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…)
September 1, 2009
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 27, 2009
Definition of Quality
The concept and vocabulary of quality is elusive. Different people interpret quality differently. Few can define quality in measurable terms that can be operationalized. When asked what differentiate their product or service, the banker will answer “service,” health care worker will answer “quality health care,” the hotel restaurant employee will answer “customer satisfaction,” and the manufacturer will simply answer “quality product.” When pressed to provide a specific definition and measurement, few can do so. (more…)
August 25, 2009
A Brief History of Quality Control
Concerns for product quality and process control is nothing new. Historians have traced the concept as far back as 3000 B.C. in Babylonia. Among the references to quality from the code of Hammurabi, ruler of Babylonia, is the following excerpt: “The mason who builds a house which falls down and kills the inmate shall be put to death.” (more…)
June 7, 2009
Dr. Joseph Juran
Juran, like Deming, was invited to Japan in 1954 by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). His lectures introduced the management dimensions of planning, organizing, and controlling and focused on the responsibility of management to achieve quality and the need for setting goals. (more…)December 19, 2008
Quality Gurus
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Deming’s 14 Points of Quality
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W Edwards Deming placed great importance and responsibility on management, at both the individual and company level, believing management to be responsible for 94% of quality problems.
His fourteen point plan is a complete philosophy of management, that can be applied to small or large organizations in the public, private or service sectors:
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Create constancy of purpose towards improvement of product and service.
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Adopt the new philosophy. We can no longer live with commonly accepted levels of delay, mistakes and defective workmanship.
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Cease dependence on mass inspection. Instead, require statistical evidence that quality is built in.
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End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price.
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Find problems. It is management’s job to work continually on the system.
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Institute modern methods of training on the job.
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Institute modern methods of supervision of production workers. The responsibility of foremen must be changed from numbers to quality.
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Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
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Break down barriers between departments.
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Eliminate numerical goals, posters and slogans for the workforce asking for new levels of productivity without providing methods.
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Eliminate work standards that prescribe numerical quotas.
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Remove barriers that stand between the hourly worker and their right to pride of workmanship.
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Institute a vigorous program of education and retraining.
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Create a structure in top management that will push on the above points every day
Toyota Follows Deming’s Principles
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Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s principles support the global success of Toyota and other world renowned organization such as Proctor & Gamble, Ritz Carlton, Harley-Davidson, and many other leading organizations.
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His teachings have helped these giants taking a quantum leap in terms of quality and productivity. Dr. Deming has contributed by explaining the fundamental philosophies of Total Quality Management in simple and effective manners.
Dr. Edward Deming
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The 14 principles he formulated are universally applicable in all sectors of business such as health-care, education—in fact, to any enterprise one can imagine.
This prophet of quality—was not known to his own countrymen till 1980s—created the theory behind today’s successful business practices. (more…)
August 20, 2008
Introduction to Total Qaulity Management
It is important to understand the definition of the term quality before discussing the total quality management, which is a much more broader term.
Definition of Quality
There is no single definition of the term quality. Quality means different to different people such as:
1. Customer-Based: Fitness for use, meeting customer expectations.
2. Manufacturing-Based: Conforming to design, specifications, or requirements. Having no defects.Quality [means] conformance to requirements. Quality is the degree to which a specific product conforms to a design or specification
3. Product-Based: The product has something that other similar products do not that adds value in other words quality refers to the amounts of the unpriced attributes contained in each unit of the priced attribute
4. Value-Based: The product is the best combination of price and features or quality means best for certain customer conditions. These conditions are (a) the actual use and (b) the selling price of the product.”
5. Transcendent: It is not clear what it is, but it is something good or it may also be defined as quality is neither mind nor matter, but a third entity independent of the two…even through Quality cannot be defined, you know what it is.”
Definition of Total Quality Management
TQM is the enhancement to the traditional way of doing business.
It is a proven technique to guarantee survival in the world-class competition.
TQM is for the most part common sense. Analyzing three words (TQM), we have:
Total—Made up of the whole
Quality—Degree of excellence a product or service provides
Management—Act, art, or manner of handling, controlling, directing, etc.
Therefore, TQM is the art of managing the whole to achieve the excellence.
TQM is defined as both philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represents the foundation of a continuously improving organization.
It is the application of quantitative methods and human resources to improve all the processes within an organization and exceed customer needs now and in future.
TQM integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts, and technical tools under disciplined approach.
