TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, VOL. 5, NO. 5, 1994 321

Integrating quality control and inspectioninto your total quality management system

QUENTIN R. SKRABECLTV/LSE Company, Manager Quality Control, 3100 E. 45th St., Cleveland, OH 44127,USA

Abstract With the move to total quality management (TQM) the role of the quality controlmanager changes to quality leadership for the entire organization, providing total employee focus onthe quality mission and goals. This paper views the changes in the quality control department withthe implementation of TQM and offers a sample plan for integrating the quality department into aTQM programme.

Introduction

With the rapid implementation of total quality management (TQM) systems in the US, therole of the quality control department and the manager of quality control is also changingrapidly. The traditional role of the quality control manager is one of managing and adminis-trating such functions as inspection, product testing, quality assurance (QA), technicalproblem-solving, training, customer audits, supplier quality assurance and gauge-controlprogrammes. With TQM, the role changes to quality leadership, facilitating problem-solving,employee training, quality goal setting and planning, resource managing to aid employeeproblem-solving teams, resource management to the whole organization versus a departmenton quality functions and coordination of quality functions for the whole organization. Clearly,the quality control manager moves more from administrator to leader and coordinator. Inaddition, the quality control manager's scope moves from a departmental to full organiza-tional approach. The quality control department must be integrated into a total organiza-tional approach towards quality and must give up any form of 'quality ownership', which restswith all employees.

The roots of traditional quality control

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the craft's system was really a form of TQM reinforcingtotal worker ownership. The heart and soul of the crafts-manufactured products were quality.With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, a military organizational design based on thetheories of Henri Fayol caused a functional breakup of quality ownership among the

322 Q. R. SKRABEC

employees into various line and staff fiinctions. Mass production also broke up employeeownership of the final product attributes such as end quality.

This loss of end quality and its ownership became visible in the US in the 1880s. Theclassic example of this was played out on the front pages of major American newspapers inthe 1880s. The case involved a US Navy contract for armor plate with Carnegie Steel. Anumber of court cases occurred against Carnegie Steel executives for knowingly shippingdefective and inferior steel. As the problem evolved, the Navy required an on-site inspectorto assure adherence to product requirements and process standards. Carnegie Steel arguedthis was interference with the actual processing of steel versus assurance to product stan-dards. The court cases were eventually dropped, but because of the names involved (such asCharles Schwab) and the front-page coverage, it left a lasting imprint on American qualitymanagement and manufacturing.

In particular, American manufacturing moved rapidly towards the internal inspectiondepartments and later quality control departments (a term first used in 1917). Of course, atthe time the motivation was to avoid government regulation, but there were benefits to thistype of quality management that were first during the early phases of the Industrial Revol-ution.

By the turn of the century, the concepts of Frederick Taylor (known as the 'father ofscientific management' and the Deming of his time) became the guide. Taylor designed aquality control department as inspection, inspection standards, product testing, employeetraining on process standards and the development of process standards. He argued effec-tively that this required a separate department. As Taylorism and the Taylor factory systempopularity grew, quality control (QC) and inspection departments became commonplace.After World War I, the Europeans saw the success of American industry due to Taylor's ideasand began to adopt the system on a large scale.

In the 1930s, quality control departments also took on technical problem-solving. Inaddition, product monitoring in particular became a function of the quality control depart-ment with the work of Walter Shewhart. Shewhart's statistical product monitoring usingPareto charts strengthened the quality control department's problem-solving function. Dur-ing this time period, quality control departments began to be managed by engineering andtechnical experts related to the product.

World War 11 saw the technical aspect of quality control departments grow even more.Metallurgists ran quality control departments for steel, forging, etc. while electrical engineersran quality control departments for electrical component producers.

The traditional American quality control function

As already noted, the evolution of the quality control function had a strong foundation ininspection, the principles of Frederick Taylor in the US and Henri Fayol in Europe, andtechnical expertise for problem-solving. The government played an important role in thedevelopment of this model. Statistical techniques were focused on product monitoring versusprocess control.

The quality control function from an organizational standpoint was considered a stafforganization. The quality control manager reported to some form of general businessmanager. Figure 1 is a generic quality control organization and functions based on thehistoric roots previously discussed. Of course, the design of the organization varied byproduct and company size. Clearly, however, the role of the quality control manager waspredominantly that of an administrator and business manager.

The staff role of the quality control manager lefi: the person out of the real processes of

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the product quality or customer satisfaction improvement in relationship to the organizationas a whole. T~he role was more of a monitor of the process and a system maintenancerole—clearly, in the traditional role of the quality control manager, a business manager wasadvised with little interface with general employee population of the company.

Employee-driven TQM

TQM breaks from traditional quality control in that it is participative, employee driven andemployee owned. In TQM, the quality function encompasses the whole organization. Inmany cases, instead of changing the paradigm in many organizations, the quality controldepartment remains in a traditional role not integrated into the TQM effort. In many cases,a separate organization is developed to manage the TQM effon isolating the quality controldepartment. In a successful TQM, all departments and managers must be integrated into theeffort. The team must be stressed over individuals and departments—this is the requiredfoundation.

To integrate all employees into the effort, your TQM system must be well defined. Whilemany models exist, common themes do exist.

(1) Total employee involvement and empowerment.(2) Strong customer/supplier/process/employee linkage.(3) Customer and supplier partnership.(4) Statistical process control.(5) Conformance and development to process standards that affect end quality.(6) Active employee corrective action and problem-solving.

