Checking calibration of measuring and test instruments such as gauges, meters etc.

2. Checking of qualification of technicians, operators etc.

3. Checking documents (revision dates, stamps, approvals of inspection works etc.)

4. Checking performance of instruments or equipment and counterchecking capability of

operators by requesting operators to conduct a certain practical operation or inspection
task.

5. Checking the existence of standards, work procedures, manuals, and materials to perform a
certain inspection or other task.

6. Checking sample of tasks performed if they are within the capability list of the airline.

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7. Other quality control oriented evaluations.

4.11 Aircraft ground time and man hours

More than 90% of the maintenance activities are performed with actual aircraft ground time
below the scheduled one. However, more man-hours have been utilized than the standard one.
The reason for this is that, because of lower technology employed by ETHIOPIAN compared
to the airlines in the developed countries, the man-hour is increased by a factor of 2 to 2.5.But
the adverse effect of this is increase of maintenance cost.

4.12 Ignored costs

Estimating quality costs and maintenance costs would indicate the performance of
ETHIOPIAN from time to time. However, these costs are ignored. From the interview
conducted, the reason for ignoring these costs is to eliminate the consequences of a negative
image on the company that may come from the government, donators such as European
Countries, and other partners. But delays, cancellations etc. are causing extra costs on the
company such as for renting rooms for passengers, other services, and even delay of the next
flight.

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Chapter 5: Collection of data, discussion and analysis of results

5.1 Data collection procedure

Information gathering and data collection are made by:

1. Interviewing ETHIOPIAN employees and representative of regulatory bodies such as

CAA, FAA, and IOSA.
2. Conducting personal observation at the work places.
3. Distributing questionnaires to sample of employees in different departments.
4. Looking at Technical Policies and Procedures Manual (TPPM), Inspection and
Procedures Manual (IPM), Reliability Program Manual (RPM), Corporate Quality
Manual (CQM), Maintenance Program Documents (MPD), Quality Audit Reports,
etc.
The distribution of questionnaires is made to the departments listed below and the selected
sample employees in these departments are given ample time to respond to the questions
during their free time or by taking the questionnaire paper to their home. As a result, the
researcher believes that productivity was unaffected.

List of departments considered for the questionnaire:

1. Repair shops
2. Power plant inspection
3. Hangar maintenance
4. Hangar inspection
5. Component overhaul
6. Structure maintenance
7. “ Total quality management”
8. Planning
9. Engineering
10. Maintenance program methods development
11. Store
On average four to five employees at different posts (director, manager, supervisor, foreman,
senior mechanic, lead mechanic, junior mechanic, etc.) are randomly selected from each
department .They are requested to respond to the questions frankly and to forward further
elaborations so that the out come is to overcome the existing problems and thereby enhance

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the competitiveness of the company in the global market. The points included in the
questionnaires are believed to be critical factors that need to be considered while
implementing total quality management in the airline industry. The total number of papers
distributed was 50 and the one collected was 36.

5.2 Discussion of results

5.2.1 Summery of questionnaire results

Table 5.1 Summary of data collected

Grade A B C D E F G H
No % No % No % No % No % No % No % No %
1 12 2.54 8 7.9 1 0.7 11 5 0 0 1 0.4 11 2.54 25 8.68
2 55 11.7 17 17.8 22 15.38 49 22.7 24 22.2 16 6.32 63 14.6 58 20.14
3 129 27.04 28 27.7 46 32.2 54 25 32 29.6 43 17 151 34.5 79 27.4
4 136 28.9 28 27.7 29 20.28 55 25.5 32 29.6 62 24.5 138 31.9 63 21.9
5 137 29.1 18 17.8 19 13.28 30 13.9 18 16.6 125 49.4 45 10.4 53 18.4
6 2 0.42 2 2 26 18.2 17 7.8 2 1.85 6 2.37 24 5.56 10 3.47
Total 471 101 143 216 108 253 432 288

Grade 1: Excellent/extremely high

2: Very good/very high
3: Good/high
4: Average
5: Poor/below required
6: Not applicable

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Response for management commitment Response for training

35 30 27.7 27.7
27.04 28.9 29.1
30 25
25 20 17.8 17.8

% value

% value
20
11.7 % 15 %
15 7.9
10 10
5 2.54 5 2
0.42
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Grade

Response for cooperation with vendors/FR Response for Ergnomics

stations
Response for ergonomics & human factors
30 25 25.5
25 22.7
40 32.2
20

% valu e
30 13.9
% valu e

20.28 18.2 15 %
20 15.38 13.28 % 7.8
10 5
10 5
0.7
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Grade

Response for Continous improvement Response for Employee performance &

payment technique
35 29.6 29.6 Incentive scheme
30 60
22.2 49.4
25
% value

20 16.6 40
% value

% 24.5
15 %
17
10 20
1.85 6.32 2.37
5 0 0.4
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Grade

Response for Quality maintenance management Response for Customer focused approach

40 34.5 30 27.4
31.9
25 21.9
30 20.14 18.4
% value

20
% value

20 14.6 % 15 %
10.4 8.68
5.56 10
10 3.47
2.54 5
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Grade

Figure 5.1 Graphical display of questionnaire results

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

a) Commitment of the management/Leadership

As it can be seen for the Figure 5.1, 28.9% of the respondents replied that the commitment of
the management was average while 29.1% responded that the management commitment was
below the requirement. On the other hand, 85.46% of the respondents replied that the
commitment of the management regarding continuous improvement, willingness for
important changes, motivation and recognition of employees’ effort, transparent leadership,
listening to employees’ dissatisfaction or addressing their enquiries etc. should be improved
(responses 3, 4, 5).

b) Training

From Figure 5.1, 27.7% respondents pointed out that the training activities undergoing in the
company were good. On the other hand the same number of respondents replied that the
commitment of conducting training as per schedules and the willingness of departments to
send their staffs for training was average. Other considerable respondents (17.8%) indicated
that the commitment to run trainings smoothly according to the plan was below the
requirement and should be improved. While the researcher was conducting personal
investigation of training records, he noticed that the effort made in this requirement was
below the required until the very recent audit conducted by external auditing organizations.

c) Cooperation with vendors or foreign repair stations

32.2% of the respondents replied that the cooperation and commitment of vendors and foreign
repair stations in giving trainings, in delivering spares/ repaired component etc. on time and in
taking immediate corrective actions were good while another 20.28% replied that this
cooperation and commitment was average , and still another 13.8% point out that the effort
was still below the requirement. However, some other 15.38% were in favor of the
willingness of these foreign organizations’ cooperation and commitment.

d) Ergonomics and human factors

Ergonomics and human factors are becoming now major criteria of the global airline industry,
airline auditing organizations and regulatory bodies.25% of the respondents replied that the
availability of auxiliary equipment to support maintenance; the clarity, understandability and
accessibility of manuals and documents maintained; the design of maintenance programs with

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

the capability, skills and endurance of the work crew as required; and trainings regarding
human factors were good. Other 25.5% replied that the effort made in this regard was average
but another 13.9% said it was below the requirement. On the other hand 27.7% were in favor
of the achievement of this requirement.

e) Continuous improvement

In evaluating the continuous improvement of maintenance and engineering activities with the
aim to improve demand and supply generation, technology, operations and people capability,
22.2% of the respondents indicated that the effort made in this regard was very good while
another 29.6% said it was good and still another 29.6% replied it was average. A considerable
number of respondents (16.6%) replied that the effort was still below the requirement.

f) Employee performance versus incentive schemes

Currently ETHIOPIAN uses two kinds of incentive schemes namely, variably payment and
performance appraisal payment to motivate employees. In evaluating the fairness maintained
with these schemes to reward all employees as per their effort and performance; the
effectiveness of these schemes in motivating hard working employees, in accounting for
quality of work and complexity and difficulty of tasks ,in allowing participation of
employees in setting these methods, 49.4% of the respondents replied that the techniques were
poor in satisfying employees and in achieving stated objectives while 24.5% pointed out that
they were average and some 17% indicated that they were good and other 6.32% replied they
were very good.

g) Quality maintenance management

In assessing the level of quality problems around maintenance and engineering areas, the
repetition of failures, delays and cancellations, the efficiency and effectiveness of
maintenance activities in addressing maintenance problems, the dispatch reliability in
competing with that of other airliners and in satisfying the global requirement, the
maintenance costs, the strength of the link among the ETHIOPIAN maintenance procedures,
maintenance engineers and line/shop/hangar maintenance personnel to solve problems or
alerts as fast as possible , the practical contribution of engineers in providing effective
troubleshooting, the clarity and understandability of drawings, maintenance packages, EOs,

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ERs, etc. , 34.5% replied ‘good’ , 31.94% replied ‘average’ , 14.58% replied ‘very good’ 10.4%
replied '
poor’ , 5.56% replied ‘not applicable’ and 2.54% replied ‘excellent’ .

h) Customer focused approach

In evaluating how employees in one department consider employees in other departments as

their customers, the mechanisms employed to assess customers satisfaction/dissatisfaction,
the rate of replying / performing customers’ enquires/tasks; involvement of employees in
setting performance and payment standards, the effort made to recognize, initiate and reward
higher performance achievements, interdepartmental relationships, satisfaction and proudness
of employees by their work, 27.4% replied ‘good’ , 21.9% replied ‘average’ , 20.14% replied
‘very good’ , 18.4% replied ‘poor’ ,8.68% replied ‘excellent’ and 3.47% replied ‘not
applicable’ .

In addition to this, 97.2% of the respondents believed that they were contributing for the
quality of maintenance and engineering activities, 66.7% recommended the change of the
management, 86.1% provided job related opinions to their supervisors and managers, while
64% believed that their supervisors and managers didn’ t listen to their comments and didn’ t
take the necessary action. Regarding empowerment of employees, 86.1% pointed out that they
didn’ t have the power and authority to take actions by their own.

5.3 Analysis of results

5.3.1 Force field analysis

Force Field Analysis is a simple but powerful technique for building an understanding of the
forces that will drive and resist a proposed change. It consists of a two columns, with driving
forces listed in the first column, and restraining forces in the second. A force field diagram is
used to analyze these opposing forces and set the stage for making change possible. Change
will not occur when either the driving forces and restraining forces are equal, or the
restraining forces are stronger than the driving forces. For change to be possible, the driving
forces must overcome the restraining forces. Usually, the most effective way to do this it to
diminish or remove restraining forces. It can be tempting to try strengthening the driving
forces instead, but this tends to intensify the opposition at the same time. Table 5.2 shows the
force field analysis.

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Table 5.2: What factors affect ETHIOPIAN in improving quality and implementing TQM?
Driving Forces Restraining Forces
1 Global competition and growth Stagnation to old quality procedures&
of airlines’ industry quality techniques.
systems World wide.

2 Aviation safety and maintenance Maintenance procedures and safety

rules became stronger recently. rules are as before.
3 Strong and practical decisions of Strictly adhere to conformance of
competitors in implementing regulatory authority’ s requirements,
standard quality management infant quality management systems,
systems. and no ISO certification.
4 The acceptance of international Non standard quality audit and quality
aviation quality audit organizations assurance techniques.
5 Repetitive quality remarks from Paying more attention to quality
certifying & audit organizations. especially during audit time &
unprepared in advance of audit
schedules.
6 Qualified personnel if trained Dissatisfied employees for no
properly can easily achieve participation in setting policies,
quality improvement. procedures, bonus/incentives schemes.
7 Good reputation, long time High employee turnover, increase of
experience in the industry. highly equipped and economically
strong competitors.
8 Customer focused mission, Lack of motivation, recognition, and
vision and values. reward of employees. Lack of
effective maintenance management
causing flight delays & cancellations.

