introduCtion why managing QuaLity is essentiaL in ProjeCt...

WHY PROJECT QUALITY?

We all agree and accept that as an end user of a product or service we would like what we order, when we want it and on the basis of good value for money. In a competitive world of consumer choice, we also expect it to last. We understand the benefits of a market-driven economy and need for appropriate product and service quality. This is the domain of operations, services and supply chain management. And we define our expectations as ‘quality is what customer expects as a lasting experience’ (Basu, 2011a). However, in the field of project management the importance of quality is not so clear-cut. Project managers appear to accept the ‘iron triangle of cost, budget and quality’ (Atkinson, 1999) but focus more on ‘on time and budget’ delivery as the success factors. Quality in projects is often relegated to mere ‘lip service’ and to tick-box compliance.

Project managers also appreciate the risk of a project on the basis of its uniqueness, complexity and deliberate design but appear not to connect the outcome of risks with the root causes underpinned by the dimensions of project quality. as a consequence we find many examples (as described later) of projects which were delivered on time and within budget but failed to meet the expectations of end users in the longer run. We need to ask ourselves ‘how diligent are we in terms of project processes to deliver project objectives’? This is the minimum requirement to meet the customer needs. Furthermore we should also investigate ‘how good is our project management … as a vehicle for delivering the longer-term outcomes and benefits as required by the sponsors and end users’. This is an element of the additional requirements of sustainable quality leading to project excellence. The relationship between project quality and project excellence will be discussed in more detail later.

Let us have a look at the current thinking and practices around these questions. The extant project management literature (Turner, 1999; Atkinson, 1999: Meredith

introduCtion why managing QuaLity is essentiaL in ProjeCt management

Basu, R 2012, Managing Quality in Projects, Routledge, Farnham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [7 March 2020].Created from anglia on 2020-03-07 22:38:49.

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Managing Quality in Projects2

and Mantel, 2003; Morris and Hough, 1997) identifies and supports three criteria or objectives for assessing the success of a project known as the ‘iron triangle ‘of time, cost and quality. The first two objectives are relatively simple to define and measure (Morris and Hough, 1997). Project quality as the third objective or dimension of the iron triangle is more difficult to define and assess, although it has received some attention in the academic literature (Turner, 2002; Heisler, 1990). Turner (2002) is among the few authors who attempts to more clearly define project quality comprising two dimensions as product quality and process quality. The guidelines for project quality in the project management bodies of knowledge (association of Project Management, 2007; Project Management Institute, 2008) also reflect procedures of design and process requirements. These definitions and guidelines appear to suffer from two important limitations, viz. a lack of clarity in the definition (Whitty and schulz, 2005) and the exclusion of organisational learning practices (Kotnour, 2000).

The lack of clarity around quality is often the source of project disputes and there are plenty of examples in the business world, as illustrated in the box, documenting the link between inadequate attention to quality management and unsuccessful major projects.

Case example The millennium Dome‘the millennium dome project was one of the most controversial public works projects ever undertaken’ (national audit office, 2000). the national audit office report also stated that the new millennium experience Company experienced severe financial difficulties. the main cause of these difficulties was the failure to achieve the visitor numbers: other contributing factors included the quality of project delivery and the contents within the dome.

Case example Wembley sTaDium‘the company that built the new wembley stadium, which opened after years of delays and almost tripling its cost, is suing the engineering consultants behind the project for £253m, claiming that their services were unsatisfactory’ (the observer, 16 march 2008). a preliminary search of legal cases (british and irish Legal information institute, http://www.bailii.org, accessed 26/11/08) indicated several instances (2512 hits) of litigations because of ‘poor quality’ in projects. for example, in the recent wembley stadium project, there were eight major litigations related to project quality and three of these litigations were related to the definitions of project quality. in the case between multiplex Construction Ltd and honeywell Control Ltd (both being the contractors of wembley stadium) the dispute was to resolve the statement in the contract, ‘it will have extensive, high-quality corporate hospitality facilities and a state of the art communications system (installed by honeywell).’ (neutral Citation number: [2007] ewhC 447 (tCC), www.bailii.org, accessed 26/11/08).


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http://www.bailii.org




introduction 3

Case example WesT CoasT Rail upgRaDethe rail line between glasgow and London was undergoing an £8.6bn upgrade from 2003. the modernisation of the west Coast main Line will deliver the following enhancements:

• 125mph route capability for tilting trains delivering much faster journey times.• Capacity for significantly more long-distance passenger and freight trains than

today.• better and more resilient performance in travel time and safety measures.

the national audit office said it might not be able to cope with current levels of growth beyond 2015. the auditors’ report on the west Coast Line warned that electronic signalling equipment might become obsolete significantly earlier than expected. the auditors were also concerned about the ineffective communications between key stakeholders (government, network rail, rail track and Virgin trains). to sustain train operations, the line’s operator, Virgin trains, was paid £590m more in subsidy in the period 2002–06 than envisaged in its franchise agreement, their report said. in january 2008, an over-run on work results in one of the worst delays yet. network rail is fined £14m.

Case example heaThRoW TeRminal 5‘thousands of suitcases are being sent to milan by british airways to try to help clear a backlog of 19,000 bags at heathrow’s new terminal 5’ (the guardian, april 2 2008). the conclusions of the house of Commons transport select Committee report (2008) highlighted that insufficient communication between the owner of the new terminal, baa, and its operator, british airways, was a major factor in the ensuing complications with the baggage system and security searches. as it will be discussed later, communication could be an essential component of people-related quality.

The above examples of major project failures appear to focus on the quality of design, the quality of execution processes and the quality of communications between stakeholders. Many papers and studies in the 1990s (Belassi and Tukel, 1996; Tam, 1999; Kirby, 1996) highlighted project failures, but the problems still exist (MPa, 2003). Recent academic publications (Jamieson and Morris, 2008; Ling, Liu and Woo, 2008; Zou, Zhang and Wang, 2007; abdelsalam and Gad, 2008) also suggest that causes of project failures include inadequate risk evaluation and quality management. These papers also highlight that there is a lack of clarity regarding the dimensions of project quality and its application with key stakeholders.

When you look at the domain of operations management you may observe some proven paths to follow. operations management enjoys some success stories (along with the occasional failure) in terms of the application of quality-based operational excellence concepts such as total quality management, six sigma, lean and supply chain management (Oakland, 2003). The application of operational excellence concepts are now extended to non-manufacturing processes.


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Firms such as Motorola, General Electric … successfully implemented Six Sigma. Motorola saved $15 billion in an 11 year period. General Electric saved $2 billion in 1999 alone … Although Six Sigma initiatives have focused primarily on improving the performance of manufacturing processes, the concepts are widely applied in non-manufacturing, administrative and service functions. (Weinstein, Castellano, Petrick and Vokurka, 2008)

Even though operational excellence concepts (such as six sigma) are often driven by the objective of cost-effectiveness the enablers of these concepts are rooted to the fundamentals of quality management (Oakland, 2003).

In the domain of operations management, the dimensions and definitions of quality have been identified by some authors (Garvin, 1984; Parasuraman, Zeithamel and Berry, 1984). The early leaders of total quality management (TQM) (Deming, 1986; Juran, 1989; Feigenbaum, 1983) emphasised the importance of people-related issues as a dimension of quality. on the other hand, the dimensions and definitions of quality appear to be wanting in publications related to project management. Project management standards (e.g. PMBoK, 2008; PRInCE2, 2009) focus primarily on processes in the project life cycle with some references to quality management systems. Turner (2002) appears to agree with Wild’s (2002) dimensions of product quality and process quality. Kotnour (2000) points out the lack of clarity in the definition of project quality and the role of organisational learning in project management. There are publications regarding the success criteria and success factors of projects (Pinto and slevin, 1988; Grude, Turner and Wateridge, 1996) but their implications in the dimensions of project quality are not clear. The application of excellence models in projects appears to be limited (Westerveld, 2003). Unlike operations management, the tools and concepts of operations excellence (Basu, 2008), such as lean and six sigma, are rarely being applied in project management (Pinch, 2005).

as summarised in Table I.1, the publications for the manufacturing and service sectors are more focused on the definitions of quality with distinctive dimensions and also encompass operational excellence concepts. The publications for the project management sector include success criteria and success factors, but these in turn appear to show a gap with their link with the dimensions of project quality. There is also an apparent gap between the application operational excellence concepts in project management.


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introduction 5

Table I.1 Classification of publications on quality and excellence

publications Dimensions and definitions

of qualityproduct

process people

success criteria

and success factors

excellence models

operational excellence concepts

sCm/TQm/6sigma

application sector

gravin (1984) x* manufacturing

Parasuraman, Zeithamel and berry (1984)

x service

wild (2002) x x x manufacturing

deming (1986) x x x manufacturing

juran (1989) x x x manufacturing

feigenbaum (1983)

x x x manufacturing

whitty and sculz (2005)

x Projects

PrinCe2 (2009) x Projects

turner (2002)kotnour (2000)

x xx

ProjectsProjects

Pinto and slevin (1988)

x Projects

grude, turner and wateridge (1996)

x Projects

westerveld (2003) x Projects

This book x x x x x x x projects

* x denotes the presence of the topic in the publication.

On the basis of this summary there appears to be a knowledge gap in project management related to the benefits achieved by quality management when compared to the manufacturing and service operations. This book investigates the impact of all aspects of quality management in project management (see Table 1.1). The aim of the book is to contribute to this knowledge gap in project management and take the status of subject matters a step forward.

Furthermore, this preliminary review also indicates that there should be a clearer definition of project quality to establish some key dimensions. If you cannot define, you cannot measure, and if you cannot measure, you cannot control, assure or improve. First, what are the dimensions of project quality? Is it meeting specifications, timescales, budgets, achieving its purpose, producing happy project teams and stakeholders? Or does project quality constitute a combination of all these?


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secondly, what tools or models can be effectively used in the quest for achieving and sustaining project excellence? What factors and processes are important in assessing the maturity and performance of projects?

Thirdly, how can the successes of operational excellence concepts, such as supply chain management, lean thinking and Six Sigma, be gainfully deployed in enhancing project quality and excellence?

THE AIMS AND PURPOSE OF THIS BOOK

This book aims to examine how quality should be defined and measured in the management of projects, and how the best practices of operations management can be applied to improve the likelihood of achieving project excellence. The investigation focuses initially on defining the dimensions of quality in project management and identifying sources of measurement for project excellence. although there are a number of tools that measure excellence such as the balanced scorecard (Kaplan and norton, 2004) or the EFQM model (2003) in operations management, it could be argued that the jury is still out (association of Project Management, 2007) as how to apply these tools to achieve the level of longer-lasting performance in projects. an in-depth analysis will critically evaluate the assertions behind why it is important to include the dimensions of quality, excellence models and operational excellence methodologies in delivering sustainable outcomes of projects. The subsequent data collection phase of the field research will be validated by a causal research model, and further examined by case studies. These case studies are expected to open opportunities for further research in applying the best practices in different types of projects and programmes in construction, information technology and change management.

The purpose of this book is to go beyond the traditional measures of risk assessment, cost and time management in a project. It has been argued by Westerveld (2003) and Wateridge (2002) that although there have been significant publications on both project success criteria and critical success factors for projects, there has not been adequate research to define a concept that can link the two. There are also signs of visible efforts by IPMa (International Project Management association) (e.g. the ‘project excellence’ model) and PMI (Project Management Institute) (e.g. the ‘oPM3’ model) to assess a project organisation’s maturity and capability leading to project excellence. However, there appear to be no practically grounded and academically robust links between project excellence processes and project quality dimensions.

ISO 10006, in spite of its title – Quality management - guidelines to quality in project management – appears to provide the opposite effect in managing quality in projects (stanleigh, 2007). If more attention were given to the items of written


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introduction 7

procedures at the expense of other critical people-related elements, then the project could become unsuccessful, although in theory it may remain compliant with standards. other documents of project methodology also appear to offer little more than mere lip service regarding quality management. For example, Bs6079 (2002) does not cover quality (other than project control) and PRInCE2 (2009) methods provide limited guidelines for quality planning and quality control within the process ‘planning quality’ module and reflect internally focused design and process requirements.

In summary, you may understand the role of quality in project management, but this alone is not sufficient. There is a far greater need to appreciate how one can define and measure the dimensions of quality – especially the people-related sustainable criteria – and then apply them towards the goal of achieving project excellence.

Against this backdrop, this book will fill the gaps in measuring project quality and project excellence.

