Unit 4: Total Quality Management
Total Quality Management (TQM)
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach that focuses on continuous improvement, customer satisfaction, and employee involvement across all levels of an organization.
It aims to deliver high-quality products and services by improving processes, culture, and performance.
🧠 TQM = Total (everyone) + Quality (excellence) + Management (systematic effort)
🎯 Objectives of TQM:
- Improve customer satisfaction
- Reduce defects and waste
- Encourage employee involvement
- Achieve long-term success
Elements of Total Quality Management
TQM is built on several key elements or principles. Let’s break them down:
1. Customer Focus
- The customer is the ultimate judge of quality.
- All decisions should aim to enhance customer satisfaction.
- Organizations must understand and meet customer needs.
📌 Example: A company improves its delivery system based on customer feedback.
2. Total Employee Involvement
- Everyone, from top management to workers, participates in quality improvement.
- Requires a culture of trust, training, and empowerment.
📌 Example: Employees suggest ideas to reduce machine downtime.
3. Continuous Improvement (Kaizen)
- Quality improvement is an ongoing process.
- Small, consistent changes lead to major gains over time.
📌 Example: Regularly upgrading software features based on user experience.
4. Process-Centered Approach
- A process is a sequence of steps that turn inputs into outputs.
- TQM focuses on improving these processes for better results.
📌 Example: Streamlining the assembly line in a manufacturing plant.
5. Integrated System
- All departments must work together toward common quality goals.
- TQM links every function to customer satisfaction and performance.
📌 Example: Marketing, HR, and production aligning strategies for a product launch.
6. Strategic and Systematic Approach
- TQM must be part of the organization’s strategic planning.
- Quality goals should align with the business vision.
📌 Example: Including quality benchmarks in the company’s annual objectives.
7. Fact-Based Decision Making
- Data is used to make decisions, not assumptions.
- Tools like control charts, Pareto analysis, and surveys are used.
📌 Example: Using customer complaint data to identify weak areas in service.
8. Effective Communication
- Clear and open communication is vital for teamwork and improvement.
- Promotes awareness of quality goals and initiatives.
📌 Example: Monthly quality meetings with cross-functional teams
🏁 Summary Table
Quality Circles
A Quality Circle is a small group of employees (usually 6–12 people) who voluntarily meet regularly to:
- Identify problems
- Analyze root causes
- Suggest solutions
- Improve quality and productivity
🧠 Key Features
- Voluntary participation
- Focus on workplace improvement
- Employees are empowered
- Led by a trained facilitator
- Uses tools like fishbone diagrams, Pareto charts, etc.
📌 Example: In a manufacturing unit, a quality circle notices frequent defects in packaging. They brainstorm and discover it's due to machine misalignment, which they help correct—reducing defects.
✅ Benefits: Encourages teamwork, boosts morale, improves quality, and reduces waste.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a data-driven methodology that aims to eliminate defects and improve process quality by reducing variation.
It seeks to achieve only 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO)—which means almost perfect quality.
🔹 Six Sigma DMAIC Process (For Process Improvement)
Example: In a call center, the problem is long hold times:
- Define: Delays >5 mins
- Measure: Average delay is 6 mins
- Analyze: Peak hour staffing shortage
- Improve: Adjust shifts and train staff
- Control: Weekly review of hold-time KPIs
✅ Result: Reduced hold time to 2 mins = better customer experience.\
🔹 Six Sigma in Product Development & Design (DMADV)
DMADV is used when you're designing a new product or process, not just improving an existing one.
Example: A company is designing a new smartwatch:
- Define: Customers want long battery life and sleek design.
- Measure: Battery life > 7 days is CTQ.
- Analyze: Consider lithium-ion vs. new battery tech.
- Design: Select best configuration.
- Verify: Test battery in real-world conditions.
✅ Outcome: The final product meets customer expectations from launch.
🏁 Comparison Table
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the process of comparing your company’s products, processes, or performance with industry leaders or best-in-class organizations to identify areas for improvement.
“Learning from the best to become the best.”
🔍 Types of Benchmarking:
Benefits
- Improves processes and performance
- Drives innovation
- Helps set realistic goals
Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
QFD is a structured method that translates customer needs (WHATs) into design requirements (HOWs) for a product or service.
🔍 Main Tool: House of Quality (HOQ)
A matrix that links customer needs to technical features.
Benefits:
- Improves product design
- Enhances customer satisfaction
- Reduces time and cost of development
Taguchi’s Quality Engineering
Taguchi Method is a statistical approach to design products that are robust (perform well) even under different environmental or usage conditions.
🎯 Key Concepts
Example: A car manufacturer uses Taguchi method to find the best combination of tire material, tread design, and pressure for performance on wet roads.
✅ Benefits
- Reduces defects
- Improves product quality
- Saves time and cost in product testing
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)
🧩 8 Pillars of TPM:
Benefits
- Increases machine uptime
- Reduces maintenance costs
- Improves product quality
- Boosts employee ownership
🏁 Summary Table
