Quality management

Some people view quality as 'performance to standards'. Others

view it as 'meeting the customer’s needs' or 'satisfying the
customer' (Reid & Sanders).

Summary

There are many benefits to quality management and when successfully implemented it can
improve cost savings, reduce defects, and provide a better customer experience.

This document will provide you with an understanding of quality management and will briefly
explore application, hints & tips, and advantages/disadvantages.

Definitions

Quality management can be defined as – “the measurement of performance of a product,

service or process. It includes the control and assurance of quality levels”.

Total quality management can be defined as – “quality management approach where

every employee is committed to ensuring high standards of quality across all organisation
activities and process to improve outcomes”. (CIPS, 2021)

Introduction

The idea of quality management has been around since the 1920s. Pioneered by Frederick
Taylor (also known as the father of scientific management) the field was further developed
by W. Edward Deming, Joseph M. Juran and Philip B. Crosby. After World War II, American
companies were successfully manufacturing and selling their products, production numbers
continued to grow and the quality measures started to fall short.

Japan, on the other hand, was dealing with the devastation faced in World War II. In their
efforts to recover, Japanese companies developed manufacturing practices with far better
quality controls in place and invited foreign experts to share their insights and rebuild the
Japanese industrial world. By the 1980s the tide turned and the Japanese started capturing
the American market as well (Encyclopedia of Management, 2006).

Today, quality management is embedded in several famous process improvement

programmes such as Total Quality Management (TQM), Six Sigma, Lean production. These
quality improvement programmes help companies achieve significant benefits, including
lower costs, faster time-to-market and better customer experiences (Power, 2010).
TQM, pioneered in the USA by Deming, refers to an integrated effort designed to improve
quality performance at every organisational level (Reid & Sanders, 2010). Six Sigma,
developed under Mr Galvin of Motorola in the 1970s, focuses on improving quality and
eliminating defects and was chosen as the process improvement technique for large
companies in the 1990s (Dembosky & Nuttall, 2011).

Lean production is used to reduce inventories to the minimum and push parts through the
system as fast as possible to cope with sudden variations in demand (Marsh. 2011).

Successful application

There are three observations on successful implementation of quality management:

1. quality

2. teamwork

3. process improvement
Some factors that can prevent sustainable process improvement include competing
demands for attention, competing mindsets and behaviours (e.g., work harder vs. work
smarter), strategic irrelevance, traditional management processes and 'the pain' of
disruption (Power, 2010).

Steps to successful application

1. create a plan; publish the aims and purposes of the organisation

2. learn and adopt the new philosophy of quality

3. understand the purpose of inspection; stop depending on inspection

4. stop awarding business based on price alone

5. improve the system constantly

6. institute training

7. teach and institute leadership

8. drive out fear, create trust, and create a climate for innovation

9. optimise the efforts of teams, groups and staff areas

10. eliminate exhortations, and targets for the workforce; provide methods of achievement
 11. eliminate numerical quotas for the work force

12. remove barriers that rob people of pride for workmanship

13. encourage education and self-improvement for everyone

14. make action to accomplish the transformation, make it everyone's job

Deming (1986)

Hints and tips

 The heads of businesses should take ownership of all the quality improvement
initiatives and be a part of the process. (Joseph et al., 1999)

 Many companies who launch process improvement programmes reap significant

benefits (e.g., lower costs, faster time-to-market, and better customer experiences).
However, they quickly give up and get 'flabby' again. To be competitive it is important
to keep organisations fit and make improvement a habit. (Power, 2010)

 It is important to know how well the process is doing by benchmarking against other
organisations, not by measuring against yourself. (Likierman, 2009)

 Process management should ensure that everyone is concerned with quality, not just
the inspection team. (Joseph et al., 1999)
Potential advantages

 Quality management is an effective model to achieve the highest level of customer

service. (Feigenbaum, 2002)

 Quality management can help organisations achieve market success as it focuses on

employee satisfaction and continuous improvement, thus ensuring continued growth of
business. (Feigenbaum, 2002)

 The concept facilitates the understanding of quality in the marketplace. Instead of

confusing it with technological and developer specifications, quality simply means the
specifications as demanded by the customer. (Sommerville, 2004)
Potential disadvantages

 Small companies often fail to comply with quality standards.