Based on the initial review and apparent gaps identified, the key research question in this book has been formulated as: How can project quality enable major projects deliver sustainable outcomes to key stakeholders leading to project excellence? For the purpose of a focused enquiry in the literature, this overall research question has been broken into four supplementary areas:

1. What are the current processes of measuring the dimensions of quality in various stages of the project life cycle and what are the sustainable criteria?

2. What are the current models and approaches of assessing project excellence and what are the links between project success criteria and critical success factors?

3. Can a holistic model measure the dimensions of quality of a project and also assess the overall effectiveness of a project and project organisation?

4. How practically are the operational excellence approaches likely to be used in project management and how do we relate the outputs of such approaches to project excellence?

MAJOR PROJECTS

The case examples presented earlier in the chapter underline the importance of project quality more significantly attributed to major infrastructure projects. The infrastructure includes highways, railways, ports, tunnels, bridges, power plants, mass transits, municipal facilities or a combination of similar public facilities with the primary purpose of serving public needs, providing social services and promoting private economic activities (algarni, adriti and Polat, 2007). according to the recent uK Infrastructure Report (BMI, 2008):


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As one of the most robust economies in the world, the UK boasts of a large and highly developed construction industry, currently valued at over £80 billion. The UK construction industry is characterised by a small number of large players that have access to huge capital reserves and world-class technology, enabling them to undertake massive infrastructure development projects. Recent major infrastructure projects include the planned development of the Crossrail in London at an estimated cost of £18 billion, the £5.8 billion development of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, and the £4.3 billion construction of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport.

In comparison to other major undertakings, the major infrastructure projects in the uK may have to face additional technical and management challenges, such as wide range of stakeholders including consumers, multifunctional features in build-ing, roads, rails, tunnels and systems and above all, a long public review period before it can take off. The demand on project quality management is also likely to be more challenging in keeping with the complexities of a major infrastructure project.

With the above rationale, the research, particularly the case studies, will focus primarily on the issues, challenges and opportunities in project quality and excellence in major infrastructure projects in the uK. The infrastructure initiatives also cover systems to deliver sustainable logistics service requirements of a community and country as part of local and global requirements.

It is intended that conclusions and recommendations from this book will provide a foundation to extend the definition and implementation of project quality and excellence to all types of projects in all parts of the world.

Furthermore, the scope of this research is restricted to quality-related issues given that the effect of other project management parameters (such as time, cost and risk) are considered as separate areas of further research.

PROJECT QUALITY, PROJECT EXCELLENCE AND SUSTAINABILITY

The title of this book highlights project quality as the primary theme of the book, but as indicated previously, a sustainable outcome also leads to project excellence. In this section the scope and parameters of project quality and project excellence are explained.

The success criteria of a project are the metrics and longer-term (or sustainable) outcomes which determine the degree of a success achieved by a project. The success factors are the enabling conditions and processes embedded in the project


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introduction 9

culture to ensure the success criteria of a project. For example ‘on time’ completion is one of the success criteria and stakeholder management is a success factor.

The initial literature review (Westerveld, 2003; Wateridge, 2002) indicates that there has not been adequate research to define concepts that can link projects success criteria to success factors. The concepts of project quality and project excellence are intended to link success criteria with success factors. Project quality is the philosophy of the adherence of standards throughout the life cycle of a project. Project excellence is the delivery of sustainable outcomes to key stakeholders during the life cycle of the project, particularly during the final closure stage. Project quality relates to the success factors and enablers and Project excellence relates to the success criteria and outcomes of a project. It will be demonstrated later that the dimensions of project quality are necessary but not sufficient contributors to project excellence.

It is also important to understand the span of project excellence and its interface with operational excellence. The life cycle of a project typically goes through four stages: initiation, design, execution, finalisation and follow-up (Turner, 1999). It is important to note, as shown in Figure I.1, that the span of project excellence follows the project life cycle although its effectiveness is enhanced at the final stage. Following the closure when the project is managed as operations by the operations team, it is the role of operational excellence to ensure, improve and sustain the outcomes delivered by the project beyond the project life cycle.

another important and relevant area of understanding is sustainability in the context of managing quality in projects. I aim to examine key aspects of managing quality in major projects and to identify the major elements that contribute towards

Proposal andInitiation

Design andAppraisal

Execution andControl

Finalisation and Follow-up

Operation

ProjectExcellence

Operational Excellence

ProjectLifecycle

Figure I.1 The span of project excellenceBasu, R 2012, Managing Quality in Projects, Routledge, Farnham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [7 March 2020].Created from anglia on 2020-03-07 22:38:49.

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making the outcome of such projects sustainable. Sustainability, in a general sense, is the capacity to maintain a certain process or state indefinitely and in the context of preserving the environment, it relates to meeting ‘the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (united nations, 1987). The sustainability of project outcomes, in the context of this research, is not environmental, it is the longer-lasting stability of the deliverables and processes derived from the PDCa cycle (Deming, 1986), as illustrated in Figure I.2.

an empirical study in operational management by Gallear et al (2000) supports the proposition that the longer-lasting outcomes of quality initiatives such as TQM are ‘dependent on the integration of its underlying concepts with the normal business processes’. The sustainability of project outcomes, in the context of this research, is comparable to the stability of a process. stability involves achieving consistent and, ultimately, higher process yields defined by a metric or a set point through the application of an improvement methodology and continuous review. The stability is ensured by minimising the variation of the set point. The approach of the plan, do, check, act cycle (PDCA) (Deming, 1986) enables both temporary and longer-term corrections. The temporary action is aimed at fixing the problem and the permanent corrective action consists of investigating and eliminating the

ProcessOutputsInputs

Measure

Set point (Metrics)

Compare & decide

Feedback & correct

PLAN

DO

CHECK

ACT

Figure I.2 A model showing a process towards a longer-lasing outcome in project management (developed from Deming, 1986)


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introduction 11

root causes and thus targets the sustainability of the improved process. Thus, in the context of project management and the scope of this book, a sustainable project is expected to deliver long-lasting outcomes of acceptable quality performance criteria (Mengel, 2008). When a project achieves defined criteria of sustainability (Edum-Fotwe and Price, 2009) in the context of this research, a project achieves project excellence (abidin and Pasquire, 2007). This research will attempt to address these criteria of sustainability.

The above explanation of sustainable outcome in the context of major projects is also in agreement with the following definition of sustained success in British standards. ‘The sustained success of an organization is the result of its ability to achieve and maintain its objectives in the long-term. The achievement of sustained success for any organization is a complex and demanding challenge in an ever-changing environment’ (Bs En Iso 9004: 2009).

THE PRACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS BOOK

Phillips and Pugh (2000) distinguish research from what they call gathering of facts, and suggest that the significance of a research project should be demonstrated by practical and theoretical outcomes in seeking to explain a phenomenon and to analyse relationships. This section addresses the practical significance of this book.

The rationale behind selecting the topic of project quality in this book was partly influenced by the author’s association with the Major Projects association and thus has a strong practical significance. The theme is highly topical in view of the chequered history of a number of major projects in the uK, including the Dome Project, the Channel Tunnel, the new Wembley stadium, Heathrow Terminal 5 and the expectations of outcomes from the London olympic Games 2012 and the Crossrail project. a recent paper by Kaplan and norton (2004) has concluded that measuring the value of sustainable criteria including intangible assets, although difficult to measure, is the Holy Grail of organisational culture, and these are worth far more to many companies in their longer-term performance than their immediate tangible results. This conclusion encourages the study on the role of organisation culture in the longer-term outcome of projects.

This book aims to be practically valuable to the furtherance of research-based operational information within the major projects sector, the critical evaluation of quality-related thinking on current project management practice and the objective application of this in a challenging sector of the economy. It also aims to develop a practical tool to assess and monitor the constructs contributing to project excellence.


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The research in this book is predominantly an applied research but it also contains its theoretical significance. The primary theoretical significance of this research is to reduce the aforementioned gap in academic research in defining the dimensions of project quality, and identifying the tools and processes to sustain longer-term outcomes leading to project excellence. From a theoretical point of view, the topic is important for several areas of academic study. First, a critical review of the literature relevant to research questions will develop propositions concerning the definitions and applications of quality and excellence in project management. a detailed review of the publications on research methodology will also bolster the appropriate mixed methodology for conducting research on social science topics such as project quality and excellence.

The theoretical focus of this research is on two dependable variables as units of analysis, viz, project quality and project excellence. The study aims to provide a theoretical underpining to link project quality relating to success factors and enablers and project excellence relating to the success criteria and outcomes of a project.

SUMMARY

This chapter serves as an introduction to the book and a broad understanding of the nature and importance of project quality. a preliminary literature review included in this chapter identifies a gap in the definition and application of project quality leading to some high-profile project failures. The analysis in this chapter correlates the poor outcomes of projects with the limited perspective that seems to be given to project quality. The commentary in this chapter also explains how the text and structure of this book will fill this gap and differ from the comparable publications on project quality.


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1Understanding Quality

in the ProjectManagement Domain

What is quality? Customers know it when they see it. Suppliers promise thattheir goods and services embody it. Both views are often missing a clear, up-front definition of what quality is, and this leads to confusion and frustrationwhen trying to determine just how to deliver it.

Project managers probably feel this most acutely. A customer may de-mand quality and an organization may promise to deliver quality, but aproject manager is the one who has to do it. Failure can have devastatingimmediate and long-term consequences for both the project manager and theproject organization.

Given its importance to project outcomes, quality ought to be a problemlong ago solved. It is not. Projects continue to be plagued by imprecise qualitygoals and arcane quality methods most suited for a shop floor, all of thiscondemning the project to less-than-satisfactory results or worse.

There is a better way. From a product manufacturing or service deliverypoint of view, quality is, to a great degree, a problem solved. Quality toolsand techniques have been developed and refined over the past 100 years tothe level that they are now a matter of science, not art. Applying these provenways to project management should be a simple matter of transference, butthat is the problem. Projects come in many stripes and colors. A projectundertaken by a national professional association to create a new technicalmanual has little relation to the codified quality tools of manufacturing,except in the final steps of producing the book itself, and that task is usuallycontracted to a source outside the project team.

3Rose, KH 2005, Project Quality Management : Why, What and How, J. Ross Publishing, Incorporated, Boca Raton. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [7 March 2020].Created from anglia on 2020-03-07 22:32:15.

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4 Project Quality Management: Why, What and How

Definition of QualityThe key to project quality lies in making a more effective, meaningful transferof proven quality methods to a general project management domain. The firststep is to answer the question “What is quality?”

Exercise 1 — Consider the question “What is quality?” for a fewmoments. Take time to do this seriously. Put this book down, getout a blank sheet of paper, and think about the question in depth.What does quality mean to you? What might it mean to others?How do you describe quality to others? How do you know qualitywhen you see it? What are quality’s component elements? Makea few notes, then continue reading.

The results of this brief exercise probably vary among individuals. Somecentral themes may be common to all.

� Products — In some way, quality is associated with products. Thismay be the most obvious linkage. We define quality by our view ofthe features or attributes of some particular product: an automobile,an article of clothing, an electronic device, and so on. This view canlead us with confidence to the destructive “I’ll know it when I see it”definition of quality.

� Defects — The idea of defects in a product is closely related to theview of products themselves. The perception of product quality mayarise from favorable features, such as an automobile that always startson the first attempt, or is comfortable on long trips, or exhibitsefficient fuel consumption. Defects are a bit different. We expectquality products to be free of defects. When we purchase a car, theupholstery should not be ripped or soiled, all the indicator lights onthe dashboard should function properly, and there should be no crackedmirrors or light covers.

� Processes — Now things get a little more obscure. If we manufacturea product, we probably care very much about processes. To the usersof our product, the matter of processes tends to be rather transparent.Users focus more on the product and how it performs than on howit was produced. This issue is also very important to project managers.Whether they are delivering a product that results from manufactur-ing or purely intellectual activity, the processes that produce thatproduct have great effect on the outcome. What you do may keepa smile on your customer’s face, but how you do it will keep you on

Rose, KH 2005, Project Quality Management : Why, What and How, J. Ross Publishing, Incorporated, Boca Raton. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [7 March 2020].Created from anglia on 2020-03-07 22:32:15.

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Understanding Quality in the Project Management Domain 5

schedule and on budget — and that may make the customer’s smileeven brighter and longer lasting.

� Customers — People who sell what they make may be very productfocused in their view of quality. They seek to make products that aresuperior to those of competitors and always strive to be the best: “Thisis the best DVD player on the market today.” This view of qualitymay have short-term utility, but can be limiting, even lethal, for theorganization in the long term. Consider the boasts “This is the bestcarburetor on the market today” or “This is the best buggy whip onthe market today.” Both statements may be true, but if nobody isbuying carburetors or buggy whips, are they relevant? People whomake what other people want to buy have a different view of qualityand it is rooted in what customers want. To these people, quality isdefined by customers, their needs, and their expectations.

