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Wednesday, September 29, 2010
TQM Sustainability: What it means and how to make it viable
Professor Mohamed Zairi
Juran Chair in TQM
Director of The ECTQM
University of Bradford
UK
The literature review indicates that in order to achieve ‘world-class’ status, each MBNQA and EQA winner had to closely examine its entire operations, processes and its customers, so as to compare itself with the best in class. Self-assessment, which is one of the fastest growing methods, is used by these organizations to measure their standards and performance in their attempts to achieve world class rating. Both the MBNQA and EQA models provide the ideal framework against which this can be done. Their TQM implementation evolved against a background of economic and business pressures that derived an increased focus on the continuous benchmarking of their performance with the world’s best, adapting new best practice and innovating to become world-class. A world-class organization is one that has the production and/or service capability that is competitive in the dynamic global economy.
A synthesized review of the literature on the 1988 and 1999 MBNQA winners, also the 1992 and 1999 winners of the EQA examined the history and evolution of their TQM path and the findings reflect four paradigm shifts ( Table 1):
The aforementioned analysis was undertaken by Zairi & Liburd (2001) and they concluded that essentially TQM sustainability is alrgely dependent on the following:
Juran Chair in TQM
Director of The ECTQM
University of Bradford
UK
The literature review indicates that in order to achieve ‘world-class’ status, each MBNQA and EQA winner had to closely examine its entire operations, processes and its customers, so as to compare itself with the best in class. Self-assessment, which is one of the fastest growing methods, is used by these organizations to measure their standards and performance in their attempts to achieve world class rating. Both the MBNQA and EQA models provide the ideal framework against which this can be done. Their TQM implementation evolved against a background of economic and business pressures that derived an increased focus on the continuous benchmarking of their performance with the world’s best, adapting new best practice and innovating to become world-class. A world-class organization is one that has the production and/or service capability that is competitive in the dynamic global economy.
A synthesized review of the literature on the 1988 and 1999 MBNQA winners, also the 1992 and 1999 winners of the EQA examined the history and evolution of their TQM path and the findings reflect four paradigm shifts ( Table 1):
The aforementioned analysis was undertaken by Zairi & Liburd (2001) and they concluded that essentially TQM sustainability is alrgely dependent on the following:
- A series of transformational change paradigms, through an evolutionary path reflecting a product, service, customer and market orientations.;
- The existence of a number of critical factors which impinge greatly on TQM successful implementation and which enable superior performance;
- The creation of a culture of continuous improvement, learning and innovation so as to have in place a sustainableclimate of growth;
- An emphasis on measurement using a balanced perspective
History (Evolution) of Quality Control
Contributors in the Improvement of Concept of QUALITY
In the early 1900s, the beginning of Factory Productions, the final products were inspected for the purpose of accepting or rejecting the same. During these times, in his list of basic areas of manufacturing management, F. W. Taylor, emphasized on quality by including Product Inspection into it. Radford’s was of the view of involving quality consideration early in the product design stage and also to connect-together Quality, Productivity and Costs.
In 1924, Walter Shewhart introduced ‘Statistical Process Control (SPC)’ by means of ‘Control Charts’ in order to keep a control over production. After five years or so, Dodge & Romig introduced Acceptance Sampling Inspection Tables popularly known as Dodge-Romig Tables. The concept of SPC found a little acceptance in the Manufacturing Industry till 1940s.
Historically, Second World War remarkably increased the importance of Quality Control. W. Edward Deming introduced SQC in Japanese Industry. This resulted in creation of a quality manufacturing facilities in Japan. The devastated country in this Second World War posed a tough competition to other leading nations in the area of manufacturing, especially the American Manufacturing Firms.
After this war, in the mid-twentieth century, professionals and engineers in the industry hugely benefited by the American Universities in terms of training in quality control. This has seen the emergence of ‘Quality Assurance’ evolved out of this development taken place around ‘Quality Control’ concept. At about the same time, Joseph Juran began his `Cost of Quality’ approach, emphasizing accurate and complete identification and measurement of Costs of Quality, In the mid 1950s, Armand Fiegen Baum proposed Total Quality Control which enlarged the focus of Quality Control from manufacturing to include Product Design.
During the 1960s, the concept of “Zero-defects” gained favor. Philip Crosby, who was the champion of “Zero defects” concept focused on employee motivation and awareness. In this decade from 1950 to 1960; quality control and management became synonymous with the growth of Industrial Revolution in Japan.
In the 1970s, Quality Assurance methods were used in services such as government operations, health care, banking etc. During this period the world started importing heavily from Japan including America and European countries. In the late 1970s, there was a dramatic shift from quality assurance to a strategic approach to quality. The `reactive’ approach of finding and correcting defectives in products manufactured was changed to a pro-active’ approach of focusing on preventing defects from recurring altogether. During the same period ‘British Standards’ (BS 5750) emerged along with ISO 9000 Standards of Quality.
In late 1980s, Total Quality Management (TQM) gained a lot of popularity even outside Japan and became the main theme revolving around the concept of Quality Control. In the twenty first century the concept of quality has been gathering a total or gross approach in terms of ‘Business Excellence’.
In the early 1900s, the beginning of Factory Productions, the final products were inspected for the purpose of accepting or rejecting the same. During these times, in his list of basic areas of manufacturing management, F. W. Taylor, emphasized on quality by including Product Inspection into it. Radford’s was of the view of involving quality consideration early in the product design stage and also to connect-together Quality, Productivity and Costs.
In 1924, Walter Shewhart introduced ‘Statistical Process Control (SPC)’ by means of ‘Control Charts’ in order to keep a control over production. After five years or so, Dodge & Romig introduced Acceptance Sampling Inspection Tables popularly known as Dodge-Romig Tables. The concept of SPC found a little acceptance in the Manufacturing Industry till 1940s.
Historically, Second World War remarkably increased the importance of Quality Control. W. Edward Deming introduced SQC in Japanese Industry. This resulted in creation of a quality manufacturing facilities in Japan. The devastated country in this Second World War posed a tough competition to other leading nations in the area of manufacturing, especially the American Manufacturing Firms.
