ASSIGNMENT NO1

1. Define the term quality. -

In manufacturing, a measure of excellence or a state of being free from defects,
deficiencies and significant variations. It is brought about by strict and consistent
commitment to certain standards that achieve uniformity of a product in order to
satisfy specific customer or user requirements. ISO 8402-1986 standard defines
quality as "the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears
its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs." If an automobile company finds a defect
in one of their cars and makes a product recall, customer reliability and therefore
production will decrease because trust will be lost in the car's quality.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/quality.html

2. What is total quality?

Total quality management (TQM) is the continual process of detecting and reducing
or eliminating errors in manufacturing, streamlining supply chain management,
improving the customer experience, and ensuring that employees are up to speed with
training. Total quality management aims to hold all parties involved in the production
process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service.

3. List and explain the key elements of total quality.

The eight elements are categorized into groups of four depending on their function. The groups
are:

1. Foundation:

The entire process of Total Quality Management lies on the foundation of the elements
consisting of ethics, integrity, and trust. TQM involves every employee in this level irrespective
of their designation.

Ethics:

Ethics is an element that is concerned with the understanding of the good and bad in any
situation at the workplace. It is a subject related to the organization as well as the individual.
Ethics of an organization set up the business code which outlines the guidelines that every
employee is expected to follow. The individual ethics incorporate the rights and wrongs.

Integrity:

Integrity is an element which refers to the morals, honesty, values, and sincerity of an individual
in the organization. It involves respecting fellow workers and the policies of the organization.
This is one of the important characteristics for which the customers expect.
Trust:

The by-product of ethical conduct and integrity is trust. The framework of Total Quality
Management cannot be built without trust. It stimulates complete participation of all members in
the organization. It improves the relationship among employees which helps in better decision
making. It also promotes continuous improvement by individual risk-taking.

2. Building bricks:

Based on the foundation of ethics, integrity, and trust, bricks are a collection of elements which
are placed in order to reach the roof of recognition. The elements of the building bricks include:

Training:

To be highly productive, employees must be trained. This responsibility falls solely on the
supervisors who are responsible for implementing Total Quality Management in their respective
departments. Employees must be trained under decision making, problem-solving, interpersonal
skills, technical skills, and business economics. This is done so that the employees can work
effectively and produce efficient results.

Teamwork:

Teamwork is a crucial element of TQM. It helps the business to receive effective and efficient
solutions to the problems. Teams also provide a permanent improvement in process and
operation. TQM organizations usually adopt three types of teams. They are:

 Quality improvement team: Also known as excellence teams whose purpose is to deal
with the problems that recur often. They are set up for 3 to 12 months.
 Problem-solving team: These teams are set up to solve certain problems and also to
identify the root cause of those problems. They usually last from 1 week to 3 months.
 Natural work team: These teams consist of a group of skilled individuals who share
responsibilities and tasks. They usually work for an hour to two every week.

Leadership:

Leadership is a quality trait of a person who provides an inspiring vision to the team and sets
strategic directions to be understood by all. This is one of the crucial elements which must be
constructive, effective and positive.

3. Binding mortar:

Binding mortar is an element which binds all the other elements together. The key element of
this category is Communication.
Communication:

Communication binds the organization together and is the core element of success. It is
necessary to make sure that all the levels of communication among the suppliers, member and
the customers are kept open. The communication among employees or the members of the
organization is done in three ways. They are:

 Downward communication: Downward communication is the central form of

communication in any organization. It is basically done through discussions and
presentations.
 Upward communication: Upward communication provides a platform to build trust
amongst the employees and the supervisors.
 Sideways communication: This type of communication takes place among various
departments. It allows dealing with customers and suppliers in a professional way and
helps break down the barriers between the departments.

4. Roof:

The roof consists of a final element which tops off all the other elements of TQM. It is called
recognition.

Recognition:

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This element involves the suggestions and achievements for the teams and the individuals
including positive feedback and encouragement. Every employee seeks recognition and it is the
duty of the supervisor to detect and recognize the contributors and motivate them. This increases
self-esteem and boosts performance and morale in an individual.