� Systems — A system is a group of things that work together. At ahigher level of analysis, quality may be viewed as arising from thingsthat work together. Products, defects, processes, and customers are allpart of a system that generates quality, as are suppliers, policies,organizations, and perhaps some other things unique to a specificsituation.

Traditional DefinitionsSeveral definitions of quality already exist. In Juran’s Quality Handbook, 5thedition,1 quality pioneer Joseph M. Juran states that quality has two meaningsthat are critically important to its management. Quality means “features ofproducts which meet customer needs and thereby provide customer satisfac-tion.” Quality improvement related to features usually costs more. Qualityalso means “freedom from deficiencies.” These deficiencies are errors that re-quire rework (doing something over again) or result in failures after a producthas been delivered to a customer. Such failures may result in claims, customerdissatisfaction, or dire consequences to the user. Quality improvement relatedto deficiencies usually costs less. Juran’s view considers products, defects, andcustomers.

Juran also makes a distinction between “Big Q” and “Little Q.” The conceptof Big Q is a more recent development, arising in the 1980s, and is moresystems-wide in its approach. It takes a broader view of quality that encom-passes the goals of the enterprise and all its products. It is usually embracedby quality managers and senior managers within the organization. Little Qis more limited in scope, often focused on individual products or customers.This view is usually embraced by those in technical or staff functions.


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The Project Management Institute defines quality as “the degree to whicha set of inherent characteristics fulfill requirements.”2 This definition is takendirectly from ISO 9000:2000, published by the International Organization forStandardization.3 The ISO 9000-series standards are a group of internationalconsensus standards that address quality management. ISO 9000:2000 is abrief introductory standard that covers fundamentals and vocabulary. Thisdefinition is most complete because it is so general. The set of inherentcharacteristics may be of a product, processes, or system. The requirementsmay be those of customers or stakeholders, an important group that is ignoredat great peril to the success of the project.

One important aspect of quality does not come out in any of thesedefinitions. Quality is “counterentropic”; it is not the natural order of things.Entropy, from the Second Law of Thermodynamics, says that things natu-rally move from a state of organization to a state of disorganization. Dropa handful of mixed coins on the floor and the result is not an array linedup in rows by type. The result is a bunch of coins spread randomly acrossthe floor. So it is with quality. However it is defined, quality is not anaturally occurring event. It is a result of hard, deliberate work that beginswith planning, includes consideration of contributing elements, applies dis-ciplined processes and tools, and never, ever ends. Achieving quality inproject implementation is not a matter of luck or coincidence; it is a matterof management.

Quality and the Triple ConstraintThe project “triple constraint” includes time, cost, and scope. All three el-ements are of equal importance to project success and to the project manager.Project managers typically try to balance the three when meeting projectobjectives, but they may make trade-offs among the three during projectimplementation in order to meet objectives and satisfy customers. Quality isa fourth among equals. It may be most closely associated with scope becausescope is based on customer requirements and quality is closely associated withcustomer requirements. This linkage addresses quality of the product of theproject. There is another important quality consideration: quality of the projectitself. Quality processes, attuned to the scope specifications, will ensure aquality product. Quality processes that maintain cost and schedule constraintswill ensure a quality project. Some recent project management literaturesuggests that quality is part of a quadruple constraint consisting of time, cost,scope, and quality. This approach is wrong-headed for one simple reason:Project managers routinely make trade-offs among the triple constraint tomeet project objectives. A project manager should never, never, ever tradeoff quality during project implementation.


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Cost of QualityMuch misunderstanding exists about quality in spite of the various definitionsin circulation. Quality is many things to many people, but quality is also notsome things that have been assumed over time.

� An expensive process — One of the first questions asked when aquality improvement effort is proposed is “How much will this cost?”This is always a valid question, but an uninformed view can producean invalid answer. Conventional wisdom, perhaps better called “con-ventional ignorance” in this case, has it that better quality costs more.In times of cost control and cost cutting, the answer to quality im-provement can be an unwise “We can’t afford that.” Philip B. Crosby,another quality pioneer, addressed this in a book entitled Quality IsFree. Briefly, his point was that quality does not cost, it pays. Whenyou improve the quality of a process, you reduce the defects thatresult from that process. While the new process may be more expen-sive — it may be less expensive, too — the resulting reduction ofdefects is something that pays back over and over and over. So if thepayback is more than the cost, as it often is, quality is essentially free.

� An expensive product — This may be the greatest misunderstandingof all because of the tendency to view quality in terms of products.An automobile with leather seats and little mechanical wipers on theheadlights costs more than one without these features. A fine “writinginstrument” costs more than a plastic ballpoint pen. But price doesnot confer quality. Review the definitions of quality. None of themmentions price. Quality arises from an ability to satisfy customerneeds. If a customer’s goal is to spend a lot of money, then an ex-pensive product may be viewed as top quality. Customers generallyseek the lowest price for a product that meets their functional needs,not the highest. Considering accuracy and maintenance, an inexpen-sive digital watch from a drugstore provides better quality than a moreexpensive mechanical watch from a jewelry store. A customer maywant the jewelry item, but only because it serves a purpose other thantimekeeping, not because it is a better quality watch.

� Time consuming — “We don’t have time” is the response that con-demns an organization to poor quality. Urgency prevails and shippingdates or field requirements rule. The reality is that we always havetime; we just choose not to use it wisely. The old adage “There’s neverenough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over” isnot just a clever collection of words; it is the truth. Poor quality inproduction leads to rework. Delivery of poor quality products leads


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to replacement, warranty charges, lost customers, and loss of reputa-tion. In the long run, quality saves time and much, much more.

Crosby’s statement that quality is free is good theory. In practice, qualitydoes have costs, even if those costs are subsequently outweighed by benefits.The sources of cost of quality are three: failure, prevention, and appraisal.

FailureFailure costs may result from either internal or external failure. The majorcosts associated with internal failures, those that occur before a product hasbeen delivered to a customer, are scrap and rework. At the end of someprocess, a product may not conform to prescribed specifications. The degreeof nonconformance may be so severe that the product cannot be fixed andmust be discarded. Any costs associated with production to this point are lost.This is scrap. In some cases, the degree of nonconformance may not be sosevere. A reasonable amount of additional effort may bring the product intoconformance, so the product is re-entered into the process and any additionalwork adds to the overall cost of production. This is rework. The costs of scrapand rework are more than the sum of lost product and additional work. Costsassociated with disposal, storage, transportation, and inventory control mustbe included to determine total costs.

External failures, those that occur after a product has been delivered toa customer, may generate costs for repairs in accordance with product war-ranty obligations. They may also generate product recalls, which can be farmore expensive. Consider the potential cost of fixing a defective part duringassembly versus recalling 1.2 million automobiles to replace the defectivepart. Recall costs are orders of magnitude higher than repeat costs.

An external failure may also generate liability costs that are far moreexpensive. A coffeemaker that is improperly marked or includes defectivetemperature controls may produce coffee that scalds unsuspecting custom-ers. Or worse, an automobile may be so poorly designed that when struckfrom the rear in an accidental collision, the fuel tank ruptures and ignitesthe fuel, which causes immolation of any passengers in the car. The cost inhuman suffering and loss of life cannot be calculated, but courts will do thebest they can. Resulting awards in compensatory and punitive damages canbe astronomic.

External failure costs include those associated with complaints and com-plaint handling. Organizations must pay specially skilled staff members toreceive and respond to complaints. These employees must be empowered tooffer satisfaction of various kinds, all of which have a cost. Loss of customersis a cost of nonconformance that has been characterized as unknown andunknowable.4 Suppose a woman buys an expensive silk blouse at a high-end


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boutique. She wears it to a special event where a careless guest spills some-thing on it. She has it dry-cleaned, but notices on its return that one of theside seams has opened up. She takes it back to the boutique where her moneyis promptly returned because the shop stands by its products. Is the womana satisfied customer? Sure, she got her money back, but what about all theinconvenience and disappointment? Will she ever shop there again? There isno way to tell because no device has yet been invented that will count thenumber of customers who do not come back through the front door. Andwhat about her friends who will never shop there after hearing about her badexperience? Again, no device exists that will count the number of customerswho do not come through the front door initially. There is a bit of wisdomin retail sales regarding the buying habits of dissatisfied customers: “The goodscome back, but the customers don’t.”5

Beyond costs, the effects of failure are significant and many. The effectsbegin with dissatisfied customers. Satisfied customers can serve as unpaidsales representatives. Without coaching or any expectation of reward, theywill sing the praises of an organization and its products to all who will listen.Dissatisfied customers do just the opposite, and research shows they do soto a greater degree than satisfied customers. With a corps of complainersworking against them, organizations may experience a loss of customers,which leads to loss of business, loss of revenue, loss of jobs, and eventualfailure of the organization. Failure cost is not a trivial matter to be acceptedor analyzed away in a spreadsheet.

PreventionPrevention costs are fundamentally different from failure costs. These costsare related to things that an organization does rather than to outcomes of aprocess. Prevention costs begin with planning. One of the greatest errors aproject manager can make is to leap into performance without sufficientplanning. Planning may be limited for many reasons, none of them very good.Urgency may be a reason, but if the need for the product is so urgent, theproduct should be right when delivered. Management’s desire to cut costsmay be a reason, but would management be willing to fund the effort re-quired to do the work over and make it right if it is not when delivered?Planning generates early costs to be sure, but good planning prevents latercosts that arise from changes to an inadequate plan. The cost of changes goesup as the project progresses. Changes made during implementation are farmore expensive than changes made during planning. Good planning preventslater costs.

Prevention costs include both quality planning and audits, and processplanning and control. Quality planning establishes the quality managementsystem for the project. Quality audits ensure that the system works as in-


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tended. Generally, an audit is a comparison of performance to plan. A qualityaudit compares the performance of the organization or project quality systemto the quality plan. Audits have an associated cost, which may recur withevery audit. The results of quality audits show that the quality system isworking or show that it is not working and must be improved. The subse-quent result of either outcome is an effective quality system that reducesdefects and costs associated with those defects.

Process planning establishes the steps to be taken to produce the productof the project. Process control ensures that the process performs as expected.A well-trained work force may produce defective products if the establishedprocesses are not capable of producing a high degree of conforming product.Processes tend to be rather static, but other things in the system (materials,management, working conditions, tools, requirements) change around them.Processes must be monitored and analyzed to ensure that they are currentwith the need of the organization and not something that is done becauseit seemed like a good idea at the time of implementation. Process planningwill cause an organization to incur a cost for the plan and additional costsfor control activities and process improvements, but these costs will pay backin reduced defects over time.

Product reviews constitute another prevention cost. Customer coordina-tion and requirements definition, internal design reviews, and reliabilityengineering all generate early costs that contribute to quality of the finalproduct.

Suppliers are a critical component of quality. Costs related to evaluatingsuppliers and their quality management systems are prevention costs.

A well-trained worker and a well-trained work force are more likely toproduce products that conform to specifications. Less-trained workers maynot possess the ability to perform according to specifications. They may notrecognize nonconformance with specifications, and they may not even knowwhat the specifications are. When a worker produces an item that is sodefective that it must be discarded (scrap), the organization incurs a cost forevery item discarded…again, and again, and again. When the organizationtrains the worker to perform better, it incurs a one-time cost for the trainingand obtains cost savings from the reduced number of defects produced bythe worker as a result of the training. The training pays the organizationback…again, and again, and again.

AppraisalAppraisal costs begin with inspection of incoming supplies. The computerscience phrase “garbage in, garbage out” applies equally here. The quality ofa product is significantly affected by the quality of materials that go into itsproduction. Supplier evaluations may have determined that a particular supplier


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will provide what is needed for a project, but inspection of actual deliveriesis both prudent and essential. Some years ago, an army engineering centerwas fabricating special devices for clearing land mines in desert terrain. Asupplier initially delivered inferior quality steel that did not meet specifica-tions and would have endangered the lives of those depending on the devices.

In-process product inspection is a form of appraisal that ensures produc-tion is following the plan. Noted deficiencies may be corrected before the endof the process when scrap or additional-cost rework are the inevitable results.Final product inspection determines conformance of the result of the com-plete process.

Performance of well-known products may be predicted with some cer-tainty. Buy a ream of copy paper and it is likely to work as expected in theoffice copy machine. New products do not enjoy the same degree of certaintyin eventual performance. Testing will verify performance before the productis finished and delivered. Testing has a cost, but it is another appraisal costthat pays back over time in reduced rework of products that do not performprecisely as specified.