After this war, in the mid-twentieth century, professionals and engineers in the industry hugely benefited by the American Universities in terms of training in quality control. This has seen the emergence of ‘Quality Assurance’ evolved out of this development taken place around ‘Quality Control’ concept. At about the same time, Joseph Juran began his `Cost of Quality’ approach, emphasizing accurate and complete identification and measurement of Costs of Quality, In the mid 1950s, Armand Fiegen Baum proposed Total Quality Control which enlarged the focus of Quality Control from manufacturing to include Product Design.
During the 1960s, the concept of “Zero-defects” gained favor. Philip Crosby, who was the champion of “Zero defects” concept focused on employee motivation and awareness. In this decade from 1950 to 1960; quality control and management became synonymous with the growth of Industrial Revolution in Japan.
In the 1970s, Quality Assurance methods were used in services such as government operations, health care, banking etc. During this period the world started importing heavily from Japan including America and European countries. In the late 1970s, there was a dramatic shift from quality assurance to a strategic approach to quality. The `reactive’ approach of finding and correcting defectives in products manufactured was changed to a pro-active’ approach of focusing on preventing defects from recurring altogether. During the same period ‘British Standards’ (BS 5750) emerged along with ISO 9000 Standards of Quality.
In late 1980s, Total Quality Management (TQM) gained a lot of popularity even outside Japan and became the main theme revolving around the concept of Quality Control. In the twenty first century the concept of quality has been gathering a total or gross approach in terms of ‘Business Excellence’.
A Brief History of Quality Control
Concerns for product quality and process control is nothing new. Historians have traced the concept as far back as 3000 B.C. in Babylonia. Among the references to quality from the code of Hammurabi, ruler of Babylonia, is the following excerpt: “The mason who builds a house which falls down and kills the inmate shall be put to death.”
This law reflects a concern for quality in antiquity. Process control s concept that may have begun with pyramids of Egypt, when a system for quarrying and dressing stone was designed.One has only to examine the pyramids at Cheops to appreciate this remarkable achievement.
Later Greek architecture would surpass Egyptian architecture in the area of military applications. Centuries later, the shipbuilding operations in Venice introduced rudimentary production control and standardization.
Following the Industrial Revolution and the resulting factory system, quality and process control began to take on some of the characteristics that we know today.
Specialization of labor in the factory demanded it. Interchangeability of parts was introduced by Eli Whitney when he manufactured 15, 000 muskets for the federal government. This event was representative of the emerging era of mass production, when inspection by a skilled craftsman at a workbench was replaced by the specialized function of inspection conducted by individual not directly involved in the production process.
Specialized labor and quality assurance took a giant step forward in 1911 with the publication of Fredrick W.Taylor’s book Principles of Scientific Management. The pioneering work had a profound effect on management thought and practice. Taylor’s philosophy was one of the extreme functional specialization and he suggested eight functional bosses for the shop floor, one of whom as assigned the task of inspection:
The inspector is responsible for the quality of the work, and both the workmen and speed bosses [who see that the proper cutting tools are used, that the work is properly driven, and that cuts are started in the right part of the pieces] must see that the work is finished to suit him. This man can, of course, do his work best if he is a master of the art of finishing work both well and quickly.
Taylor later conceded that extreme functional specialization has its disadvantages, but his notion of process analysis and quality control by inspection of the final product still lives on in many firms today. Statistical quality control (SQC), the forerunner of today’s TQM or total quality control, had its beginning in the mid-1920s at the Western Electric plant of the Bell System.
Walter Shewart, a Bell Laboratories physicist, designed original version of SQC for the zero defects mass production of complex telephone exchanges and telephone sets. In 1931 Shewart published his landmark book Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product. This book provided a precise and measurable definition of quality control and developed statistical techniques for evaluating production and improving quality. During World War II, W.Edward Deming and Joseph Juran, both former members of Shewart’s group, separately developed the versions used today.
It is generally accepted today that the Japanese owe their product leadership partly to adopting the precepts of Deming and Juran. According to Peter Drucker, U.S. industry ignored their contributions for40 years and is only now converting to SQC.
This law reflects a concern for quality in antiquity. Process control s concept that may have begun with pyramids of Egypt, when a system for quarrying and dressing stone was designed.One has only to examine the pyramids at Cheops to appreciate this remarkable achievement.
Later Greek architecture would surpass Egyptian architecture in the area of military applications. Centuries later, the shipbuilding operations in Venice introduced rudimentary production control and standardization.
Following the Industrial Revolution and the resulting factory system, quality and process control began to take on some of the characteristics that we know today.
Specialization of labor in the factory demanded it. Interchangeability of parts was introduced by Eli Whitney when he manufactured 15, 000 muskets for the federal government. This event was representative of the emerging era of mass production, when inspection by a skilled craftsman at a workbench was replaced by the specialized function of inspection conducted by individual not directly involved in the production process.
The inspector is responsible for the quality of the work, and both the workmen and speed bosses [who see that the proper cutting tools are used, that the work is properly driven, and that cuts are started in the right part of the pieces] must see that the work is finished to suit him. This man can, of course, do his work best if he is a master of the art of finishing work both well and quickly.
Taylor later conceded that extreme functional specialization has its disadvantages, but his notion of process analysis and quality control by inspection of the final product still lives on in many firms today. Statistical quality control (SQC), the forerunner of today’s TQM or total quality control, had its beginning in the mid-1920s at the Western Electric plant of the Bell System.
Walter Shewart, a Bell Laboratories physicist, designed original version of SQC for the zero defects mass production of complex telephone exchanges and telephone sets. In 1931 Shewart published his landmark book Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product. This book provided a precise and measurable definition of quality control and developed statistical techniques for evaluating production and improving quality. During World War II, W.Edward Deming and Joseph Juran, both former members of Shewart’s group, separately developed the versions used today.
It is generally accepted today that the Japanese owe their product leadership partly to adopting the precepts of Deming and Juran. According to Peter Drucker, U.S. industry ignored their contributions for40 years and is only now converting to SQC.