Figure 2 is a schematic of an integrated TQM process known as optimum product attributemanagement. Note that Fig. 2 describes the TQM process, not the management or theemployee roles required to implement it successfully. It represents the steps of designing,implementing and maintaining a TQM system.

This system, of course, could be managed by the traditional quality control depart-ment—although it would lack success if there was not total employee involvement. Totalemployee involvement and empowerment are the cornerstones of TQM.

Figure 3 is a cross-functional team approach to the actual management of a TQMsystem. It also shows that quality management in TQM systems is not a departmental buttotal employee team effort. Inputs into the management of the process or system has nodepartmental lines, but rather drives ownership to all employees. These employee inputs areused to design, implement, monitor and manage the TQM process (see Fig. 2). Combining

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these employee inputs with TQM process or system produces functional outputs as shown inFig. 3. The end result of this is customer satisfaction.

The role of the quality control departments in TQM

Clearly, the role of the quality control department must change with the implementation ofTQM. Figure 4 is a traditional generic quality control department organization. In a TQMsystem, many of these functions now have the broader ownership of the whole employeeteam. Some very technical and administrative functions must still rest under a quality controldepartment; for example, product certification, monitoring compliance, product design, etc.Other traditional roles such as inspection can, and in fact in many new work systems, areemployee owned with again more efficiency.

For example, in new work systems, all employees are trained as inspectors. An employeecan one day be an inspector and on the next day an operator. The power of this type ofsystem is the 'inspector' who can move from pure sort inspection to diagnostic inspectionwhere he/she can take an active role in team problem solving. Under traditional qualitycontrol systems an inspector is an expen in defect identification, but lacks the workingknowledge of the process/operation to help in root cause analysis. In the new generation ofTQM systems, inspection as a diagnostic tool is integrated in the TQM system (see Fig. 2).

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Note also that using and rotating all employees as inspectors reinforces the concept that allemployees are responsible for inspection and customer satisfaction.

In TQM systems, the role of the quality control department (or better, the quality orTQM Department) changes to one of quality leadership, a resource to employee problem-solving teams, a quality training organization, a facilitator of employee quality planning, anorganization to communicate customer needs to the whole organization, an organization tohelp all employees get involved in quality functions and an in-house customer advocate.Clearly, this is a paradigm shift in the traditional mission of the department. The mostfundamental change in the department is now likely to be a resource to the whole employeeteam versus a staff advisory department to a general manager. New roles also emerge such asleadership and planning roles in campaigns to achieve supplier awards and certifications suchas Ford Q-1 and ISO 9000 efforts, internal company quality consulting, overall qualityplanning and long-term continuous improvement.

The traditional roles of the manager of quality control can be summarized as follows:department administrator; technical problem-solver; chief inspector; resource to a generalbusiness manager; monitor product and customer requirements; maintain a system ofprocessing standards; manage customer problems.

The new TQM roles of the manager of quality control are:quality leadership for the entire organization; explaining the corporate quality mission;teaching, facilitating and developing employee improvement teams; quality training and skilldevelopment; quality planning; providing total employee focus on the quality mission andgoals; employee communication.

Clearly, the new role of the quality control manager can be summarized as qualityleadership.

Implementing the change in the quality control department

Certainly, implementation of a quality control depanment to a quality department requirestiming, training and again, leadership. Before any change can occur, the company ororganization must have its TQM plan and system well under way. This phase can last 1-5years depending on the size of the company. Therefore, the quality control manager orquality manager from the initial phases must have a leadership role in the implementation ofTQM. The quality manager is then in a position from the start to lead the corporate effortand foresee the requirements of the role change relative to the organization. It also puts the

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manager in a position to build the framework that will ultimately lead to a smooth depart-ment transition.

The following is a sample plan for integrating the quality department into your TQMprogramme. The application of this type of plan will vary with company structure (manage-ment and union) and willingness for a paradigm change. Therefore, it must be assumed thatall employees are initially trained on the TQM philosophy, the company mission and thecompany TQM initiative.

(1) Involve the quality manager in a leadership role in the implementation phase ofTQM. Clearly discuss the quality control department's new future role within thedepartment to remove fear.

(2) Involve the quality department in the training phase of TQM. Eliminate the termquality control in favor of quahty.

(3) Train the quality department on their evolving new role realizing that TQM is nota departmental effort, but a total team effort.

(4) Use early the quality department expertise is the development and operation ofemployee problem-solving teams.

(5) Integrate the inspection unit into TQM: (a) Where possible, use the operator/in-spection rotating positions; (b) another option is cross-training of the inspectors withoperating position.

(6) After step 5, start the active involvement of the inspectors into diagnostic problem-solving and employee team involvement.

(7) An optional step is to move the inspection unit into the operating unit with qualitycontrol responsible for training, certification and customer interface.

(8) Finally, based on your final TQM system, filling the unique needs of your company,integrate the quality department fully into your program. Define what traditionalroles must be maintained for the business.

While these steps are generic and each company has a unique culture, success of integratingthe quality department will depend largely on the leadership role of the quality manager.Another key is the active, early and open involvement of the quality department employeesin making the change. Fear is the biggest roadblock to paradigm shifts and open employeeinvolvement is the best means of overcoming fear.