1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Quality aspect has grown with humanity. For instance, during the Stone Age period, people used strong stones or sharp weapons to hunt. This shows that they knew the qualitative difference in tools for effectiveness of work. In the same vein, for businesses to satisfy and retain their customers, improving the quality of their products to the taste of their customers is vital.
A business is likely to make mistakes when it offers what it perceives as value to its customers. Therefore, a business should learn to look at customer value from the perspective of customers in order to meet or exceed customer requirements.
One popular approach to improving product quality is called, “Total Quality Management (TQM)”. The approach has developed over time and has different meanings at different periods. For instance at a time it was called quality control. Generally, TQM involves the organisation’s long-term commitment to the continuous improvement of quality throughout the organization and with the active participation of all members at all levels, to meet and exceed customer expectations. This top-management-driven philosophy is considered a way of organizational life. In a sense, TQM is efficient and effective management.
Although the specific programs may vary, they usually require a careful analysis of customer needs, an assessment of the extent to which these needs are currently met, and a plan to fill the possible gap between the current and the desired situation. To make the TQM program effective and efficient, the top managers must be involved by setting a vision, reinforcing organizational values that emphasise product quality improvements, set product quality objectives or goals, and deploy resources for the product quality program. It is also obvious that TQM demands a free flow of information: vertically, horizontally and diagonally.
Training and development is another aspect that is critical in improving product quality. It helps in developing the skills for learning how to use tools as well as techniques such as the statistical product quality control. This continual effort for improving the quality of the organizational products requires that the organization should be a “learning organization:.
All these product quality improvement efforts by business organizations result from the fact that today’s customers are becoming more powerful, complex and sophisticated.
2. THE MEANING OF PRODUCT QUALITY AND TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Product Quality: In general, quality is a value of things relative to their purpose. Business wide, quality is the usefulness or worth of a product to customers. Thus, product quality can be seen as the totality of features and characteristics of a product that bears on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needs of customers /consumers.
Products that are viewed qualitative by the customers are the ones that meet the specifications and performance standards of the customers and consumers. Traditionally, it was viewed solely as meeting customer specifications. However, the total quality view or the current view of product quality is the ability of the product in satisfying customers’ needs and exceeding their expectations.
Total Quality Management: The modern TQM is now referred to as, “Business Excellence”. As earlier defined, TQM is the organisation’s long-term commitment to the continuous improvement of quality throughout the organization and with the active participation of all members at all levels, to meet and exceed customer expectations. It is a top-management-driven philosophy that is based on a continuous product quality improvements, productivity and customer satisfaction. It is a philosophy that makes an organization to fully involve all its stakeholders (departments, employees, suppliers, customers etc.) in its quality culture; and all these efforts are customer-driven.
3. HISTORY OF TQM
Total quality management is the integration of all functions and processes within an organization in order to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of products and services. Deming defined quality as a “never ending cycle of continuous improvement. Juran defined it as fitness for use (purpose). Bearing in mind that TQM is a long term improvement process which requires significant resources. It is also important to realize that TQM is a dynamic process not a static process that is based upon continuous efforts to improve quality in products. Since there are no deadlines or targets to be met, then TQM can never be considered complete which makes it to become a way of life.
During the early years of manufacturing, inspection was used as a tool to decide if a worker’s job or a product met its requirements. At that time inspection was not done in a systematic way, yet it worked well when the volume of production was low. However, as organizations became larger and more complex, the need for more effective operations became obvious.
In the early 1900s, “The Father of Scientific Management” Frederick W. Taylor helped to satisfy this need. He proposed a framework for the effective use of people in industrial organizations through his book ‘The Principles of Scientific Management’. One of his concepts was clearly defined tasks performed under standard conditions. Inspection was one of these tasks and was intended to ensure that no faulty product left the workshop or the factory, it also focuses on the product and detection of problem in the product, and testing every item to ensure that the product match the requirements or specifications of the customers. This process is carried out at the end of the production process and requires specially trained inspectors. The need to performing this process was the reason that led to the emergence of a separate inspection department which resulted in the emergence of defect prevention concept which led to quality control.
