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Why Quality Management?
Quality improvement is
integral to
running a business the smart way. To drive responsibility for
the quality process through the ranks of your organization, you should assess
individual contributions to the quality
process as part of every employee's periodic review.
Quality Is
a Must, but
Not
a Guarantee of Success
Quality is now expected by consumers and is ceasing to be a
point of differentiation. When developing your
differentiation strategy, keep in mind that quality is no longer is a
differentiator in the world of marketing; it is a prerequisite. You cannot
build a powerful brand without it. But quality is an expectation, not a
tiebreaker. Quality is a given these days, not difference.4
The
New
Definition of Quality
Past definitions of quality focused on conformance to
standards. Such definitions focused exclusively on the
customer's perception of
quality and didn't take into consideration how these standards are met –
through defect prevention or a considerable rework of a specific part or
service. In addition, past definitions of quality often overlooked the fact
that product or services rarely consist of a single element.
The new definition of quality focuses on achieving "value
entitlement."3 It defines quality as a state in which value
entitlement is realized for the customer and provider in every aspect
of the business relationship. "Value" represents economic worth, practical
utility, and availability for both the customer and the company that creates
the product or service.
"Value entitlement" means:
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For the customer – a rightful level of expectation to buy high-quality
products at the lowest possible cost.
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For the provider – a rightful level of expectation to produce quality
products at the highest possible profits.
Customer's Perspective of
Quality
Customer expectations are
continuously increasing. Brand loyalty
is a thing of the past. Customers seek out products and producers that are
best able to satisfy their requirements...
More
Total
Quality Management (TQM)
TQM refers to an integrated
approach by management to focus all functions and levels of an organization
on quality and
continuous improvement. TQM focuses on
encouraging a continuous flow of incremental improvements from the bottom of
the organization's hierarchy. TQM is not a complete solution formula as
viewed by many –
formulas can not solve managerial problems, but a lasting
commitment to the process of continuous improvement...
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Case in Point
Benefits of
Business Process Management
The payoffs of
process
mastery can be breathtaking. Costs melt away, quality goes through the roof,
and time spans shrink to a fraction of what they were. In 1999 Hammer and
Company5 surveyed dozens of companies that had adopted the process
approach to work and business.
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In order fulfilment,
cycle times had typically decreased by 60% to 90%
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"Perfect orders" (those
delivered on time, with no mistakes) had increased by 25%
Six Sigma
While traditional quality programs have focused on detecting
and correcting defects, Six Sigma encompasses something broader: It provides
specific methods to re-create the process itself so that defects are never
produced in the first place...
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Case in Point
Quality Measures at General Electric (GE)
Jack Welch, the former legendary CEO of GE,
made quality the job of every employee. Senior manager's bonuses were
tied to Six Sigma results.
Welch credits the Six Sigma quality
initiative with "changing the DNA of the company", meaning that it has had
a greater impact on the productivity of GE than
any other program. To help their businesses to track progress in the six
sigma program, GE designed
five corporate measures: Customer satisfaction; Cost of poor quality;
Supplier quality; Internal performance; and Design for manufacturability...
Kaizen & Quality Control Circles
TQC is a management tool for improving total
performance. TQC means organized Kaizen activities
involving everyone in a company - managers and workers – in a totally
systemic and integrated effort toward improving performance at every level.
It is to lead to increased
customer satisfaction through satisfying such
corporate cross-functional goals as quality, cost, scheduling, manpower
development, and new product development...
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Case in Point
Canon
The objectives of Canon
Production System (CPS) are to manufacture better quality
products at lower cost and deliver them faster. To achieve these
goals, 9 wastes are to be eliminated.
Be the Best Possible
10 Tips by
Ten3 NZ Ltd.
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Quality is not just product related.
Quality is not just the product; it's a combination of the product and
"add-ons," i.e. packaging, availability, convenience of use and
value adding customer service, etc. The same applies to you in
the employment market. Possessing a tertiary qualification may only get
you 50% of the way towards being internally promoted or externally
employed. The other 50% will depend upon what your acquired
"add-ons" are, i.e. what makes you more valuable than your competitor in
the mind of potential employers/customers. Ask yourself "what
value adding skills have I acquired and applied to my work within the
past 2 years that demonstrate skill flexibility, continuing career
development and quality as an employee?"...
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TPS-Lean Six Sigma
TPS-Lean Six Sigma is like a ‘turbo-charged’ Lean Six Sigma program.
TPS-Lean Six Sigma is a revolutionary, holistic
concept. It actively has human capital embedded in Lean Six Sigma in a
manner that not only stimulates commitment, integrity, work-life
balance, passion,
enjoyment at work and
employee engagement but also stimulates individual and team learning in
order to develop a motivated workforce and sustainable
performance improvement and
quality enhancement for the organization.
Integrated Environmental & Quality
Management System
A recent market study concluded that
full integration between ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001 was possible and
it was easiest for organizations that had structured their ISO 9001
Quality Management System together with their
business processes and such integration could lead to valuable
synergies...
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