The effects of prevention and appraisal are simple and straightforward:better products, better processes, more capable workers, and more satisfiedcustomers. The big difference between prevention/appraisal costs and failurecosts is that failure costs are responses that occur repeatedly over time;prevention/appraisal costs are investments that provide cost benefits repeat-edly over time.

Benefits of QualityThe benefits of quality in project performance are many. First, a qualityproject and product will yield customer satisfaction. If you meet or exceedrequirements and expectations, customers will not only accept the resultswithout challenge or ill feeling, but may come back to you for additional workwhen the need arises. They may well become that oh-so-important unpaidsales representative and generate additional work from new customers throughreferrals. A satisfied customer may perceive greater value than originallyanticipated, which goes beyond customer satisfaction to customer delight.

Reduced costs are another benefit. Quality processes can reduce waste,improve efficiency, and improve supplies, all things that mean the projectmay cost less than planned. As costs go down, profits may go up (dependingon the pricing arrangement in the contract on which the project is based) orreduced costs may mean more sales to an existing customer within existingprofit margins.

Finally, better products, better project performance, and lower costs trans-late directly into increased competitiveness in an ever-more-global market-


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place. This is the essence of a quality chain reaction described by W. EdwardsDeming: improve quality, reduce costs, improve productivity, capture themarket, stay in business, provide more jobs.6

Summary� Quality involves products, defects, processes, customers, and systems.� Quality is the ability of a set of inherent characteristics of a product,

system, or process to fulfill requirements of customers and other inter-ested parties.

� Quality is a fourth among equals in relation to the project triple con-straint of time, cost, and scope.

� Quality is not an expensive process, an expensive product, or timeconsuming.

� The cost of quality may be viewed in terms of internal and externalfailure to conform to specifications (recurring costs) or prevention ofnonconformance and appraisal (investments, recurring benefits).

� The effects of failure to conform to specifications may include dissatisfiedcustomers, loss of customers, loss of business, loss of revenue, and failureof the organization.

� The effects of prevention and appraisal may include better products,better processes, more capable workers, and more satisfied customers.

� Quality benefits include customer satisfaction, reduced costs, increasedprofits, and increased competitiveness.

References1. Juran, J.M. and Godfrey, A.B., Eds., Juran’s Quality Handbook, 5th ed., McGraw-

Hill, New York, 1999, pp. 2.1–2.2.2. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge — Third Edition, Project

Management Institute, Newtown Square, PA, 2004, p. 180.3. ISO 9000:2000, Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary,

International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, 2000, p. 7.4. Deming, W.E., Out of the Crisis, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000, p. 121.5. Ibid., p. 175.6. Ibid., p. 3.


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DAAAM INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC BOOK 2012 pp. 619-632 CHAPTER 51

QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE AUTOMOTIVE

INDUSTRY

GOICOECHEA, I. & FENOLLERA, M. Abstract: The automotive industry has always been an example in the field of Project Management and Leadership and, of course, as far as quality is concerned. An established methodology is followed from product development through production. The aim of this investigation is to set up a relationship between the different stages of the Product Realization Process (PRP) and the most suitable quality tools for each of them, so that it can be a support to the organizations interested when it comes to choosing the most effective tools depending on the quality strategy they adopt.

This paper: sets out the development of the main quality standards in the automotive

sector; explains the most important characteristics of the PRP industry, obtaining a

proposal of project management phases or stages; makes a classification of the main

quality tools used based, on the one hand, on the extensive revision of specialized

bibliography, and on the other hand, on the authors’ experience; and finally uses a

qualitative method of data collection in order to analyze the most adequate tools and

to fit them in the different stages of the project.

Key words: automotive, project management, quality standards, quality tools, PRP

Authors´ data: Univ. Prof. Dr. Eng. Goicoechea, I[tziar]; Univ. Prof. Eng.

Fenollera, M[aria]; University of Vigo, School of Industrial Engineering. Campus

Lagoas Marcosende s/n Vigo. Spain, [email protected], [email protected]

This Publication has to be referred as: Goicoechea, I[tziar] & Fenollera, M[aria],

(2012). Quality Management in the Automotive Industry, Chapter 51 in DAAAM

International Scientific Book 2012, pp. 619-632, B. Katalinic (Ed.), Published by

DAAAM International, ISBN 978-3-901509-86-5, ISSN 1726-9687, Vienna, Austria

DOI:10.2507/daaam.scibook.2012.51

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Goicoechea, I. & Fenollera, M.: Quality Management in the Automotive Industry

1. Introduction

Increasing global competition over the past decade has forced automotive

companies to improve quality and efficiency. Using the management tools that are

relevant to the organization’s needs has become a strategic issue for companies in

today’s competitive environment.

The project quality can be viewed in different ways. The factor of who assesses

the quality, and what is the evaluation based on, is always decisive. However, the

bottom line is always determined by customers`or skateholders`requirements

(Nagyova & Pacaiova, 2010). By choosing and applying the best management tools

among too many management tools, companies can improve their performances and

then increase customer satisfaction and gain market shares.

Management is characterized because of its global and comprehensive

approach; it is and organizational strategy and management methodology that makes

the members of an organization participate with the basic aim of continuously

improving efficacy, efficiency and functionality. Automobile quality management

system is based on the ISO/TS standard that focuses mainly on processes (Jiménez,

2008), and on the satisfaction of customers (intermediate or ultimate); and by which

both employees and suppliers are involved (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. ISO TS Process Approach

Quality management techniques and tools are instruments and methods that

help to solve specific problems at different organization levels (Automotive

Committee, 2004). There is a wealth of literature above all professional, on the

specific tools related to quality management (Juran & Gryna, 1998; Besterfield et al.,

1999; Dale et al., 2007). They have been grouped according to different criteria and

many classifications have been proposed, both in professional and academic

literature; Greene (1993) describes up to 98 tools, grouped by the objectives set by

companies. The entire automotive industry has embraced quality tools, such as

concurrent engineering, continuous improvement, and statistical process control but

the main difficulty lies in determining what quality practices are the most likely to

improve quality and overall firm performance. This work presents the hands-on

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experience of quality tools use and implementation at each PRP stage within a top-

level supplier company in the automotive industry. The objective of this study is to

explore the strategic implications of quality tools adoption with the aim of building

theory. Because the focus of this research is exploratory, the authors qualitative data

collection methods, primarily field-based collection- to help ensure that important

variables and relationships were identified.

2. Quality management frameworks and standards

Producing with “quality” is the philosophy of any company in this industry. It

has an extensive experience in quality management and this materializes in the form

of quality assurance standards that have arisen throughout the years, such as QS, TS,

VDA, EAQF, AVSQ, etc. Nowadays it has its own specifications, such as the ISO/TS

16949 standard, based on the ISO 9001 model, with specific requirements of the

automotive industry, raising the level of requirements and quality of this standard.

2.1 Quality standards development

The automotive industry began its activity in the 17th

Century, using steam as

propulsion element. After significant progress in gas-powered engine design, the first

petrol engines emerged in 1889. In the early 20th Century, mass production of

automobiles begins in the USA, being leaders in automobile manufacturing. Some

years later, European manufacturers learnt the lessons and built manufacturing plants

in the UK, France, Germany and Italy.

In the WWI and WWII period, most automobile manufacturing countries

drastically reduced their activity. In 1939, General Motors (mainly) and Ford were

the leading company in the US market, Opel and Mercedes-Benz in Germany,

Renault, Peugeot and Citroën in France, and Morris, Ford, Vauxhall (of General

Motors), Standard and Rootes (Jaguar, Rover and Rolls-Royce makes) in the United

Kingdom. Car production outside the USA survived mainly because General Motors,

Ford and Chrysler established manufacturing plants in other countries. After the war

(1945), there was a significant expansion of automotive sector. Large automobile

mergers took place to be more competitiveness among manufacturers.

Japanese car industry arose in the sixties, with a more competitive and

aggressive philosophy of work, based on quality principles. American manufacturers

decide to change their management strategy and form, and military quality standards

are adopted. Already in 1988, their supplies are requested specific requirements. Each

manufacturer has a manual containing his own requirements and suppliers have to

make an effort to fulfill them; this issue gets complicated when suppliers work for

several manufacturers at the same time. Aware of this working method not being

competitive, the Big Three U.S. automakers (Chrysler, Ford & General Motors,

1994) organize a working group whose aim is to unify their different requirement

manuals. This working group efforts became reality in 1994 with the publication of

QS-9000-Quality System Requirements standard, that derives from the 1994 version

of ISO 9000 (Kartha, 2004; Bandyopadhyay, 2005). Later, other American

manufacturers of the industry accepted this standard as well.

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The German automotive sector reconsidered this issue because of the increased

competence, the aim of being more competitive, costs reduction, etc.. This is how the

“Verband der Deutschen Automobilindustrie“(VDA) arose in Germany; this

organism makes the VDA 6 Qualitätsstandard der deutschen Automobilindustrie

standard; its core part is VDA 6.1 (1996) whose target is to allow for assessment

under comparable conditions of different quality management systems. Similarly to

the regulations that came into being in the USA and Germany, two more standards

also sprang up: the Evaluation Aptitude Quality Supplier (FLAA) in France (1994),

quality system standards for Citroën, Peugeot and Renault, with regard to their

suppliers and the Association of Quality System Evaluators (AVSQ) (1995) in Italy.

Lately, the automotive industry (like the rest of sectors), follow the globalization

tendency. Not only the main automobile manufacturers, but also their suppliers apply

alliance and fusion policies, thus, there is a need for harmonizing the different

regulations on quality management that had arisen in the automotive industry. The

latest result of this globalization effort is the UNE-ISO/TS 16949 standard, which

replaces the QS 9000 standard.

The first edition of this technical specification (year 1999) was mainly based on

the ISO 9000:1994 standard. In 2002, there was a second edition (UNE-ISO/TS

16949:2002) based on ISO 9001:2000. The current version of the specification is

ISO/TS 16949:2009 (2009). The IATF (International Automotive Task Force) was

established to create this standard. The main automotive manufacturers participated

in this working group together with national organizations like VDA and some

members of ISO TC 176 (technical committee of the ISO organization for quality-

related regulations). Its quality references are shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Quality references for the sector’s suppliers according to the IATF (source: http://www.aiag.org)

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General Motors and Ford insisted on all its suppliers making the transition

from QS 9000 to ISO/TS 16949 before the end of 2006, whereas Chrysler requested

such transition in 2004. About 6,000 first and second-level suppliers around the

world have obtained the ISO/TS 16949 certification. American companies are on top

of the list, followed by German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Brazilian and

Indian firms (Davis, 2004).

2.2 Quality Management

The ISO/TS 16949 international standard establishes the particular

requirements of the implementation of ISO 9001:2000 in the automobile production.

This is a useful framework to understand the quality planning of the product in

general, the PRP, being one of the most important parts of the standard. Broadening

the project management concept, this standard requires the establishment of a method

so that the PRP is measured up by means of specific milestones, including the

corresponding management analysis and revision. Factors to be accounted for include

quality, risks, costs and deadlines.

Based on its working method, numerous companies of other sectors have taken

this model of management and have tried to apply it and adapt it to them. It is

because of this that quality management implementation in the best possible

conditions requires the support of some techniques that contribute to their

development.

While some of these tools can be used to reveal problems with the staff

participation, others can be drawn from measurements or data obtained from the

process to be controlled and, after analyzing such data, the intended results are

obtained. In some occasions, these results are used to control the process: if the

results are within the limits established for each process, the process is controlled;

otherwise, corrective measures will be needed to be applied to it. Some other times,

the only interest is to see the results of a process with a graphical representation. In

general, there is a wide number of ways (some of them complex) to control a process,

to find failures, to improve systems, to analyze risks, etc.

The automotive sector is managed by the Major Automobile Manufacturers

(MAM), like Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen,… Their working method or Project

management follows specific phases: offer, contract revision, product design, product

design validation with prototypes, industrialization, product validation and process,

and finally production optimization. MAM have Design Centres and Production

Facilities around the world.

Development projects of new vehicles take place at Design Centres; such

projects have an average 3-year planning for new vehicles and 1 or 1.5-year for

vehicle re-styling. Each vehicle component is perfectly designed in this Development

Projects: geometry, functionality, technical characteristics, as well as the interrelation

and interferences among them. Each component characteristics and determining

factors are recorded in the Specification (tender documentation), where drawings,

regulations, tests to be undertaken, etc. are specified.