The roots of Total Quality Management can be traced back to the 1920s when Dr W. Shewhart developed the application of statistical methods for the management of quality. He demonstrated that variation in the production process leads to the variation in the product, thus by eliminating the variation of the process a good standard of end product can be achieved. The theory of Statistical Quality Control focuses on the product and detection and control of quality problems that involves testing samples and statistically inferring compliance of all products. This process is carried out throughout the production process and requires trained production employees as well as quality control professionals. Towards the end of 1920s the theory was further developed by Dodge, and Romig who developed statistically based acceptance sampling as an alternative to 100% inspection.
In 1940s, the quality guru Deming with his peer co-workers Juran and Feigenbaum continued with the improvement of the theory. However, instead of focusing just on quality of products the concept rapidly widened to involve quality of all issues within an organization i.e. Total Quality Management.
During the 1950s, many Japanese products experienced low quality and viewed by the world as junk products. Industrial leaders in Japan recognized this problem and decided to produce high quality products by inviting and seeking the help of American quality gurus such as Deming, Juran, and Feigenbaum. Deming suggested that this aim could be achieved within just five years. As a matter of fact not many Japanese believed what Deming claimed. However, they followed his suggestion in order not to lose face and because they respected him. But at last Japan was able to achieve it.
In the late 1950s, quality control management developed rapidly and became the main theme of Japanese management. Interestingly, the idea did not stop at the management level. In the early 60s the concept of the quality control circle was first introduced in Japan by K. Ishikawa. A quality circle is a group of workers who meet and discuss issues to improve all aspects of workplace and make presentations to management with their ideas for improvement. In this way workers were motivated because they felt that they were involved and listened to. Another advantage was the idea of improving not only the quality of products but also all aspects of organizational issues, which probably was the start of Total Quality. The term Total Quality was first used by Feigenbaum at the first international quality control conference in Tokyo in 1969.
During the 1980s and1990s a new phase of management and quality control began, which became known as Total Quality Management (TQM). Although there are many different definitions for TQM yet the concept is still the same. Nowadays, TQM can be referred to as Business Excellence. The development and success use of TQM in Japan has led to the widespread use of the concept worldwide.
4. A) DIMENSIONS OF PRODUCT QUALITY IN MANUFACURING ORGANIZATIONS
i. Performance: This entails the ability of the product to meet the purpose for which it was purchased to do. It refers to doing the job it is supposed to do as specified by the customer/consumer. Performance has operating characteristics such as speed, comfort, ease of use, etc.
ii. Features: Does the product possess all of the features specified, or required for its intended purpose? Product features are additional characteristics that enhance the appeal of the product to the user. It is often a secondary aspect of performance. They are those characteristics that supplement their basic functioning. An example includes free drinks on a plane.
iii. Reliability: It is the likelihood that the product will perform as expected, free from malfunctioning within a given time period and in different places. It clears the consumer’s doubt on whether the product will consistently perform within specifications and over a desired period of time. The emphasis here is on consistency of the product to perform.
iv. Durability: This means the normal longevity of the product; i.e. getting longer life without much repairs, inconveniences and necessity to replace. Durability measures the length of a product’s life. The item will be used until it is no longer economical to operate it. This happens when the repair rate and the associated costs increase significantly. Technically, durability can be defined as the amount of use one gets from a product before it deteriorates.
v. Conformance: It is the degree to which the product satisfies or conforms to pre-established standards. It answers on whether the product conforms to the specifications of the customer.
If it is developed based on a performance specification, does it perform as specified? Conformance therefore, refers to the precision with which the product meets the specified standards.
vi. Service ability: This includes the speed, ease, and convenience of getting or making maintenance work or repairs and the courtesy and competency of service employees. As end users become more focused on Total Cost of Ownership than simple procurement costs, serviceability (as well as reliability) is becoming an increasingly important dimension of quality and criteria for product selection.
vii. Reputation or perceived quality: Reputation refers to the past performance of a company’s product. While perceived quality, is the quality attributed to a good or service based on indirect measures. They are subjective opinions about the product based on images or attitudes formed by advertising and/or the reputation of the producer
viii. Aesthetics: The aesthetic properties of a product refer to its appearance. It involves how the product looks, feels, sounds, tastes, or smells. It is clearly a matter of personal judgment and a reflection of individual preference.
