Understanding Total Quality Management and Its Impact on Operational Activities
Introduction
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a crucial aspect of operational management, emphasizing the significance of quality, customer satisfaction, and increasing profits through improved quality. This blog delves into various quality management tools, methodologies, and the application of TQM in organizational activities.
Quality Management in Operational Management
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Definition of quality: Quality is the level of excellence of something, encompassing features and characteristics that meet the needs of the customer.
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Three categories of quality: User-based quality, manufacturing-based quality, and product-based quality, with user-based quality being the most crucial for a successful product.
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Importance of quality: Quality significantly impacts a company’s reputation, product reliability, and global involvement, emphasizing the necessity of maintaining high standards.
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Costs of quality: Various costs associated with quality management, such as prevention costs, appraisal costs, internal failure costs, and external failure costs, each serving essential purposes in maintaining product quality.
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International quality standards: ISO 9000, ISO 9001, ISO 2000, and ISO 14000 play key roles in regulating and ensuring quality management in various aspects such as leadership, customer satisfaction, environmental management, and more.
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Total Quality Management (TQM): TQM involves organizational practices, quality principles, and worker fulfillment to ensure that every aspect of the product meets high-quality standards from inception to delivery.
Understanding Total Quality Management (TQM)
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Customer satisfaction is the initial activity to achieve total quality management (TQM). It involves leadership, defining the mission, establishing effective operating procedures, staff support and training, and achieving results.
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TQM focuses on customer satisfaction and aims to achieve competitive advantage for the organization. It emphasizes the importance of quality, customer satisfaction, and increasing profits through improved quality.
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Worker fulfillment in TQM is related to empowerment and organizational commitment. It looks at the work attitude that contributes to fulfilling the organization’s goals and values.
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TQM emphasizes the significance of customer satisfaction in driving repeat purchases and orders. It aims to understand how operational management can influence customers to repurchase goods and maintain loyalty to the brand.
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The core principles of TQM include prevention, continuous quality improvement, based on data and facts, leadership commitment to improving quality, and the implementation of the PDCA cycle. It also involves benchmarking, officer involvement, teamwork, and respecting humans as individuals.
Understanding the Six Sigma Methodology
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Six Sigma Methodology: The process of Six Sigma, also known as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control), aims to address problems and improve efficiency in product development and customer satisfaction.
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Divine Yang Diva: The first step in the Six Sigma methodology involves set-up initiatives to identify customer problems before creating a new product and address any potential issues at the initial stage.
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Data Collection and Analysis: Collecting and analyzing data is a key part of the Six Sigma process to understand the magnitude of customer problems and identify the root causes.
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Improvement and Implementation: After identifying the root causes, the focus is on implementing solutions to improve the product and customer satisfaction, ensuring that the company develops or solves the solution effectively.
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Employee Empowerment: Empowering employees by enlarging the scope of their work, giving them added responsibility and authority at the lowest possible level in the organization, and building a communication network for effective problem-solving.
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Quality Circles and Benchmarking: Utilizing quality circles and benchmarking to set targets, develop standards, and measure performance to ensure continuous improvement in product quality and customer satisfaction.
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Just-In-Time (JIT) Manufacturing: Implementing JIT manufacturing to produce goods based on demand, reduce stockholding costs, improve supplier relations, increase employee work motivation, and optimize factory space for production.
Quality Management Tools in Manufacturing
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Taguchi’s concept of quality and quantity targets
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TQM work tools including check sheets, scatter diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, Pareto diagrams, histogram, and statistical process control flow diagrams
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Explanation of the TQM work tool ‘Check Sheet’
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Explanation of the TQM work tool ‘Scatter Diagram’
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Explanation of the TQM work tool ‘Cause and Effect Diagram’
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Explanation of the TQM work tool ‘Pareto Diagram’
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Explanation of the TQM work tool ‘Flow Diagram’
Total Quality Management (TQM) Tool and Its Application
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The TQM process begins with students identifying a place to study, preparing the transcript, and consulting with the coordinator for the topic location and supervisor’s approval.
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If the supervisor approves, the student submits a legalized application letter to the department. If not, the student revises the transcript, looks for a new place, and re-determines the topic.
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Once the application is accepted, the student reports to the supervisory GOR instructor. This flow diagram exemplifies the TQM tool in action.
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TQM also utilize a histogram, which similar to a Pareto diagram, displays the value of a calculation and the frequency of each value. It is used for statistical process control and standard monitoring.
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In an organization, TQM is crucial across various departments including marketing, sales, research, engineering, purchasing, human resources, management, packing and storage, shipping, and support for after sales.
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TQM emphasizes the importance of collaboration with suppliers to meet customer expectations and adopts quality programs. Additionally, customer satisfaction is a key goal, which requires a form of measurement system such as customer surveys.
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Information technology is integral in monitoring and controlling quality within an organization. The IT system must be structured to meet the requirements of the TQM system and support all functions and processes.
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TQM significantly impacts operational activities, extending from marketing to information systems and technology. It emphasizes the need for appropriate data storage and access to facilitate analysis.
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In the context of service quality, TQM considers dimensions such as reliability, responsiveness, empathy, and assurance. These dimensions are essential for meeting consumers’ expectations and ensuring the quality of services provided.
Conclusion
Total Quality Management is an essential component in ensuring high-quality standards in operational activities. Its principles, tools, and methodologies play a crucial role in maintaining product quality, customer satisfaction, and organizational success.