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 Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

5.3.2 Relationship analysis: It indicates the relationship among different factors.

Employee Increase of
dissatisfaction Less recognition, competitor’s
and seeking a reward and potential in
better life abroad encouragement from technology, quality
top management management,
customer services
and attracting skilled
personnel

Insignificant
employee Less attention
participation in paid to training
setting objectives, activities
policies, bonus or
incentive schemes
etc..
Negative impact on
the strategic
business
performance
Infant quality
Considerable management
employee system and non
turnover standard quality
assurance
procedure

Problems of Considerable flight

performance Customer delays and
appraisal, dissatisfaction cancellations
incentives/bonus

Figure 5.2 Relations diagram

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5.3.3 Pareto analysis

Pareto chart: To develop Pareto analysis, the percentage response of “ poor’ in each reply is

converted in to 100% since this reply indicates the existence of problem.

Table 5.3 Result conversion

Problem area % response of “ poor” Converted to 100%

from 169%
1 Employee evaluation versus 49.4% 29.4%
incentives/bonus
2 Leadership 29.1% 17.8%
3 Customer focus approach 18.4% 10.8%
4 Training 17.8% 10.6%
5 Continuous improvement 16.6% 9.95%
6 Ergonomics/human factor 13.9% 8.33%
7 Supplier partnership 13.28% 7.95%
8 Quality maintenance 10.4% 6.23%
management
Total 169% 100%

Pareto chart

120.00%
Cummulative percent

100.00%

80.00%

60.00%

40.00%
20.00%

0.00%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Problem factor

Figure 5.3 Pareto chart

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

From the chart eliminating the problems in employee evaluation versus incentives/ bonus
schemes, leadership and customer focus approach, will eliminate some 60% of the total
problems.

6WDWLVWLFDOK\SRWKHVLVWHVWLQJ 2
test analysis for independence) [2]

2
test is used to investigate association between attributes. For instance it is used to
investigate if there is any association between good management commitment and good
continuous improvement in ETHIOPIAN by using the questionnaire results.
Before proceeding to this it is recommended to change Table 5.1 in to frequency table.

Table 5.4 Frequency table

Attribute
Grade A B C D E F G H
1 1 3 0 2 0 0 1 3
2 4 7 6 8 8 3 5 8
3 10 10 12 9 11 6 12 10
4 10 10 7 9 11 9 12 8
5 11 6 5 5 6 18 4 7
6 0 0 6 3 0 0 2 0
Total 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36

Attribute A refers to management commitment/leadership, B refers to training and so on as

per Table 5.1. The column total refers to the total number of sample employees. Grades are
similar to those in section 5.2.1. Here in this section the responses in the category 1, 2, 3&4
are grouped in good category while responses in grade 5 are categorized in the poor category
IRUWKHSXUSRVHRIWKH 2
test analysis.

A null hypothesis, denoted by H0, is an assertion about one or more population parameters.
This is the assertion we hold as true until we have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude
otherwise.
The alternative hypothesis, denoted by H1, is the assertion of all situations not covered by
the null hypothesis.
A test statistic is a sample statistic computed from the data. The value of the test statistic is
used in determining whether or not we may reject the null hypothesis.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

The decision rule of a statistic hypothesis test is a rule that specifies the conditions under
which the null hypothesis may be rejected.

State of Nature
H0 H1
H0 Correct Type II
decision error

Decision H1 Type I Correct

error decision

Figure 5.4 Decision alternatives

7KHSUREDELOLW\RIFRPPLWWLQJW\SH,HUURULVGHQRWHGE\ ZKLOHWKHprobability of committing

W\SH,,HUURULVGHQRWHGE\ 7KLVPHDQVZKHQWKHVWDWHRIQDWXUHLV+0 and decision is H0, the
decision is correct. However, when the state of nature is H0 but the decision made is H1, an
error made is called type I error.

  3 5HMHFW+0 when H0 is true)

  3 1RWUHMHFW+0 when H0 is false)

Usually we will be presented with a null hypothesis, a statistical assertion, which we will try
to reject. Before carrying the actual test, we know the probability that we will make type I
HUURU7KLVSUREDELOLW\ LVSUHVHWWRDVPDOOQXPEHUVD\.QRZLQJWKDWZHKDYHDVPDOO
probability of committing type I error (reject a true null hypothesis) makes our rejection of a
null hypothesis a strong conclusion 7KH SUREDELOLW\ RI FRPPLWWLQJ W\SH , HUURU  LV DOVR
called the level of statistical significance. In fact, statistical hypothesis testing is often called
significant testing. A statistical reVXOWLVFRQVLGHUHGVLJQLILFDQWDWOHYHO LILWOHDGVXVWRUHMHFW
a given null hypothesis. In this test the null and alternative hypothesis are tested for
independence as follows:
H0: The two classification variables are independent of each other.
H1: The two classification variables are not independent.
The philosophy of chi-square test is to assume that H0 is true and to use this assumption in
determining the distribution of the test statistic. Then we try to show that the result is unlikely
under H0 and thus reject the null hypothesis.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Now to investigate if there is dependency between good management commitment and good
customer focused approach:
Let H0: Good management commitment and good customer focused approach are
independent.
H1: Good management commitment and good customer focused approach are not
independent.

Table 5.5 RxC Observed value for customer focus approach & management commitment
Good Customer Poor Customer Total
Approach Approach
Good Mgt. Commit. 25 0 25
Poor Mgt.Commit. 4 7 11
Total 29 7 36

Assuming that the two classification variables are independent, let us derive expected counts
in all cells. Looking at a particular cell in raw i and column j with the probability of
occurrence of event i and event j, the expected count in cell (i, j) is Eij=n* p (i M %\WKHODZ
of independence of events, p (i M  3 L S M 

From the raw totals, P (i) = Ri/n. Similarly from the column total, P (j) = Cj/n.
Hence Eij= {Ri*Cj}/n. These along with the observed cell counts, are used to compute the
values of a chi-square statistic, which leads us to a decision to about the null hypothesis of
independence.

The chi-square test statistic for independence is:

2
DOOFHOOVRI^ 2ij-Eij)2}/n

To produce table of expected frequencies using the contingency table 5.3:

E11= (R1C1)/n
E12= (R1C2)/n
E21= (R2C1)/n
E22= (R2C2)/n

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Table 5.6 Expected frequency table

20.13 4.87 25
8.87 2.13 11
29 7 36

7DEOH 2
calculated value

Observed (O) Expected (E) (O-E)2 2 2

calculated={(O-E) }/E

25 20.13 23.71 1.17

4 8.87 23.71 2.67
0 4.87 23.71 4.86
7 2.13 32.71 11.13
Total 19.88

)RUGHJUHHRIIUHHGRP   U-1)*(c-1) = (2-1)*(2-  DWDOHYHORIVLJQLILFDQFH 

2 2
0.05 (from table on appendix II) is 3.84. But calcuODWHG (i.e. 19.88) is greater than
WDEXODWHG 2
(i.e. 3.84) .Hence the null hypothesis is rejected. We therefore conclude that good
management commitment and good customer focused approach are not independent, i.e. they
are related.

Again it is possible to check the dependency between good employee performance

measurement techniques and good customer satisfaction. The null and alternative hypotheses
are:
H0: Good employee performance measurement techniques and good customer satisfaction are
independent.
H1: Good employee performance measurement techniques and good customer satisfaction are
not independent.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Table 5.8 RxC Observed value for employee performance measurement & customer focus
Good Customer Poor Customer Total
Approach Approach
Good Employee Performance 18 0 18
Measurement Techniques
Poor Employee Performance 11 7 18
Measurement Techniques
Total 29 7 36

Table 5.9 Expected frequency

20.13 4.87 25
8.87 2.13 11
29 7 36

7DEOH 2
calculated value

Observed (O) Expected (E) (O-E)2 2 2

calculated={(O-E) }/E

18 14.5 12.25 0.84

11 14.5 12.25 0.84
0 3.5 12.25 3.5
7 3.5 12.25 3.5
Total 8.68

)RUGHJUHHRIIUHHGRP   U-1)*(c-1) = (2-1)*(2-  DWDOHYHORIVLJQLILFDQFH  2

0.05 from table (on appendix) is 3.84. But cDOFXODWHG 2 LH LVJUHDWHUWKDQWDEXODWHG 2

(i.e. 3.84) .Hence the null hypothesis is rejected. We therefore conclude that Good employee
performance measurement techniques and good customer satisfaction are not independent, i.e.
they are related. This approach leads us to the following important decision about the
dependency of the attributes as shown next.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Ergonomics
& human
factors

Maintenance Supplier
management partnership

Training

Leadership/
management
commitment

Employee
performance
measurement
Customer & incentive
focused
approach
Continuous
improvement

Figure 5.5 Relationship among TQM elements based RQ WHVW

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

5.3.4 Cause and effect analysis

Performance
evaluation Quality system Leadership

Strategy evaluation Mainly conformance Mgt.participation

to requirements
No ISO Mgt.comittment
Mgt.Comittment
certification Infant quality
management system Mgt. Encouragement
Variable pay for TQM
Benchmarking Continuous improvement
Training for quality
Mgt. role
Employee Department model
evaluation evaluation Non-standard
QA -Encourage
Quality system -Motivate
Procedure -Recognize and
Performance appraisal -Reward
Impact on
Employee
Employees Strategic
strategic
Business
business
Feed back from Performance
performance
satisfaction Facility
Maint.record
Maint.record
survey keeping
keeping Participation
Main.Schedule
Recognition&
Satisfaction Customer Training reward
survey handle
Minimum Suggestions
Identifying maint.cost
Flight delay, needs
cancellation Incentive/
HFM & bonus
Maintenance training
Procedure Employee
Customer Maintenance Employee empowerment
Satisfaction and Management
management 97 dissatisfaction
retention
Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Chapter 6: Development of a TQM implementation model

6.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the development of a TQM implementation model for ETHIOPIAN
maintenance and engineering facility. The development of this model is based on the TQM
literature review, the structured interviews conducted in ETHIOPIAN, the questionnaire
findings from ETHIOPIAN employees, and the general characteristics of the airline. The
model can assist in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the TQM implementation,
targeting improvement areas, setting up an action plan for improvements, and tailoring a
special part to the needs of the airline. The TQM implementation model developed in this
study consists of:
a) A framework of TQM that consists of the 11 elements of TQM and the four elements of
overall business performance.
b) A set of TQM implementation practices.
c) A set of indicators of overall business performance.
d) Processes of using this TQM implementation model in practice.
e) Practical guidance providing guidelines to assist user in selecting and/or formulating
the most effective TQM implementation plans.
6. 2 Framework of TQM

The framework of TQM was formulated on the basis of the theoretical model of TQM
implementation and overall business performance. The combination of the elements of TQM
and overall business performance is the framework of TQM, which is displayed in Figure 6.1.
Thus, the framework of TQM consists of the 11 elements of TQM and the four elements of
overall business performance. This framework is based on the hypothesis that TQM
implementation has effects on employee satisfaction, maintenance service quality, customer
satisfaction, and strategic business performance. These hypotheses were confirmed by the
questionnaire survey data. Of the 11 TQM elements leadership is the most important, a
finding obtained from the structured interviews and questionnaire in ETHIOPIAN. Of the
four elements of overall business performance, employee satisfaction has effects on
maintenance service quality and customer satisfaction; it also has an indirect effect on
strategic business performance through maintenance service quality and customer satisfaction.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Maintenance service quality has effects on customer satisfaction and strategic business
performance. As discussed previously, in the long run, customer satisfaction may have
positive effects on strategic business performance. In this framework of TQM, the 11 TQM
elements as a whole are regarded as enablers that can lead to improvements of overall
business performance. In other words, overall business performance is the result of TQM
implementation. [32]*2

6.3 TQM implementation practices

A set of TQM implementation practices and their explanations are presented in this section. In
fact, implementing TQM is to implement the 11 TQM elements. There is a set of TQM
implementation practices supporting the implementation of each element. Based on the
literature review and the results obtained from the structured questionnaire interviews and
observation in ETHIOPIAN, a number of TQM implementation practices were considered
important. These practices are presented in Figure 6.2.

