IX Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2017

The evolution of total quality management or TQM. The concept of quality has existed for many years, though its meaning has changed and evolved over time.

In the early twentieth century, quality management meant inspecting products to ensure that they met specifications.

In the 1940s, during World War II, quality became more statistical in nature. Statistical sampling techniques were used to evaluate quality, and quality control charts were used to monitor the production process.

In the 1960s, with the help of so-called “quality gurus,” the concept took on a broader meaning. Quality began to be viewed as something that encompassed the entire organization, not only the production process. Since all functions were responsible for product quality and all shared the costs of poor quality, quality was seen as a concept that affected the entire organization.

Since the 1970s, competition based on quality has grown in importance and has generated tremendous interest, concern, and enthusiasm. Companies in every line of business are focusing on improving quality in order to be more competitive. In many industries quality excellence has become a standard for doing business. Companies that do not meet this standard simply will not survive.

The term used for today’s new concept of quality is total quality management or TQM [2: 18].

Quality gurus. To fully understand the TQM movement, we need to look at the philosophies of notable individuals who have shaped the evolution of TQM.

Their philosophies and teachings have contributed to our knowledge and understanding of quality today [1] .

Walter A. Shewhartwas a statistician at Bell Labs during the 1920s and 1930s. Shewhart studied randomness and recognized that variability existed in all manufacturing processes. He developed quality control charts that are used to identify whether the variability in the process is random or due to an assignable cause, such as poor workers or miscalibrated machinery. He stressed that eliminating variability improves quality. His work created the foundation for today’s statistical process control, and he is often referred to as the “grandfather of quality control.”

W. Edwards Demingis often referred to as the “father of quality control.” He was a statistics professor at New York University in the 1940s. After World War II he assisted many Japanese companies in improving quality. The Japanese regarded him so highly that in 1951 they established the Deming Prize, an annual award given to firms that demonstrate outstanding quality. It was almost 30 years later that American businesses began adopting Deming’s philosophy. Deming outlined his philosophy on quality in his famous “14 Points.” These points are principles that help guide companies in achieving quality improvement. The principles are founded on the idea that upper management must develop a commitment to quality and provide a system to support this commitment that involves all employees and suppliers. Deming stressed that quality improvements cannot happen without organizational change that comes from upper management.

Joseph М. Juranis considered to have had the greatest impact on quality management. Juran originally worked in the quality program at Western Electric. He became better known in 1951, after the publication of his book Quality Control Handbook. In 1954 he went to Japan to work with manufacturers and teach classes on quality. Juran is well known for originating the idea of the quality trilogy: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement.

The first part of the trilogy, quality planning, is necessary so that companies identify their customers, product requirements, and overriding business goals. Processes should be set up to ensure that the quality standards can be met.

The second part of the trilogy, quality control, stresses the regular use of statistical control methods to ensure that quality standards are met and to identify variations from the standards.

The third part of the quality trilogy is quality improvement.

Another quality leader is Armand V. Feigenbaum, who introduced the concept of total quality control. In his 1961 book Total Quality Control, he outlined his quality principles in 40 steps. Feigenbaum took a total system approach to quality. He promoted the idea of a work environment where quality developments are integrated throughout the entire organization, where management and employees have a total commitment to improve quality, and people learn from each other’s successes. This philosophy was adapted by the Japanese and termed “company-wide quality control.”

Philip B. Crosby is another recognized guru in the area of TQM. He worked in the area of quality for many years, first at Martin Marietta and then, in the 1970s, as the vice president for quality at ITT. He developed the phrase “Do it right the first time” and the notion of zero defects, arguing that no amount of defects should be considered acceptable. To promote his concepts, Crosby wrote a book titled Quality Is Free, which was published in 1979.

He became famous for coining the phrase “quality is free” and for pointing out the many costs of quality, which include not only the costs of wasted labor, equipment time, scrap, rework, and lost sales, but also organizational costs that are hard to quantify.

Kaoru Ishikawa is best known for the development of quality tools called cause-and-effect diagrams, also called fishbone or Ishikawa diagrams. These diagrams are used for quality problem solving. He was the first quality guru to emphasize the importance of the “internal customer,” the next person in the production process. He was also one of the first to stress the importance of total company quality control, rather than just focusing on products and services.

Dr. Genichi Taguchi is a Japanese quality expert known for his work in the area of product design. He estimates that as much as 80 percent of all defective items are caused by poor product design. Taguchi stresses that companies should focus their quality efforts on the design stage, as it is much cheaper and easier to make changes during the product design stage than later during the production process.

Taguchi has also had a large impact on today’s view of the costs of quality.

Сustomer focus. The first, and overriding, feature of TQM is the company’s focus on its customers. Quality is defined as meeting or exceeding customer expectations. The goal is to first identify and then meet customer needs. TQM recognizes that a perfectly produced product has little value if it is not what the customer wants. Therefore, we can say that quality is customer driven. However, it is not always easy to determine what the customer wants, because tastes and preferences change. Also, customer expectations often vary from one customer to the next. For example, in the auto industry trends change relatively quickly, from small cars to sports utility vehicles and back to small cars. The same is true in the retail industry, where styles and fashion are short lived.

Companies need to continually gather information by means of focus groups, market surveys, and customer interviews in order to stay in tune with what customers want.

They must always remember that they would not be in business if it were not for their customers.

Сontinuous improvement.Another concept of the TQM philosophy is the focus on continuous improvement.

The plan–do–study–act (PDSA) cycle describes the activities a company needs to perform in order to incorporate continuous improvement in its operation.

The first step in the PDSA cycle is to plan. Managers must evaluate the current process and make plans based on any problems they find. They need to document all current procedures, collect data, and identify problems. This information should then be studied and used to develop a plan for improvement as well as specific measures to evaluate performance.

The next step in the cycle is implementing the plan (do). During the implementation process managers should document all changes made and collect data for evaluation.

The third step is to study the data collected in the previous phase. The data are evaluated to see whether the plan is achieving the goals established in the plan phase.

The last phase of the cycle is to act on the basis of the results of the first three phases. The best way to accomplish this is to communicate the results to other members in the company and then implement the new procedure if it has been successful. Note that this is a cycle; the next step is to plan again. After we have acted, we need to continue evaluating the process, planning, and repeating the cycle again.

Another way companies implement continuous improvement is by studying business practices of companies considered “best in class.” This is called benchmarking. The ability to learn and study how others do things is an important part of continuous improvement.

Use of Quality Tools. The seven quality tools useful in identifying and analyzing quality problems.

Process management. According to TQM a quality product comes from a quality process. The new concept of quality focuses on identifying quality problems at the source and correcting them.

Managing suppliers quality. The philosophy of TQM extends the concept of quality to suppliers and ensures that they engage in the same quality practices.

Conclusion.Today’s concept of quality, called total quality management (TQM), focuses on building quality into the process. TQM is customer driven and encompasses the entire company [3].

References

1. Мазур И. И. Управление качеством: Учеб. Пособие / И. И. Мазур, В. Д. Шапиро. Под ред. И. И. Мазура. – Москва: Высшая школа, 2010. – 334с.

2. Маслов Д., Ватсон П., Белокоровин Э. Эффект TQM. Всеобщее управление качеством в России – труден путь к совершенству // Управление качеством. – 2009. - № 6. - С. 17-23.

3. Концепции всеобщего управления качеством. Электронный доступ: http://freqlist.ru/ekonomika/organizaciya-proizvodstva-odarenko/koncepciya-vseobshego-upravleniya-kachestvom.html

4. Современные концепции и модели управления качеством. http://www.dist-cons.ru/modules/qualmanage/section2.html

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