TQM Class notes

Quality:

The term quality is used in a variety of ways. Sometimes

o it refers to the grade of a product such as USDA or ‘Grade A’ eggs
o it refers materials workmanship or special features such as waterproof or
subtle aroma
o it is relative to price i.e., cheap or expensive

The reason is customer values certain aspects of a product or service, and therefore
associated those aspects with the quality that they perceive a product or service has.

Definition:
Quality refers to the ability of a product or service to consistently meet or exceed
customer’s expectation.
Quality means getting what you are paying for. People are willing to spend more in the
hope that the extra money spent will bring them the peace of mind that comes with
services and products that are trust –worthy.
Quality was not uppermost in the minds of U.S. business organization even in the early
70’s.They tends to focus on

COST and PRODUCTIVITY

Rather than on Quality it was not that Quality was not important, it just was not very
important.

U.S organization got their lesson from the Japanese organization when specially leading
Japanese manufacturers Honda, Nissan and Toyota become major players in the auto
sales market in the United States. Both Honda and Toyota have built a reputation for
quality and reliability in their cars.

Way to Improve Quality

1. By hiring consultant
2. Send the people (including top executives) to seminars and
3. Initiated a vast array of quality improvement programme.

Note:
Quality is not something that is tacked on as a special feature but an integral part of a
product or service.
# in the 1990s U.S. auto makers began to close the quality gap.
# for generating awareness and interest in quality there are two quality awards-
1. Malcolm Baldridge Award(From U.S. A)
2. Deming Prize

Contribution to the Quality Management:

Scientist’s Name Contribution Year Remarks

Frederick Winslow Gave new emphasis to quality by including Father of
Taylor product inspection and gauging in his list of Scientific
fundamentals of Manufacturing Management
Management
G.S.Radford #Improved Taylor’s Method
#The notions of involving quality
considerations early in the product design
stage
#Making connections between high quality,
increased productivity and lower costs.
W. Shewhart Introduced Statistical Control Charts for
(Bell Telephone monitoring production.
Lab)
H.F Dodge and Introduced Tables for acceptance sampling Aroun
H.G.Roming d 1930
(Bell Telephone
Lab)
W. Edwards Introduced Statistical Quality control Quality Guru
Deming methods to Japanees Manufacturers, Worked in Japan
promising that this would help them to for about 30
rebuild their manufacturing their base and years.
compete in the world market. To honour him
Japan Introduced
Deeming Prize.
Provided 14
points
Joseph Juran Began his ‘cost of Quality’ approach- Quality Guru
Emphasizing accurate and complete Major force in
identification and measurement of the cost Japan’s success in
of quality. quality.
Published Quality contol Handbook in 1951
-Provides the concept Quality begins by
knowing what customers want
Armand Proposed Total Quality Control- Mid At the age of 24,
Feigenbaum One important feature of his work was 1950s he was general
greater involvement of upper management Electric’s top
in quality. expert in quality.
He published his
 book Total
Quality Control in
1961.
Philip Croseby Introduced concept ‘Zero Defects’-This During Theapproach
approach focused on employee motivation 1960 evolved from the
awareness and the expectation on perfection success of the
from each employee. Martin Company
-Introduced concept Make it(do it) right the in producing a
first time. perfect missile for
the U.S. Army.
Kaoru Ishikawa -develop the cause and effect diagram (also
known as a Fish-Bone Diagram for problem
solving.
-Implemented quality circles that involves
workers into quality improvement.

Genichi Taguchi Taguchi Loss Function which involves a Taguchi’s method

furmula for determining the cost of poor is credited with
quality. helping the Ford
Motor.

Debate on Quality:

There is a lot of confusion as to whether quality costs money or whether its save money.
In one sense quality means the feature of some product or service that make people
willing to buy it. So it’s income oriented-has an effect on income
Now to produce features, ordinarily you have to invest money. In that sense, higher
quality costs more.
Quality also means freedom from trouble, freedom from failure. This is cost oriented. If
things fail internally it costs the company. If they fail externally, it’s also costs the
customers. In this cases quality costs less.

The Dimensions of Quality:

Generally speaking the dimension of quality include-

1. Performance-main characteristics of the product or service.

2. Aesthetics-appearance, feel, smell, taste
3. Safety-risk of injury or harm
4. Reliability-Consistency of performance
5. Durability-the useful life of the product or service.
6. Service after sale-handling of complaints or checking on the customer
satisfaction.
7. Perceived quality-indirect evaluation of quality i.e., (say) reputation.
 8. Conformance-how well a product or service corresponds to the customer’s
expectation.