6.3.1 Leadership

6.3.1.1 Top Management Commitment

Top management commitment is the first step and prerequisite for TQM implementation
efforts. Lack of management commitment is one of the reasons for the failure of TQM efforts
(Brown 1994). Top managers need to demonstrate their commitment through their actions
rather than words. Top management commitment can positively affect employees’
commitment to TQM and culturally change people involved [3].

6.3.1.2 Top Management Participation

It is very difficult to improve product/service quality and quality management if top managers
do not lead and participate. Quality improvement involves making decisions and creates
something that did not exist before. It is not sufficient for top managers to stand on the
sidelines and shout “ improve maintenance service quality and intensify quality management” .
Top management participation is crucial to the company’ s quality improvement efforts; it
obviously helps in spreading quality consciousness throughout the company [3].

2
Modified and incorporated from the reference mentioned

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Continuous
Feedback
Evaluation
&
Feedback

Employee
Satisfaction

Vision Evaluation Employee Recognition Education

& Participation & &
Plan statement Reward Training

Maintenance Strategic
Leadership Service Business
Quality
Performance

Supplier/FR Maintenance Maintenance Improve Customer

Station Quality Program Management Quality Focus
Management Design System

Customer
Satisfaction
Fig.6.1 A frame work of TQM [32]*

TQM implementation Overall business performance

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

TQM IMPLEMENTATION MODEL FOR ETHIOPIAN M&E DIVISION

Supplier Vision& Evaluati Maint. Maint. Quality Employ. Recog. Educn. Custmr.
Leadership Quality Plan -on Program Mgt System Particip. & &
Focus
Mgt. Steat. Improve Reward Trainig

Management Supplier Evaluation Maint. Maint. Quality Technical Customer

*Commitment *Vision *Strategy *Manual *Cross- *Program * Training *Information
*Partnership
*Participation Statement
*Goals *Record
*Business *Interval *System Function *Working * Plan *Market
*Selection
*Learning *Quality *Objectiv. *MRM
*Department Procedures Team Environm *Quality Investigation
*Empowerment *Participation Policy
*Program *Tools *QCC ent. Managem *Satisfaction
*Encouragement *Business *Employee
*Performance *Work *Within- *Salary ent Survey
Performance
*Role Model
*Quality
*Pursuit of Long-
Evaluation
*Product/Ser Instructions Function Promotn. *Quality
Audit
Term Business *Quality Audit vice Quality *Inspection Team *Bonus Warranty
*Benchmark
Success Goal *ISO 9000 *Informat. Scheme * Services
*Communicati- ing
*By Fact
on
*Quality
*Quality Certificate Communi *Position * Information
Improvemen
-t Costs cation Promon. System
Formulation *Suggest. *Moral
*Information
System
*Employee Award
Commit.
*Job
Rotation

Figure 6.2 A Model of TQM Implementation Practices [32]*

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6.3.1.3 Top Management Learning

Top managers need to improve their managerial abilities through continuous learning. To
implement TQM, they must first know what it is. Learning TQM is an important step toward
implementing it. Top managers should be modest enough to learn from their employees and
value the ability of their creativity. Top managers also need to learn from other airliners’
successful and unsuccessful experiences and should combine these insights into an approach
that fits the specific conditions, problems, and challenges of their own company [32]*.

6.3.1.4 Top Management Empowerment

Empowerment means giving permission to the workforce to unleash, develop, and utilize their
skills and knowledge to their fullest potential for the company. Empowerment has many
benefits such as increasing employees’ motivation to reduce mistakes, increasing the
opportunity for creativity and innovation, improving employee loyalty, and allowing top and
middle management more time for strategic planning. Top management needs to empower
employees to solve various problems and should rely on employees wholeheartedly [32].

6.3.1.5 Top Management Encouragement

Top managers should strongly encourage employee involvement in quality management and
improvement activities, appreciate employees’ suggestions, take responsibility for employees’
and be open and willing to listen to the voices of employees. They should trust employees and
believe that they can do things better, as well as encourage them to list the company’ s
shortcomings and report their own working problems. Such employees should be praised
instead of criticized [30].

6.3.1.6 Top Management’ s Role Model

Top managers need to act as role models, leading by example. Employees always look to top
managers for a standard of correct behavior. The manner in which top managers conduct
themselves is more influential than any instructions they may give or any discipline they may
impose. Their model role can positively affect employees’ commitment, satisfaction,
participation, confidence, initiatives, and creativity (obtained from the interviews) [21].

6.3.1.7 Pursuit of Long-Term Business Success

Top managers should pursue long-term business success instead of short-term benefits. They
should focus on maintenance service quality rather than yields. TQM requires long-term

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commitment and endurance; there are no quick fixes. TQM implementation requires
investment. In return, it can lead to an impressive increase of overall business performance.
Top management must realize that improvement takes time [19].

6.3.1.8 Management by Fact

One of the most important jobs of top management is to make decisions. It is impossible to
make good decisions without suitable information; it is extremely important to have a
decision-supporting information system to assist managers in making decisions. It is also vital
to have an information system that can provide past, present, and future information
appropriate for planning, organizing, and controlling the operations of a functional area in the
company [27].

6.3.2 Supplier quality management

6.3.2.1 Partnership with Suppliers/Vendors

Supplier partnership can be defined as a mutual, ongoing relationship between a buying
company and a supplying company involving a commitment over an extended time period,
and entailing a sharing of information as well as a sharing of the risks and rewards of the
relationship. In this regard, companies should try their best to establish long-term partnership
relations with their suppliers. The basic purchasing policy should place priority on mutual
trust and understanding, and aim at long-term stable business relationships on the basis of
mutual survival and prosperity [28].

6.3.2.2 Supplier Selection Criteria

The Company must obtain from its suppliers information sufficient to judge whether they
have the capability to provide products and services that meet all fitness-for-use requirements.
The selection of suppliers must be based on the reputation of the supplier, the investigation of
its manufacturing facility, and other relevant information about the supplier. Product quality
should be regarded as one of the most important factors in selecting suppliers. Total costs
(e.g., incoming inspection, internal and external failure costs) should be taken into account
during the selection process. In the end, only those suppliers who can compete on quality,
price, and close working relationships with a firm can be kept in its supplier list [16].

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6.3.2.3 Participation in Suppliers/FR Stations

ETHIOPIAN is recommended to participate in suppliers’ /FR stations’ activities related to
quality improvement. These activities may include, for example, supplier/FR station training
and quality improvement projects. Through participation with suppliers/FR stations, the
quality of suppliers’ /FR stations’ products and services can be improved. Thus, non-value
added incoming inspection activities can be reduced or avoided [20].

6.3.2.4 Supplier Performance Evaluation

The company should frequently evaluate the performance of products and services that it
receives from suppliers, and give feedback on the performance of suppliers’ products and
services. In order to conduct supplier performance evaluation, the company should have a
supplier information system that stores detailed performance information such as product
quality, service quality and delivery performance, etc [26].

6.3.2.5 Supplier/FR Station Quality Audit

Supplier/FR station quality audit is an assessment of a supplier’ s/FR station’ s product and
service quality, quality control capability, manufacturing practice, and quality assurance
system in order to ensure that products and services received from the supplier can meet
requirements. An audit consists of a visit to the supplier’ s/FR station’ s facility by a team of
examiners from different departments such as quality, technology, production, purchasing,
and R&D [18].

6.3.2.6 Supplier Communication

The company should keep its suppliers informed of any change that it may make in terms of
design and operation. Failure to provide adequate design change information to suppliers has
been a distinct obstacle to supplier’ s quality management. Setting up multiple channels of
communication can solve such problems [32].

6.3.3 Vision and plan statement

6.3.3.1 Vision Statement

A vision statement comprises a detailed visualization of the desired future state of the overall
business and serves as the target or objective for which all strategies, goals and standards are
established. A vision statement should be clear, concise and should satisfy three fundamental

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criteria: It must address all levels, be stated in such a way that everyone believes in it, and be
aggressive and growth-orientated [32].

6.3.3.2 Quality Policy

A quality policy is overall intentions and direction of an organization with regard to quality,
as formally expressed by top management (ISO 8402, 1994). The quality policy involves
statements that should be brief, clear, and believable. It can be used as a touchstone for all
employees to gauge whether actions are in conformance with the standards and values of the
company’ s quality policy [24].

6.3.3.3 Overall Business Performance Plan

A company should have overall business performance plans that describe its goals and
objectives. Two kinds of overall business performance plans exist: Long-term and annual. In
fact, long-term performance plans are formed based on a vision statement, whereas annual
performance plans are formed based on long-range performance plans and are the sum of
different departmental annual targets and goals. Overall business performance plans achieve
nothing if the company doesn’ t have suitable strategies to realize them; they should be set in
such a way that they are achievable [32].

6.3.3.4 Product/Service Quality Goal

In order to improve maintenance service quality, ETHIOPIAN should have detailed quality
goals. Quality goals are statements of the desired quality results to be achieved within a
specified time. Tactical goals are short range (e.g., 1 year) and strategic goals are long range
(e.g. 5 years). Quality goals may include, for example, performance, reliability, durability,
conformity rate, defect rate, internal failure costs, and external failure costs [24].

6.3.3.5 Quality Improvement Plan

Quality improvement plans are activities that establish the objectives and requirements for
quality and the application of quality system elements (ISO 8402, 1994). The plans should be
made in such a way that they can be implemented in practice, and should focus on eliminating
the major problem areas. When quality improvement plans are drawn up, how to implement
them should be well developed [24].

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6.3.3.6 Formulation of Vision and Plan

A successful process of formulating visions and plans demands a holistic and cross functional
approach. The alignment of visions, strategies, plans, policies, objectives, measurements, and
performance assessment at all levels is considered essential. Visions and plans cannot be
formulated by imagination; the fuel for their formulation is the abundance, richness and
quality of information available. Employees from different levels should be involved in
making visions, strategies, policies and plans [32].

6.3.4 Evaluation

6.3.4.1 Evaluation of Strategy

A strategy is the total pattern of the decisions and actions that position the company in its
environment and are intended to achieve its long-term goals. Strategies specify how the vision
statement will be accomplished. Normally, there are three levels in the strategy hierarchy:
corporate, business, and department strategies. Various decision-supporting systems and
relevant information available are essential to strategy evaluation. More importantly, the
company should adjust its strategies on the basis of the result of strategy evaluation, thus,
keeping competitive advantages in the marketplace [18].

6.3.4.2 Evaluation of Overall Business Performance

The objective of implementing TQM is to improve ETHIOPIAN’ s overall business
performance. Therefore, overall business performance should be evaluated regularly.
Otherwise, the effects of implementing TQM remain unclear and more effective TQM
implementation approaches cannot be formulated. The analysis and investigation of overall
business performance can provide adequate input for TQM implementation, identification of
improvement areas, and areas caused attention. ETHIOPIAN can use the latest information on
overall business performance to compare its previous performance or planned objectives with
its competitors and with the best practices in the same industry [18].

6.3.4.3 Evaluation of Departments’ Performance

The realization of organizational overall objectives is highly dependent on different functional
departments. Therefore, ETHIOPIAN needs to regularly evaluate different departments’
performance in order to seek opportunities to improve organizational health. It is important to
note that the major aim of departmental evaluation is to seek improvement opportunities
rather than criticism [18].

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6.3.4.4 Evaluation of Employee Performance

Employee performance evaluation is a process by which a company establishes measures
(targets) and evaluates an individual employee’ s behavior and accomplishments against set
target within a finite time period. The results of employee performance evaluation can serve
as input for employees’ recognition, reward, dismissal, education, and training. Such
information is also valuable for recruiting new employees and improving overall human
resource management [18].