From Quality Assurance to Total Quality Management: the Future of Automated Test Standardization
By Moshe Moskovich,
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer,
QualiSystems
Design verification and quality assurance processes are the backbone of successful product development. Whatever the product, the ultimate goals are the same: to reduce development costs and accelerate time to market without affecting product quality.
Companies invest considerable time, resources and money in testing. Costs can reach up to 300% of the total product development budget. In order to reduce test development time and improve test coverage and efficiency, many companies have created automated testing systems using skilled, in-house human resources, or have invested in third-party test automation solutions. Although automated tests developed in-house are tailored to an organization’s specific requirements, this solution suffers from a number of disadvantages.
Hard-coded test scenarios are extremely difficult to maintain, modify and re-use, especially as products are constantly changing. In order to modify tests, engineers must update the code — often an extensive process, particularly as different engineers use different programming languages and methods. The result is a lack of standardization throughout the testing process – from test design and execution through documentation, data collection and storage, data retrieval and analysis.
Lack of standardization significantly impacts data management efficiency, test development time and quality management process as a whole – on an enterprise-wide basis.
Furthermore, developing automated tests with complete test coverage is a major challenge for manufacturers of complex products that incorporate both software and hardware. Full test coverage requires the use of many different types of test equipment from a variety of vendors. Incorporating these into automated tests requires engineers to program complex drivers. Often, if an item of test equipment is replaced, the test needs to be re-coded. This is not only expensive in terms of time and resources, but also impacts on standardization and test environment maintenance.
One way of addressing these issues is to view product testing as an enterprise-wide total quality management system similar in concept to ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). This combines a top-down system that considers quality control across the entire organization with a bottom-up approach. This approach commences with discrete tests and uses them as building blocks to create automated processes for full test coverage. The result is a total automated quality management system, which underpins the product lifecycle from design through post-manufacture.
The paradigm shift from in-house development of semi-automated tests to total quality management is already underway as solutions that address these problems start to enter the market. However, only a comprehensive system that covers all test requirements over the complete product lifecycle can take quality management to this next necessary step.This will also improve and simplify quality management in terms of data collection and analysis, increasing efficiency and further a meliorating quality management.
A natural development of such a system will be to incorporate quality standards libraries as templates into product testing, which help ensure compliance with standards and best practices.
A major advance towards total quality management has been recently made by QualiSystems. QualiSystems’ TestShell suite of solutions addresses the issues of total quality management from both a top-down and bottom-up approach. TestShell covers quality management from an enterprise-level perspective, by offering manufacturers real-time business intelligence in addition to code-free test design, and 24/7 automated test run capabilities.
As product complexity increases, remote and outsourced manufacturing become the norm, and customers continue to demand high quality at low cost. In the near future, not only test automation but total quality management systems will become increasingly essential – particularly in large, global organizations.
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer,
QualiSystems
Design verification and quality assurance processes are the backbone of successful product development. Whatever the product, the ultimate goals are the same: to reduce development costs and accelerate time to market without affecting product quality.
Companies invest considerable time, resources and money in testing. Costs can reach up to 300% of the total product development budget. In order to reduce test development time and improve test coverage and efficiency, many companies have created automated testing systems using skilled, in-house human resources, or have invested in third-party test automation solutions. Although automated tests developed in-house are tailored to an organization’s specific requirements, this solution suffers from a number of disadvantages.
Hard-coded test scenarios are extremely difficult to maintain, modify and re-use, especially as products are constantly changing. In order to modify tests, engineers must update the code — often an extensive process, particularly as different engineers use different programming languages and methods. The result is a lack of standardization throughout the testing process – from test design and execution through documentation, data collection and storage, data retrieval and analysis.
Lack of standardization significantly impacts data management efficiency, test development time and quality management process as a whole – on an enterprise-wide basis.
Furthermore, developing automated tests with complete test coverage is a major challenge for manufacturers of complex products that incorporate both software and hardware. Full test coverage requires the use of many different types of test equipment from a variety of vendors. Incorporating these into automated tests requires engineers to program complex drivers. Often, if an item of test equipment is replaced, the test needs to be re-coded. This is not only expensive in terms of time and resources, but also impacts on standardization and test environment maintenance.
One way of addressing these issues is to view product testing as an enterprise-wide total quality management system similar in concept to ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning). This combines a top-down system that considers quality control across the entire organization with a bottom-up approach. This approach commences with discrete tests and uses them as building blocks to create automated processes for full test coverage. The result is a total automated quality management system, which underpins the product lifecycle from design through post-manufacture.
Schematic depicting the flow of a total automated quality management system
Test ProceduresHow would such a system impact on the various roles within a company? The examples below show some typical roles in a large, multi-site organization:
A user-oriented tool for test design and development ensures uniformity of UI, test flow, data collection, documentation, test results, and coverage. It removes the need for complex programming of test processes and also saves the cost of skilled resources.
Unified Central Database
This acts as the foundation for the quality management infrastructure. All test data is collected in a standardized manner through the testing processes and automatically stored for easy data aggregation (retrieval, reuse, analysis etc).
Process Control
To ensure the quality of the product, it is not enough to test the product in different stages of its lifecycle (QC), we also need to ensure quality process execution (QA). The system will provide tools to construct the test process logic and flow, and to aid data collection in a standard format when test processes are executed.
Decision Support and BI Systems
Managers and engineers can access real-time and historic test data stored in the central database and use it to monitor quality. In multi-site organizations, where testing is conducted in different locations, managers can track test status remotely, receive real-time updates, and generate aggregation reports.
Role | Benefits of Automated Quality Management system |
---|---|
R&D Engineer | » Self-sufficiency in testing tasks » Drastically speed up testing set-ups in unstable environments » Storage,reuse and sharing of knowledge |
Process / Production manager | » Online production flow monitoring » Real-time event-handling and alerts » Online quality-related reports management |
Corporate Manager | » Quality policy planning » Improved cost control » Continuously improved process auditing |
Product Manager | » Online monitoring of product quality » Automated product fault data collection and aggregation » Investigation tools for quality related issues |
A natural development of such a system will be to incorporate quality standards libraries as templates into product testing, which help ensure compliance with standards and best practices.
