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TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
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Total Quality Management (TQM) is a
combination of quality and management tools aimed at
increasing business and reducing losses due to wasteful
practices. An important part of TQM is its philosophy toward
continually improving your business and products. |
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The basic principles for the Total
Quality Management (TQM) philosophy of doing business are to
satisfy the customer, satisfy the supplier, and continuously
improve the business processes. |
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Questions you may have are: |
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a) How do you satisfy the customer? |
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b) Why should you satisfy the supplier? |
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c) What is continuous improvement? |
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Satisfy the customer
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The first and major TQM principle is to satisfy the
customer--the person who pays for the product or service.
Customers want to get their money's worth from a product or
service they purchase. |
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Users
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If the user of the product is different
than the purchaser, then both the user and customer must be
satisfied, although the person who pays gets priority. |
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Company philosophy
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A company that seeks to satisfy the
customer by providing them value for what they buy and the
quality they expect will get more repeat business, referral
business, and reduced complaints and service expenses. |
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Some top companies not only provide quality
products, but they also give extra service to make their
customers feel important and valued. |
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Internal customers
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Within a company, a worker provides a product or service to his
or her supervisors. If the person has any influence on the wages
the worker receives, that person can be thought of as an
internal customer. A worker should have the mind-set of
satisfying internal customers in order to keep his or her job
and to get a raise or promotion. |
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Chain of customers
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Often in a company, there is a chain of customers, -each
improving a product and passing it along until it is finally
sold to the external customer. Each worker must not only seek to
satisfy the immediate internal customer, but he or she must look
up the chain to try to satisfy the ultimate customer. |
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Satisfy the supplier
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| A second TQM principle is to satisfy the supplier, which is the
person or organization from whom you are purchasing goods or
services. |
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External suppliers
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| A company must look to satisfy their external suppliers by
providing them with clear instructions and requirements and then
paying them fairly and on time. It is only in the company's best
interest that its suppliers provide it with quality goods or
services, if the company hopes to provide quality goods or
services to its external customers. |
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Internal suppliers
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| A supervisor must try to keep his or her workers happy and
productive by providing good task instructions, the tools they
need to do their job and good working conditions. The supervisor
must also reward the workers with praise and good pay. |
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Get better work
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| The reason to do this is to get more productivity out of the
workers, as well as to keep the good workers. An effective
supervisor with a good team of workers will certainly satisfy
his or her internal customers. |
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Empower workers
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| One area of satisfying the internal suppler is by empowering the
workers. This means to allow them to make decisions on things
that they can control. This not only takes the burden off the
supervisor, but it also motivates these internal suppliers to do
better work. |
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Continuous improvement
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third principle of TQM is continuous improvement. You can never
be satisfied with the method used, because there always can be
improvements. Certainly, the competition is improving, so it is
very necessary to strive to keep ahead of the game. |
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Working
smarter, not harder
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companies have tried to improve by making employees work harder.
This may be counter-productive, especially if the process itself
is flawed. For example, trying to increase worker output on a
defective machine may result in more defective parts. |
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| Examining the source of problems and delays and then improving
them is what is needed. Often the process has bottlenecks that
are the real cause of the problem. These must be removed. |
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Worker
suggestions
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are often a source of continuous improvements. They can provide
suggestions on how to improve a process and eliminate waste or
unnecessary work. |
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Quality
methods
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are also many quality methods, such as just-in-time production,
variability reduction, and poka-yoke that can improve processes
and reduce waste. |
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In
conclusion
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principles of Total Quality Management are to seek to satisfy
the external customer with quality goods and services, as well
as your company internal customers; to satisfy your external and
internal suppliers; and to continuously improve processes by
working smarter and using special quality methods. |
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TQM
Requirements
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The
common elements of a successful shift to TQM are:
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a) Top
Management commitment / leadership.
b)
Shared Values - Policy Deployment.
c) Line
Management ownership.
d)
Cascade training in TQM - compulsory.
e)
Widespread use of teams / councils / committees.
f)
Employee involvement / empowerment.
g)
Recognition and celebration.
h)
Voice of the customer.
i)
Challenging quantified goals - benchmarking.
j)
Focus on processes / improvement plans.
k)
Specific incorporation in strategic planning.
l)
Supported in all Management appraisal. |
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TQM
Principles
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| The 5
Key principles of our TQM initiative are: |
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Management Commitment
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a) Plan
(drive, direct)
b) Do
(deploy, support, participate)
c)
Check (review)
d) Act
(recognize, communicate, revise) |
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Employee
Empowerment
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a)
Training.
b)
Suggestion scheme.
c)
Measurement and recognition.
d)
Excellence teams. |
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Fact
Based Decision Making
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a) SPC
(statistical process control).
b) DOE,
FMEA.
c) The 7
statistical tools.
d) TOPS
(FORD 8D - Team Oriented Problem Solving). |
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Continuous Improvement
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a)
Systematic measurement and focus on CONQ.
b)
Excellence teams.
c)
Cross-functional process management.
d)
Attain, maintain, improve standards. |
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Customer
Focus
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a)
Supplier partnership.
b)
Service relationship with internal customers.
c) Never
compromise quality.
d)
Customer driven standards. |
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