6.3.4.5 Quality Audit

A quality audit is a systematic and independent examination to determine whether quality
activities and related results comply with planned arrangements and whether these
arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable to achieve objectives (ISO 8402,
1994). One purpose of a quality audit is to evaluate the need for improvement or corrective
action. Through quality audits, problem areas are identified and necessary measures can then
be taken to solve them [18].

6.3.4.6 Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the process of understanding one’ s practice and performance, comparing
them against that of competitors or best-in-class firms, learning how they practice and
perform, and using that information to improve one’ s own practice and performance. It is an
effective catalyst for change and an effective tool for continuous improvement. Benchmarking
can stimulate creativity and provide a stimulus that enables operations to better understand
how they should be serving their customers [18].

6.3.4.7 Quality Costs

ETHIOPIAN needs to collect the data of quality-related costs, which it can use to seek
improvement opportunities. It should be noted that to have data on quality-related costs is not
enough. Without carefully investigating the data of quality costs, actions cannot be effective
and chronic quality problems cannot be eliminated. Through analyzing quality costs, more
improvement opportunities can be identified [18].

6.3.4.8 Information System

A company should have an inter-integrated computerized information system, which collects,
stores, analyzes, and disseminates information for various specific purposes. Such an

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information system can manage large amounts of information and provide sufficient
information for management to make decisions. Additionally, different departments can share
resources through the information network. Thus, communication barriers between different
departments are reduced. ETHIOPIAN has good practice in IT [18].

6.3.5 Effective maintenance program design

In a typical TPPM, maintenance is defined as “ Those actions required for restoring or

maintaining an item in a serviceable condition, including servicing, repair, modification,
overhaul, inspection, and determination of condition.” where as FAA defined maintenance as
“ Inspection, overhaul, repair, preservation, and replacement of parts.” and Dr. Harry Kinnison
defined it as “ The process of ensuring that a system continually performs its intended function
at its designed-in level of reliability and safety.” [13]

6.3.5.1 Maintenance Goals

The goals of an airline maintenance program should basically be:
a) To deliver airworthy vehicles to the flight department in time to meet the flight schedule.
b) To deliver these vehicles with all necessary maintenance actions completed or properly
deferred [13].

6.3.5.2 Objectives of Maintenance Program

The objectives of an airline in-service maintenance program should basically be:
a) To ensure the realization of the inherent safety and reliability levels of the equipment.
b) To restore safety and reliability to their inherent levels when deterioration has occurred.
c) To obtain the information necessary for adjustment and optimization of the maintenance
program when these inherent levels aren’ t met.
d) To obtain the information necessary for design improvement of those items whose inherent
reliability proves inadequate.
e) To accomplish these objectives at a minimum total cost, including the cost of maintenance
and the cost of residual failures [13].

6.3.5.3 Aircraft Maintenance Program Content

The maintenance program should basically be consist of two groups of tasks. These are:
a) Groups of scheduled tasks to be accomplished at specific intervals.
b) A group of non-scheduled tasks which result from conducting the scheduled tasks, from
report of malfunctions, and from data analysis.

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An efficient maintenance program is one which schedules only those tasks necessary to meet
the stated objectives. It doesn’ t schedule additional tasks which will increase maintenance
costs without a corresponding increase in reliability protection. Thus, a maintenance program
consists of scheduled maintenance tasks to keep equipment and systems in top operating
condition (objective a); unscheduled maintenance tasks to address in-service failures
(objective b); a continuing analysis and surveillance activity to optimize the total maintenance
effort by improving the maintenance program (objective c) or by requesting redesign of
equipment (objective d); and an effort to minimize maintenance cost (objective e) [13].

6.3.6 Maintenance management

The aviation industry has developed three management techniques for addressing the in-
service interruptions created by the items that must be operated to failure before maintenance
can be done. These are equipment redundancy, line replaceable units and minimum dispatch
requirements.
The concept of redundancy of certain components or systems is quite common in engineering
design of systems where a high reliability is desired. In this case of redundant units-usually
called primary and backup units-if one fails, the other is available to takeover the function.
For example most commercial aircrafts have two high-frequency radios. Only one is needed
for communication but the second one is there for backup in case the first one fails.
Line replaceable unit (LRU) is a component or system that has been designed in such a
manner that the parts that most commonly fail can quickly be removed and replaced on the
aircraft. This allows the aircraft to be returned to scheduled service without undue delay for
maintenance. The failed part, then, can either be discarded or repaired in the shop as
necessary without further delaying the flight.
The minimum equipment list (MEL) allows an aircraft to be dispatched in to service with
certain items inoperative provided that the loss of function doesn’ t affect the safety and
operation of the flight. The manufacturer issues master minimum equipment list (MMEL) for
each aircraft model. The airline then tailors the document to its own configuration to produce
MEL.

6.3.6.1 Maintenance Record Keeping

It is an airline’ s responsibility to keep its aircrafts in an airworthy condition. To ensure that
this is accomplished, the FAA requires the operator to keep accurate records of maintenance

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and alteration activities. Two types of records are required: Summery information and
airworthiness status information. Other records, in various forms, must also be kept to
conduct a successful program. One of these is the maintenance logbook. This book is
maintained in the aircraft and includes flight information relative to each leg of the flight and
includes flight times, fuel and oil uplift, crew data etc. It also provides a place for the flight
crews to identify any maintenance related problems they encountered during flight. Other
records such as mechanical reliability report (MRR), mechanical interruption summery (MIS)
and reports of major alterations and repair must be maintained.

6.3.6.2 Changing Basic Maintenance Intervals

Operational conditions will often require that an operator change the basic maintenance
program to better address the organizational needs. For instance, operation in hot humid
climates may require that corrosion control tasks be performed more often than the
maintenance review board (MRB) report indicates while operating the same aircraft in a dry,
desert climate may reduce the need frequency for these tasks. In the latter situation, however,
items sensitive to sand and dust will need increased attention in the maintenance program. It
is expected that an operator will change the original maintenance intervals for certain tasks or
entire letter checks whenever in-service experience dictates. However, to do this, the operator
must have proof that a change is warranted. The accepted proof for such maintenance
intervals change is in the form of data collected through the operator’ s condition monitoring
program or reliability program.

6.3.6.3 Maintenance Resource Management (MRM)

The overall objective of MRM is to decrease accidents and incidents while increasing
professionalism and safety. It is a look into the human side of maintenance and the things to
be done to help prevent human error in aircraft maintenance operations. To achieve this goal,
attention must be paid to the individual and the team contributions, as well as necessary
individual and team improvements. Attention must also be given to resources in the industry
that can help reach the desired goal. These include operational integrity, situational
awareness, communication skills, maintenance briefings and communications, synergy and
team concept, leadership, conflict resolution and decision making [13].

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6.3.7 Quality system improvement

6.3.7.1 Quality Manual

A quality manual is a document stating the quality policy and describing the quality system of
a company (ISO 8402, 1994). It includes the company’ s quality policy and addresses each of
the requirements of ISO 9000 in broad terms related to the activities of the company. In
drawing up a quality manual, various people in the company should be involved and relevant
ISO 9000 standards referenced. Prior to issuing the manual, it should be subjected to review
by responsible individuals to ensure clarity, accuracy, suitability, and proper structure.
Finally, it must be reviewed and approved by the top management [14].

6.3.7.2 Quality System Procedures

Documented quality system procedures describe the activities of individual functional units
needed to implement the quality system elements. Thus, responsibilities and authorities of
different functional departments are clearly defined by system procedures. To define quality
system procedures, it is important to solve the interface issues among different departments.
Quality system procedure should describe the responsibilities, authorities, and
interrelationships of the personnel who manage, perform, verify or review work affecting
quality, how the different activities are to be performed, and the documentation to be used and
the controls to be applied. As a rule, documented procedures should not enter into purely
technical details of the type normally documented in detailed work instructions [14].

6.3.7.3 Use of Quality Tools

Quality tools play a key role in an organization-wide approach to continuous improvement.
The seven QC tools are Pareto analysis, cause and effect analysis, stratification analysis,
scatter diagram, check sheet, histogram, and process control chart. The seven new tools are
relations diagram, affinity diagram, systematic diagram, matrix diagram, matrix data analysis,
process decision program chart, and arrow diagram. Statistical process control (SPC) is the
application of statistical methods to the measurement and analysis of variations in a process,
and can judge the quality of processes [25], [2].

6.3.7.4 Work Instructions

Work instructions consist of detailed work documents such as instructions for performing the
job. A company should develop various work instructions so that all tasks can be conducted in
a consistent manner. Work instructions are referred to in the procedures and give precise

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details of how individual operations are to be carried out to enable them to be performed to
the required quality [10].

6.3.7.5 Inspection
Inspection refers to activities such as measuring, examining, testing and gauging one or more
characteristics of a product or service and comparing these with specified requirements to
determine conformity (ISO 8402, 1994). Note that inspection actually does not build quality;
quality is built into the process. Inspection itself is not a value-adding process, but a waste of
human resources and cause of extra cost. If quality can be ensured, it is not necessary to
implement inspections [10].

6.3.7.6 ISO 9000 Certification

After the quality system documents have been established, the company should implement its
quality systems. In order to understand whether these documents can be effectively
implemented, the company should conduct quality audits and management review, thoroughly
assessing its quality systems. Such an assessment can identify the suitability of the quality
systems to the company and their conformance to the requirements of the ISO 9000 standard
(e.g., ISO 9001, 2, or 3). As a result, the quality systems can be improved. Finally, the
company may prepare and plan for ISO 9000 certification [26].

6.3.8 Employee participation

6.3.8.1 Cross-Functional Team

A cross-functional team aims to solve or investigate cross-functional problems or
improvement opportunities associated with many functions or departments. Sometimes people
from external organizations, such as suppliers and customers, also participate. Top
management usually delegates the team and is therefore committed to assigning it sufficient
resources in the forms of time, money, and personnel. The team is normally disbanded after
its task is finished [29].

6.3.8.2 Quality Control (QC) Circle

A QC circle is a small group of employees, usually from the same department, who volunteer
to meet regularly (on working time or their own time) to discuss ways of improving the
quality of their work. QC participants need to accept training for problem-solving techniques.
The benefits of QC circles include improvements of products, processes, and working

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environments, improved communication within work groups and between workers and
supervisory layers of the company, increased employee commitment and motivation, and
employees’ enhanced understanding of the difficulties faced by the company [29].

6.3.8.3 Within-Functional Team

A within-functional team aims to solve or investigate problems/opportunities within the same
department and is normally disbanded after its task is complete. Within-functional teams are
different from QC circles, dealing with certain important issues or urgent problems. The
major objective of such a team is to discuss and identify problems encountered, obtain facts
and data regarding these problems, and develop feasible solutions. Problems may relate to
quality, productivity, safety, and so on [29].

6.3.8.4 Information Communication

In order to stimulate employee participation, a company should have effective information
communication channel. Information communication is a means by which employees share
ideas, clarify thinking and create a common understanding. Communication can be conducted
between different departments, top management and employees, supervisors and employees,
and employees themselves. The company needs to communicate its vision, strategies,
policies, and business plans to its employees. Various means can be used to communicate,
such as regular meetings, internets, newsletters, posters, videos, and broadcasting [29].

6.3.8.5 Employee Suggestions

It is easier for employees to identify their working problems, find the causes of the problems,
and develop solutions. Therefore, employees should be encouraged to submit their
suggestions, which should be listened to and valued by the management. After evaluation,
some suggestions should be practically implemented. Care must be taken that negative
comments, attitudes and feedback from the management can quickly kill the interest and
enthusiasm of employees. In addition, it is also important to recognize and financially reward
employees who submit good suggestions [29].