 A lot of data must be recorded to track quality progress and it is often a time-
consuming activity.

 The need to create more documentation generates more paperwork and bureaucracy
which is seen as another major drawback of applying quality management tools.
(Yusof & Aspinwall, 2000)

Performance monitoring

 Statistical process control (SPC): part of the six-sigma process, plots every
observation on a graph and sees how many are lying outside of control limits.

 Flowcharts: a visual representation of how processes are flowing into each other,
helps to identify where exactly in the process is there a problem.

 Pareto charts: a bar graph that depicts those 20% of issues that are giving rise to
80% of problems, operates on a simple 80-20 principle.

 Balanced scorecard: measures effectiveness of quality management from various

perspectives - financial, customer, business process, learning, growth.

 Employees: customer-facing, frontline employees are a great source of customer

feedback that is a direct reflection of the quality of service/product offered by the
company.
(Statit Customer QC Overview, 2007)

Case studies

Supply chain disruption 'causes quality to drop by 9%'

A single supply chain disruption can cause an average 9% drop in the “culture of quality”,
according to Gartner.

Bryan Klein, research director with the Gartner Supply Chain Practice, said: “Covid-19,
digital transformation, sudden facility shutdowns or an expansion into a new market – all of
those incidents disrupt supply chain organisations. A strong culture of quality is critical
during times of transformation.

“Quality leaders must find strategies to sustain their quality levels during disruptions.”

The survey gathered over 1,200 responses from employees who had recently experienced
a disruption, and interviewed quality leaders to find how to maintain a culture of quality.

Gartner identified effective management of supply chain priorities as the “most impactful
action” to ensure product quality during disruptions. However, only 27% of organisations are
helping employees “navigate the inevitable tensions between conflicting priorities”.

(Patchett, 2020)

Five benefits of a sustainable supply chain

The supply chain connects your customers with products and services across the world, but
this is coming at a cost to the environment.

It's not just the environment that is losing out. This lack of sustainability is having a
significant impact on companies' profitability. Unilever estimated natural disasters, directly
associated with climate change, created annual losses of €300m.

To achieve a sustainable supply chain, a company has to address environmental, social,

economic and legal concerns across its entire supply chain. By taking a holistic approach,
this reduces waste and environmental footprint, while also improving labour conditions and
health and safety — stopping worker exploitation.

A fully sustainable supply chain is one that ensures socially responsible business practices.
These practices are not only good for the planet and people who live here, but they also
support business growth.

A sustainable supply chain can land you more business as you prove your green
credentials. You can further support this through internationally recognised standards, such
as ISO 14001. Often a requirement in business tenders, ISO 14001 is a management
system that helps you identify gaps in your business where you could make green efficiency
savings.

With an accreditation to support your environmental efforts, you are showing potential clients
that you’re taking essential strides to reduce your impact on the world.

(Nutburn, 2019)

Books
Project Quality Management: Why, What and How, Ken Rose

Total Quality Management: Strategies and Techniques Proven at Today's Most Successful
Companies (Fast Forward MBA), Stephen George & Arnold Weimerskirch

References

Dembosky, A. and Nuttall, C. (2011) Visionary who pushed the bounds of wireless devices,
The Financial Express, [Online]. Available
at https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/visionary-who-pushed-the-bounds-of-wireless-
devices/860165/ (Accessed 23 July 2021).

Deming, E. (1986) Out of Crisis, Cambridge, Mass., Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Encyclopedia of Management (2006) Quality and Total Quality Management |

Encyclopedia.com, [Online]. Available here. (Accessed 23 July 2021).

Feigenbaum, A. (2002) Total Quality Management, Encyclopedia of Software Engineering.

CIPS (2021) CIPS Glossary of Procurement & Supply Terms, The Chartered Institute of
Procurement and Supply, [Online]. Available
at https://www.cips.org/intelligence-hub/glossary-of-terms (Accessed 7 October 2021).

