INTRODUCTION TO QUALITY MANAGEMENT

In

this session we will be looking at: Concept of Quality Definition Dimensions of Quality Evolution of TQM Components of TQM Developing a Quality Culture

 Concept
What

of Quality & Definition

is Quality? Quality is to a product or service what character and personality are to a human being difficult to define completely, yet easy to recognize when absent.

The definitions of quality as given by three gurus vary considerably: Deming A product or services nature or features that reflect capacity to satisfy expressed or implied statement of needs
Crosby Juran

Conformance to requirements Fitness for the purpose of use

Broadly, when we talk of quality, we think in terms of an excellent product or service that fulfills or exceeds our expectation. The intended use and the selling price are key parameters for basing our expectations.
The

perception of quality in most cases is more important than the inherent quality itself.

 Expressed

as a relationship, quality can be stated as follows: Q = P/E where Q is quality P is performance and E is expectations.

Quality, in ISO 9000: 2000, is defined as the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.

 Degree

means that quality can be used with adjectives like poor, good, or excellent. Inherent is defined as existing in something, especially as a permanent characteristic. Characteristics can be objective or subjective, qualitative or quantitative. Requirement is a need or expectation, stated or implied, by the organization, its customers etc.

 Dimensions

of Quality Quality has nine different dimensions. These are: 1. Performance Primary product or service characteristics 2. Features Secondary characteristics bells & whistles 3. Conformance Meeting specifications or industry standards; workmanship

 4.

Reliability

5.

Durability 6. Serviceability 7. Response

Consistency of performance over time, probability of failure Useful life Ease of repair Speed, courtesy, competence in face-toface contacts

 8. 9.

Aesthetics Perceived Quality or Reputation

Sensory (sounds, feels, looks etc) Past performance, brand, other intangibles

 In

a given situation, depending on the product and the locale, usually, only a few of these dimensions might be critical. For a seasonal fashion accessory like a ski jacket, aesthetics and performance may be the critical dimensions while For a car in the German market, reliability, conformance, aesthetics and reputation could be important.

 Marketing

has the responsibility to identify the relative importance of each dimension of quality. These dimensions are then translated into the requirements for the development of a new product or the improvement of an existing one. (For example through the Quality Deployment Function).

 Evolution

of Quality Management & TQM

Quality has been written about for hundreds of years. In the Middle Ages, when guilds existed, the workers of a guild were involved in the entire process of creation of the product. They were responsible for quality and were trained to be proud of the quality of their creation.

 But

the industrial revolution changed all that. Workers now built only a portion of the product. When products were not complicated (initially), quality did not suffer very much. But with increasing complexity of manufacturing processes, quality began to suffer. Inspection of products after manufacture became necessary.

 The

evolution of quality management from there can be classified into four stages:

 1.

Inspection: The first stage where firms focused on inspecting the finished products and removed/replaced defective ones. 2. Quality control: In this stage firms focused on total quality control, introducing inprocess control, improved the efficiency of their inspection process and reduced the cost of quality.

 3.

Quality assurance:

This

involved developing processes that ensured that the product met the companys specifications in terms of product performance, features, attributes and satisfied customer requirements. reliability was also focused on.

Product

 4.

Total quality management:

Here

every employee and every department is responsible for quality control and assurance and not just the Quality Assurance department.

 TOTAL

QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)

At

its best, TQM is like a religion a philosophy that has been converted to some tenets that help in following and implementing the philosophy may be defined as managing the entire organization so that it excels on all dimensions of products and services that are important to the customer.

TQM

 TQM

requires six basic concepts:

1. A committed and involved management to provide long-term top-to-bottom organizational support. 2. An unwavering focus on the customer, both internally and externally. 3. Effective involvement and utilization of the entire work force.

4. Continuous improvement of the business and production processes. 5. Treating suppliers as partners 6. Establish performance measures for the processes.

 In

an existing organization with an existing approach to quality management, introducing and establishing the TQM culture is likely to take a long time. It took Sundaram Clayton about 3 years from the time they started to fully convert the organization to imbibe and follow the tenets of TQM. Usually, small organizations make the transition much faster than large ones.

 Some

of the salient differences between the old and TQM approaches is set out below:

Quality Element

Previous State

TQM

Definition Priorities Decisions Emphasis Errors Responsibility Problem solving Procurement Managers role

Product oriented Second to service and cost Short term Detection Operations Quality control Managers Price Plan, assign, control and enforce

Customer oriented First among equals of service and cost Long term Prevention System Everyone Teams Life-cycle costs, partnership Delegate, coach, facilitate and mentor

 Typical

challenges faced by organizations while implementing the transition to TQM are listed below:

1.

Lack of Management commitment 2. Inability to change organizational culture probably the biggest challenge because

a. People change when they want to and to meet their own needs. b. Unless the reasons for change are spelt out clearly, people will not change c. People have to be moved from a state of fear to trust for change to be accepted.

 3.

Improper planning and communication 4. Lack of continuous education and training 5. Incompatible organizational structure and isolated individuals and departments. 6. Ineffective and inadequate measurement techniques and lack of access to data

 7.

Inadequate attention to internal and external customers. 8. Inadequate empowerment and team work 9. Failure to continually improve.