6.3.8.6 Improving Employee Commitment

The aim of improving employee commitment is to encourage employees to make more
contributions to the success of the company. Employee commitment can be established only
on the basis of confidence among employees and management. Top management and
supervisors should encourage and motivate employees to develop and utilize their full

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potential, trust and care for employees, encourage and support employees in job and career
related development/learning objectives, respect and value employees’ talents and creativity,
and treat employees as valuable resources of the company [29].

6.3.8.7 Job Rotation

Job rotation means periodically moving individuals between different sets of tasks to provide
some variety in their activities. Job rotation can increase skill flexibility and make a
contribution to reducing job monotony. Through job rotation, employees can learn more work
skills, know more processes, and understand more about the importance of their current jobs.
As a result, the workforce becomes more diversified and multi-skilled [29].

6.3.9 Recognition and Reward

7.3.9.1 Recognition and Reward Program

ETHIOPIAN should institute a serious recognition and reward program. First, the recognition
and reward must be consistent with organizational values and objectives. If individual or team
efforts cannot contribute to the realization of the overall organizational objectives, they cannot
be recognized and rewarded. Therefore, objectives of individuals or teams need to be
continuously reviewed and updated. Second, criteria should be objective and measurable;
otherwise, it is not easy to ensure that the recognition and reward can be conducted fairly.
Third, the recognition and reward should be meaningful and fit the organizational culture.
Finally, recognition and reward can be provided at several levels: Individual, team or
department level [6].

6.3.9.2 Working Environment Improvement

ETHIOPIAN needs to continuously improve working conditions in order to recognize
employee quality improvement efforts. It also needs to maintain a work environment
conducive to the wellbeing, morale, and growth of all employees. The company should
improve workplace health, safety, and ergonomic factors; consider each person as an
individual, a resource to benefit from rather than a commodity to be used. The company
should try its best to reduce employees’ working strains and protect their health by providing
suitable equipment, devices, or tools [17].

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6.3.9.3 Salary Promotion

Salary level is an important factor affecting employees satisfaction and contribution. The
salary range should be sufficiently wide to allow for adequate differentiation of salary based
on performance. The most important requirement for an effective merit pay incentive program
is to measure performance against clearly defined objectives. However, other aspects of
employees’ performance should also be considered, such as attendance, positive work
attitudes, or initiatives. ETHIOPIAN should pay more for employees who have demonstrated
knowledge, skills, and performance. Highly skilled employees must have high salaries;
otherwise, their potential cannot be fully exercised. Salary promotion should be fair and
rational. In a word, the company should carry out diverse distribution forms with “ to each
according to his/her work” as the main goal, and establish an effective incentive mechanism
[8].

6.3.9.4 Bonus Scheme

In order to encourage employees (teams, departments, or business units) to make more
contributions to the company, a bonus scheme should be implemented. A bonus scheme
offers monetary rewards to employees for meeting set targets. To ensure an effective bonus
scheme, it is very essential to set up targets for different employees (teams, departments, or
business units). These targets may be related to quality, productivity, customer satisfaction,
profits, and other performance measures. Such defined targets should be aligned with the
overall organizational business objectives. The success or failure of a bonus scheme is highly
dependent on the defined targets. The company should move toward a more performance-
oriented pay. The principle of “ distribution according to work” should be thoroughly
implemented [8].

6.3.9.5 Position Promotion

Position promotion must be based on, for example, employees’ capabilities, skills,
performance, and contributions to the company, and must not be based on the employees’
personal relationships with the directors/managers of the company. An effective, rational,
equal competition and fair position promotion mechanism should be established. If position
holders cannot fulfill their duties due to lack of skills, capabilities, performance, or support
from their colleagues, more qualified personnel should take over. Every employee in the
company can see the hope of promotion opportunities if he or she performs well. Thus,
employees’ enthusiasm, creativity, and active participation are encouraged [32].

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6.3.9.6 Moral Award

Moral award can be used to recognize the quality performance of employees or teams. It may
take the form of thank-you note, oral praise, a letter of praise, sending an employee to a
seminar or a conference, presentation of individual or team achievements, award certification,
award ceremony, etc [32].

6.3.10 Education and training

6.3.10.1 Technical training

Trainings for aviation maintenance which include formal training, organizational training,
manufacturer or vendor training, quality training, on-job-training (OJT), upgrade training,
refresher training, maintenance resource management, airframe manufacturers training help
increase the skills and potential of aviation maintenance personnel. Details of these trainings
are presented in section 3.5 [13].

6.3.10.2 Education and Training Plan

The company’ s education and training plan should be drawn up in line with its strategies,
objectives, available resources, current employees’ skills, and employees’ job requirements.
ETHIOPIAN needs to identify its short- and long-term training needs, design training
programs that address technical and behavioral issues, and have an evaluation system in place
to check whether the training and development programs meet its objectives [5].

6.3.10.3 Training for Quality Management Knowledge

Employees need to accept education and training on quality management knowledge. This
includes, for example, TQM, ISO 9000, the seven QC tools, the seven management tools,
statistical process control, quality function deployment, and experimental design. To achieve
a good training result, the training program should be well designed. The aim of training is to
apply quality management knowledge in quality improvement activities [5].

6.3.11 Customer focus

6.3.11.1 Customer Complaint Information

Customer complaint information is valuable for the company in pursuing quality
improvement and customer satisfaction. ETHIOPIAN needs to collect various pieces of
complaint information from customers extensively, as well as create a central complaint
registration system, which registers various complaints from customers. Customer complaints

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should be resolved effectively and promptly. All complaints received need to be aggregated
and analyzed for use in improvement. The company should see complaints as opportunities to
improve the quality of products and services. After customer complaints are received, the
company needs to identify the “ vital few” serious complaints that demand in-depth study to
discover their basic causes and to remedy those causes [8].

6.3.11.2 Market Investigation

Market investigation can help the company ensure that there is a demand for its
service/product and that the requirements and expectations of the customers can be met.
Market investigation can obtain various suggestions for improving the quality of the
company’ s services. It is also essential to anticipate future customer requirements and
expectations in order to develop such products or services in advance. ETHIOPIAN should be
sensitive to changing and emerging customer and market requirements, competitors’
offerings, and the factors that drive customer satisfaction and retention. Through market
investigation, the strengths and weaknesses of the services of the company and its competitors
can be identified. Such information can be used for benchmarking so as to determine the
improvement areas of the company. Obtaining valuable information through market
investigation is vital to the success of the company [8].

6.3.11.3 Customer Satisfaction Survey

The aim of the customer satisfaction survey is to obtain the customer satisfaction level with
the products/services that the company provides. Methods used to conduct the customer
satisfaction survey include questionnaire surveys, formal and informal feedback from
customers, personal interviews, telephone surveys, and seminars. Regular customer
satisfaction surveys can track customer perceptions of the quality of a company and its
competitors. This information can be used to improve the quality of products, services, and
processes [8].

6.3.11.4 Quality Warranty

A quality warranty is a form of assurance that a product/maintenance service or any other
service is fit for use or, failing this, that the user can receive some kind of compensation-for
example, free repair, replacement or return, or monetary compensation. In fact, the
commitment to quality warranty reflects the quality of the company’ s products or services [8].

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6.3.11.5 Customer Services

ETHIOPIAN needs to provide necessary assistance for the customers before supplying,
during the process of supplying, and after supplying of services. In order to improve sales
efficiency and customer service quality, it is crucial that the company computerizes its
sales/service system and establishes its service standards. It is also important to improve the
skills of sales and service personnel. Service quality is increasingly becoming a more
important factor affecting customer satisfaction, customer retention, and customer loyalty [8].

6.3.11.6 Customer Information System

ETHIOPIAN should cater to the market and make timely adjustments in accordance with the
customers’ needs and wants. To do so, it needs a continuous flow of information on customer
requirements and expectations. Information about existing and potential customers is critical
to success. Therefore, a customer information system should be established. Such a system
can be mainly used for several purposes: Collecting data on customers, preferences, collecting
and storing customer feedback from sales/service visits, reports, customer satisfaction
surveys, customer complaints, etc [8].

6.4 Overall business performance

6.4.1 Employee satisfaction

ETHIOPIAN should regularly evaluate its employee satisfaction level in order to seek the
solution to improving employee satisfaction, commitment, and motivation. There are two
ways to measure employee satisfaction. One is to obtain direct information from the
employees. Thus, the company should develop a measurement instrument that can be used for
obtaining employee satisfaction information directly. In order to obtain relatively accurate
information, employees should be asked to fill in survey questionnaires anonymously. The
alternative way of assessing employee satisfaction can be conducted by a group of people
from the top management team and different functional departments within the company.
These people can assess employee satisfaction according to their perceptions. These two
methods of assessing employee satisfaction are based on a set of facets that may affect
employee satisfaction in the company. Through obtaining employee satisfaction data, areas
with which employees are not satisfied can be identified. Such information can be used to
improve the company’ s TQM implementation efforts. Many factors may affect employee
satisfaction such as annual income (e.g. salary, bonus), equity, fairness, equal opportunities

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,recognition and reward schemes, job security, democratic management (e.g. involvement in
setting the company’ s policies, strategies, and plans), leadership style and ability, top
managers’ and supervisors’ conduct relationships , top managers and supervisors relationships
with coworkers, promotion opportunities, nature of jobs (e.g. work loads, job content), career
development (e.g. training, retraining, and target setting),working conditions (e.g. safety,
noise, and pollution) [32].

6.4.2 Maintenance service quality

To test the theoretical models, employee satisfaction approach is adopted since this study
examines employee satisfaction in relation to other variables such as maintenance service
quality, customer satisfaction, strategic business performance, and TQM implementation.
There are two ways to measure maintenance quality. The first is to measure relative quality in
terms of comparing the company’ s own maintenance quality with other maintenance quality
provided by other companies in the same industrial sector. The second way is to merely
measure absolute maintenance quality in terms of the some indicators listed below. Through
the analysis of maintenance quality, the company can understand its maintenance service
quality status by comparing with its competitors, identify problem areas, and determine a
solution to improve quality. The following indices can be used to measure the maintenance
quality in ETHIOPIAN:
a) Performance of maintenance activities
b) Maintained equipment or airplane reliability
c) Delivery of maintained equipment or airplane (e.g. on time delivery, lead time, etc.)
d) Complaints(e.g. complaint response time, effective resolution, time to resolve
complaints, percent of complaints resolved first contact, complaint levels, total
number of complaints)
e) Warranty and guarantee provisions
f) Support (maintenance sales support, technical support, training, spare part
availability)
g) Transportation (e.g. logistics information, packing for delivery).
h) Internal defect rates (during maintenance process)
i) Internal failure costs as a percentage of annual output value
j) External failure costs as a percentage of annual maintenance sales service (e.g.
warranty costs and claims costs) [13].

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6.4.3 Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction can be measured by comparing product quality and service quality with
those in other company in the same industrial sector. Use of customer satisfaction information
can provide a focus and direction for continuous improvement throughout the entire company.
Such information can be used to improve TQM implementation efforts, seek opportunities to
improve product and service quality, and study the time dimension of TQM implementation.
The measures of product quality include performance, reliability, durability, and conformity.
The measures of service quality have been listed above.