A major advance towards total quality management has been recently made by QualiSystems. QualiSystems’ TestShell suite of solutions addresses the issues of total quality management from both a top-down and bottom-up approach. TestShell covers quality management from an enterprise-level perspective, by offering manufacturers real-time business intelligence in addition to code-free test design, and 24/7 automated test run capabilities.
As product complexity increases, remote and outsourced manufacturing become the norm, and customers continue to demand high quality at low cost. In the near future, not only test automation but total quality management systems will become increasingly essential – particularly in large, global organizations.
The quest for quality at Safeway Australia
At LSI, we build environmental, occupational health and safety (EH&S) decision-making into the beginning of the product realization process to fully realize our EH&S Policy and vision. By including EH&S consideration during the concept stage, potential safety hazards and negative environmental impacts can be minimized before they have the chance of becoming part of our processes or products.
The model used to guide EH&S decision-making at LSI incorporates a solid foundation of a third party certified ISO 14001 (environmental) & OHSAS 18001 (safety) based management system. ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 are management system standards built upon the total quality management concept of "Plan, Do, Check, Act".
The discipline and recognition of ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 certifications supports performance driven EH&S programs which, in turn, strengthen and enhance the product realization process. These standards embody the core elements that are included in LSI's Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) regarding how we identify and manage the significant safety hazards and environmental aspects of our business. LSI's SEMS is regularly audited by an independent and accredited registrar (Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance) for conformance with the ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards.
LSI also has a formal procedure to identify safety hazards and environmental aspects associated with our products and operations. Our SEMS requires that the aspects be evaluated to determine which aspects are or may become significant. LSI sets documented and measurable environmental & safety objectives and targets to manage its significant aspects. The objectives and targets take into account LSI's commitment to pollution prevention, compliance with relevant EH&S regulations, LSI Worldwide EH&S Standards, views of interested parties such as customers and shareholders, as well as opportunities for continuous improvement. Learn more about our EH&S performance.
The output of these efforts is a set of documented objectives and targets that form the basis of environmental and safety plans across the business. The plans include time frames within which performance driven EH&S programs will be met. These plans are revised as necessary to incorporate new activities or products, audit findings, feedback from management reviews, input from interested parties, or new legal and other requirements.
To ensure that this management concept is embedded in its daily operations, LSI trains employees regarding the importance of conforming with the SEMS, safety hazards and environmental impacts associated with their work, their roles and responsibilities within the SEMS, and the potential consequences of failure to follow operating procedures.
Periodic audits are performed to assess compliance with relevant legal requirements and company policies and programs. We also audit the SEMS to ensure that it has been properly implemented and maintained, and that it conforms to the requirements of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. LSI's executive level management reviews the SEMS annually to ensure its continuing adequacy and effectiveness as a business tool. Updates to our EH&S Policy, objectives, and other SEMS elements are made where necessary, in an effort to meet the challenge of continuous improvement in our management system in order to deliver sustainable EH&S performance expected by our customers, stakeholders and communities.
The model used to guide EH&S decision-making at LSI incorporates a solid foundation of a third party certified ISO 14001 (environmental) & OHSAS 18001 (safety) based management system. ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 are management system standards built upon the total quality management concept of "Plan, Do, Check, Act".
The discipline and recognition of ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 certifications supports performance driven EH&S programs which, in turn, strengthen and enhance the product realization process. These standards embody the core elements that are included in LSI's Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) regarding how we identify and manage the significant safety hazards and environmental aspects of our business. LSI's SEMS is regularly audited by an independent and accredited registrar (Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance) for conformance with the ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 standards.
LSI also has a formal procedure to identify safety hazards and environmental aspects associated with our products and operations. Our SEMS requires that the aspects be evaluated to determine which aspects are or may become significant. LSI sets documented and measurable environmental & safety objectives and targets to manage its significant aspects. The objectives and targets take into account LSI's commitment to pollution prevention, compliance with relevant EH&S regulations, LSI Worldwide EH&S Standards, views of interested parties such as customers and shareholders, as well as opportunities for continuous improvement. Learn more about our EH&S performance.
The output of these efforts is a set of documented objectives and targets that form the basis of environmental and safety plans across the business. The plans include time frames within which performance driven EH&S programs will be met. These plans are revised as necessary to incorporate new activities or products, audit findings, feedback from management reviews, input from interested parties, or new legal and other requirements.
To ensure that this management concept is embedded in its daily operations, LSI trains employees regarding the importance of conforming with the SEMS, safety hazards and environmental impacts associated with their work, their roles and responsibilities within the SEMS, and the potential consequences of failure to follow operating procedures.
Periodic audits are performed to assess compliance with relevant legal requirements and company policies and programs. We also audit the SEMS to ensure that it has been properly implemented and maintained, and that it conforms to the requirements of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. LSI's executive level management reviews the SEMS annually to ensure its continuing adequacy and effectiveness as a business tool. Updates to our EH&S Policy, objectives, and other SEMS elements are made where necessary, in an effort to meet the challenge of continuous improvement in our management system in order to deliver sustainable EH&S performance expected by our customers, stakeholders and communities.
Quality Management
Foxsemicon thoroughly constructs a quality management system to assure Total Quality Management and strives for continuous improvements on total customer satisfaction as the first priority. Quality is the first responsibility in the business, and the core of the whole company's operations. All the staff must insist on implementing the quality policy to satisfy customer's needs and wants and achieve zero defects.
The Evolution of Business Process Excellence
A theme of recent global conferences has been the mix of different approaches to improving business performance. This quest for business performance improvement as measured by reducing costs, improving revenues and enhanced service (also known as ‘the triple crown’) is a worldwide phenomena brought on by increasing competition, greater customer promiscuity, chaotic business cycles and more generally ‘globalization’.
The pressure continues to increase and companies are seeking to extract every last opportunity out of their various initiatives and approaches. So what works best then?
