Here I have uploaded few images of Hiroshima that testify the greatness of Japanese nation as how they recovered from the ashes of World War II. Japan is the only nation on this planet that suffered Nuclear Holocaust. The very same nation i.e. United States of America, that defeated Japan was trembling due to the invasion of Japanese products in her markets in the middle of 1980s. The subject or the discipline of Total Quality Management is the result of this tug-of-war between these two great nations. Let’s see the following images that would show us how Japanese nation recovered from the shock of ugly nuclear weapons: (more…)
November 11, 2009
October 22, 2009
Some Video Clips About 5S
I have found few clips of 5S that are mostly education or promotional in nature. However, by watching these clips one can have some idea about how 5S activities are done in industrial setting. If anyone finds a clip showing 5S in office environment, please do forward its link to me so that I could add the same on this post.
September 21, 2009
Relationship of TQM and HRM: The Strategic Perspective
TQM pioneered by Edward Deming, is a broad-based systematic approach for achieving high levels of quality. Many leading companies such as Motorola, Cadillac, and Xerox, whose strategies require them to survive against the pressures of world-class competition, have implemented TQM. (more…)
September 16, 2009
The Evolution of Benchmarking: The Xerox Case
The company that invented photocopier in 1959 and maintained a virtual monopoly for many years thereafter, like “Coke” or “Kleenex,” “Xerox” became a generic name for all photocopiers. By 1981, however, the company’s market shrank to 35% as IBM, Kodak developed high-end machines and Canon, Richo, and Savin dominated the low-end segment of the market. The Xerox vice president of copier manufacturing remarked, ” we were horrified to find that Japanese were selling their machines at what it cost us to make ours…we had been benchmarking against ourselves. We weren’t looking outside.” (more…)
September 9, 2009
Quality Function Deployment
A key to improving quality through TQM is linking the design of products or services to the processes that produce them. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a means of translating customer requirements into appropriate technical requirements for each stage of product or service development and production. Bridgestone Tire and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries originated QFD in late 1960s adn early 1970s when they used quality charts that take customer requirements into account in the product design process. (more…)
September 1, 2009
Continuous Improvement: The Essence of Kaizen
Continuous improvement, based on Japanese concept called KAIZEN, is the philosophy of continually seeking ways to improve operations. It involves identifying benchmarks of excellent practice and instilling a sense of employee ownership of the process. (more…)
Phillip B.Crosby: Quality is Free
Phillip B. Crosby, a corporate vice-president and director of quality at ITT for 14 years, gained a lot of attention when he published his book Quality is Free in 1979. (more…)
August 30, 2009
Quality as a Competitive Weapon
Attaining quality is all areas of business is difficult task. To make things even more difficult, consumers change their perceptions of quality. For instance, changes in consumer life-styles and in economic conditions have drastically altered customer perceptions of automobile quality. When the oil crisis hit in the mid 1970s, consumer preferences shifted from power and styling to fuel economy. (more…)
August 29, 2009
Just-In-Time System in Services
The Just-in-time philosophy also can be applied to the production of services. We have already discussed some of the elements of the JIT system used u a McDonald’s restaurant. In general, service environments may benefit from JIT systems if their operations are repetitive, have reasonably high volumes, and deal with tangible items such as sandwiches, mail, checks, or bills. In other words, services must involve “manufacturing-like” operations. (more…)
Training Programs in TQM Environment
In a global marketplace, firms face changing market conditions brought on by new competitors and changing customer preferences. Firms must rely on their employees to anticipate possible problems, develop new products and services, and increase the quality to remain competitive. (more…)