6.4.4 Strategic business performance

Strategic business performance is the highest level of the company’ s business performance,
reflecting the company’ s efforts in implementing TQM, enhancing employee satisfaction,
improving product/service quality, and increasing customer satisfaction. As described
previously, typical measures of strategic business performance in ETHIOPIAN M&E division
are as follows:
a) Annual maintenance service activities/sales
b) Annual maintenance service activities/sales growth
c) Profits
d) Market share [32]

6.5 Action plan and processes of TQM model implementation

This section provides processes of using the TQM implementation model in practice. Figure
6.3 shows the action plan for the TQM implementation process. Later the implementation
progress will be checked with the action plan. Figure 6.4 displays the primary processes of
implementing TQM, consisting of seven steps. First, in order to have an effective TQM
implementation, top management should be committed to implementing this model. Second,
based on top management commitment, a team should be established to steer the TQM
implementation in the company. Third, the current TQM implementation practices and overall
business performance must be evaluated according to the TQM implementation practices
presented in Section 6.3 and major indicators of overall business performance presented in
Section 6.4. Fourth, a PDCA cycle should begin. The cycle starts with the Plan stage, which
involves an evaluation of the company’ s current TQM implementation and overall business
performance. This stage includes collecting and analyzing data so as to formulate a plan of
action intended to improve TQM implementation and overall business performance. Fifth,

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once a plan for improvement has been agreed on the next step is the Do stage, during which
the plan is implemented in practice. This stage may itself involve a mini-PDCA cycle as the
problems of implementation are resolved. Sixth comes to the Check stage. In this stage, the
effects of implementing the improvement plan are measured and used to compare with the
plan. The goal of the firm’ s overall business performance is used to confirm the effects of
implementing the improvement plan. Seventh, things move to the Act stage, during which the
change is consolidated or standardized if it has been successful. Alternatively, if the change
has not been successful, the lessons learned from the “ trial” are formalized before the cycle
starts again. Such information is used by top management and the TQM implementation team
in formulating further improvement plans. Finally, it is essential to restart the PDCA cycle,
which is the most important part of implementation. Implementing TQM is like the PDCA
cycle – never-ending! [32].

Secure Management Understanding

Assess Staff attitude Customer need Cost of quality

Objectives Targets Benchmark

Develop
Responsibilities Time table Program

Team working Training Measurements

Create
Management System Team Project team
briefing

Review Progress against plan

Figure 6.3 Implementation action plan [28]

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Top management
Commitment
Step 1

Formulate a TQM
Implementation team
Step 2

Evaluate TQM practices and

overall business performance
Step 3

Goals of overall
business performance

Plan Formulate Do
improvement plan.
Step 4

Investigate and
analyze results Implement
Step 7 improvement plan.
Step 5

Act
Observe and Check
check results
Step 6

Figure 6.4 TQM Implementation Processes with the Deming’ s PDCA cycle

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6.6 TQM implementation schedule and cost benefit analysis

Table 6.1 TQM implementation and cost estimation

S.No Description Duration Duration Duration Duration Estimated Cost
Preparation Phase
1 Top management team attending 6-days Training cost
workshop on TQM (by outside consultant) 30,000, lost time
2 Formation of TQM steering committee from 1 month of 40 persons
TOP management team. @80 Birr per
3 TQM attitude survey (profile of organization, person per day
quality costs, organization strength/weakness, Total=196,000
advocators & resistors. Birr
4 Planning Phase Workshop
Strategic planning workshop and other activities running
(TQM steering committee): (15,000birr)+
Create vision, guiding principles, set broad 2 months lost time of 40
strategic objectives, develop quality policy, persons @80
identify critical success factors& critical Birr per person
processes, baseline employee satisfaction and per day,
customer satisfaction. =207,000 Birr
5 Plan the implementation approach (PDCA)
6 Execution Phase Lost time of
Formation of quality teams/site steering employees,
committees from each department and identify managers
team facilitators. etc@50 Birr per
7 Specific training and team-forming workshops person per day
for site steering committees. 8 months on average,
8 Companywide awareness on customer/ supplier training costs,
interfaces lost services
9 Company-wide implementation/improvement because of
projects for quality policy deployment (quality inefficiency
costing, customer/supplier frame work, systems during first
and techniques). months,
10 Modify infrastructures as necessary
(procedures/processes, organizational structure,
reward/recognition system, union rules etc.)
1.5million Birr
11 Evaluation Phase 1 month 30,000 Birr
Feedback/ follow-up workshops , meetings etc. Total 1 year 1,833,000 Birr
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Table 6.2 TQM monetary benefit

S.No Benefit obtained form TQM Estimated value obtained( Birr/year)
1 Elimination of flight delay and 200,000
cancellation
2 Improved customer service and 100,000
retention
3 Better employee satisfaction and 200,000
decreased turnover
4 Better employee participation and 100,000
communication
5 Increased revenue generation 300,000
6 Improved ability to manage 100,000
maintenance and flight services
Total 1,000,000

Total benefit obtained is about 1,000,000 Birr per year

Total cost required to implement TQM is 1,833,000 Birr
Payback period is 1,833,000/1,000,000= 1.833 years, approximately 22 months

6.7 Summary
This model shows that the application of TQM practices in combination can lead to
improvements in overall business performance. In order to assist ETHIOPIAN in applying
this model in practice, the action plan and the processes of its use are presented. The company
should set targeted goals, formulate effective improvement plans, get the pilot projects up and
running, and get the people involved and motivated. It then should measure the results,
compare them to the benchmarks, and start all over again – all of this as fast as possible.
Doing it is the key to truly instilling a new set of values and attitudes into the heart of the
company. Implementing TQM is a never-ending process. It is important to note that investing
in TQM implementation does pay off, though it often implies a choice for a long-term effort
that requires a great deal of energy, management attention, money, patience, and tenacity.
Although this model is developed for ETHIOPIAN M&E division, different companies can
also use it as reference since the existing quality management knowledge is used in its
development. Therefore, some principles and practices presented in this model can be used for
other companies. This is possible since the basic philosophy of TQM is applicable to any type
of organization.

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Chapter 7: Conclusions and recommendations

7.1 Conclusions

In chapter three , section 3.4 attempts have been made to investigate the major quality related
activities currently underway in ETHIOPIAN, in chapter four the existing major problems
which are against the TQM philosophies and which are affecting the strategic business
performance of the company have been identified and in chapter five analysis of the
questionnaire results is made. While the research was carried out in the company, the
researcher noted that there was a department entitled “ TQM” under the maintenance and
engineering division of the company. As the questionnaire, interview and observation results
indicate, the company has come to a standard quality assurance stage recently upon the
remarks made by external auditors. Though there has been TQM department since many years
before, the company was mainly practicing quality control activities for several years instead
of TQM. Moreover, many problems have been observed in the quality assurance procedures
of the company such as in training, costs of quality, quality audits etc. To reach to the TQM
stage, first it requires practicing all the requirements of standard quality assurance procedures.
Then only the understanding of a better quality achievement will come in to picture. The
overall research indicates that for several years in the history of the company major emphasis
was given to quality control and conformance to requirements of regulatory bodies such as
FAA and CAA. If the company would have implemented the actual TQM, the existing
problems could have been solved. Therefore it is believed that this thesis will help a lot for the
company in achieving a true TQM implementation to be the best competitor in the aviation
industry.

7.2 Recommendations

The outcome of the result analysis in chapter five serves in developing the TQM model
presented in chapter six. This analysis is made by using different TQM tools and by looking
at different corners. As a result of this, the research outcome and the model developed are
used as the base line for the recommendations made next. To better understand the
recommendations and to implement them, it is strongly advised to know the existing problems
in the company, the analysis used in this research work, and the model developed so as to

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maintain a consistent flow. This will help create a clear image of the current situation of the
company as seen with TQM mirror.
1. It has been tried to show systematically how different elements of TQM related to the
commitment of management or leadership (chapter five). In a TQM implementation
process, leaders who can inspire their followers are needed. The leader is the central
processing unit in TQM and in the model developed in this thesis as well. Therefore
ETHIOPIAN needs to create committed leaders and managers to bring the company to
a new era of change to the TQM environment.
2. Suggestions/comments regarding the wrong directions or inefficiency of managers
should be openly forwarded to them instead of rumoring. At the same time, managers
should positively accept these comments and put their effort to rectify their actual
shortcomings.
3. The company should identify the basic elements of TQM with their image or
appearance to the aviation industry. There are clear distinctions on the stages of
quality management evolution. Being at a quality control or quality assurance stage
but called by the name “ TQM” are entirely different things. Therefore the company
should identify those specific activities in each stages of the quality management.
Moreover, the existing "TQM" department should act as a facilitator but the
philosophies of TQM should be in the minds of all employees. TQM can'
t be limited
in one department.
4. Apart from the strive made to conform to the requirements of regulatory bodies, to
stay as a world class competitor in the global aviation industry, there must be an equal
strive for continuous improvement to exceed the needs of both internal and external
customers. The negative impact of sticking to regulatory bodies’ rule alone is that it
leads to finding a stable state instead of continuous improvement. Especially the
situation is so contradicting with TQM that the effort for meeting conformance of
these regulatory bodies is high during audit time. It is better to plan for continuous
improvement to be confident at any time.
5. As gold is tested on fire, international quality management techniques have been
tested for business achievement not only in the aviation industry but in many
industries as well. The ISO series and other international quality management
techniques have been proved for effectiveness in many industries. Exercising these
quality management techniques will lead ETHIOPIAN many steps ahead to TQM
implementation. It is important to note that it is up to the company to worry about its

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quality management system. Regulatory bodies follow-up mainly whether or not the
company meets their specific requirements. However, these requirements are not
substitutes but subsets of TQM.
6. One important and critical factor in strategic business is maintaining satisfied
employee in the company. Apart from motivating and inspiring them, their work
contribution and performance should be evaluated by fair and acceptable mechanism.
The results of the research indicate that the current performance appraisal practice
underway in the company is not rewarding employees as their actual performance.
One of the most critical and decisive factors that should be possessed by
leaders/managers of the ETHIOPIAN is that they should at least involve or at most
empower employees of the company in decision making specially when these
decisions affect employees directly. However, the results indicate that while setting
the current performance appraisal practice, there were little or no such opportunities
facilitated by the top management. This situation will cause employees to loose the
sense of belongingness of the company, while creates the reverse situation for those
who implemented this appraisal practice. It is important to note that the image of the
company will be reflected through the satisfaction of its employees. (There are several
kinds of performance appraisal techniques. Some are listed out in appendix I. The
company can identify the one that best fits to its existing working situation and
implement it).
7. An important means that ETHIOPIAN should focus on to achieve a team culture is
creating competition among departments. Departments can compute for best
performance achievement. This competition can take place once in a month,
annually/semiannually. The competition criteria should be in-line with the strategic
objectives of the company. Then some three departments can be awarded for best
achievement at a time. It is important to note that all departments have equal
contribution for the company, but not all of them can achieve equal performance in a
given time. Again within these departments not all employees will have equal
performance, hence it is possible recognize and reward those employees whose
performance is higher.
8. In making TQM implementation practical, training plays the major role. The aviation
industry requires conducting different training activities (some are listed in section
3.5). In this research, the status of training activities of the company has been
indicated in section 3.4.10. It has been found that different departments did not strictly

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follow training activities although the training centers released their schedules. A
partial improvement has been noticed in this regard after the remarks put by external
auditors. Employees also should accept training on how to use quality improvement
tools in order to increase their quality awareness. To be successful in implementing
TQM, due attention should be given to all elements of TQM.
9. An organization’ s internal situation is defined by its strength and weakness.
Continuous identification of strength and weakness of the company should be made so
as to develop the strengths and to minimize the weaknesses. Especially these
weaknesses which could be in the technical aspect such as obsolete facilities and
processes, in the quality improvement direction, in customer handling process etc.
should be eliminated as much as possible and those strengths should be maintained
and even developed more for the good reputation of the company in the market place.
The external situation is defined by opportunities and threats that exist in the business
environment. The important tool for analyzing this is to conduct the SWOT analysis.
10. Estimating the costs of quality is one means to measure the level of quality in
satisfying customers’ requirements. It is important tool that need to be adopted in a
TQM implementation. However, this technique hasn’ t yet been utilized in
ETHIOPIAN. It is essential to analyze what achievements and discrepancies have
been noted in the current year, what future plans are available for elimination of these
discrepancies in the coming year etc.
11. Partnering should begin at home. This means it is essential to intensify management-
to-employee partnership, team-to-team partnership, and employee-to-employee
partnership. The overall purpose of internal partnership is to harness the full potential
of the workforce and focus it on the continuous improvement of quality. Internal
partnering creates an environment and establishes a mechanism within that brings
managers and employees, teams and individual employees together in mutually
supportive alliance that maximizes the human resource of the organization. However,
this internal partnership in ETHIOPIAN is not sufficient enough to implement TQM at
this stage. A lot of effort is still required to bring the existing situation to the required
level.
12. Usually relationships between an organization and its vendors have been traditionally
characterized by adversarial activities such as the low-bid process which leads one and
often both parties to lose. Rather than working together to find ways for both to win,
buyers force vendors to absorb costs to win the low bid, and vendors look for ways to