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Many times at this design stage, MAM´s include some suppliers in their

working team because of their knowhow (experience), that this way participate in the

vehicle design. They are known as Development Providers. In the Production

Facilities, MAM only assemble components. An intermediate stage between design

and production is therefore necessary in the Project.

That stage is the suppliers’ allocation, which determines which suppliers are

responsible for the mass supply of the different components to production plants. The

so-called Buyer Leader is in charge of suppliers’ allocation. The allocation is

performed on the basis of different criteria: economic (offer), experience, quality

incidents in other supplies,…

Control and follow-up on suppliers (that reach up to mass supply of allocated

components) by the Manufacturer are critical at this stage. Considering the amount of

components, several Quality Supplier Engineers are appointed. They are responsible

for controlling that the supplier fulfills some milestones, such as the delivery of

prototypes to the Manufacturer (they are non-representative samples but show the

supplier’s capacity to make parts; at this point the supplier does not have the final

manufacturing resources) and the deliveries of initial samples (representative pieces

of production that have all the necessary working resources, prepared workstation,

documents, …).

The Quality Supplier Engineer appointed, carries out a Pre-Production audit

(Run at Rate), in which the Auditor checks that the Supplier can provide good parts

and complies with the frequency requested by the Manufacturer. In order to do this,

work stations are analyzed, together with all documents regarding both product and

process quality.

The manufacturer work is based on solid management skills of new vehicle

design project and a subsequent good logistics management; since the Production

facilities assemble components “just in time”, provided by a great variety of

suppliers, with almost zero stocks. Those suppliers that provide their products

directly to the “Production facilities” are called Tier 1 suppliers. Those who supply

parts to the latter are the Tier 2 suppliers, and so on and so forth: Tier 3, Tier 4

suppliers… In order to achieve this type of category, supply capacity and quality is

needed to be shown first; therefore, there are some steps or stages throughout the

Project that all suppliers in the automotive industry must follow in order to fulfill the

supply requirements or adequate levels. All these stages are reflected in a document

called “Product Quality Assurance Dossier” or “Production Part Approval Process”;

such document includes all quality requirements and stages to be complied with at

this stage of development of the supplier until mass production.

Because of what has been set out, it can be concluded that project management

in the automotive sector is characterized by the stages shown in Fig 3. At each of

these stages, it is essential and imperative that a range of quality tools are adopted as

working method. All these tools are mainly based on the philosophy of zero defects

and continuous improvement.

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Fig. 3. Project stages in the automotive sector

3. Examination and clasification of the quality tools

This report focuses on the most used tools in the sector and on those forced to be

used by the manufacturer as a general rule:

1. PDCA cycle or Deming

2. Q7: the seven basic tools of quality

3. M7: the new seven tools

4. Planning techniques

5. Control techniques

6. Improvement techniques

The DEMING or PDCA cycle

The PDCA cycle, is used as a work philosophy and is the core principle of ISO

TS. This methodology is inherent to the sector on a daily basis and it sets the steps to

be followed to undertake any improvement (Fig. 4).

PLAN: Assortment of problems and planning of improvement actions → To know

the problem that is tried to be improved, to look for the root reason, solutions to

this reason,... Here, analytical tools like Q7 are used.

DO: Realization of concrete actions to solve the problem → To put the necessary

means for improvement.

CHECK: Validation of results and controlling of aims → To measure the obtained

results, to see if the aims are reached …

ACT: Improvement of actions, of the situation, etc. → To extend the solutions to

other similar problems, families of pieces…

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Fig. 4. Deming cycle

It is based on the principle of quality management continuous improvement,

one of the basis supporting the quality philosophy. It analyzes existing data and

focuses on historical process capability to know the problem, that is to say, on

obvious and quantified facts and problems.

Q7: The seven basic tools of quality

They are known by “The Seven Basic Statistical Tools” because they are

appropriate for people with little formal education in statistics (Ishikawa, 1985):

Check sheet

Flow charts

Cause-and-Effect Diagrams (fishbone)

Control Charts

Histograms

Pareto Charts

Scatter Plot

A right approach to deal with issues is to see first if the issue exists by using

verified data (check sheet), quantifying its severity (Jiménez, 2010), if it is repetitive

and representative (histograms, Pareto charts) and using tools like cause and effect

diagrams intending to determine the root reason of the problem. Specifically, and as

an example, the scatter plot was used to pursue a test correlative to the hardness and

fatigue test applicable to polyurethane seats of any vehicle; such test is usually

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performed 36 hours after their production. A test correlative to the previous one was

found; it was totally significant, but carried out 6 hours before its production, with the

objective of knowing beforehand if the production carried out is correct or, if that

new test provides incorrect results, being able to tackle the problem in production

before the 36 hours where the problem would be encountered with the standard test.

M7: The new seven tools

This is an assortment of useful tools for decision-taking at management level

(Barker, 1989). They are not new, but their popularity has increased in the

engineering and manufacturing fields over the last twenty years (Omar & Kleiner,

1997). They are planning and management tools aimed at Management:

Affinity Diagram

Relations Diagram

Tree Diagram

Matrix Data Analysis

Matrix Diagram

Process Decision Program Chart (PDPC)

Arrow Diagram

Planning techniques

These tools are aimed at preventing the manufacturing of defective parts

(Rodríguez, 2011). They are applied to plan the manufacturing process,

manufacturing tools, control frequency, personnel carrying out controls:

Benchmarking: competence analysis; it is a systematic, continuous measurement

and comparison process to determine “best” practices in order to improve an

organization’s performance (Watts, 2012).

QFD (Quality Function Deployment): The core of this approach is a chart called

house of quality. This technique identifies customer requirements and provides a

discipline to ensure that those requirements are included in product design and in

planning process. It reduces product development cycles, increasing quality and

reducing costs (Chan & Wu, 2002).

Capability Studies. They are is used to know if manufacturing processes are stable

and capable. This tool is closely related to statistical process control.

DOE (Design of Experiments): method used for process optimization. Its

implementation implies a reduction in the number of tests, so product

development can be organized more economically (Montgomery, 2004).

FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis): systematized preventive method

intended to identify and evaluate the potential failure of a product/process and its

effects, as well as to determine actions which could reduce the chance of the

potential failure occurring (Carlson, 2012). It is a compulsory tool in the

automotive industry to be aware of the different failures that can arise at every

moment; the aim is to account for three aspects: seriousness of the failure, failure

occurrence or likeliness of occurrence, and failure detection or identification

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ability during the process. Once those aspects are valued, the criticality rating is

estimated as the multiplication of the three. If that value is higher than that

requested by the Manufacturer, actions are taken. Since the seriousness of the

failure cannot be changed, focus must be on occurrence or detection, in order to

diminish the criticality rating. The ideal thing is to deal with occurrence, by means

of elements called pokayokes or “mistake proofing” systems that avoid mistakes

made by human error. Some other times, it is not possible to focus on occurrence,

and prevention is then tackled, seeking systems that fully detect failures before

moving to the next stage. As far as costs are concerned, it is important to detect

failures at the beginning of processes and not at the end of manufacturing.

Control plan: document used to plan all controls to be carried out in a manufacturing

process, per job, as a result of the FMEA planning. They are mandatory in the

automotive sector.

Control techniques

The following quality techniques are widely used as control techniques:

SPC (Statistical Process Control): in every production process, it is necessary to

know up to which extent the products meet the pre-established

requirements (Automotive Industry Action Group, 1995). The Voice of the

Process (variability observed), and the “Voice of the Customer” (Specification

limits) have to be compared. Therefore, Capability Studies provide indicators

called capability indices (Cp, Cpk, Pp, Ppk), that inform about the level of

compliance. On the other hand, process stability is to be guaranteed in order to

tackle them if they are out of control. Control charts represent the Statistical

Process Control (SPC) tool and notices when a process stops following the random

pattern of normal behaviour.

Audits: there are many types of audits, classified by internal or made by the

customer. They are daily present in automotive companies, where there are several

auditors that plan audits of all kinds yearly: Production, Pre-production (Internal);

Run at Rate (Pre-production Customer); Quality; Product; Spic & Span (5-S

philosophy); Security and Regulations.

Definition of indicators: Key Performance Indicators are quantifiable aspects that

reflect the critical factors. There are many important indicators related to quality.

They are defined during the different Project development stages, like control tool,

for example “quality incident indicators of suppliers”, of compliance of initial

samples and prototypes, those referred to delays in deliveries, suppliers’ quality

systems... The main goal is to find proper indicators for particular processes and

find methodology that helps to identify those indicators (Nagyova & Pacaiova,

2009).

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Techniques for improvement

Finally, the quality tools used as techniques for improvement are the following:

Continuous improvement

TPM: Total Productive Management

Lean Six Sigma: methodology that firms can use to improve the output quality of a

process

Poka Yoke: “mistake proofing” system that helps to prevent human errors.

Improvement group. Collaborative working method between several production

workers, where there is a critical figure: the improvement group facilitator (usually

a quality-related person), that guides the group as regards some steps to be

followed to solve a problem. That person also provides workers with knowledge

and orientation on the use of quality tools.

8D Tool (8 Disciplines): it is a method used to resolve customer-related problems;

customers are required to use them. The eight disciplines are followed for problem

solving. The disciplines comprise several data-collection tools, determine root

cause, …

Among them, the most used are the Pokayokes, improvement groups as team-

working method for problem-solving (Mari-García, 2009) and the 8D tool to resolve

customer-related incidents.

5. Research Methodology and Results

In order to analyze the most suitable tools and to fit them in the different stages

of the project, the idea of some follow-up project monitoring surveys came up, aimed

both at the Project Manager and the Project Quality Manager. The stages of the

Project relative to the offer and contract (Fig. 3) have been excluded from the study,

therefore the stages considered in the surveys are the 5 remaining.

Surveys took place in two types of companies: Tier 1 suppliers that

manufactured totally different products: seats and pipes, in order to ensure that

product type does not influence the chosen type of quality tool. Seventeen Projects

ended in 2011 were analyzed at each company; specifically, they were 10 projects of

one company and 7 of another. A structured interview protocol at all site visits were

used. The protocol covered a number of topics relating to different quality tool: if

they were used, which were the most popular, at which stages, which were the most

successful, which were verified not to be useful, etc.

Qualitative theory building research is an iterative process so the data collection

and data analysis should be done simultaneously: the data from one case is collected

and then analyzed before the next replication is performed. If needed, any

improvements in the protocol for subsequent replications. This ability to refine and

improve upon the protocol between cases is a significant advantage to this type of

research.

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Choosing each tool for each stage depends both on the experience and on the

intuition of each interviewed person, so the method used to validate the survey was

the descriptive statistics with the SPSS v. 18 program and correlative analyses to

identify each project stages with each tool.

Limitations of this study include generalizability, causality, and empirical

testing. The limited sample size and the industry involved constrains the

generalizability of the findings.

Some other surveys regarding Projects that began in 2011 have been initiated (3

in one company and 4 in another). Today, we already have results for the Project

design stages, and these data have been included to analyze and reinforce the quality

tools used at the first stage of design.

After the experience and implementation of such tools (previously summed up)

in a Tier 1 supply company of the automotive industry, it has been proven that the

best tools to be applied at each of the different stages of the Project are those included

in Table 1.

PROJECT STAGES QUALITY TOOLS USED

Stage 3: Quality in design - FMEA

- Control Plan

Stage 4: Quality in prototype s - PPAP.Control Plan

Stage: Quality in initial samples - Pokayokes Design

- Control Plan

Stage: Quality at series beginning

- Pre-production audits. Run at Rate.

- Control Plan

- Design of quality indicators as

management tool

Stage: Quality in series

- Customer claim follow-up. 8 D Tool

- Quality incident indicators of suppliers”,

- SPC. Control Plan

Tab. 1. Structural Theory and Industrial Structures

Suggestions for future research focus on the need for a quantitative assessment

of relationships identified from this study.

6. Conclusions

In today globalized world, there is a growing need for tools that make it

possible to measure up the quality processes used by each of them, since the

manufacturers of final products are committed with users to provide quality products,

putting the company’s prestige at risk. Because of this reason, having quality

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guarantees of the materials and components provided by suppliers can determine the

success or failure of a product, or even of a company.

Considering this situation, the idea of developing a global standard at the

different project stages arose; it would allow companies to determine the quality that

they could offer on real grounds. The goal is to be able to define a standard to be

followed by the companies of the sector, either because of the good results of its

implementation or because of its compulsory nature regarding automotive quality

regulations.

