Total Quality Management Principles Quiz

Introduction to Quality Management

• Quality is aimed at the needs of the customer, present and future
• Quality encompasses product and service characteristics meeting customer expectations in marketing, engineering, manufacturing, and maintenance
• Fitness for use is a measure of how well a product performs its intended function
• Quality is also defined by conformance to requirements/specifications
• Quality improvement is purposeful process change to improve outcome reliability
• Quality control maintains process integrity to ensure outcome reliability
• Quality assurance plans and implements actions to build confidence in product/service quality meeting given needs

Definitions of Quality

• Quality should aim to fulfill customer needs, current and future.
• Quality is a combination of product and service characteristics for use, evaluating how well the product or service meets customer expectations in marketing, engineering, manufacturing and maintenance.
• Fitness for use is the evaluation of a product or service based on its ability to fulfill its intended purpose.
• Conformance to specifications, standards and tolerances set by designers is a definition of quality.
• Quality is the loss in function or harm caused to society by a product or service after it's shipped, excluding loss due to its inherent functions.

Important Quality Terms

• Quality improvement differs from quality control; improvement refers to purposeful process changes for enhancement of outcome reliability
• Quality control is ongoing processes to maintain process reliability and achieve desired outcomes
• Quality assurance is the planned and systematic action necessary to ensure the product/service satisfies the requirements of its quality

Types of Quality

• Quality of design is based on consumer research to uncover important characteristics of the product valued by customers. This starts with understanding the customer through research, sales calls and ends with sufficient specifications.
• Quality of conformance evaluates how well the firm’s suppliers and the firm can accurately reproduce consistent quality characteristics per quality design requirements at a given cost.
• Quality of performance evaluates the manufacturing process to ensure quality based on specifications. This is achieved by detailed analysis of service call analysis and analysis of post sale service experiences.

Three Levels of Quality

• Organizational level: meeting external customer expectations.
• Processes level: specific business functions (e.g., marketing, design) meet quality and customer service needs as defined by company-wide policy.
• Performer/task level: specific individuals meet quality standards set by the organization and process levels.

Quality Control vs Quality Assurance

• Quality control (QC) focuses on identifying and correcting defects in finished products
• Quality control is a reactive process, occurring after a product is developed
• Quality assurance (QA) focuses on preventing defects in product development processes
• QA is a proactive process involving process improvement

Quality System

• A quality system is a mechanism for continuous improvement in core processes, aimed at maximum customer satisfaction at minimum organizational cost.
• The quality system utilizes philosophies, standards, methodologies, and tools to meet quality goals.
• Quality management oversees all tasks required to maintain desired standards, including planning and implementation of quality standards, and ongoing quality improvements.

History of Total Quality Management

• The term TQM emerged as a quality improvement approach, initially in the Naval Air Systems Command, drawing upon Japanese management principles.
• TQM aims to continually improve quality across all processes within an organization.
• TQM incorporates concepts from behavioral sciences, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, economics, and process analysis.

TQM and Six Sigma

• TQM principles, such as customer orientation, employee empowerment, and continuous improvement, form the base of six sigma methodologies for quality improvement.
• Six Sigma is a formal methodology for quality excellence, focused on improving and optimizing business processes.

New and Old Cultures of Quality

• Quality element priorities differed between previous production (customer-oriented and previous) and TQM (customer-oriented).
• Key quality element differences were in decisions/action-orientation, problem-solving styles, leadership focus and accountability.

Quality Tools

• Pareto chart: prioritized ranked factors contributing to quality issues
• Cause-and-effect diagram: displays potential causes associated with a specific quality issue
• Check sheet: simple data collection tool for analyzing a process
• Scatter diagram: shows potential relationships between variables
• Histogram: illustrates a visual representation of process spread or distribution
• Control chart: shows how a process value varies over time, evaluating if the process is in control
• Process flow chart: shows a visual representation of how the process functions
• Flow-Charts (Process Flow Charts): show steps to perform an activity.

Total Quality Control and Quality Management System

• Total Quality Control is a company-wide policy to ensure quality.
• Quality management systems are developed to ensure quality and follow international standards.
• Quality Management Systems focus on quality policies and procedures that form an organization's quality management system.

Cost of Quality Calculations

• Cost of good quality: costs for quality improvement, i.e., prevention and appraisal.
• Cost of poor quality: costs from production and service defects, i.e., internal failure costs and external failure costs.
• Quality improvement often reduces costs in the long run.

Statistical Process Control Tools

• Control charts, Pareto diagrams, histograms, cause-and-effect diagrams, and check sheets are helpful quality tools and provide visual representations of the processes and issues.
• X-bar and R-charts and other control tools are useful tools to continually improve processes and identify and eliminate special causes of variability.

Fundamentals of Quality Service Culture

• Organizational culture encompasses shared values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors.
• A quality culture is dedicated to satisfying customers while improving products and services.