Conclusion:

These elements help an organization to effectively implement total quality and ensure they meet
all the requirements of its customers. This helps them to focus on customer satisfaction and can
help in the growth of the organization.

Various tools can be used to implement TQM such as PDCA cycle, fishbone diagrams,
histograms etc. These tools help can be used in any situation and can provide efficient outputs
when used correctly.

4. Explain the rationale for the total quality approach to doing business.
5. Describe the following concepts:
a. Deming’s Fourteen Points
 b. The Deming Cycle
c. Deming’s Seven Deadly Diseases

6. List and explain Juran’s main contributions to the quality movement.

Juran's three Basic Steps to Progress. These are broad steps that, in Juran's opinion,
companies must take if they are to achieveworld-class quality. He also believes there is a point of
diminishing return that applies toquality and competitiveness. 1. Achieve structured
improvements on a continual basis combined with dedication and a sense of urgency. 2.
Establish an extensive training program. 3. Establish commitment and leadership on the part of
higher management Juran’s Ten Steps to Quality Improvement Ten steps which overlap with
Deming's Fourteen Points. They mesh well with the philosophy of quality experts. 1. Build
awareness of both the need for improvement and opportunities for improvement. 2. Set goals for
improvement. 3. Organize to meet the goals that have been set. 4. Provide training. 5. Implement
projects aimed at solving problems. 6. Report progress. 7. Give recognition. 8. Communicate
results. 9. Keep score. 10. Maintain momentum by building improvement into the company's
regular systems. The Pareto Principle According to this principle, organizations should
concentrate their energy on eliminating the vital few sources that cause the majority of problems.
This principle is sometimes called the 80/20 rule. 80% of the trouble comes from 20% of the
problems. Though named for turn-of-the-century economist, Vilfredo Pareto, it was Dr. Juran
who applied this
idea to management. Dr. Juran advises us to concentrate on the vital few sources of problems and
not be distracted by those of lesser importance. The Juran Trilogy The Juran Trilogy summarizes
the three primary managerial functions. They are: Quality Planning, Quality Control, and Quality
Improvement 6. Why do some quality initiatives fail? When organizations approach total quality
as just another management innovation or, even worse, as a quick fix, their efforts are doomed to
fail from the start.

7. Why do some quality initiatives fail?

Top Reasons Why Quality Management Initiatives Fail

Pre-Stage One: Why No Change May Be Accomplished at All?

1. Fragmented, partial approaches. "Empowerment, without a clear strategy is chaos."

2. Poor communication. Few people really understand the program.
3. Training not tied to real problems. No "action learning."

Stage One: Conformance Quality, Small Improvements Achieved, but Little Else

4. Internal focus: Quality Management effort not aimed at the customer.

5. Focus solely on cleaning up messes rather than delivering superior products and
customer service.
6. Imposition of a rigid, predetermined Quality Management program on the
organization.

Stage Two: "Customer Satisfaction." Real Improvements Achieved for Customers, but
Not Enough to Create a Competitive Organization

7. Focus on our performance instead of how customers view our performance versus
our competitors.
8. Market research neglects key determinants of customer satisfaction, or isn't
adequately analyzed or communicated.
9. Quality Management effort not aligned with the whole targeted market.
10. Quality Management effort not connected to competitive strategy or business
results.

Stage Three: Market-Perceived Quality, Performance Is Compared with Competitors,

but Real Strategic Advantage Isn't Achieved

11. Companies adopt customer value slogans but don't carefully develop competitive
metrics.
12. Segments within the targeted market are not clearly understood.
13. Customers won and lost are poorly analyzed, so key market-driving factors are
poorly understood.
14. Inadequate quality effort in innovation and cycle time.

8. For what contributions to the quality movement is Philip B. Crosby known?

Philip Crosby is a noted quality professional, author, and consultant who is widely known
for promoting the concept of “zero defects” and for attempting to define quality from the
viewpoint of conformance to requirements.

He was born in West Virginia in 1926. He graduated from Western Reserve University and
rendered service in the Navy during World War II and then again in the Korean War. He
graduated from the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine. His working life started on the assembly
line in 1952 at the Crosley Corporation, later switching on to the Bendix Corporation in 1955.
After two years, he joined as a senior quality engineer at The Martin Company in Florida where
he developed and implemented the zero defects concept.