7. References

Automotive Industry Action Group, Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company,

General Motors Corporation (1995). Statistical process control (SPC):

reference manual. Automotive Industry Action Group

AVSQ ’94 ANFIA Valutazione Sistemi Qualità (1995). Edizone 3 plus Addendum

QS 9000 all AVSQ, edizione Marzo 1997

Bandyopadhyay, J.K. (2005). The global supply chain assurance practices of United

States automakers: a survey. International Journal of Management, Vol. 22,

No. 4, 582–694

Barker, R.L. (1989). The seven new QC tools. Proceedings of the First Conference

on TQM Tools and Techniques. IFS Publications, 95-120

Besterfield, D., Besterfield-Michna, C., Besterfield, G. (2003). Total Quality

Management (3rd edition), Prentice-Hall, ISBN 9780130993069, New Jersey

Carlson, C. S. (2012). Effective FMEAs: Achieving Safe, Reliable, and Economical

Products and Processes using Failure Mode and Effects Analysis. John Wiley

& Sons, Hoboken, ISBN 9781118312568, New Jersey

Chan, L., Wu, M. (2002). Quality function deployment: A literature review.

European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 143, No.3, 463-497, ISSN:

0377-2217

Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company and General Motors (1994). Quality

System Requirements QS-9000 1st Edition, AIAG (810) 358-3003

Comité de automoción (2004). Herramientas para la calidad. AEC, Asociación

española de la calidad

Dale, B., Van der Wiele, T. & Van Iwaarden, J. (2007). Managing Quality (5th

Edition), Blackwell Publishers, ISBN 9781405142793

Davis, B. (2004). One Standard fits all. Professional Engineering, Vol. 17, No. 9, 43–

45

EAQF ’94 Evaluation aptitude Qualité Fournisseur (1994). Edition plus QS-9000

appendix to EAQF March 1997 edition

Greene, R. (1993). Global quality: a synthesis of the world's best management

methods. ASQC Quality Press, ISBN 9781556239151, Milwaukee, USA

Ishikawa, K. (1985). What is Total Quality Control? The Japanese way, Prentice

Hall, ISBN 9780139524332, New Jersey, USA

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http://www.google.es/search?hl=es&tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22General+Motors+Corporation%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=4

http://www.google.es/search?hl=es&tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Dale+H.+Besterfield%22

http://www.google.es/search?hl=es&tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Carol+Besterfield-Michna%22

http://www.google.es/search?hl=es&tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Glen+H+Besterfield%22

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03772217

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ISO/TS 16949:2009 (2009). Quality management systems: Particular requirements

for the application of ISO 9001:2008 for automotive production and relevant

service part organizations. ISO 9000, Quality Management Systems, ISO

Website

Jiménez, J.M. (2008). El coste de la variabilidad de los procesos. Proceedings of the

XIII Congreso de Calidad y medioambiente en la Automoción.

Jiménez, J.M. (2010). El valor de los datos. Proceedings of the XV Congreso de

Calidad y medioambiente en la Automoción

Juran, J. & Gryna, F. (1998). Juran´s Quality Handbook, McGraw-Hill, ISBN

9780139524332

Kartha, C.P. (2004). A comparison of ISO 9000:2000 quality system standards, QS

9000, ISO/TS 16949 and Baldrige criteria. The TQM Magazine, Vol. 16, No. 5,

331 – 340, ISSN 0954-478X

Mari-Garcia, J. (2009). La gestión de los recursos humanos: gestión del talento en el

sector de automoción. Jornada sobre innovación y mejora de procesos en el

sector de automoción

Montgomery, D.C. (2004). Design and Analysis of Experiments (6th edition), John

Wiley & Sons.Inc, ISBN 9780471487357

Nagyova, A. & Pacaiova, H. (2009). How to Build Manual for Key Performance

Indicators –KPI, Chapter 15 in DAAAM International Scientific Book 2009,

pp. 135-142, B. Katalinic (ED.), published by DAAAM International, ISBN

978-3-901509-69-8, ISSN 1726-9687, Vienna, Austria

Nagyova, A. & Pacaiova, H. (2010). Quality Evaluation Methodologhy for Research

projects, Chapter 22 in DAAAM International Scientific Book 2010, pp. 219-

226, B. Katalinic (ED.), published by DAAAM International, ISBN 978-3-

901509-74-2, ISSN 1726-9687, Vienna, Austria

Omar, T.A. & Kleiner, B.H. (1997). Effective decision making in the defence

industry. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 69, No. 2,

151–159, ISSN: 0002-2667

Rodriguez, E. (2011). Diseño robusto. La calidad preventiva desde el diseño y el

desarrollo. Qalidad, No. I , 49-52, ISSN 156-4915.

VDA 6.1 Qualitätsmanagement in der Automobilindustrie (1996). QM Systemaudit 3

vollständig überarbeitete Auflage 1996/1

Watts, F.B. (2012). Engineering Documentation Control Handbook .Configuration

Management and Product Lifecycle Management (Fourth Edition). Chapter 15,

335-346, Elsevier, ISBN 9781455778607, United States

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26

An Overview of Total QualityManagement

EVOLUTION OF QUALITY

The requirement for Quality Control dates back to the time when human race wantedto replicate an object. The desire to control quality is as old as human’s ability to producethings the forerunning attempts to control quality resulted in rather crude replicas oforiginal objects. These replicas were produced in a way that could easily be discerned bythe nacked eye.

As time passed, human’s developed the competence to duplicate objects so that theybecome indistinguishable from one another. The drawback for this was that the assemblywith any alternation or adjustment was not possible.

Eli Whitney conceived the idea of perfect interchangeability of parts. He emphasisedthat if proper raw material, methods and equipment are used and if workmen exercisedthe right amount of course, items can be produced somewhat in an identical manner. In1799, he contracted to supply rifles to the army. Mr. Whitney was partially successful ingetting each workman to make one part of the exact specification he could still do onlyselective assembly. But did establish the fact that production time can be reduced.

Perhaps this was the germs of man production. It was not until the early 1800s thatman began to realise the necessity of tolerance in parts. The interchangeability in indus-trial activity resulted in many problems on measurements. A Swedish engineer namedJohansson conceived the idea of a hard metal block that could be machined and polishedto exact dimension, which can be used as points of reference. These blocks were referredto as ‘Jo’ blocks. In the middle of the 17th century, Pascal, the French philosopher andmathematician become quite talker by the games of chance. He formulated that theory ofprobability in association with Pierre Fermat. During the 1800s, considerable progresswas made in the development of the sampling theory.

Modern quality control or statistical quality control (SQC) as we know it today startedwith invention of quality control chart by Walter A Shewhart of Bell Telephone Labs, USAin 1930s. Dr. Shewhart proposed the statistical methods could be effectively used forexamining whether the items produced by any process were of uniform quality or not. Thereal impetus for the application of these methods on a massive scale resulted form theeconomic pressure for more efficient utilisation of equipment and resources during worldwar II Dr. Shewhart wrote a book economic control of quality of manufactured products,which was published in 1931. The objective explicitly put-forth in the title was ‘‘EconomicControl’’.

The influence of the US military services on the adoption of sampling acceptancetechniques was well established. World War II was the catalyst that made the controlcharts applicable in the US. By applying quality control, the US was able to producemilitary requirements inexpensively and in high volumes. The wartime standards pub-lished in those days was known as ‘‘Z–1 standards’’.

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Naidu, N.V.R.. Total Quality Management, New Age International Ltd, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/anglia/detail.action?docID=358035.Created from anglia on 2020-03-06 19:39:33.

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AN OVERVIEW OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT 27

British Standards

England also developed quality control at relatively early date, the application ofwhich was evident in the adoption of British Standards 600 in 1935 on E.S. Pearson’sstatistical work. Later US Z-1 standards were adopted in there entirely as British standardwere used in England during the time of war.

These standards stimulated technological advances in terms of production quantity,quality and cost. It would be an exaggeration to say that World War II was won by singstatistical quality control methods. Some of the statistical methods researched and utilisedby the allied power were so effective that they were regarded as military secrets until thesurrender of Nazi Germany.

The Japanese knew about the British standards 600 in the pre-war year andtranslated them into Japanese during the War Japanese effort in modern statistics wasexpressed in mathematical language which was difficult to understand.

Quality was controlled by inspection and not every product was sufficiently inspected.Hence, Japan had to compete with price and not with quality. It was literally the ago of‘‘Cheap and poor’’ products from Japan.

Learning from US

Having faced defeat in World War II Japan lost all that it had and could not evenfeed people with food, clothing and shelter. They realised that if you make poor qualityproducts then the troops so, it was a matter of life and death. It was at his criticaljuncture that the US occupational (USOF) having landed in Japan ; ordered the Japanesetelecommunication industry to learn the use of modern quality control and took steps toeducate the industry.

This was the beginning of SQC in Japan in 1946. Quality control methods taught bythe USOF were not modified for the Japanese. Though this created some problems themethods reached beyond the telecom industry. Japanese could really make tremendousprogress by making heavy investments and by inviting great scholars like Dr. Deming in1950 and Dr. Juran in 1954 the huge investment made in education and training at thecrucial time paid very rich dividends in Japan.

These Japanese thus learn one bitter lesson that ‘‘if you make bad quality duringwar time, your country is overrun by enemy troops, so it is a matter of life and death. Theyeventually taught the world a lesson that if you make bad quality, during peace time, yourcountry during peace time, your country is overrun by foreign products, which is a matterof life and sickness, commercial death, bankruptcy, impoverishment and what not.

The development of quality activities has spanned the entire of 20th century curiouslysignificant changes in the approach to quality activities have occurred every 20 years. Qualityactivities have traversed a long path from operator Inspection (1900s) to verification ofquality by supervisors (1920s) to establishment if quality control departments and100% inspection (1940s) to statistical quality control (1960s) to TQC with statistical control(1980’s) TQM and statistical problem solving (1990s).

DEFINITION

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an enhancement to the traditional way of doingbusiness. It is a proven technique to guarantee survival in world-class competition. Onlyby changing the actions of management will the culture and actions of an entire organiza-tion be transformed. TQM is for the most part common sense. Analyzing these words.


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28 TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

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.

TQM CONCEPTS

The above principles are bandied freely around in the above discussion. Its worthdwelling with each for a moment.

Be customer–focused means everything you do will be done by placing the customerin the centre. The company should regularly check customer’s attitudes. This will includethe external and internal customer concept.

Do it right first time so that there is no rework. This essentially means cutting downon the amount of defective work.

Constantly improve, this allows the company gradually to get better. One of theaxioms use by TQM people is ‘‘A 5% improvement in 100% of the areas is easier than a100% improvement in 5% of the areas.

Quality is an attitude The attidue is what differentiates between excellence andmediocracy. Therefore it’s very important to change the attitude of the entire workforcei.e., basically the way the company works company’s work culture.

Telling the staff what is going on means keeping the entire workforce informedabout he general direction the company is headed in typically this includes them brief-ings, one of the main elements to TQM.

Training and education of the workforce is a vital ingredient, as untrained staff tendto commit mistakes. Enlarging the skill base of the staff essentially makes them do a widerrange of jobs and do them better. In the new system of working under TQM educating thestaff is one of the principles.

Measurement of work allows the company to make decisions based on facts, it alsohelps them to maintain standards and keep processes with in the agreed tolerance levels.

The involvement of senior management is essential. The lack of which will cause theTQM program to fail.

Getting employees to make decision on the spot so that the customer does not faceany inconvenience in empowering the employees.

Mailing it a good place to work. In many an organisation there exists a lot of fear inthe staff. The fear of the boss, fear of mistakes of being sacked. TQM program is anycompany filled with fear cannot work, therefore fear has to be driven out of the companybefore starting of TQM program.

Introduce team working, its boosts employee morale. It also reduces conflict amongthe staff. It reduces the role of authority and responsibility, and it provides better morebalanced solutions. In a lot of companies teamwork is discouraged, so TQM programsmust encourage it.

Organise by process, not by function. This concentrates on getting the product tothe customer by reducing the barriers between the different departments.

Present Trend

From maintenance of quality to continuous improvement of quality some importantconcepts.


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1. Product control Vs Process Control : Process produces products. Product qualitydepends an process quality controlling the process is easier and cheaper thancontrolling the product controlling process needs knowledge tools and techniques.

2. Upstream Vs Downstream : Upstream is the starting area of a business process.Downstream is the tail end of the business process. Corrective action at upstreamis very must cost effective. Cost goes up as and when the stream goes down. It willbe in geometric proportions. Better planning is required to reduce downstreamcosts. It‘s worth spending more time for planning to reduce expensive executiontime. This needs cross-functional organisation and knowledge of quality functiondeployment.