The last three decades have seen a gradual refinement of management thinking and practice to now present a strategic choice for organizations. The route people take should be determined by the place companies find themselves in, the place they would like to get to and the speed with which they need to move. Unfortunately all too often companies are choosing inappropriate methods and tools, investing large amounts of money in dubious technologies and training their people in techniques already proven suspect in the last century. Why is this so?
Confucius said “Knowing the right thing and not doing it is the ultimate cowardice”. None more so in the current business climate where political and shareholder pressure has resulted in extreme short–termism. It is estimated that the average tenure of the CEO in the 21st century is less than three years and accordingly results need demonstrating in quick-time. Senior executives faced with this kind of pressure will often revert to what they think they know best. It is a popular military axiom that the generals in the face of battle will fight the last war again, despite improvements in machinery and capability. History is littered with examples of such failures and it seems in business some CEO’s are just as culpable. Witness the recent statements from one CEO of a top three American airline commenting that their industry (airlines) was really not profitable anymore and at best they are striving for a social service for the best part? Contrast that with South West airlines and 57 quarters of successive profit.
Similar comments from the financial service, retailing, pharmaceutical and petroleum industries appear in the press ever-day. And yet those companies like South West continue to buck the trend and achieve double digit growth consistently. Delivering the Triple Crown is a way of life for these companies and interestingly the formula for this success is not difficult to understand.
So back to the myriad of different approaches and how they compare. There is in fact a means of understanding which one to choose and what size of benefit may result from the effective implementation of the correct choice. In terms of timeline the evolution from acknowledging processes to fully exploiting those covers the best part of thirty years. During this time practical experience of the different forms of business improvement has resulted in a range of approaches that can help us determine how best to make our companies more successful. In the ultimate form the emergence of Customer Expectation Management in the last two years produces a formula that embraces and suits current business challenges. A range of industry leading companies have emerged who consistently achieve Triple Crown plus performance some of their approaches are discussed in our book on this theme.
To better understand the ontology of Business Process Excellence we have produced the following chart. Explanations of each approach are provided in part by Wikipedia.
Figure 1: Approaches for Improving Business Performance
(Research of 800+ organizations, BP Group (www.bpgroup.org) 2006-7)
Total Quality Management (TQM)
is a management strategy aimed at embedding awareness of quality in all organizational processes. TQM has been widely used in manufacturing, education, government, and service industries, as well as NASA space and science programs.
Total Quality provides an umbrella under which everyone in the organization can strive and create customer satisfaction at continually lower real costs.
Business Process Improvement (BPI)
is a systematic approach to help any organization make significant changes in the way it does business. The organization may be a for-profit business, a non-profit organization, a government agency, or any other ongoing concern.
BPI works by:
Defining the organization's strategic goals and purposes
(Who are we, what do we do, and why do we do it?)
Determining the organization's customers (or stakeholders)
(Who do we serve?)
Aligning the business processes to realize the organization’s goals
(How do we do it better?)
The goal of BPI is a radical change in the performance of an organization, rather than a series of incremental changes (compare TQM). Michael Hammer and James Champy popularized this radical model in their book ‘’Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution’’ (1993). Hammer and Champy stated that the process was not meant to impose trivial changes, such as 10 percent improvements or 20 percent cost reductions, but was meant to be revolutionary (see breakthrough solution).
Unfortunately, many businesses in the 1990s used the phrase "reengineering" as a euphemism for layoffs. Other organizations did not make radical changes in their business processes, did not make significant gains, and wrote the process off as a failure. Yet others have found that BPI is a valuable tool in a process of gradual change to a business.
Six Sigma
is a set of practices originally developed by Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects. A defect is defined as nonconformity of a product or service to its specifications.
While the particulars of the methodology were originally formulated by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986,
Six Sigma was heavily inspired by six preceding decades of quality improvement methodologies such as quality control, TQM, and Zero Defects. Like its predecessors, Six Sigma asserts the following:
Continuous efforts to reduce variation in process outputs is key to business success
Manufacturing and business processes can be measured, analyzed, improved and controlled
Succeeding at achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire organization, particularly from top-level management
The term "Six Sigma" refers to the ability of highly capable processes to produce output within specification. In particular, processes that operate with six sigma quality produce at defect levels below 3.4 defects per (one) million opportunities (DPMO).
Six Sigma's implicit goal is to improve all processes to that level of quality or better.
The Lean Approach
is the production of goods using less of everything compared to mass production: less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment in tools, and less engineering time to develop a new product.
The Lean Approach is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) but also from other sources.
It is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota 'seven wastes' in order to improve overall customer value but has some key new perspectives on how to do this.
Lean is often linked with Six Sigma because of that methodology's emphasis on reduction of process variation and Toyota's combined usage (with the TPS).
Toyota's steady growth from a small player to the most valuable and the biggest car company in the world has focused attention upon how it has achieved this, making "Lean" a hot topic in management science in the first decade of the 21st century.
Business Process Management (BPM)
is the intersection between management and information technology, encompassing methods, techniques and tools to design, enact, control, and analyze operational business processes involving humans, organizations, applications, documents and other sources of information.
The term operational business processes refers to repetitive business processes performed by organizations in the context of their day-to-day operations, as opposed to strategic decision-making processes which are performed by the top-level management of an organization.
BPM differs from business process reengineering, a management approach popular in the 1990s, in that it does not aim at one-off revolutionary changes to business processes, but at their continuous evolution. In addition, BPM usually combines management methods with information technology.
BPM covers activities performed by organizations to manage and, if necessary, to improve their business processes. In short, Business Process Management is a management model that allows the organizations to manage their processes as any other assets and improve and manage them over the period of time.
Customer Expectation Management (CEM)
is an emergent management and business approach with the powerful idea of defining your business, not in terms of the goods and services you provide, but in terms of "customer expectations." CEM explicitly links corporate strategy down into every niche and corner of the enterprise to ensure that your business sets and meets customer expectations --without exception.
Within CEM everything the organization seeks to achieve should be aligned with achieving Successful Customer Outcomes – anything that doesn’t can be regarded as potentially ‘dumb stuff’ and eliminated.