In 1965 Crosby was promoted to the position of the Corporate Vice President and Director of
Quality at the ITT Corporation for 14 years. Due to the magnitude of response to his book
“Quality is Free,” he left the ITT Corporation and started his own consultancy company, Philip
Crosby Associates, and as defined in his book, started explaining quality principles & practices
to organizations.

His company was floated in 1985 for $30 million. In 1991, he launched Career IV Inc, a
consultancy firm advising on the development of senior executives after his retirement from
Philip Crosby Associates. On the quality crisis, Crosby devised the principle of “doing it right
the first time” (DIRFT). He also included four major principles:

1. The definition of quality is conformance to product and customer’s requirements.

2. Prevention is the system of quality.
3. Zero Defects should be the performance standard.
4. Quality measurement is the price of non-conformance

He believed that establishment of good quality management principles in organizations will have
more savings returns than what the organization pays for the cost of the quality system. Crosby
stated that since “quality is free” it is less expensive to do it right the first time rather than paying
for repairs and reworks.

9. Summarize the most common errors made when starting quality initiatives.
The most common errors made when starting quality initiatives include:

 Senior management delegation and poor leadership: delegating quality responsibility

to an outside expert rather than having the proper leadership necessary to get everyone
involved.
 Team mania: creating teams before establishing corporate culture and ensuring that
employees understand how to work in teams and supervisors understand how to lead and
coach.
 Deployment process: creating quality initiatives without having the proper plans in place
for integrating them into the elements of the organization.
 Taking a narrow, dogmatic approach: attempting to apply total quality approaches,
such as the Deming Cycle, to the organization as a one-size-fits-all proposition rather
than considering individual organizational needs.
 Confusion about the differences among education, awareness, inspiration, and skill
building: not providing the right education to employees for them to generate the skills
necessary to implement total quality approaches.

10. Explain the trends that are affecting the future of quality management.

Quality Management History

Concepts behind quality management first sprang to light when Henry Ford introduced assembly
line manufacturing. W. Edwards Deming took the next leap forward by introducing total quality
management ideals focused on managing processes to make things right the first time without
creating defects. Using TQM concepts, Toyota then introduced the Toyota production system,
which in turn focused on building greater efficiency into production processes, a concept more
broadly known as lean manufacturing.
From Value to Supply
In recent decades, the idea of quality management has extended beyond the manufacturing floor
into the entire value chain, from finance to warehousing and every process in between. Even
supply chain management processes build upon quality management principles. Quality
management in all business processes has become the expectation rather than the exception.
Customers increasingly demand suppliers implement effective quality management systems --
and companies that can’t meet this demand are losing their competitive edge.

Across Industries
The American Society for Quality originally formed to help American industries build upon the
strides made in quality management after World War II. ASQ has since extended its reach into
other industries, such as education, health care and construction. Information technology groups
and software developers have also adopted quality management approaches. The recognition that
quality management can apply to every business and every aspect of business seems to be an
unstoppable trend.

Quality Management Standards

ISO-9001 is a documented set of requirements internationally recognized as a best-practice
approach to establishing effective and efficient quality management systems. Other standards
issued by the International Organization for Standardization can integrate rather than contradict
ISO-9001 principles. Expect to see more cross-pollination of ISO-9001 quality management
system concepts into other management system types and standards, such as those addressing
workplace safety and environmental systems.

Lean
ISO-9001 calls for companies to pursue continual improvement of process efficiency. Two
popular improvement methodologies adopted by virtually all industries are six sigma and lean.
Look for an even greater push to incorporate these methodologies into individual companies’
quality management systems, if not in standards directly, with the strongest focus on the simplest
approach, which is Lean.

Sustainability
As the business world and consumer demands push for improvements to environmental
sustainability and social equity, ISO is also taking notice. ISO continually reviews and updates
its standards to meet evolving market expectations as well as to address the results of ongoing
research. Current strategies within ISO include recognizing that quality management systems can
play an important role in economic growth, with specific focus on the environmental and social
impacts company processes can have on the communities where they operate. Look for future
revisions to ISO-9001 to begin addressing these topics.