Elements of TQM

According to Kehoe (1996) the main components of TQM are as follows:

> Senior management commitment.

> Improvement orientation.

> Customer focus.

> Company-Wide improvement.

> Commitment to training and education.

> Ownership of the process.

> Emphasis on measurement and review.

> Teamwork.

In terms of activities these can be categorized into four main components. There are also subcomponents.

Ideas of Dr. W.E. Deming (14 points) and Dr. J.M. Juran (3 Points) became the basic quality management principles in Japanese companies. Japanese added an important dimension Viz. understanding the importance of grass root level employees and their role in the achievement of quality. All these principles and practices became the foundation of Total Quality Management and what the Japanese termed as CWQC.

When we say Total Quality Management we mean a new approach to improve product Quality and increase customer satisfaction on a continuous basis by restructuring traditional management practices. To sum up, the elements of total quality management are as follows:

1. Customer Satisfaction.

2. Employees involvement.

3. Morable of employees.

4. Quality control circles and suggestion system.

5. Higher revenue.

6. Lower cost.

7. Quality control.

8. Control of production.

9. Quality planning.

10. Quality improvement.

11. Quality implementation.

12. Quality assurance system.

13. Vendor control and quality in procurement.

14. Customer relationship management.

15. Total organization involvement.

16. Measurement information analysis.

17. Quality education and training.

18. Strategic quality management.

19. Leadership.

Basic concepts of TQM

1. Quality: The totality of features and characteristics of product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs of a customer.

2. Quality Policy: The overall quality intentions and directions of an organization as regards quality formally expressed by top management. The quality policy forms an element of the corporate policy and is authorized by top management.

3. Quality Management: The aspect of the overall management function that determines and implements quality policy. Quality management includes strategic planning, allocation of resources and other systematic activities for quality such as operations and evaluations.

4. Quality Assurance: Quality assurance are all those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy requirements of a customer. Unless the requirements of customer are fully reflected in the product or service, quality assurance will not be complete. Quality assurance serves as a management tool to provide confidence in supplier/manufacture in contractual situation.

While taking a broad view of quality control, we come across different words such as limits, tolerance, allowance, fit etc. These words are described in terms of below limits. Limits for a dimension or other unit of measurement are the two extreme permissible measurements for that dimension or unit.

5. Quality Control: Quality controls are operational techniques and activities that are used to fulfill requirements for quality. Quality control techniques and activities aim both, at monitoring a process and at eliminating causes of unsatisfactory performance at relevant stages of the production in order to achieve economic effectiveness of an organization.

6. Conformity: An affirmative indication or judgment that the supplier/manufacturer of a product or service has met the requirements of the relevant specifications, contact or regulations and also the state of meeting requirements, is the real test of quality.

7. “Quality Circle”: QC is a process that stimulates everyone to achieve greater satisfaction in the work environment. It is based on mutual trust and cooperation. It also includes group participation, information sharing and decision making. Its primary aim is to provide a better quality of working life to workmen at all levels in an organization. “QC is a small group of employees in the same work. work area or doing a similar type of work who voluntarily meet regularly for about an hour every week to identify, analyse and resolve wok-related problems, leading to improvement in their total performance and enrichment of their work life”.

Tolerance: The tolerance as a dimension or measurement is the difference between high and low limits of size for that dimension of measurement. It is the variation tolerated in the size of that dimension/measurement to cover reasonable imperfection.

Allowance: The allowance is the prescribed difference between the high limit for a shaft and the low limit for a hole to provide a certain class of fit.

Fit: The fit between two metal parts is the relationship existing between them with respect to the amount to play or interference which is framed when they are assembled together. A fit can vary between a heavy drive to a coarse clearance and Indian Standard Institute lists.

Quality control procedures are primarily concerned with the quality of conformance. Quality control technique have also helped in improving the quality of design, resulting from the analysis of consumer’s reaction and production problem.

Statistical process control (SPC), quality control circles (QCC), quality cost analysis and many other subsystems and tools are perceived as useful, even essential, to a Total Quality Control (TQC) effort.

The basic concept of TQM are : customers-orientation (both internal and external), never-ending improvement , statistical control of business processes, upstream preventive maintenance, participative management, on going preventive action, cross-functional management and committed leadership and commitment.