BASIC APPROACH

TQM requires six basic concepts :

1. A committed and involved management to provide long-term top-to-bottom organi-zational support.

2. An unwavering focus on the customer, both internally and externally.

3. Effective involvement and utilization of the entire work force.

4. Continuous improvement of the business and production process.

5. Treating suppliers as partners.

6. Establish performance measures for the processes.

There concepts outline an Excellent way to run an organization. A brief paragraphon each of them is given here.

1. Management must participate in the quality program. A quality council must beestablished to develop a clear vision, set long-term goals and direct the program. Manag-ers participate on quality improvement teams and also as coaches to other teams. TQM isa continual activity that must be entrenched in the culture it is not just a one-shot pro-gram. TQM must be communicated to all people.

2. The key to an effective TQM program is its focus on the customer. An excellentplace to start is by satisfying internal customers. We must listen to the ‘‘Voice of thecustomer’’ and emphasize design quality and defect prevention.

3. TQM is an organization–wide challenge that is everyone’s responsibility. Allpersonnel must be trained in TQM, statistical process control (SPC) and other appropriatequality improvement skills so they can effectively participate on project teams.

People must come to work not only to do their jobs, but also to think about how toimprove their jobs, people must be empowered at the lowest possible level to performprocesses in an optimum manner.

4. There must be a continue striving to improve all business and production processes.Quality improvement projects, such as on-time delivery, order-entry efficiency, billingerror rate, customer satisfaction, cycle time, scrap reduction and supplier managementare good places to begin.

5. On the average 40% of the sales is purchased product or service, therefore, thesupplier quality must be outstanding. The focus should be on quality and life cycle costsrather than price. Suppliers should be few in number so that true partnering can occur.

6. Performance measures such as uptime, percent non-conforming, absentecismand customer satisfaction should be determined for each functional area.


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Quantitative data are necessary to measure the continuous quality improvementactivity.

THE DEMING’S PHILOSOPHY

Dr. W. Edward-Deming was a protege of Dr. Walter Shewhart, who pioneered statisticalprocess control (SPC) at Bell Laboratories. He Spent one year studying under Sir RonaldFisher, who pioneered design of experiments.

Dr. Deming is credited with providing the foundations of the Japanese quality miracleand resurgence as an economic power. He developed the following 14 points as a theory formanagement for improvement of quality, productivity and competitive position.

1. Create and publish the Aims and Purposes of the Organization

Management must demonstrate constantly their commitments to this statement. Itmust include investors, customers, suppliers, employees, the community and a qualityphilosophy. Organization must develop a long-term view of at least 10 years and plan tostay in business by setting long-range goals. Resources must be allocated for research,training and continuing education to achieve the goals. A family organizational philosophyis developed to send the message that every one is part of the organization.

2. Learn the New Philosophy

Top management and every one must learn the new philosophy. Organizations mustseek never ending improvement and refuse to accept non conformance customer satisfactionis the number one priority, because dissatisfied customers will not continue to purchasenon confirming products and service. Every one in the organization, including the union,must be involved in the quality journey and change his or her attitude about quality.

3. Understand the Purpose of Inspection

Management must understand that the purpose of inspection is to improve theprocess and reduce it’s cost. Statistical evidence is required of self and supplier everyeffort should be made to reduce and then eliminate acceptance sampling.

4. Stop Awarding Business based on Price Alone

The organization must stop awarding business based on the low bid, because pricehas no-meaning without quality. The goal is to have single suppliers for each item todevelop a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust thereby providing improved productsand service.

5. Improve Constantly and forever the System

Management must take more responsibility for problems by actively finding andcorrecting. Problems so that quality and productivity are continually and permanentlyimproved and costs are reduced. The focus is on preventing problems before they happenvariation is expected but these must be a continual striving for its reduction using controlcharts.

6. Institute Training

Each employee must be oriented to the organization philosophy of commitment tonever-ending improvements management must allocate resources to train employees toperform their jobs in the best manner possible.


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7. Teach and Institute Leadership

Improving supervision is management’s responsibility. They must provide supervisionwith training in statistical methods and these 14 points so the new philosophy can beimplemented. Instead of focusing on a negative. Fault-finding atmosphere, supervisorsshould create a positive, supportive one where pride in workmanship can flourish.

8. Drive out fear, Create Trust, and Creat a Climate for Innovation

Management must encourage open, effective communication and teamwork. Fear iscaused by a general feeling of being powerless to control important aspects of one’s life. Itis caused by a lack of Job security, possible physical harm, performance appraisals,ignorance of organization goals, poor supervision and not knowing the job. Driving fearout of the work place involves managing for success. When people are treated with density,fear can be eliminated and people will work for the general good of the organization. In thisclimate, they will provide ideas for improvement.

9. Optimize the Efforts of Teams, Groups and Staff Areas

Management must optmize the efforts of teams, work groups and staff areas toachieve the aims and pusposes of the organization. Barriers exist internally among levelsof management, among departments, within departments and among shifts. To breakdown the barriers, management will need a long-term perspective. All the different areasmust work together. Attitudes need to be changed ; communication channels opened projectteams organized and training in team work implemented.

10. Eliminate Exhortations for the Work Forces

Exhortations that ask for increased productivity without providing specificimprovement methods can handicap an organizations. They do nothing but expressmanagements desires. They do not produce a better product or service, because the workersare limited by the system.

11. (a) Eliminate Numerical Quotas for the Work Force

Instead of quotas, management must learn and Institute methods for improvement.Quotas and work standards focus on quantity rather than quality. They encourage poorworkman ship in order to meet their Quotas. Quotas should be replaced with statisticalmethods of process control.

11. (b) Eliminate Management by Objective

Instead of management by objective, management must learn the capabilities of theprocess and how to improve them. Internal goals set by management, without a methodare a burlesque.

12. Remove Barriers that Rob People of Pride of Workmanship

Loss of pride in workmanship exists throughout organizations because

(1) Workers do not know how to relate to the organizations mission.

(2) They are being blamed for system problems.

(3) Poor designing leads to the production of ‘‘Junk’’.

(4) Inadequate training is provided.

(5) Punitive supervision exists.

(6) Inadequate or ineffective equipment is provided for performing the required work.


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Restoring pride will require a long term commitment by management. When workersare proud of their work, they will grow to the fullest of their job. By restoring pride, everyonein the organization will be working for the common good. A barrier for people on salary isthe annual rating of performance.

13. Encourage Education and Self-himprovement for Everyone

What an organization needs is people who are improving with education. A long-term commitment to continuously train and educate people must be made by managementDeming’s 14 points and the organization’s mission should be the foundation of the educationprogram.

14. Take Action to Accomplish the Transformation

Management has to accept the primary responsibility for the never-endingimprovement of the process, it has to create a corporate structure to implement thephilosophy. A cultural change is required from the previous ‘‘business as usual’’ attitude.Management must be committed, involved and accessible if the organization is to succeedin implementing the new philosophy.

GURUS OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

With the advent of today’s reality in the Business environment through Liberation,Privatisation and Globalisation, coupled with growing concern for ecology, emergence ofnew economic powers, political realignments, growing literacy, concern for human rightsand impact of information and telecommunication. The survival of Business has becomemore challenging. With global players the differentiating factor between one organisationand other is becoming narrower. There is a very little difference in the pricing or theproduct features. Thus, Business survival now depends more on the Quality. For thecontext of excellence the quality refers to that of technology and that of Management. Inother words it is the Total Quality and its Management.

Total Quality Management necessitates realisation of Quality ideals of being TopManagement led, with an integrated approach focused towards customer satisfactionthrough continues improvement. Often these ideals are not realised primarily because theQuality costs are high in both manufacturing and service sector, often it is un-quantified.

TQM has become the key success factor for building Business Excellence for severalorganisations all around the world each one of them adopt different models and differentroutes but invariably all of them with one ultimate goal of becoming the best.

Although the philosophies of various gurus on Quality Management appear to bevarying considerably, it can clearly be seen that there exists a common thread passingthrough all these philosophies. The American gurus focused more on the social systemsincluding employee involvement concepts, the Japanese gurus successfully translatedthese into the shop floor management systems through Just-in-time and the WesternGurus concentrated largely on the Total Qulaity Control elements of the Technical system.The Total Quality Management Philosophy is the integration of these three systems viz.,the social system, the management system and the technical system. Hence understandingof the preaching of all these Gurus make the understanding of TQM more complete.

There have been several persons who have done extensive and long research on thesubject of TQM and have propagated their own theory after such research. These personsobviously are refered to as Gurus of Quality Management and the most prominent amongof them are :


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The Early Americans – 1950’s W. Edward Deming

Joseph M. Juran

Armand V. Feigenbaum

The Japanese – 1950-70’s Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa

Dr. Genichi Taguchi

Shigeo Shingo

The Western – 1980’s Philip Crosby

Tom Peters

Claus Moller

W. EDWARD DEMING

Dr. Deming was born in 1890 and he did his PhD in Mathematical Physics in 1928.Thereafter he began his career with US Govt. services in Statistics Dept. working onStatistical Sampling Techniques. In 1946, he visited Japan as an Adviser to JapaneseCensus Program. During this point of time he was invited by JUSE-Japanese Union forScientists and Engineers for a lecture and there after he was involved with JUSE till 1950.He won the prestigious Walter Shewart Medal from US Govt. in 1956. He was honouredwith the top award of the Japanese Govt. by conferring on him the Second Order by thesacred Treasure of emperor during 1960. His work brought great impact on West in 1970’s.He wrote his famous book ‘‘Out of the Crisis’’ in 1986. He formed the British DemingAssociation in 1987. US Govt. instituted a top a ward for the Quality Management in thename of Deming called DEMING’S PRIZE for Quality.

His philosophy was oriented towards Management Process. He stressed on theimportance of variability reduction in process and said there are Special and Commoncause of variation. While the special causes can be eliminated by the local operationalpeople, the elimination of common causes requires Management Commitment. He inventedand propagated the famous PDCA Cycle well known as Deming’s improvement cycle.

In his works he has stressed the importance of Waste Elimination. He is the recentyears Propagated another model for the Quality management called JOINERS TRIANGLEwith Employee Involvement, Scientific problem solving and Customer delight as their apex.All his preaching has been consolidated into 14 important points called as Deming’s 14points. Besides this he has also brought out what is known as Deadly Diseases of Americanindustry after a diagnostic study of the American industry. These are :

Lack of Constancy Purpose

Emphasis on Short term profits

Performance Evaluation and Merit rating

Management by visible figures with no consideration for hidden data.

His recent works in 1990’s are on captioned topics such as :

System of profound Knowledge

Appreciation for a system

Knowledge of statistical theory

Theory of knowledge

Knowledge of psychology


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JOSEPH M. JURAN

Dr. Juran was born in 1904, and started his career as an Engineer in 1924. Hispioneering work in Quality was to bring out of a Hand Book in 1951. Even in those days hehad put much emphasis in the cost of Quality that the very First chapter in his Hand bookwas of Quality titled as ‘‘There is Gold in the Mine’’.

He was invited to Japan in 1954 by the JUSE. He wrote several books on QualityManagement and 12 of such books were eventually translated into 13 languages. He shotto fame very fast and evidently received more than 30 Medals from about 12 countries allover the world. He also received the prestigious Second order of the Sacred Treasure fromthe emperor of Japan.

His Philosophy was on Improvement orientation. His preaching popularly known asthe Quality Trilogy consisting of Quality planning, Quality Control and Quality improvementhad contributed very significantly to the quality management in the early days. Juran’sQuality Spiral traces interactions between Quality and various activities in a product lifecycle. He has recommended a Road Map for Quality improvement beginning with theCustomer identification ending with the productionisation.

Dr. Juran is sceptical about the Quality circles and Zero Defect movements becausehe strongly believes that 80% of the problems are management controllable. The solutionaccording to him lies in training the top management on Quality to start with.

Dr. Juran has started an institution for training and promotion of quality in UScalled Juran’s Institute for Quality Management.

ARMAND V. FEIGENBAUM

Born in US secured his PhD from MIT. He authored the first book titled ‘Total QualityControl’. He headed the Quality Department of General Electric – USA, where he laterbecame the World wide Director. He became the President of the General Systems Co. Ltd.USA. He was the founder Chairman of International Academy for Quality and also thePresident of the American Society for Quality Control. He is winner of several awardsincluding the famous Edward’s Medal and the Lancaster Medal at USA. He is also a Memberon the Board of Malcolm Balridge National Quality Award Program.

His philosophy was focused on comprehensive QC program with a specific focus onthe Business Quality. He propose a 4 step approach for the Quality Control viz., SetStandards, appraise conformance to standard, Act on deviation and constantly improveStandards. He stressed the need for use of statistics for overall administration of Quality.He also broke the quality cost into the constituent elements like the appraisal, preventionand the failure cost. His crucial contribution to Quality management is to create a processof Benchmarking for the Total Quality Management.