Organizations implementing CEM approaches can achieve simultaneous reductions in cost, improvements in revenue and enhanced customer service (aka the Triple Crown). Furthermore Regulatory and Compliance requirements may be met and exceeded without a negative impact on business performance.
Various CEM approaches, such as the CEMMethod(tm), place the customer firmly at the centre of everything an organisation does. This evolving field includes world best 21st century performing companies such as Best Buy, Apple, Gilead Systems, South West Airlines, Zara and Virgin.
The book “Customer Expectation Management – Success with Exception’ (Schurter/Towers 2006) describes the clear and actionable guidelines, along with examples from FedEx, Virgin Mobile, Best Buy and a budget airline, explaining what companies can do to increase the customer pipeline, convert higher percentages of that pipeline to profitability, and extend the duration of the customer relationship where profitability is at its peak.
Reflections on the State of Play
Pressure to perform has never been greater at both a personal and company level. Each of the approaches has merit depending on the challenge faced however in our recent research increasingly the players who dominate their markets, those achieving triple-crown plus, are utilizing approaches and methods falling into the Customer Expectation Management domain.
The original pioneers of earlier approaches e.g. Toyota & Lean, General Electric & Six Sigma, have not stood still. In fact they are now the very companies pushing further and widening the gaps between themselves and rivals through what we have come to know as CEM. Other notable exponents of CEM type approaches include FedEx, Virgin Group, Ryan Air (Europe’s largest airline), Citibank, Zara and Best Buy.
Common themes to note are these companies ‘outside-in’ perspective, their alignment to achieving and exceeding customer expectations, the constant stretch to delivering Successful Customer Outcomes and a relentless focus on business success through reduced costs, improved revenues and enhanced service.
CEM is a natural evolutionary approach and yet remarkable in its ability to produce immediate and significant impact on corporate performance. It is readily embraced and incorporates facets of its predecessors. It is easy to understand at all levels (alignment to achieving Successful Customer Outcomes) and does not require significant technology investment.
The pressure continues to increase and companies are seeking to extract every last opportunity out of their various initiatives and approaches. So what works best then?
The last three decades have seen a gradual refinement of management thinking and practice to now present a strategic choice for organizations. The route people take should be determined by the place companies find themselves in, the place they would like to get to and the speed with which they need to move. Unfortunately all too often companies are choosing inappropriate methods and tools, investing large amounts of money in dubious technologies and training their people in techniques already proven suspect in the last century. Why is this so?
Confucius said “Knowing the right thing and not doing it is the ultimate cowardice”. None more so in the current business climate where political and shareholder pressure has resulted in extreme short–termism. It is estimated that the average tenure of the CEO in the 21st century is less than three years and accordingly results need demonstrating in quick-time. Senior executives faced with this kind of pressure will often revert to what they think they know best. It is a popular military axiom that the generals in the face of battle will fight the last war again, despite improvements in machinery and capability. History is littered with examples of such failures and it seems in business some CEO’s are just as culpable. Witness the recent statements from one CEO of a top three American airline commenting that their industry (airlines) was really not profitable anymore and at best they are striving for a social service for the best part? Contrast that with South West airlines and 57 quarters of successive profit.
Similar comments from the financial service, retailing, pharmaceutical and petroleum industries appear in the press ever-day. And yet those companies like South West continue to buck the trend and achieve double digit growth consistently. Delivering the Triple Crown is a way of life for these companies and interestingly the formula for this success is not difficult to understand.
So back to the myriad of different approaches and how they compare. There is in fact a means of understanding which one to choose and what size of benefit may result from the effective implementation of the correct choice. In terms of timeline the evolution from acknowledging processes to fully exploiting those covers the best part of thirty years. During this time practical experience of the different forms of business improvement has resulted in a range of approaches that can help us determine how best to make our companies more successful. In the ultimate form the emergence of Customer Expectation Management in the last two years produces a formula that embraces and suits current business challenges. A range of industry leading companies have emerged who consistently achieve Triple Crown plus performance some of their approaches are discussed in our book on this theme.
To better understand the ontology of Business Process Excellence we have produced the following chart. Explanations of each approach are provided in part by Wikipedia.
Figure 1: Approaches for Improving Business Performance
(Research of 800+ organizations, BP Group (www.bpgroup.org) 2006-7)
Total Quality Management (TQM)
is a management strategy aimed at embedding awareness of quality in all organizational processes. TQM has been widely used in manufacturing, education, government, and service industries, as well as NASA space and science programs.
Total Quality provides an umbrella under which everyone in the organization can strive and create customer satisfaction at continually lower real costs.
Business Process Improvement (BPI)
is a systematic approach to help any organization make significant changes in the way it does business. The organization may be a for-profit business, a non-profit organization, a government agency, or any other ongoing concern.
BPI works by:
Defining the organization's strategic goals and purposes
(Who are we, what do we do, and why do we do it?)
Determining the organization's customers (or stakeholders)
(Who do we serve?)
Aligning the business processes to realize the organization’s goals
(How do we do it better?)
The goal of BPI is a radical change in the performance of an organization, rather than a series of incremental changes (compare TQM). Michael Hammer and James Champy popularized this radical model in their book ‘’Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution’’ (1993). Hammer and Champy stated that the process was not meant to impose trivial changes, such as 10 percent improvements or 20 percent cost reductions, but was meant to be revolutionary (see breakthrough solution).
Unfortunately, many businesses in the 1990s used the phrase "reengineering" as a euphemism for layoffs. Other organizations did not make radical changes in their business processes, did not make significant gains, and wrote the process off as a failure. Yet others have found that BPI is a valuable tool in a process of gradual change to a business.
Six Sigma
is a set of practices originally developed by Motorola to systematically improve processes by eliminating defects. A defect is defined as nonconformity of a product or service to its specifications.