B) DIMENSIONS OF PRODUCT QUALITY IN SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS
i) Reliability: Consistency of the satisfaction to be derived from the service provider.
ii) Accessibility and convenience: Ease of obtaining the service (is the service easy to obtain?)
iii) Timeliness: Will a service be performed at the promised time?
iv) Completeness: Are all items in the order included?
v) Tangibility: The extent to which their tangible facilities are good.
vi) Empathy or Courtesy: Mutual respect for customers
vii) Responsiveness: Prompt response to customers stated and unstated needs as well as their complaints.
5. BENEFITS OF PRODUCT QUALITY
The following are some of the benefits to be derived by profit-making organisations from adhering to product quality.
i. The image of the organization will be high: The improved reputation can result in making the
business to be a major player in the industry.
ii. For consistency in product quality, market share will increase and consequently sales and
profits will be higher.
iii. Due to improved quality, the re-work and delays are avoided or reduced. This reduces the manufacturing cost.
iv. Productivity will increase due to reduced re-work and lesser inspectors’ time spent.
v. Employees’ morale at all levels will be high. This will improve work atmosphere and lead to better team work.
vi. Adhering to product quality use to ease the introduction of new product lines because of the reputation earned previously by the business through its qualitative products.
vii. Customer retention: Product quality can help in keeping committed customers/consumer
6. CAUSES OF PRODUCTS QUALITY FAILURE
The following are among the issues that can cause product quality failure or can result to low quality products in an organization depending on how the organization handles them.
i. Manpower Related: Human error can happen due to fatigue, poor eye sight, hearing and movement, inadequate training and re-training as well as poor knowledge of the process. Lack of supervision, frequent changes, transfers and absentees and too management’s lesser attention to product quality.
ii. Facilities Related: To get a particular standard of quality, the machinery, tools and fixtures, as well as measuring instruments should have the accuracies. The machineries should be good enough to give consistency of quality in all the productions. Worn-out tools, deteriorating machines, are to be reconditioned periodically or replaced. Preventive maintenance should be directed to all the basic and important machines.
iii. Process Related: If the designed and adopted processes of production were not tested before subjecting them to mass production or were not easy to operate, it may affect the quality of products produced.
iv. Raw Materials Related: This has to do with the raw materials for the production of the goods. Quality of the products can be affected if the supplied raw materials are not in a good condition. Businesses should therefore, make sure that they supply the right and correct raw materials that will support the production of quality products.
v. Conduciveness of Production Environment Related:
7. REASONS FOR MANAGEMENT EFFORTS FAILURES IN PRODUCT QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Both employees and organisations are aware of the importance of producing quality products for the survival and growth of their businesses. Despite this, there are still organisations that are not adhering to the notion of quality products or achieving success in quality improvement. Experts feel that it may be due to the adherence of the production concept or philosophy that whatsoever is produced is sold which has since challenged during Elton Mayor. As earlier stated, product quality should be top management-driven. Some of the reasons for product quality culture failures are as follows:
i. Targets and financial turnover are given more emphasis by the management of some organisations. This leads to little slackness in quality of products.
ii. Most often, managers of some organisations look for short-term gains and try to push products in a hurry.
iii. Manpower selection, not well suited to products and processes.
iv. Inability of managers to provide the required facilities which is not helping in getting the desired result or achieving the organizational objectives. Quality improvement programs require some investments in facilities, training, and R&D work. Some managers have a wrong notion that quality improvement costs too high, hence fail to provide funds for these; which use to create problems. Such managers are to be made to understand that investment pays in the long run in terms of customer satisfaction and hence high sales and profits.
8. COST OF QUALITY
Cost of Quality can be seen as the process that measures and determine where and how the resources of organizations are utilized for, in maintenance of quality and prevention of delivering poor outputs. In other words Cost of quality is a method for calculating the costs companies incur in ensuring that products meet quality standards, as well as the costs of producing goods that fail to meet quality standards. It talks about the costs that the organization bears while trying to achieve and maintain the quality output.