Joseph, I., Rajendran, C. and Kamalanabhan, T. (1999) An instrument for measuring total
quality management implementation in manufacturing-based business units in India,
International Journal of Production Research, vol. 37, no. 10, pp. 2201-2215.

Likierman, A. (2009) The Five Traps of Performance Measurement, Harvard Business

Review, [Online]. Available at https://hbr.org/2009/10/the-five-traps-of-performance-
measurement (Accessed 23 July 2021).

Marsh, P. (2011) Industry left high and dry, Ft.com, [Online]. Available
at https://www.ft.com/content/d9667732-653d-11e0-b150-00144feab49a (Accessed 23 July
2021).

Nutburn, M. (2019) Five benefits of a sustainable supply chain, Supply Management,

[Online]. Available at https://www.cips.org/supply-management/opinion/2019/july/five-
benefits-of-a-sustainable-supply-chain/ (Accessed 22 July 2021).

Patchett, L. (2020) Supply chain disruption 'causes quality to drop by 9%', Supply
Management, [Online]. Available
at https://www.cips.org/supply-management/news/2020/august/companies-need-to-
manage-supply-chain-priorities-to-maintain-culture-of-quality-/ (Accessed 22 July 2021).
Power, B. (2010) Keep Your Eye on Process Improvement, Harvard Business Review,
[Online]. Available at https://hbr.org/2010/08/in-my-consulting-and-research (Accessed 23
July 2021).

Reid, R. and Sanders, N. (2010) Operations Management, Hoboken, NJ, Wiley.

Sommerville, I. (2004) Software Engineering, Boston, Pearson/Addison-Wesley.

Statit Customer QC Overview (2007) Introduction to Statistical Process Control Techniques,

Statit Software, Inc. [Online]. Available
at https://certisafety.com/members/docs/StatitCustomQC_Overview.pdf (Accessed 23 July
2021).

Yusof, S. and Aspinwall, E. (2000) TQM implementation issues: review and case study,
International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 634-655.
Total quality management
Take a look at the industry wide strategy, total quality
management
What is total quality management (TQM)?
Total quality management is an industry wide strategy. Developed in the 1920’s, it’s aim is to
achieve a consistent culture of customer satisfaction. Total quality management is a
customer focused process, ensuring that the right products are made in the most efficient
way, that delivers the most value.

Total quality management is made up of both quality control and quality assurance.

 Quality control:
This is about making sure the products and services are fit for purpose once they are
produced or ready to deliver.

 Quality assurance:
This is about ensuring things don’t go wrong throughout the process, so you can
deliver the correct products and services all times.
Both aspects help organisations to produce goods that meet the required specifications,
whilst focusing on ways to improve them, develop them and look at the product process.

How to make total quality management a

success
For successful total quality management within your organisation, there a few things you
can do to make it a success.

 Publish the aims and purposes of your organisation, so all staff can understand clearly

 Learn and adopt the right first time approach

 Understand the purpose of inspection and stop depending on inspection

  Stop awarding business based on just the price

 Practice and encourage continuous improvement

 Drive out fear, create trust and create a climate for innovation

 Optimise the efforts of teams

 Encourage education and self-improvement for everyone involved

 Make it everyone’s job to focus on quality and improvement

Advantages of total quality management

Total quality management helps you to make the best products possible for your
consumers, which will help contribute to the long-term success of your organisation. Here
are some of the advantages total quality management can bring to your organisation.

 Allows you to achieve a high level of customer service through consistency.

 Using high quality information to improve processes, helps to reduce waste

 Helps everyone to understand quality in the marketplace and how important it is for the
customer

 As total quality management focuses on employee engagement, this can save money
on training and recruiting new staff.

 Total quality management can give you a competitive advantage

Disadvantages of total quality management

Although total quality management often helps your organisation to maintain long-term
success, there are some challenges that you may experience.

 TQM relies on the whole company to be committed to improvement which can be

difficult to achieve

 A lot of data must be recorded, to help you track quality progress. This can often be a
time-consuming activity.
 Smaller companies often find it difficult to comply with quality standards

 A lack of efforts and resources will contribute to the failure of total quality management