While the particulars of the methodology were originally formulated by Bill Smith at Motorola in 1986,
Six Sigma was heavily inspired by six preceding decades of quality improvement methodologies such as quality control, TQM, and Zero Defects. Like its predecessors, Six Sigma asserts the following:
Continuous efforts to reduce variation in process outputs is key to business success
Manufacturing and business processes can be measured, analyzed, improved and controlled
Succeeding at achieving sustained quality improvement requires commitment from the entire organization, particularly from top-level management
The term "Six Sigma" refers to the ability of highly capable processes to produce output within specification. In particular, processes that operate with six sigma quality produce at defect levels below 3.4 defects per (one) million opportunities (DPMO).
Six Sigma's implicit goal is to improve all processes to that level of quality or better.
The Lean Approach
is the production of goods using less of everything compared to mass production: less human effort, less manufacturing space, less investment in tools, and less engineering time to develop a new product.
The Lean Approach is a generic process management philosophy derived mostly from the Toyota Production System (TPS) but also from other sources.
It is renowned for its focus on reduction of the original Toyota 'seven wastes' in order to improve overall customer value but has some key new perspectives on how to do this.
Lean is often linked with Six Sigma because of that methodology's emphasis on reduction of process variation and Toyota's combined usage (with the TPS).
Toyota's steady growth from a small player to the most valuable and the biggest car company in the world has focused attention upon how it has achieved this, making "Lean" a hot topic in management science in the first decade of the 21st century.
Business Process Management (BPM)
is the intersection between management and information technology, encompassing methods, techniques and tools to design, enact, control, and analyze operational business processes involving humans, organizations, applications, documents and other sources of information.
The term operational business processes refers to repetitive business processes performed by organizations in the context of their day-to-day operations, as opposed to strategic decision-making processes which are performed by the top-level management of an organization.
BPM differs from business process reengineering, a management approach popular in the 1990s, in that it does not aim at one-off revolutionary changes to business processes, but at their continuous evolution. In addition, BPM usually combines management methods with information technology.
BPM covers activities performed by organizations to manage and, if necessary, to improve their business processes. In short, Business Process Management is a management model that allows the organizations to manage their processes as any other assets and improve and manage them over the period of time.
Customer Expectation Management (CEM)
is an emergent management and business approach with the powerful idea of defining your business, not in terms of the goods and services you provide, but in terms of "customer expectations." CEM explicitly links corporate strategy down into every niche and corner of the enterprise to ensure that your business sets and meets customer expectations --without exception.
Within CEM everything the organization seeks to achieve should be aligned with achieving Successful Customer Outcomes – anything that doesn’t can be regarded as potentially ‘dumb stuff’ and eliminated.
Organizations implementing CEM approaches can achieve simultaneous reductions in cost, improvements in revenue and enhanced customer service (aka the Triple Crown). Furthermore Regulatory and Compliance requirements may be met and exceeded without a negative impact on business performance.
Various CEM approaches, such as the CEMMethod(tm), place the customer firmly at the centre of everything an organisation does. This evolving field includes world best 21st century performing companies such as Best Buy, Apple, Gilead Systems, South West Airlines, Zara and Virgin.
The book “Customer Expectation Management – Success with Exception’ (Schurter/Towers 2006) describes the clear and actionable guidelines, along with examples from FedEx, Virgin Mobile, Best Buy and a budget airline, explaining what companies can do to increase the customer pipeline, convert higher percentages of that pipeline to profitability, and extend the duration of the customer relationship where profitability is at its peak.
Reflections on the State of Play
Pressure to perform has never been greater at both a personal and company level. Each of the approaches has merit depending on the challenge faced however in our recent research increasingly the players who dominate their markets, those achieving triple-crown plus, are utilizing approaches and methods falling into the Customer Expectation Management domain.
The original pioneers of earlier approaches e.g. Toyota & Lean, General Electric & Six Sigma, have not stood still. In fact they are now the very companies pushing further and widening the gaps between themselves and rivals through what we have come to know as CEM. Other notable exponents of CEM type approaches include FedEx, Virgin Group, Ryan Air (Europe’s largest airline), Citibank, Zara and Best Buy.
Common themes to note are these companies ‘outside-in’ perspective, their alignment to achieving and exceeding customer expectations, the constant stretch to delivering Successful Customer Outcomes and a relentless focus on business success through reduced costs, improved revenues and enhanced service.
CEM is a natural evolutionary approach and yet remarkable in its ability to produce immediate and significant impact on corporate performance. It is readily embraced and incorporates facets of its predecessors. It is easy to understand at all levels (alignment to achieving Successful Customer Outcomes) and does not require significant technology investment.
TQM Balanced Scorecard Metrics Template
There is much interest currently in integrating individual Total Quality Management metrics into a composite customer satisfaction index. The most effective customer satisfaction indexes are typically based on a set of elements that are defined and evaluated in collaboration with the customers. Besides, Quality metrics are usually an essential part of the customer satisfaction index. In order to keep track of the project performance, at the end of the project, or at intermediate milestones, the current performance is evaluated for each index element. After that, an overall customer satisfaction index is calculated.
TQM (Total Quality Management) Metrics in Excel:
TQM covers four other processes and emphasizes that a company maintain specific quality standards in all aspects of business.
One of the ways is to eliminate the variation from each process so that more consistency of efforts is attained thereby contributing to the ultimate aim of ‘managing quality’.
However, taking constant efforts requires adopting a calculative approach towards the subject. This is possible by using BSC (Balanced Scorecard) having useful metrics listed on it. This management tool can help organizations in moving on the ‘intended path’ accurately.
Also, correction of deviations and departures is possible as one can always compare the ‘actual values’ with ‘target values’ and know whether the operations are heading in the way they are supposed to be.
On the whole, ‘introducing quality’ in all directions can be done by converging this quality management process together with other management strategies.
More useful information for Quality Evaluation:
Check overview scorecard report sample. Check html scorecard report sample. Check metrics (diamond) report sample.
or free
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- Download trial version of TQM (Total Quality Management) Performance Indicators. TQM (Total Quality Management) Evaluation Balanced Scorecard is distributed as an Excel file. Before purchase you can download a trial version of the scorecard. TQM (Total Quality Management) Evaluation Balanced Scorecard Excel file contains a dashboard (see screenshots below), help information section, Balanced Scorecard details.
