Total quality management (TQM)

Total quality management?(TQM)

Total quality management?(TQM) consists of organization-wide efforts to "install and make permanent climate where employees?continuously improve?their ability to provide on-demand products and services that customers will find of particular value. Total emphasizes that departments in addition to production (for example engineering and design) are obligated to improve their operations; "management" emphasizes that executives are obligated to actively manage quality through funding, training, staffing, and goal setting. TQM efforts typically draw heavily on the previously developed tools and techniques of?quality control.

TQM describes the culture, attitude, and organization of a company striving to produce high-quality products and services that meet or exceed customer expectations. TQM enjoyed widespread attention during the late 1980s and early 1990s and its?quality management concepts have been implemented by?automotive?companies?such as Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, and Toyota Motor Company.

The automotive industry needs a powerful TQM in place to identify, track, and resolve product issues before products are delivered to the market. This allows them to meet compliance and operational excellence, ensuring that industry best practices are being followed across the organization.

·???????Enhance Product quality

·???????Compliance with Industry Standards

·???????Customer Satisfaction and Retention

·???????Reduced Time-to-Market

·???????Reduced Overhead Expenses

·???????Supplier Quality Management

Customer Focus

Built upon the understanding that the quality value of a product is reduced if it does not meet the customer’s needs, the customer focus concept states that the client’s wants and/or needs must be met or exceeded. But first, a company must determine what those wants and needs are. To do this, they gather information through market studies, research groups, and client meetings. Benefits of achieving this concept include:

·???????Increased revenue

·???????Increased effectiveness

·???????Improved customer loyalty

Continuous Improvement

Taking into account that customer expectations are always changing the continuous improvement concept stems from a belief that mistakes can be avoided and defects can be prevented. It extends to all aspects of an organization, from the shop floor to the marketing department to decision-making.

One common approach used to ensure continuous improvement remains a core concept is a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. Its processes are as follows:

Planning Phase

Planning is the most crucial phase of total quality management. In this phase, employees have to come up with their problems and queries which need to be addressed. They need to come up with the various challenges they face in their day-to-day operations and also analyze the problem’s root cause. Employees are required to do the necessary research and collect relevant data which would help them find solutions to all the problems.

Doing Phase

In the doing phase, employees develop a solution for the problems defined in the planning phase. Strategies are devised and implemented to overcome the challenges faced by employees. The effectiveness of solutions and strategies is also measured in this stage.

Checking Phase

The checking phase is the stage where people do a comparison analysis of before and after data to confirm the effectiveness of the processes and measure the results.

Acting Phase

In this phase, employees document their results and prepare themselves to address other problems.

It is important to remember that, because this approach is a cycle, the entire process starts over once a new plan or procedure is implemented.

Employee Empowerment

In the TQM, employees are considered a vital part of the quality management process. They are empowered to make decisions, their contributions are valued, and their suggestions are implemented. To ensure they can make logical, valuable contributions, employees are given quality tools and extensive training.

Use of Quality Tools

Quality tools are important for ensuring that employees can make valuable and informed decisions and contributions. They must also receive extensive training to help them understand access quality via quality control and measurement tools. This gives employees the ability to accurately interpret their findings and effectively correct problems.

Product Design

Providing a design that meets customer expectations is a critical element to building a quality product. Unfortunately, this can be more difficult than it sounds because most customers provide general descriptions, such as “safe,” “tough,” or “sleek.” Automotive companies must translate these generalizations into specific technical requirements.

One tool that helps them do this is known as Quality Function Deployment [QFD]. This tool identifies the requirements of customers and then scores those requirements numerically. The scores are then translated into specific product requirements, such as side airbags for “safe”. This tool can also be useful for enhancing communication between various company functions and departments.

Manage Supplier Quality

Most concepts of the TQM apply only to the company itself, but the supplier quality management concept extends to outside suppliers. It is built upon the philosophy that suppliers who strive to meet the company’s needs help the company meet their customer’s needs. In many cases, as long as the supplier meets present quality standards, materials are accepted without inspection, which helps to speed up the overall production process.

Through this understanding of TQM and core principles, it becomes clear how and why some automotive companies have excelled at creating loyal customers who return for their products, year after year.