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minimize their losses by barely meeting the buyer specification. Such relationship will
not help either party succeed in the long run in a competitive marketplace. The goal of
partnering with vendors is to create and maintain a loyal, trusting, reliable relationship
that will allow both parties to win, while promoting the continuous improvement of
quality, productivity, and competitiveness.[1] . Not all suppliers can participate in such
relationships. ETHIOPIAN needs to identify those suppliers which qualify for this
strong relationship so as to achieve the optimal deal not only in price but also in
features, loyalty, quality, delivery issue, training activities and long-term mutual
benefit.
13. Effective benchmarking should be conducted in order to understand competitors’
potential and offerings. Such information will be valuable for ETHIOPIAN to improve
its service qualities and stay as a competitor in the market.
14. In-depth market investigation should be made so as to obtain customers’ real
expectations and potential needs. It is valuable to obtain customer satisfaction
information on the quality of services from the company’ s competitors. Such
information can be used for designing improved service quality.
15. Continuous assessment regarding business environment, organizational dominant
values, culture role models such as organizational rites, rituals, and customs, behaviors
and norms based on people interaction should be made in order to develop their
positive outcomes for conducive organizational climate. These are important elements
if governed properly can help achieve the implementation of successful of TQM.
16. An important characteristic of organizational culture is its nature to allow close link
between managers and employees. Gathering or meeting of employees with
supervisors, managers, directors etc. and sharing their success stories, challenges they
faced, their efforts for the accomplishment of the company’ s mission are valuable in
creating a strong link among all in the company. However, this tradition is not usually
observed in the company. Instead, employees at the same level of post create groups
and spend their free time together. Still a gap is seen between those at the management
level and the other employees.
17. In ETHIOPIAN it seems there is a fear culture in which employees fear for their jobs.
This is because they don’ t openly comment on the management, instead they rumor.
This culture doesn’ t foster a TQM spirit. Employees should openly comment on the
management and the management should appreciate these comments to take
immediate measures.

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18. TQM is based on fairness. It requires the company to satisfy its customers, and to be
honest and open with its employees. That means the company has to be ethical. Before
a TQM programme starts, the company should carryout an ethics audit, and drew up
an ethics policy. The ethics policy should cover relationships with the government,
customers, suppliers, staff, and the environment.
19. ETHIOPIAN needs to publish a staff news letter which contains TQM achievements,
future plans, list of the contributions made by employees and the corresponding
reward or recognition made by the company. This will enhance the efforts made by
employees and they will strive for further achievements. Other employees will also
follow their footsteps.
20. Let employees own 5%-10% of the company’ s equity. Their sense of belongingness to
the company will be improved more. This will increase employees’ motivation,
inspiration and active participation in the company.
21. Sufficient time should be given for TQM to work. Not only will managers and
employees need to spend on the programme, but also they will have to wait several
years to see any results. People may get despondent when they don’ t see immediate
results. But this will lead to the loss of interest in TQM and failure of the program.
Moreover, sufficient investment should be allotted for the TQM programme such as
for trainings and seminars, consultancy, for giving away certificates, prints etc.
22. ETHIOPIAN should measure the benefits obtained by implementing TQM.
Employees, managers, and other staff have to see the achievements from TQM.
Moreover, continuous evaluation of TQM is necessary for filling any gap which might
arise later in the process.

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Bibliography
1. Adedeji B.Badiru, “ Practitioner’ s guide to quality and process improvement”
Chapman &Hall, Great Britain, 1993.
2. Amir D. Aczel, “ Statistics concepts and Approaches” , Richard D. Irwin. Inc.
1995.
3. Brown, M.G., Hitchcock, D.E., and Willard, M.L. “ Why TQM fails and what
to do about it?” , Burr Ridge, Illinois, New York, IRWIN Professional
Publishing, 1994.
4. Bruce Brocka, “ Quality Management, Implementing the best ideas of the
masters.” McGraw-Hill, USA, 1992.
5. Chopin, Jon., “ Quality through People: A Blueprint for Proactive Total
Quality Management” , California: Pfeiffer & Company, 1991.
6. Dale H. Besterfiield,“ Total Quality Management” , Pearson Education, Inc.,
Singapore, 2nd ed., 1999.
7. Dale, B.G., and Plunkett J.J, “ Managing Quality” , New York, Philip Allan,
1990.
8. David L. Goetsch& Stanley Bedevil, “ Quality Management, Introduction to
TQM for Production, Processing, & Services” , third edition, Prentice Hall,
2000.
9. Dennis F. Kehoe, “ The Fundamentals of Quality Management” , Chapman &
Hall, London, 1996.
10. Douglas C. Montegomery, “ Introduction to Statistical Quality Control” , New
Delhi, 1997.
11. Ethiopian Airlines Maintenance Reliblity Document, Tecchnical Policies and
Procedures Manual, Corporate Quality Manual, Inspection Procedure
Manaual, Maintenance Manuals, Audit Reports, Miantenence & Training
Records, Capablity Lists, Forms, etc.
12. Garvin, D.A.,“ Managing Quality, The Strategic and Competitive Edge” Free
Press, 1988.
13. Harry A. Kinnison, “ Aviation Maintenance Management” the McGraw Hill
companies, 2004.
14. Histoshi Kume, “ Statistical methods for quality improvement” , seventh
edition, 3A corporation, Japan, 1992.

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

15. James W. Dean, Jr. and James R. Evans, “ Total Quality Management,
Organization, and Strategy” , West Publishing Company, 1994.
16. John Bank, “ The essence of TQM” , second edition, Pearson Education
Limited, 2000.
17. John Pike and Richard Barnes, “ TQM in Action: A practical Approach to
Continuous Performance Improvement” , Chapman and Hall, London, 2nd ed.,
1996.
18. John S. Oakland, “ Total Quality Management, The Route To Improving
Performance” , second edition, Butterworth Heinemann Publishing Ltd, 1993.
19. Joseph M. Juran, “ Juran’ s Quality Hand book", R.R Donnelly & Sons
Company, 5th ed., 1999.
20. Kaoru Ishikawa, “ Introduction to Quality Control” , Chapman &Hall, 1994.
21. Kanji, G.K., Asher, M. “ 100 Methods for Total Quality Management” ,
London, Sage Publications, 1996.
22. K.C .Arora, “ Total quality management” Kumar Kataria, Delhi 2002.
23. Michael J. Dreikon, “ Aviation Industry Quality Systems, ISO 9000 and The
Federal Aviation Regulations” , ASQ Quality Press, Kansas, 1995.
24. Michel Perigord, “ Achieving Total Quality Management: A Program for
Action, Productivity” , Press.Inc. Cambridge, 1990.
25. Peters Mears, “ Quality improvement tools and techniques” , McGraw-Hill
Inc., 1995.
26. Ray Tricker, “ ISO 9001:2000 for small business” , Butterworth Heinemann,
Oxford, second edition, 2001.

27. Richard J. Pierce, “ Leadership, Perspective, and Restructuring for Total

Quality, ASQC” , Quality Press, Wisconsin, U.S.A, 1991.
28. SadgroveKit, “ Making TQM work” , Kogan Page Limited, London, 1995.
29. T.R.Banga & S.C. Sharma, “ Industrial Organization and Engineering
Economy” , 23 rd Edition, Hindustan offset press, Naraina, Delhi, 2000.
30. Terry L. Richardson, “ Total Quality Management, Delmar Publishers” , ITP an
International Thomson Publishing Company, USA, 1997.
31. T.Ramasamy, “ Principles of Management” , Himalaya Publishing House,
2003.
32. Zhihai Zhang, “ Implementation of TQM, Thesis” , University of Groningen,
2000.

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Appendix I: Performance Appraisal [31]

It is systematic evaluation of the performance of employees by an expert of immediate
supervisor. It is important to help the management take decision about salary increase of
employee, to improve the quality of an employee in job performance, minimizes the
communication gap between employee and employer, to transfer person to the right place if
his current place doesn’ t fit, to improve job satisfaction and etc.
Limitations: Can be unreliable, may not be correct if an employee has close relation to
employer or boss, some qualities may not be appraised by performance appraisal, non uniform
standards may not be followed by supervisors/bosses etc.

Types of performance appraisal

1. Ranking method: Employees are ranked one against the other in their working group
as 1, 2, 3 etc.
2. Paired comparison method: Each employee is compared with other employees taking
only one at a time. The evaluator compares two employees and put a thick mark
against a better employee .In the same way an employee is compared with all other
employees. The one who gets maximum ticks is considered as the best employee.
3. Forced distribution method: Group wise rating is done under this method. For example
the rater can rate 15% of workers as superior, 35% as at or above average, 35% below
average, 15% as poor. This method is suitable to large organization.
4. Grading: Certain categories of abilities or performance of employees are defined well
in advance to fall in certain grades such as very good, good, average, poor and very
poor. Unlike forced distribution, here individual traits and characteristics are
identified.
5. Check list: It is the appraisal of the ability of an employee through getting answers for
a number of questions prepared by personnel department. Questions can be about
satisfaction of job, finishing job accurately, readiness to accept responsibility or
orders.
6. Critical incident method: Measuring performance on the basis of incidents such as
refusing to cooperate, unwilling to attend training, got angry over work, refuse to
obey.
7. Field review method: performing employee’ s performance through an interview
between the rater and the employee’ s immediate superior/supervisor.