The Cost of Quality can be represented by the sum of two factors. The Cost of Good Quality (CoGQ) and the Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ), as represented in the basic equation below:
CoQ = CoGQ + CoPQ
The Cost of Quality equation looks simple but in reality it is more complex. The Cost of Quality includes all costs associated with the quality of a product from preventive costs intended to reduce or eliminate failures, cost of process controls to maintain quality levels and the costs related to failures both internal and external.
Cost of quality has 4 basic components categorized under two main components as below:
A) Cost of Good Quality (CoGQ)
1. Prevention costs. These are the costs incurred in preventing mistakes.
You incur a prevention cost in order to keep a quality problem from occurring. It is the least expensive type of quality cost, and so is highly recommended. Prevention costs can include quality planning, market research, proper employee training, supplier certification and a robust product design. A focus on prevention tends to reduce scrap costs, because the scrap occurrence reduces. Expenditure in this area is seen as an investment.
2. Appraisal costs. These include the costs incurred in order to maintain acceptable product quality levels. Appraisal costs can include, but are not limited to, the following: costs of inspecting products, Incoming Material Inspections, Process Controls, and Supplier Assessments.
B) Cost of Poor Quality (CoPQ)
3. Internal failure costs. These are the costs incurred when a product does not conform to quality standards. Examples include the costs of scrap, repairs to defective products, Waste due to poorly designed processes
4. External failure costs. These are the costs incurred when the customer receives a poor quality product. Examples include the costs of investigating complaints, of replacing products returned by the customer, and warranty charges, and the cost of losing a dissatisfied customer that change his loyalty to a new supplier.
9. PRINCIPLES OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT (TQM)
With increased competition and market globalization, Total Quality Management principles and practices are now becoming more and more important for the leadership and management of any organization. Below are the basic principles of TQM that are practiced worldwide.
i. Customer Focus: Customer focus is perhaps the most important principle of TQM among other principles. This principle stresses that an organization should understand its customers in terms of what they need and when they need it while trying to meet and exceed their expectations. As such profit will increase as a result of an increasing pool of loyal customers lured to the business, from its customer oriented activities.
ii. Leadership: Good leaders help to unite an organization and give employees a sense of direction. They create and nurture an environment where everyone’s views are given careful consideration in charting a course to the organization’s objectives. Organizations succeed when leaders establish and maintain the internal environment in which employees can become fully involved in achieving the organization’s unified objectives. Therefore, without effective leadership, an organization loses its direction. This principle establishes that leaders are fundamental in setting clear goals and objectives and ensuring that employees are actively involved in achieving these objectives.
iii. Total Employee Involvement: This is where each and every employee’s effort or contribution to the organization is required or is viewed important. It requires that all the employees are to participate in working toward common goals. The idea is that, if employees were made to feel that their ones effort or contribution is important or can contribute to the achievement of the overall organizational goals and objectives, they become innovative, creative and eager to participate in achieving the organizational objectives. Hence, this principle helps in creating a commonality of purpose in the organization.
iv. Continual Improvement: Continuous improvement is part of the management of all systems and processes. Achieving the highest level of product quality requires a well-defined and well-executed approach to continuous improvement and learning. Continual improvement drives an organization to be both analytical and creative in finding ways of becoming more competitive and more effective at meeting stakeholders’ expectations. This continues improvement will lead to improved and higher quality processes.
v. Process-centered: A fundamental part of TQM is a focus on process thinking. A process is a series of steps that take inputs from suppliers (internal or external) and transforms them into outputs that are delivered to customers (internal or external). The steps required to carry out the production are defined, and performance measures are continuously monitored in order to detect unexpected variation.
vi. Strategic Approach to Improvement: Businesses must adopt a strategic approach towards quality improvement to achieve their goals, mission and vision. A strategic plan is very necessary to ensure quality becomes the core aspect of all business processes.
vii. System Approach to Management: Organizations sustain success when processes are managed as one coherent quality management system. This involves identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes to enable the sub-systems of the organization contribute to the organisation’s effectiveness and efficiency which can help in achieving the objectives of the organization as the larger system. Therefore, this principle stresses that several processes are managed simultaneously in an organized system. This makes the system much more effective and greater than the sum of its individual parts.
viii. Decision-making based on facts: Decision-making within the organization should be based on facts and not on opinions (emotions and personal interests). Data should support this decision-making process.
10. TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT GURUS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS
To fully understand and appreciate the TQM movement, we need to look at the philosophies of notable individuals who have shaped the evolution and development of TQM. Their philosophies and teachings have contributed to our knowledge and understanding of TQM today. Below are the notable ones:
1. Walter Shewhart: He was an USA Professor of Statistics. He contributed to the understanding of “process variability” by developing a “Statistical Quality Control Chart”. 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 ineffective machinery. He stressed that eliminating variability improves quality. Professor Shewhart was the first person to advocate the use of Statistical Quality Control method in quality evaluation. His work created the foundation for today’s process control and he is often referred to as the “grandfather” of quality control.
2. W. Edwards Deming: Deming is 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 high that in 1951they establish the Deming prize: an annual award given to firms that demonstrate outstanding product quality. It was about 30 years later that American businesses began to adopt Deming’s philosophy. A number of elements of Deming’s philosophy depart from traditional notions of quality. The first is the role management should play in a company’s quality improvement effort. Traditionally, poor quality was blamed on workers- on their lack of productivity, laziness or carelessness. However, Deming pointed out that only 15 percent of quality problems are actually due to worker error. The remaining 85 percent are caused by processes and systems, including poor management. Deming said that it is up to management to correct system problems and create an environment that promotes quality and enables workers to achieve their full potentials. He believed that managers should drive out any fear employees have on identifying quality problems. Proper methods should be taught and detecting and eliminating poor quality should be everyone’s responsibility.
Deming outlined his philosophy on quality in his famous “14 points”. These points are principles that help and guide companies in achieving quality improvement. The principles are founded on the idea that top level 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 be achieved without organizational change that comes from the top level management.
3. Joseph M. Juran: After W. Edward Deming, Dr Joseph Juran is considered to have had the greatest impact on quality management. Juran initially worked in the quality programme at Western Electric. He became better known in 1953, after the publication of his book, “Quality Control Handbook”. In 1954 he went to Japan to work with manufacturers and teach classes on quality. One of Juran’s significant contributions is his focus on the definition of quality and the cost of quality. Juran is credited with defining quality as, “fitness for use” rather than simply conformance to specifications. According to Juran, fitness for use takes into account customer intentions for use of the product instead of only focusing on technical specifications. Juran was also credited with developing the concept of cost of quality, which allows measuring quality in monetary terms rather than on the basis of subjective evaluations. Consider the following table for the main contributions of these 3 contributors:
Quality Guru
Main Contribution
Walter Shewhart
i. Contributed to understanding of process variability.
ii. Developed concept of Statistical Control Charts.
W. Edwards Deming
i. Stressed management’s responsibility for quality
ii. Developed “14 points” to guide companies in quality improvement.
Joseph M. Juran
i. Defined quality as “fitness for use”.
ii. Developed concept of cost of quality
Other contributors include: Armand V. Fegenbaum, Philip B. Crosby, Kaoru Ishikawa and Genichi Taguchi.
11. STATISTICAL QUALITY CONTROL (SQC)
Statistical Quality Control refers to the use of statistical methods in the monitoring and maintaining of the quality of products. Its main objective is to achieve quality in production through the use of adequate statistical techniques.
SQC began a long time ago, when manufacturing began, and competition accompanied it, with consumers comparing and choosing the most attractive products. The Industrial Revolution, led producers to the need of developing methods for the control of their manufactured products. During the industrial revolution, SQC was comparatively new; its greatest developments have taken place during the 20th century. In 1924, at the Bell Laboratories, Shewhart developed the concept of control chart and, more generally, statistical process control (SPC), shifting the attention from the product to the production process. Dodge and Romig (1959), also in the Bell Laboratories, developed sampling inspection, as an alternative to the 100% inspection. Among the pioneers of SPC we also distinguish W.E. Deming, J.M. Juran, and P.B. Crosby. But it was during the Second World War that there was a generalized use and acceptance of SQC, largely used in USA and considered as primordial for the defeat of Japan. In 1946, the American Society for Quality Control was founded, and this enabled a huge push to the generalization and improvement of SQC methods.
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