Total Quality Management Overview

Study Notes

TQM encompasses management strategies emphasizing quality improvement throughout an organization.
Core idea revolves around fulfilling internal and external customer requirements.

Customer-Based Definition: Focus on identifying and meeting customer needs (Oakland).
Manufacturing & Service-Based Definition: Emphasizes "doing it right the first time" (Price).
Value-Based Definition: Quality achieved through five areas: people, equipment, methods, materials, and the environment (Newell & Dale).

According to ISO, TQM is a management approach that involves all members of an organization, aiming for long-term success through customer satisfaction and societal benefits.

Top Management Involvement: Leadership initiates quality culture, prevents problems, and improves processes.
Customer Satisfaction: Continuous improvement in processes to meet customer expectations.
TQM Environment Creation: Encouraging employee engagement in TQM processes, recognizing individual contributions.
Integrated System Approach: Cross-department collaboration for quality improvement aligns organizational goals.
Continuous Quality Improvement: Ongoing management involvement ensures quality is a core process with shared responsibilities.

Management Methods
- Benchmarking: Systematic comparison against best industry practices to improve performance.
  - Types include internal, competitive, functional, and process benchmarking.
Quality Function Deployment (QFD):
- Methodology for embedding customer needs into product development.
- Employs a matrix called House Of Quality (HOQ) to translate customer requirements into technical measures.
Analytical Method
- Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA): Identifies potential failure modes in processes/products and assesses risk to prioritize corrective actions.
  - Conducts thorough analysis of designs or processes early in development.
Idea Generation
- Brainstorming: Generating numerous ideas collaboratively without immediate evaluation.
Data Collection, Analysis, and Display
- Bar Charts: Visual representation of discrete data for pattern recognition.
- Flow Charts: Map out processes to understand workflow and improve efficiency.

Customer Focus: Understand and exceed customer needs; maintain strong relationships.
Leadership: Establish a clear vision and create an environment enabling commitment.
People Involvement: Engage and empower employees to enhance performance and satisfaction.
Process Approach: Manage activities as interconnected processes for optimal efficiency.
System Approach to Management: Recognize interdependencies among processes and improve system-wide efficiency.
Continual Improvement: Make ongoing enhancements a fundamental organizational goal.
Factual Approach to Decision Making: Base decisions on data analysis, reliability, and valid methods.
Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationship: Foster strong partnerships with suppliers for collaborative value creation.

A continuous improvement cycle essential for effective management systems:
- Plan: Define objectives, policies, and processes.
- Do: Implement planned actions.
- Check: Analyze results and performance.
- Act: Take actions based on analysis to improve continuously.