Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
4, 1996, 379-384
Abstract This paper describes the result of a survey carried out in manufacturing environments to
find out future trends and current implementation difficulties of quality management schemes. There
is some evidence from the survey that the future of manufacturing systems lies within total information
integration. Some of the companies have already achieved partial integration and many are
considering establishing a totally integrated understanding of management. A total quality manage-
ment (TQM) philosophy can play a major role in leading towards such total integration, which
would probably result in new forms of management. Currently, it is also interesting to find that the
required quality data are gathered on the shopfloor and then processed by middle management, but
do not influence top management quality policies as much as might be expected. However, TQM
based on continuous improvement is seen as a competitive advantage, although many companies and
industries interpret it differently. It seems that the new highway towards the factory of the future is
illuminated by quality management.
Introduction
Nowadays, in many cases, a good quality management scheme can be a survival factor and
can even be the key to prosperity. Manufacturers now concentrate on quality as a contempor-
ary competitive advantage in the international market. Using this advantage in the right way
broadens the frontiers of a company. It requires companies to be careful about certain things
when it comes to the implementation of total quality management (TQM). Eor instance, as
is identified by Bertram (1991) and many other researchers (see, for example, Kanji & Asher,
1993; Oakland, 1993), it is very difficult to implement TQM if top management fails to
recognize its importance. Bertram said that the lack of top level commitment is the main
reason for the upwards of 80% failure rate on TQM programmes. Another important factor
in implementing a TQM programme is communication. Quimby et al. (1991) define
communication as encompassing all the ways and functions to support quality improvement.
They say quality is about change, change is about behaviour and behaviour is about
communication. Thus, they use communication to mean any interaction that increases the
probability of changed behaviour.
Furthermore, Gundogan and Kay (1995) have summarized that in general the basic
concepts of TQM are seen as customer satisfaction, continuous improvement, total quality
control, continuous education and training, and total employee involvement. They state that
Correspondence to G. Groves.
0954-4127/96/040379-06 56.00 1996 Journals Oxford Ltd
380 M. GUnuOGAN ET AL.
250 - Million
100-250 Million
25-100 iUillion
5-25 Million
0-5 Million
structural changes need to be made in the implementation of TQM and that these changes
are not easy because of their effects on other manufacturing management areas, such as
production planning and control, maintenance, product design and engineering.
Finance
Maintenance
Personnel Training
Supplier Info.
Production Planning
0 20 40 60 80 100
Figure 2. Current situation and future expectation with respect to the integration.
involvement (45%), but in the long term it was hoped that the experience gained would
shrink this requirement.
With the implementation of a TQM philosophy, companies had also experienced a
major beneficial change to their organization (35%) and 38% expected this benefit to be
increased in the future.
Overlappinq
responsibilities
Accountable but not
actionable for work
10 20 30
processing was unsatisfactory. The root cause for this might be the lack of feedback from top
management.
management scheme into small well-defined integrated activities. However, if the span of
control was too large, some negative effects would be seen in quality management. This case
was also seen in the overlapping responsibilities. More than half of the respondents thought
that overlapping responsibilities created negative effects on quality management.
Finally, respondents were asked if they measure customer satisfaction and how. The
most important tool for customer satisfaction seemed to be monitoring customer complaints
(86yo). Analyzing product returns and warranties (59yo) was the second most important tool
for customer satisfaction. Keeping up with competition was also an important factor for
customer satisfaction. Sending out audit forms to be filled in, i.e. doing post-pack audits
(24%), and asking customers to complete an installation record or service card (7%) were the
least important measurements to be used to measure customer satisfaction.
Conclusions
Overall, the results of the survey gave some interesting and encouraging signals. The message
of quality as a strategic weapon for contemporary competitiveness seemed to be getting
through to the manufacturing environment. Companies have started thinking of systematiza-
tion of quality management and introducing it to non-production departments with an
integrated approach. It seems that this concept is established enough so that it is not only
managers who are responsible for quality, but also the employees who can actually make the
quality happen. The companies which have experienced a TQM implementation programme
expect that things will be better, easier and quicker in the long term. Hence, TQM frustration
seems to be diminishing. A considerable number of the respondents who had experienced a
TQM implementation indicated that it had made a major beneficial change to their organiza-
tions.
However, there are some areas for concern. The results of quality data analysis, although
they were adequately processed, did not appear to be influencing top management and
quality policies. Lack of performance feedback, work motivation, education and training
could jeopardize the commitment to quality management initiatives.
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