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2
Appendix II: Chi-6TXDUH ) probabilities

The areas given across the top are the areas to the right of the critical value. To look up an
area on the left, subtract it from one, and then look it up (i.e. 0.05 on the left is 0.95 on the
right)

0.995 0.99 0.975 0.95 0.90 0.10 0.05 0.025 0.01 0.005
1 --- --- 0.001 0.004 0.016 2.706 3.841 5.024 6.635 7.879
2 0.010 0.020 0.051 0.103 0.211 4.605 5.991 7.378 9.210 10.597
3 0.072 0.115 0.216 0.352 0.584 6.251 7.815 9.348 11.345 12.838
4 0.207 0.297 0.484 0.711 1.064 7.779 9.488 11.143 13.277 14.860
5 0.412 0.554 0.831 1.145 1.610 9.236 11.070 12.833 15.086 16.750
6 0.676 0.872 1.237 1.635 2.204 10.645 12.592 14.449 16.812 18.548
7 0.989 1.239 1.690 2.167 2.833 12.017 14.067 16.013 18.475 20.278
8 1.344 1.646 2.180 2.733 3.490 13.362 15.507 17.535 20.090 21.955
9 1.735 2.088 2.700 3.325 4.168 14.684 16.919 19.023 21.666 23.589
10 2.156 2.558 3.247 3.940 4.865 15.987 18.307 20.483 23.209 25.188
11 2.603 3.053 3.816 4.575 5.578 17.275 19.675 21.920 24.725 26.757
12 3.074 3.571 4.404 5.226 6.304 18.549 21.026 23.337 26.217 28.300
13 3.565 4.107 5.009 5.892 7.042 19.812 22.362 24.736 27.688 29.819
14 4.075 4.660 5.629 6.571 7.790 21.064 23.685 26.119 29.141 31.319
15 4.601 5.229 6.262 7.261 8.547 22.307 24.996 27.488 30.578 32.801
16 5.142 5.812 6.908 7.962 9.312 23.542 26.296 28.845 32.000 34.267
17 5.697 6.408 7.564 8.672 10.085 24.769 27.587 30.191 33.409 35.718
18 6.265 7.015 8.231 9.390 10.865 25.989 28.869 31.526 34.805 37.156
19 6.844 7.633 8.907 10.117 11.651 27.204 30.144 32.852 36.191 38.582
20 7.434 8.260 9.591 10.851 12.443 28.412 31.410 34.170 37.566 39.997
21 8.034 8.897 10.283 11.591 13.240 29.615 32.671 35.479 38.932 41.401
22 8.643 9.542 10.982 12.338 14.041 30.813 33.924 36.781 40.289 42.796
23 9.260 10.196 11.689 13.091 14.848 32.007 35.172 38.076 41.638 44.181
24 9.886 10.856 12.401 13.848 15.659 33.196 36.415 39.364 42.980 45.559
25 10.520 11.524 13.120 14.611 16.473 34.382 37.652 40.646 44.314 46.928
26 11.160 12.198 13.844 15.379 17.292 35.563 38.885 41.923 45.642 48.290
27 11.808 12.879 14.573 16.151 18.114 36.741 40.113 43.195 46.963 49.645

Appendix III: Questionnaire

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Indicate your current position in ETHIOPIAN. Don’ t write your name.

Position (Mechanic, Lead mechanic, Foreman, Supervisor, Manager, Director, Vice-President, Other please
specify).
Gender____________
Rate or grade the following questions based on your fair and frank judgment. It is possible to include further
explanations next to each question if you need to do so.
Ratings: 1= Excellent/ extremely high, 2= Very good/very high, 3= Good/ high, 4= Average,
5= Poor/below required, 6= Not applicable

A. Management Commitment/Leadership

1. How do you rate the commitment of top management for continuous improvement?

1 2 3 4 5 6
2. Equal treatment of employees by the existing managers can be rated as

1 2 3 4 5 6
3. How do you rate the recognition /reward of your effort by the middle/top managers?

1 2 3 4 5 6
4. Rate the willingness of middle/top managers, directors, VPs or your immediate boss to let you improve your
skills and knowledge with the aid of recurrent, refresher or other trainings?

1 2 3 4 5 6
5. How do you rate the willingness of middle or top managers to incorporate new and improved
methods to accomplish tasks/

1 2 3 4 5 6
6. How ready are middle/top managers, directors, VPs for important changes?

1 2 3 4 5 6
7. How do you rate the transparency of managers’ activities to employees under their supervision?

1 2 3 4 5 6

8. How sooth is the relationship of the management with the labor union?

1 2 3 4 5 6
9. How willing are middle /top managers & VPs to listen to employees’ dissatisfaction, to solve their problems,
encourage/motivate employees and allow to get what they deserve?
1 2 3 4 5 6

10. How effective are middle/top managers& VPs to control employees and to exhibit strong discipline?

1 2 3 4 5 6

11. How do you rate middle and top managers to create a team work atmosphere, harmony, job satisfaction &
feeling of belongingness in every employee’ s mind?
1 2 3 4 5 6
12. How effective are middle/top managers, directors and VPs in directing/supporting, task
managing, delegating and decision making?

1 2 3 4 5 6
13. How do rate the commitment of middle/top managers, directors& VPs to Total Quality Process /use of
quality deliver process/ TQM system, quality improvement projects, application of problem solving process?
1 2 3 4 5 6

B. Training

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14. On which of the following training activities have you participated? Indicate how may times you
have been trained.
Formal training: Trainings given in Airframe& Power plant & Avionics schools before hired in
EAL.

Organizational training: About policies and procedures, paper work and specific aviation systems
& equipment in use at the airline.

Manufacturer or vendor training

Quality training

OJT

Upgrade (recurrent training): When new equipment is incorporated, new procedures are
implemented

Refresher training: When mechanics/technicians etc. are rusty& to review or re-verify certain
skills.

Special trainings: Training not available in house such as NDT/NDI procedures, calibration
procedures, engine operations (run-up, boroscope inspection etc.)

15. How do you rate the usefulness of the trainings you have taken for the actual maintenance or
paper work?
1 2 3 4 5 6

16. How do you evaluate the implementation of training activities as per the schedules?

1 2 3 4 5 6
17. How do you rate the strategy, time schedule and selection criteria of trainings?

1 2 3 4 5 6
18. How effective is the practical implementation of training activities regarding quality aspects?

1 2 3 4 5 6
19. How is your ability to interpret & effectively utilize maintenance and policy /procedure manuals
such as AMM, CMM, and IPM etc.?
1 2 3 4 5 6

C. Cooperation with Vendors or Foreign Repair/Maintenance Organizations

20. How do you rate the cooperation of vendors/FR stations regarding training aspects?

1 2 3 4 5 6
21. How effective is the on time delivery made by vendors/FR stations?

1 2 3 4 5 6

22. How fast are vendors/FR stations to take corrective actions for any discrepancy?

1 2 3 4 5 6
23. Is there an agreed quality policy between ETHIOPIAN and vendors/FR stations?

Yes No
24. If yes, how do you rate the completeness of this policy to address any quality issue?

1 2 3 4 5 6

D. Ergonomics and Human Factors

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25. How do you rate the availability of auxiliary equipment (GSE, tools /special tools, test
equipment, etc.) & written materials to perform the required maintenance on an aircraft?

1 2 3 4 5 6

26. What can be said about the attention paid while designing maintenance programs with the
mechanics capabilities & limitations taken in to consideration?

1 2 3 4 5 6
27. Rate the clarity, understandability, accuracy and accessibility of manuals and other documents.

1 2 3 4 5 6
28. How effective is the maintenance program adjustment/change to be in line with human
capabilities & requirements concerning work schedule, endurance& skill makeup of the work crew
to avoid overwork, fatigue etc.?

1 2 3 4 5 6
29. How do you rate the training regarding human factors in maintenance to reduce the chances of
human errors in maintenance?

1 2 3 4 5 6
30. How is the implementation of training regarding “ human factors in maintenance” in the
ETHIOPIAN?

1 2 3 4 5 6

E. Continuous Improvement

31. How do you compare the level of quality in performing maintenance and engineering activities of Ethiopian
at the present time from that of the past five years?

1 2 3 4 5 6
32. How do you evaluate the effort made to improve results and capabilities to produce better results in the
future?

1 2 3 4 5 6

33. How do you rate the effort to improve demand generation, supply generation, technology, operations and
people capability?

1 2 3 4 5 6

F. Employee Performance Versus Incentive Scheme

34. How do you rate the balance between employee performance payment and the variable payment
methods?

1 2 3 4 5 6
35. How do you evaluate the accuracy, unbiased approach & factual evaluations made regarding
employees’ performance payment & variable payment technique so that all employees deserve as per
their effort?

1 2 3 4 5 6
36. What can be said about the performance measurement techniques currently underway in the
company?

1 2 3 4 5 6

37. How do you rate the acceptance & the standard of man-hour for the jobs currently underway?

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1 2 3 4 5 6
38. How do you evaluate the participation of employees while formulating and implementing the
performance &variable payment techniques?

1 2 3 4 5 6
39. How effective is the performance & variable payment techniques in rewarding hardworking
employees& in accounting quality of work, complexity and difficulty of jobs?

1 2 3 4 5 6

40. How do you rate the employee awards and motivating activities currently under way in
encouraging or motivating employees?

1 2 3 4 5 6

G. Quality Maintenance Management System

41. Rate the quality problems in all maintenance and engineering areas.

1 2 3 4 5 6
42. How do you evaluate the repetition of failures, delays& cancellations?

1 2 3 4 5 6
43. How effective and efficient are maintenance activities implemented to address problems
registered on pilot write up, component unscheduled removals etc.?

1 2 3 4 5 6
44. How do you rate the turnaround time& maintenance costs?

1 2 3 4 5 6
45. How effective is the dispatch reliability of ETHIOPIAN in competing with other airliners and in
satisfying the global requirement?

1 2 3 4 5 6
46. How do you rate the airline procedure in achieving the planed dispatch reliability?

1 2 3 4 5 6

47. How strong, effective and understandable is the link of the Airline Maintenance Procedure
&Maintenance Engineers with line/shop maintenance personnel to solve problems or alerts as fast as
possible?

1 2 3 4 5 6

48. How do you rate the practical contribution of maintenance engineers in providing effective
troubleshooting for maintenance problems?
1 2 3 4 5 6

49. How effective and efficient are maintenance managers in leading the maintenance personnel
towards a quality achieved performance?

1 2 3 4 5 6

50. How do you evaluate the rational allocation of maintenance task cards?

1 2 3 4 5 6

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51. How do you see the influence of running towards larger duration maintenance task cards on
quality of maintenance activities?

1 2 3 4 5 6

52. How would you rate the clarity and understandability of drawings, maintenance packages, EO,
ER etc coming to the mechanic form the responsible sections developing the packages?

1 2 3 4 5 6

H. Customer Focused Approach (Both Internal & External Customers)

53. How would you regard other departments /other department employees as customer to you?

1 2 3 4 5 6

54. How would you regard the mechanism or channel used to assess or evaluate employee
satisfaction/dissatisfaction?

1 2 3 4 5 6

55. How fast do you reply to /perform customer’ s enquiries/ tasks?

1 2 3 4 5 6

56. How do you rate the effort made to handle customer’ s complaints and satisfy their needs?

1 2 3 4 5 6

57. How do you evaluate the involvement of all employees in setting standards for performance
measurement criteria and payment techniques?

1 2 3 4 5 6

58. Rate the effort under way to initiate, recognize & reward for higher performance achievement.

1 2 3 4 5 6

59. How would you rate the inter-departmental relationship in the company?
1 2 3 4 5 6

60. How satisfied/proud are you with your job?

1 2 3 4 5 6

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Improvement of Operational Productivity of Maintenance and Engineering Activities Through the Use of TQM

Appendix IV: Glossary

A Check: A maintenance check performed approximately every month (e.g. every 3000 flight
hrs)
AC: Advisory Circular- Information issued by the FAA to identify ways in which an operator
can meet the requirements of certain aviation regulations.
AD: Airworthiness Directive- A document issued by the FAA whenever an unsafe condition
exists in an aviation product. AD may prescribe inspections, modifications, conditions
or limitations under which the product may continue in operation. Incorporation of AD
is mandatory.
APU: Auxiliary Power Unit- A turbine engine used to generate electrical power on the ground
when aircraft engines are not operating. Sometimes used in flight when one engine is
out (ETOPS) to replace the inactive engine driven generator.
CFR: Code of Federal Regulation- A codification of general and permanent rules published
by executive departments and agencies of the U.S. government
CASS: Continuing Analysis & Surveillance Systems- A program established by the operator
to ensure that the maintenance and inspection programs of the carrier’ s operation
specification are effective.
C check: A maintenance check performed approximately every 12 to 18 months (e.g. every
4000 flight hrs).
EO: Engineering Order- Issuance of maintenance work which isn’ t not covered in the
standard maintenance plan.
FOB: Free Onboard: Delivery destination after job completion.
SL: Service Letter- Documents issued by manufacturers to identify maintenance tips or new
procedures. Incorporation is optional.
SB: Service Bulletin- Document issued by manufacturers to modify or improve operation of
an aircraft component or system. Could include substitution of parts, special inspection
or checks, or a change in life limit. Incorporation is optional.

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