The Consequences of Poor Quality

1. Loss of business
2. Liability
3. Productivity
4. Repair work, Rework and Scrap costs.
5. Return goods, Warranty costs, Inspection costs and lost sales.-

Note: It is said that 30-35% of gross sales are used by the maximum companies for
improving the quality.

Example of a Quality problem

Tennant Company, a maker of floor-finishing equipment in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Soon after entering the Japanese market, Tennant began to receive complaints that their
machined leaked. Managers were mystified-they had never heard this complain from
their American customers. They company really began to worry when it learned that
Toyota was considering entering the market. So, it started interviewing its American
customers in earnest. Sure enough, the machines did leak. But the American customers
didn’t squeak: they just wiped up the leak, silently suffering and waiting for a competitor
to enter the market so they could shift their business to it. Tennant eventually fixed the
problem and Toyota never enters the market. So for getting quality related problem we
have to remember the phrase “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”.
 Total Quality Management

The term Total Quality Management (TQM) refers to a quest for quality that involves
everyone in an organization. There are two philosophies in this approach i.e.,
a. Continuous Improvement-never ending push to improve. It covers equipment,
methods, materials and people.
b. Customer Satisfaction-which involves meeting or exceeding customer
expectation.

Approaches of TQM:

1. Find out what customers want. We can get the answer of this question by

The surveys
Focus groups
Interviews or
Some other techniques that integrates Customer’s voice in the
decision making process.

We should include the internal customers (the next person in the process) as well as the
external customers (The final customers).

2. Design a product or service that meet or exceed what customer want. Make it
ease to use and easy to produce.
3. Remember the concept during the design a production process DO THE JOB
RIGHT THE FIRST TIME .The concept developed by Philip Crosby.

Determine where mistakes are likely to occur and try to prevent them.

4. Keep track of results and use those to guide improvement in the system. Never
stop trying to improve.
5. Extend these concepts to suppliers and to distribution.

Note:
Successful TQM programs are built through the dedication and combined efforts of
everyone in the organization. As noted, top management must be committed and
involved. If it isn’t TQM will become just another fad that quickly dies and fades away.
Some Other Elements in TQM

1. Continual Improvement:

This is the philosophy that seeks to make never-ending improvement to the

process of converting input into output.
It covers equipment, methods, materials and people.
The concept was not used even few years back. But now it is very popular
both in U.S.A and Japanese Companies. In JAPAN the concept is known as
Kaizen.

2. Competitive Benchmark:

For learning how to improve your operations, you have to identify the
companies or organizations that are the best for something. The company need
not be the same line of business as yours.
Example:
Xerox used the mail order company. L.L.Bean to Benchmark order filling.

3. Employee Empowerment:

Giving workers the responsibility for improvements. This puts decision

making into the hands of those who are closest to the job and have
considerable insight into problems and solutions.

4. Team Approach:

The use of teams for problem solving and to achieve consensus, takes
advantages of group synergy, gets people involved and promotes a spirit of co-
operation and shared values among employees.

5. Decision based on facts rather than opinion.

6. Knowledge of tools:

Employees and managers are trained in the use of quality tools.

 7. Supplier Quality:

Suppliers must be included in the quality assurance and quality improvement

efforts so that there processes are capable of delivering quality parts and
materials timely manner.
Suppliers are the partner of the process and long term relationship is
encouraged. This gives suppliers a vital stake in providing quality goods and
services.

It would be incorrect to think that TQM as merely a collection of techniques. Rather

TQM reflects a whole new attitude towards quality.
TQM programs are touted as a way for U.S. companies to regain their competitiveness,
which is a very worthwhile objective.

Nonetheless TQM programs are not without criticism. Some of the major ones are:

a. Blind Pursuit of TQM program: Overzealous advocates may focus

attention on quality even though other priorities may be more
important(i.e., responding quickly to competitor’s advances)
b. Program may not be linked to the strategies of the organization in the
meaningful way.
c. Quality-related decision may not be tied to market performance. For
example: customer satisfaction may be carried to the extent that its costs
far exceeds any direct and indirect benefit of doing so.
d. Failure to carefully plan a program before embarking on it can lead to
false starts, employee confusion and meaningless results.

Note:
There is nothing inherently wrong with TQM; it is how some individuals or
organizations misuse it.
PROBLEM SOLVING IN THE TQM APPROACH

Problem solving is one of the basic procedures of TQM .An important aspect
of problem solving in the TQM approach is eliminating the cause so that the
problem does not reoccur.