Dr. KAORU ISHIKAWA

Ishikawa was born in Japan in 1915, and in 1939 got his Graduate degree inEngineering from Tokyo University. He became the Associate professor in Tokyo Universityin 1947 and did his PhD in Engineering to be elevated as Professor in 1960. Among thecitations received by him PhD in Engineering to be elevated as professor in 1960. Amongthe citations received by him the important ones are, Winner of Deming’s Prize, NihonKeizai Prize and the Industrial Standardisation Prize. He was the Grant Awarded fromASQC in 1971. He is the author of several books like Guide to Quality Control, What isTQC and the Japanese way.


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He pioneered Quality Control Circles QCC movement in Japan in 1960’s. He simplifiedapplication of Statistical tools through the well known Q 7 tools for shop floor operators.He is inventor of the cause and effect diagram also known as Ishikawa diagrams. He wasclosely associated with the Company Wide Quality Control movement in Japan between1955 to 1960.

Dr. GENICHI TAGUCHI

Dr. Taguchi is born in 1924. He started his career from Naval Institute of Japanbetween 1942-45 and then with Ministry of Public Health and Welfare. Later he joinedMinistry of Education subsequently moved to Nippon Telephone at Japan.

Taguchi is the inventor of the famous Orthogonal array OA techniques for the designof Experimentation. He published his first book on OA in 1951. Taguchi also visited IndianStatistical Institute between 1954–55. He wrote a book on Design of Experiments.

Dr. Taguchi did his PhD from Kyushu University, Japan and become the visitingprofessor, at the Princeton University USA in 1952. Later Professor at Aoyama Universityin 1964. He has the privilege of becoming the national Professor Japan. He also worked forthe Bell Laboratories USA.

Dr. Taguchi’s philosophy is Robust Engineering Design. He blended statistics withEngineering Applications and Pioneered work in Industrial Experimentation. He is alsothe innovator of the Quality Loss Function concept and promoted Robust design. Relatedto this he propagated Signal-to-Noise Ratio Phenomenon in SPC. He developed a threestage off line QC Methods Viz., System design, Parameter design and Tolerance design.

SHIGEO SHINGO

Shingo was born in 1909 and graduated in Mechanical Engineering in the year1930. He then joined Taipei Railway Factory at Taiwan in 1940 subsequently become aconsultant for the Japan Management Association in 1945. He became the Head ofEducation Department with Japanese Govt. in 1951. He joined Toyota Motor Company.,as Head of Industrial Engineering including 100 supplier companies in the year 1955. Heset a world record in cycle time reduction from 4 months to 2 months in hull assembly of65000 tons supertanker at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. He also become the President ofthe Institute of Management improvement in 1962.

Shigeo Shingo has done pioneering work on the Shop floor Quality control techniques.He introduced the famous POKA-YOKE in manufacturing systems by preventive measures.He promoted ZERO DEFECT concept. He is the originator of Single Minute Exchange ofDies SMED techniques. His works in the manufacturing area short him to fame and soonhe became the Successful Trainer for Dalmer Benz West Germany, Buhler Switzerland,Federal Mogul, Livernos Automation USA. He was also the Consultant for the Citeron,Peugeot (France) Daihatsu, Yamaha, Mazda, Sharp Corpn, Fuji Inds, Nippon, Hitachi,Sony, Olympus in Japan. He is the author of about 14 books. He applied ZD Concept atthe Matsushita Washing Machine by introducing the Poka-Yoke system.

PHILIP B. CROSBY

Crosby born in USA was graduated from Western Reserve University. He joined theUS naval service during Korean War. He then became the Quality Manager, of PershingMissile Program. Later he joined ITT as Director, Quality. He wrote several books mostpopular among them are Quality is Free in 1979. He is Founder President of the PhilipCrosby Associates since 1979 and also established Quality College at Florida.


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Philip Crosby’s philosophy is based on Preventive Management. He pioneered ‘Do ItRight First Time’ and ‘Zero defect’ concepts. He defined Quality in terms conformance torequirements that the customer has set. He analysed and found that on an average 20%–30%of the revenue in any organisation is spent on Reworks. He said that his Zero Defectmeans that the company does not start out expecting defects or mistakes. All his work canbe comprehenced in what is known as 4 Absolutes of Quality Management. These are becomprehenced in what is known as 4 Absolutes of Quality Management. These are :

Quality is conformance to requirements

Prevention causes Quality not appraisal

Performance standard must be Zero Defect

Measure of Quality is cost of poor quality and nothing else.

He has identified 5 characters of eternally successful organisations and has recom-mended 14 steps for Quality improvement.

TOM PETERS

Tom Peters is educated in Engineering and Business. He began his career with USNavy service and then became the Principal of McKensy and Co. Later he formed his ownTom Peter’s Group Co., in USA. Based on the study of 43 excellent large US companies, hewrote his first Book ‘‘In Search of Excellence’’ in 1982 followed by ‘‘A Passion for Excel-lence’’, and then ‘‘Thriving on Chaos’’ 1988.

His philosophy is based widely on Systems and Leadership. He created QualityManagement model with Leadership at the hub and People. Innovation and Customerrespectively on three sides of a triangle. He suggests Leader to primarily be engaged inListening and Facilitating. He has listed 12 important traits of successful US companieslike Obsessions with Quality, passionate systems, Measurement of Quality, Quality basedrewards, Training in quality for all, Multifunction teams, Factory in factory, Creation ofnew goals/themes, Parallel organisation for Quality Improvement, Involvement, Cost re-duction and continuous improvement.

CLAUS MOLLER

Claus Moller is a Danish economist born in 1950’s. He founded his own companycalled ‘‘TIME MANAGER INTERNATIONAL’’. He designed a very popular Managementprogram titled ‘‘PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST ’’ and trained several thousand people throughthat. Prominent among them include Japan Airlines, Russia, European EconomicCommunity where more than 16000 people were trained from about 48 companies. Hesubsequently designed another successful program with focus on Job Satisfaction andTeam work called ‘‘MANAGEMENT FOR EVERYONE’’. He worked on inter personal relations,reduction in bureaucracy for commission workers at Luxemberg and Brussels. He authoredthe very famous book titled ‘‘Personal Quality’’ in 1988.

His philisophy has deep emphasis on concept of personal quality which means settingof ideal performance level and actual performance level standards for personal quality. Hesays ideal performance is the goal and lists 12 golden rules to improve actual performanceof individuals. These rules are :

Set personal Goals, Establish Personal Quality account, Check satisfaction of yourcustomer, Treat NOAC, Avoid errors, Perform Effectively, Utilise resources, commit, selfdiscipline, control stress, be ethical and demand quality. Besides he also has listed 17 hallmarks of Quality.


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THE FIVE PRINCIPLES OF TQM

Focus on Customer

Measure andRecord

Communicateand educate

Do it rightDo it together

Fig. 3.1. Principles of Total Quality Management.

1. Concentrate on the customer

Be customer focused

2. Do it right

Do it right first time

Constantly improve

Quality is an attitude not a inspection process

3. Communication and educate

Tell staff what is going on

Educate and train

4. Measure and record

Measure work

5. Do it together

Top management must be invovled

Empower the staff

Make the business a good place to work

Organise by process not function

HISTORY OF QUALITY CONTROL IN INDIA

The history of quality control or statistical quality control in India can be traced thus.

1928 – Prof. P.C. Mahalonobis initiated statistical studies and resources in theirstatistical laboratory, setup in the presidency college. Calcutta.

1931 – The Indian Statistical Institute was found by Prof. P.C. Mahalonobis.

1932 – The Indian Statistical Institute got recognition in the form of a learnedsociety under the societies. Registration Act.


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1948 – Dr. W.A. Shewart visited the industrial centers in India.

1952 – A team of UN experts visited India to train personel in the routine use ofquality control.

1959 – The parliament of India enacted the India Statistical Institute Act declaringthe institute to be of national important and empowering it to awardDegrees and Diplomas.

Dr. W.E. Deming, Dr. J.M. Juran, Prof. Genichi Taguchi and Dr. Kaonu Ishikawavisited India. It’s of interest to note that seeds of statistical studies and researchers weresown to India in 1928 and compared to January 1949 in Japan. Dr. Deming and Dr. Juranvisited India and Japan almost during the same decade. But the massive investment madeby Japan in education and training the implementation of these techniques with a senseof mission and commitment has made all the difference.

Fig. 3.2. Benefits of Total Quality Management.

Involvement of Management in TQM

The involvement of management is very much necessary to make TQM a success inany organisation. Certain steps can be taken by senior managers to facilitate TQM. Theyare :

➜ Decide the purpose of introducing TQM management must know its goal.

✰ What do you want to achieve out of this TQM program must be determined,otherwise the program will lack direction.

✰ Empowerment of staff, reduction of defects, improving customer loyalty etc.,

➜ Devote necessary time for the program. TQM programs take away substantial partof the manager’s time and if they are not ready to spare it the program will nevertake off.


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➜ Employee participation in every level should be encouraged. The involvement ofthe people in the organisation will ensure the success of TQM program.

➜ Train people. Making sure the managers are well trained in TQM, by personalchecking and even conducting key quality training courses.

➜ The organisation must give some time for it to work : Managers might spend weeksin training, but results might not be visible immediately. It takes a long time fororganisation to change their culture and attitudes, this essentially means thatresults will take several years to show up their face. This time lag involved inbetween the amount of efforts put in and the results to surface, puts many managersto loose interest in TQM.

➜ Maintain close contact with customer. And if needed, represent the customer interestin solving problems. Recognise efforts, Get personally involved in quality awards.

➜ Be prepared for resistance. People fear change, because it could lead to redundancy,which means that staff will be apprehensive and sceptical about the TQM Program.Many a time the staff simply wants to maintain their status quo, because they arefamiliar with it.

➜ Introduce new employees to quality values. Conduct orientation programs to showthem the organisation level of commitment.

➜ Visiting other organisation who have implemented TQM will give a view of thebenefits of TQM and you can learn how it should be applied. Often a group of youremployees can make a visit to a non-competing company where the TQM managerwill be pleased to show you around.

➜ Communication of quality to all the levels of the organisation. This is done by amonthly video film on quality, which will be viewed by all employees.

➜ The organisation has to commit a lot of money towards TQM program is the form ofsalary to a full-time TQM co-ordinator in case of an in-house program, paymentsfor training courses. In addition, a lot of senior managers of visiting other compa-nies. The organisation may also spend on give-away like printed is using a consul-tancy for this purpose, it will have to pay its fees.

➜ Emphasize continuous improvement encourage everyone to do better.

➜ Investments must be managed. TQM efforts will bring in solution and if thesesolution are not implemented the staff be disillusioned.

➜ Break down barriers to cross-functional co-operation.

➜ Nominate a TQM facilitator, a TQM director, and set up a quality council. Thequality facilitator will have day to day responsibility for TQM, he will remind adviceand encourage staff about TQM.

Qualityfacilitator

Top Management

Project teams

Line Management

Board membersfor quality

QualityCouncil

Fig. 3.3. Structure for TQM.


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If the organisation is large, the TQM faciliator will report to a board member,otherwise to the chief executive. The quality council or the TQM steering committeeis constituted of top managers and it’s the deciding authority on TQM matters. Thequality council should comprise the quality manager, TQM facilitator senior linemanagement and atleast one member of the board.

➜ Get rid of unnecessary distinctions. Some companies have abolished somemanagement titles and eliminated perquisites.

➜ Set mission and values and make sure they are communicated to every employee.

Preparing Managers for TQM

While preparing managers for TQM the following three factors have to be considered.

1. Managers must be empowered. They are expected to further delegate this and ifthey don’t have power and resources at their disposal, how will they delegate it.

2. Manager must evaluate their style. They will have to consider the way they aredoing their jobs currently and how they will have to change as TQM is introduced.

3. Management training at TQM has to be given careful attention. This will aquaintmanagers with TQM, dispose them favourably towards TQM, show them ways ofgradually introducing TQM ideas, and convince them of TQM’s benefits and gains.

TQM ORGANIZATION

TQM Program

Continuous improvement

Reduce wasteAnd error

SatisfactionCustomer’s needs

ReduceCosts

Increasesales

Increased profit

Fig. 3.4. Total Quality Management Organization.

TQM Program creates continuous improvement. This leads to reduction in errorsand waste, which in turn leads to customer satisfaction. The benefit of this to the com-pany is in the form of reduced costs and increased sales, which basically means increasedprofits.


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