Total Quality Management: A Comprehensive Guide to Continuous Improvement
What is Total Quality?
Total quality is a comprehensive concept encompassing philosophy, strategy, and business models, with a central focus on customer satisfaction. It extends beyond the product or service itself, emphasizing the continuous improvement of organizational and managerial aspects. Total quality views a business as a cohesive machine where every employee, from top management to entry-level staff, is dedicated to achieving shared objectives.
Main Precursor of Quality
According to Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a renowned quality expert, Total Quality improvement is a production system designed to achieve specific targets, reduce costs, and enhance business productivity.
Deming, born in 1900, was an engineer with a master’s degree in physics and mathematics. He is credited with developing the concept of Total Quality Management (TQM) and is known for his famous 14 Points for Management, the 7 Deadly Diseases of Management, and his contributions to the PDCA cycle.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
TQM is a management approach that aims to enhance customer satisfaction while optimizing business organization. Key characteristics of TQM include:
- Customer-centric processes
- Participation of all members in improving processes, products, services, and work culture
- Focus on delivering quality products at minimal cost
- Continuous improvement philosophy
- Six fundamental pillars
Deming’s 14 Principles
- Constancy of purpose
- Adopt a new philosophy
- Cease dependence on mass inspection
- End the practice of awarding business based on price alone
- Continuously improve the system of production and service
- Institute training
- Institute leadership
- Drive out fear
- Break down barriers between departments
- Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce
- Eliminate numerical quotas
- Remove barriers to pride of workmanship
- Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement
- Take action to accomplish the transformation
Deming’s 7 Deadly Diseases of Management
- Lack of constancy of purpose
- Emphasis on short-term profits
- Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review
- Mobility of management
- Running a company on visible figures alone
- Excessive medical costs
- Excessive costs of warranty
Kaoru Ishikawa
Kaoru Ishikawa, a prominent Japanese quality expert, defined Total Quality as a service system encompassing sales, management, the company, and its people. He emphasized low-cost manufacturing and believed that quality control involves developing, designing, producing, and maintaining a quality product that is economical, useful, and satisfying to the consumer.
Ishikawa’s Principles of Quality
- Quality begins and ends with education
- The first step in quality is to know the customer’s needs
- The ideal state of quality control is when inspection is no longer necessary
- Remove the root cause, not the symptoms
- Quality control is the responsibility of all workers and all divisions
- Do not confuse the means with the objectives
- Put quality first and aim for long-term profits
- Marketing is the entrance and exit of quality
- Top management should not show anger when facts are presented by subordinates
- 95% of a company’s problems can be solved with simple tools for analysis and problem-solving
- Data is essential; without data, you are just another person with an opinion
Joseph M. Juran
Joseph M. Juran, a Romanian-born quality expert, defined Total Quality as “fitness for use,” encompassing structural, sensory, temporal, commercial, and ethical parameters. He emphasized design quality, conformance quality, availability, product safety, and field service.
Juran’s Trilogy of Quality
Juran’s Trilogy consists of three key processes:
- Quality Planning: Setting quality goals, developing plans, and identifying resources.
- Quality Control: Evaluating performance, comparing it to goals, and taking corrective action.
- Quality Improvement: Reducing waste, improving delivery times, increasing employee satisfaction, enhancing profitability, and ensuring customer satisfaction.
Philip B. Crosby
Philip B. Crosby, an American quality expert, is known for his “Zero Defects” (ZD) concept. He emphasized the importance of preventing defects rather than detecting and correcting them.
Crosby’s 14 Steps to Zero Defects
- Management commitment
- Quality improvement team
- Quality measurement
- Cost of quality evaluation
- Quality awareness
- Corrective action
- Zero defects planning
- Supervisor training
- Zero defects day
- Goal setting
- Error-cause removal
- Recognition
- Quality councils
- Do it all over again
Just-in-Time (JIT)
JIT is a philosophy that originated at Toyota and focuses on eliminating waste in all organizational activities. It aims to produce goods just in time to meet customer demand, reducing inventory and improving efficiency.
PDCA Cycle
The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle is a continuous improvement model used in TQM. It involves planning, implementing, evaluating, and adjusting processes to achieve desired outcomes.
Importance of Total Quality
Total quality is crucial for organizational success. It drives competitiveness, continuous improvement, and customer satisfaction. The message of total quality should be communicated to employees, suppliers, and customers.
Basic Principles of Total Quality
- Competitiveness
- Continuous improvement with collaboration
- Teamwork
- Error prevention
- Target setting
- Result monitoring
- Customer focus
Benefits of Total Quality Management
TQM offers numerous benefits, including:
- Increased profitability and competitiveness
- Improved efficiency
- Enhanced customer satisfaction
Conclusion
Total Quality Management is a powerful approach to achieving business excellence. By focusing on continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement, organizations can achieve sustainable success in today’s competitive environment.