Step-1: Define the problem and establish an improvement goal.

Give problem definition careful consideration: don’t rush through this step
because this will serve as the focal point of problem solving efforts.

Step-2: Collect Data.

The solution must be based on facts. Possible tools include check sheet,
scatter diagram, histogram, run chart and control chart.

Step-3: Analyze the problem

Possible tools include pareto chart, cause –effect- diagram.

Step-4: Generate potential solutions.

Methods includes brainstorming, interviewing and surveying

Step-5: Choose a solution

Be sure what are the criteria are for choosing a solutions and select the best
one.

Step-6: Implement the solution

Keep everyone informed

Step-7: Monitor the solution to see if it accomplishes the goal.

If not, modify the solution or return to step-1.Possible tools include control

chart and run chart.
 PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
Process Improvement is a systematic approach to improve a process. It involves-

i. Documentation
ii. Measurement and
iii. Analysis

For the purpose of improving the functioning of the process.

Goals of Process improvement

Increasing Customer satisfaction

Achieving higher quality
Reducing waste
Reducing cost
Increasing productivity and
Speeding up the process.

Method of Process Improvement

One of the popular methods of process improvement is The Plan-Do-Study-

Act Cycle.
This also referred to as either Shewhart Cycle or Deeming wheel. This is the
basis for continuous improvement activities. The method representing the
process with a circle underscores its continuing nature.

There are four basic steps in the cycle-

Step-1: Plan

Begin by studying the current process. Document the process. Then collect data to
identify problems. Next, survey data and develop a plan for improvement. Specify
measures of evaluating the plan.

Step-2: Do

Implement the plan on a small scale if possible. Document any changes made during this
phase. Collect data systematically for evaluation.

Step-3: Study
Evaluate the data collection during the do phase. Check how closely the results match the
original goals of the plan phase.

Step-4: Act

If the results are successful standardized the new method and communicate the new
method to all people associated with the process. Implement training for the new method.
If the results are unsuccessful revised the plan and repeat the process or cease this project.

In replicating successful results elsewhere in the organization, the cycle is repeated.

If the plan is unsuccessful and we wish to make further modifications repeat this cycle.
Employing this sequence of steps provide a systematic approach to continuous
improvement.

TOOLS FOR PROCESS IMPROVEMENT

There are a number of tools for process improvement. We are going to describe eight and
first seven is known as seven basic quality tools. These are-

• Check sheets
• Flowcharts
• Scatter Diagrams
• Histograms
• Pareto Analysis
• Control Charts
• Cause and effect Diagram
• Run charts.
 ISO(International Organization for Standardization ) CERTIFICATION
FOR QUALITY

Background:
ISO 9000 is a series of International Standards dealing with quality systems
that can be used for external quality assurances purpose according to the
original 1987 bulletin from International Organization for Standardization.
This group founded in 1946 has become the focus of efforts to develop
international quality standards to facilities world wide trade.
The purpose of the ISO is to promote world wide standards that will improve
operating efficiency, improving productivity and reduce costs. The ISO is
composed of the national standards bodies of 91 countries.
Disadvantages:

1. Success with ISO certification has not guaranteed success in business. The focus
is often on paper work which may not directly benefit the firm.
Charts of ISO 9000 and ISO14000:
3. Registration can be expensive and has unfortunately become a vehicle to
increase consulting revenues.

ISO 9000 SERIES:

ISO 9000 SETS STANDARDS FOR SYSTEM AND PAPER WORK, NOT
PRODUCTS. It provides companies with a series of guideline on how to establish
systems for managing quality products or services.ISO 9000 is also a general guide to the
others.

ISO CATEGORY PURPOSE REMARKS

ISO9001 It is the most
comprehensive, covering
research, design, building,
shipping and installing
ISO9002 It is for the companies that
only produce and supply the
existing products.
ISO9003 For the companies which
are doing only assembly
ISO9004 It is a document to guide
further internal quality
development
ISO14000 New standard to address
environmental issues
STEPS FOR IMPLEMENTING ISO 9000

There are five steps:

1. ISO 9000Assessment: The initial assessment is a detailed review of the
company’s quality systems and procedures compared with ISO9000
requirements. It might take two or three days to complete.
2. Quality Assurance and policy: The quality manual is often used because it is
good way to get all the necessary documentation together in one place. ISO
9000 standards do not required quality assurance and policy manual.