quality manage men 3

8/3/2019 Quality Manage Men 3

1/5

Quality Management

Basics and Overviews About Quality Management includes many links about

basics and overviews of quality management.

Benchmarking is the use of standard measurements in a service or industry for

comparison to other organizations in order to gain perspective on organizational

performance.

Continuous Improvement, in regard to organizational quality and performance,

focuses on improving customer satisfaction through continuous and incremental

improvements to processes, including by removing unnecessary activities and

variations.

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis is an approach that helps identify and

prioritize potential equipment and process failures.

ISO9000 is an internationally recognized standard of quality, and includes

guidelines to accomplish the ISO9000 quality standard. Organizations can be

optionally audited to earn ISO9000 certification.

Lean Management is a process of maximizing customer value while reducing

waste. Any activity or process that consumes resources, adds cost or time

without creating value becomes the target for elimination. Total Quality Improvement (TQM) is a set of management practices throughout

the organization, geared to ensure the organization consistently meets or exceeds

customer requirements. TQM places strong focus on process measurement and

controls as means of continuous improvement.

Six Sigma is a quality management initiative that takes a very data-driven,

methodological approach to eliminating defects with the aim to reach six

standard deviations from the desired target of quality. Six standard deviations

means 3.4 defects per million.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

TQM is a set of management practices throughout the organization, geared to ensure the

organization consistently meets or exceeds customer requirements. TQM places strong

focus on process measurement and controls as means of continuous improvement.

Before reading more about TQM, it might be helpful to quickly review the major forms

of quality management in an organization. These are briefly described at the top of the

Quality Management topic.

7 Important Principles of Total Quality Management
http://managementhelp.org/quality/index.htm#basicshttp://managementhelp.org/quality/benchmarking.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/continuous-improvement.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/fmea.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/iso9000.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/lean-management.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/total-quality-management.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/six-sigma.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/index.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/benchmarking.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/continuous-improvement.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/fmea.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/iso9000.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/lean-management.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/total-quality-management.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/six-sigma.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/index.htmhttp://managementhelp.org/quality/index.htm#basics


2/5

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach that organizations use to improve

their internal processes and increase customer satisfaction. When it is properly

implemented, this style of management can lead to decreased costs related to corrective

or preventative maintenance, better overall performance, and an increased number of

happy and loyal customers.

However, TQM is not something that happens overnight. While there are a number of

software solutions that will help organizations quickly start to implement a quality

management system, there are some underlying philosophies that the company must

integrate throughout every department of the company and at every level of

management. Whatever other resources you use, you should adopt these seven

important principles of Total Quality Management as a foundation for all your

activities.

1. Quality can and must be managed

Many companies have wallowed in a repetitive cycle of chaos and customer complaints.They believe that their operations are simply too large to effectively manage the level of

quality. The first step in the TQM process, then, is to realize there is a problem and that

it can be controlled.

2. Processes, not people, are the problem

If your process is causing problems, it wont matter how many times you hire new

employees or how many training sessions you put them through. Correct the process

and then train your people on these new procedures.

3. Dont treat symptoms, look for the cure

If you just patch over the underlying problems in the process, you will never be able to

fully reach your potential. If, for example, your shipping department is falling behind,

you may find that it is because of holdups in manufacturing. Go for the source to correct

the problem.

4. Every employee is responsible for quality

Everyone in the company, from the workers on the line to the upper management, must

realize that they have an important part to play in ensuring high levels of quality in theirproducts and services. Everyone has a customer to delight, and they must all step up and

take responsibility for them.

5. Quality must be measurable

A quality management system is only effective when you can quantify the results. You

need to see how the process is implemented and if it is having the desired effect. This

will help you set your goals for the future and ensure that every department is working

toward the same result.

6. Quality improvements must be continuous


3/5

Total Quality Management is not something that can be done once and then forgotten.

Its not a management phase that will end after a problem has been corrected. Real

improvements must occur frequently and continually in order to increase customer

satisfaction and loyalty.

7. Quality is a long-term investment

Quality management is not a quick fix. You can purchase QMS software that will help

you get things started, but you should understand that real results wont occur

immediately. TQM is a long-term investment, and it is designed to help you find long-

term success.

Before you start looking for any kind of quality management software, it is important to

make sure you are capable of implementing these fundamental principles throughout the

company. This kind of management style can be a huge culture change in some

companies, and sometimes the shift can come with some growing pains, but if you build

on a foundation of quality principles, you will be equipped to make this change and startworking toward real long-term success.

What is Quality?

The primary dimensions of product quality include:

Performance

Features

Reliability

Conformance Durability

Serviceability

Aesthetics

Perceived Quality

Increasingly, however, service quality is attracting equal or more attention.

Responsiveness

Reliability

Accuracy

Knowledge of Employees

Courtesy

Consistency

Speed

These listed dimensions of product and service quality are, in a broad sense,

generic to most situations. However, every business is unique, and if customer

satisfaction measurements are to be meaningful, expectations should be phrased in

the language of customers for each distinct market segment.

Also, some needs are more critical than others and it is wise to determine therelative importance of each need. After measuring satisfaction levels, emphasis can


4/5

then be placed on improving performance in areas important to the customer but

where the organization may be lacking in comparison to the quality delivered by

competitors.

Acheiving Continuous Quality Improvement

Continuous quality improvement begins by identifying customer expectations for

all key "moments of truth" - the critical interactions customers have with the

organization. This can include contact with, for example, internal support groups,

collection individuals, sales representatives, management, or direct service

providers.

The best way to understand customer expectations is to listen to customers using

qualitative research techniques. This usually requires skillful probing by someone

practiced in customer satisfaction measurement.

After identifying expectations, customer satisfaction can readily be measured.

However, this requires the customer to answer specific questions about how he or

she feels about the company's performance. This is why it is so important to

capture their interest and build the credibility needed to gain their cooperation.

The task is made considerably easier by speaking the customer's language and

presenting only issues that are truly significant.

Why Quality Must be Measured

More and more, quality is being measured. Companies are coming to the

conclusion that if they can measure it, they can manage it and, consequently, can

improve it.

The best performing organizations are allowing customer expectations to drive

their quality initiative. They recognize customers define quality by judging them in

relation to competitors.

Organizations that constantly measure themselves in relation to competitors(Benchmarking) are able to quickly capitalize on their emerging strengths and

address weaknesses before they become problems.

Why Include Customers of Competitors

The rationale for including non-customer (customers of competitors)

benchmarking is that without the non-customer data customer satisfaction levels

are arbitrary. Both sets of data allow an organization to exploit its strengths, and

put initiatives in place to narrow and eliminate any gaps between expectations andperformance.


5/5

In fact, the best performing organizations benchmark themselves against:

their best competitor

the industry average

a world class supplier in a similar industry

Future measurements permit the organization to objectively assess how well the

initiatives are working.

How Exit Interviews

Can Translate into Huge Profit Increases

By measuring only customer satisfaction levels, organizations miss former

customers who have left ... because they no longer had the need for, or were

unhappy with the products or services being offered. Measuring customer

retention, on the other hand, relates directly to the bottom line. Long term

customers spend more, refer new clients and are less costly to do business with.

Ironically, past customers present every company with an opportunity. They can

tell the organization exactly what parts of the business to fix in order to reduce the

number of customers at risk. This improves customer retention and, subsequently,

profitability.

An average organization loses about 15% of its customers every year. But if this

can be reduced to 10%, bottom line profits improve 35% to 85%.

Finding out why customers leave can often be difficult since the majority of

unhappy customers don't complain, they simply quit. Exit interviews solve this

problem.

quality manage men 3

Documents