- Purchase full version of TQM (Total Quality Management) Performance Indicators. Immediately after your order will be processed you will have a link to download Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Excel file and file in Balanced Scorecard Designer format.
- Use TQM scorecard online with BSC Designer Online system. This SaaS solutions provides world-wide access to scorecards with any web-browser.
- It is necessary to start the design of KPIs with analysis of business problems, use Free SWOT Method Guide to perform this analysis. Check Balanced Scorecard Toolkit for scorecard designing instructions, download Key Risk Indicators (KRI) Toolkit for risk management.
TQM covers four other processes and emphasizes that a company maintain specific quality standards in all aspects of business.
One of the ways is to eliminate the variation from each process so that more consistency of efforts is attained thereby contributing to the ultimate aim of ‘managing quality’.
However, taking constant efforts requires adopting a calculative approach towards the subject. This is possible by using BSC (Balanced Scorecard) having useful metrics listed on it. This management tool can help organizations in moving on the ‘intended path’ accurately.
Also, correction of deviations and departures is possible as one can always compare the ‘actual values’ with ‘target values’ and know whether the operations are heading in the way they are supposed to be.
On the whole, ‘introducing quality’ in all directions can be done by converging this quality management process together with other management strategies.
More useful information for Quality Evaluation:
- Related metrics and KPIs for: 6 Sigma Metrics, Continuous Improvement, Quality Improvement, Web Application Testing.
- Customers who viewed this item also viewed: Manufacturing Scorecards Pack | Project Management Metrics Are you a specialist in Quality area? Be a partner for balanced scorecard software and info-products.
- Quality best practices articles: KPI vs. Balanced Scorecard, Design Scorecard with BSC Designer, Six Sigma as a Business Improvement Methodology, Continuous improvement metrics, How to Design KPI, SIX Sigma Free Guide All articles about measuring performance in Quality.
- Balanced Scorecard e-course. In this e-course you will learn more about Balanced Scorecard niche. We talk about Balanced Scorecard design and management issues.
- With BSC Designer user can generate strategy map for TQM (Total Quality Management) Performance Indicators. The map is a great way to visualize performance indicators and relationship between them.
- Balanced Scorecard toolkit. Is a whitepaper where you will learn more about mathematics that stands behind Balanced Scorecard, you will learn basic ideas that will help to design your own scorecard, develop and implement KPI in your business processes.
- Balanced Scorecard fact sheet. The collection of business facts and statistics on Balanced Scorecard.
- Recent posts in KPI forum: New homepage of BSC Designer - more information on KPIs, KPI Guide Letter: Todo- and Check- lists, no marketing hype, Use promotion scorecard for having marketing attempts
- BSC Designer. This metric was designed with Balanced Scorecard Designer. This is a great tool for scorecards or KPI building, performance measurement and information sharing.
- BSC Designer Online. If you don't want to download and install any software you can use web-based scorecard software, this scorecard can be imported into BSC Designer Online and you will have access to your data all over the World.
- Can you add value to TQM (Total Quality Management) Metrics? Be a partner for balanced scorecard software and info-products.
Business Intelligence (BI) for Quality - measure performance with TQM Scorecard for Excel
We have designed TQM Balanced Scorecard (BSC) in MS Excel, so now you can measure and control your performance using this popular business tool. Download trial version right now.
Alignment with Balanced Scorecard and KPIs is a great way to control the performance of Quality.
In comparison to other business performance measure and control methods, alignment with KPI is much more easier to implement and use. Use TQM scorecard to align business performance.
Why do I need these metrics?
MS Excel files that we distribute are a spreadsheets packed with metrics information and the performance calculation formulas.
It's a real-business information. We invested in research that involved experts from Quality Estimation industry who elaborated and shared certain metrics. It's valuable, real-life experience which will help to improve the performance of your business.
- I'm sure you understand the importance of measuring and controlling business using correct metrics, so this small investment will return in a great increase in sales.
- To get a basic idea about what metrics to use. We learned a lot of business metrics and packed scorecard with the most successful.
- To have a sample excel file, which is easy to modify to fit your needs. All Excel formulas are available for copy and change.
- To start with measuring business performance. It's important to start with correct metrics, then you will be able to fulfill scorecard.
TQM (Total Quality Management) Evaluation Balanced Scorecard Screenshots
Metrics for Quality Evaluation. This is the actual scorecard with TQM (Total Quality Management) Performance Indicators and performance indicators. The performance indicators include: tqm,customer perspective,customer satisfaction,on time delivery,internal process perspective,cycle time,lead time,rework hours,capacity,external process perspective,ontime supplies,ontime value rate,inbound freight costs,optimal mode selection,financial perspective,cost of poor quality (copq),activity based costing (abc),return on investment,market share,employee perspective,number of projects completed,employee satisfaction . These indicators can be converted from text into the visualized view with BSC Designer strategy map function. Right now you can download trial version of TQM (Total Quality Management) Performance Indicators or purchase full version of this Balanced Scorecard. Also, it is possible to import this scorecard into web-based balanced scorecard (BSC) software - BSC Designer Online, so it will be accessible to you and your employees with any web-browser. |
Some Balanced Scorecard help information that explains how to interpret scorecard. What scores and weights can be changed. |
All products can be "delocalized"... except languages
Each of our Eurologos offices bases its services on three main principles:
Producing and/or checking the languages where they are spoken (linguistic quality can only be ensured by having a structure of truly multinational offices).
Basing this production on terminotics (terminological precision - that is to say the base of linguistic quality - is not possible without numerous glossaries of industry "technolects" stored in translation memories at each office).
Guaranteeing the control over writing and translations right up to the stage of multimedia publishing (the participation of graphic designers saves time and money: the possibility of complete services and integration of multilingual services in their printing and Web supports).
EUROLOGOS Total Quality Management
Producing and/or checking the languages where they are spoken (linguistic quality can only be ensured by having a structure of truly multinational offices).
Basing this production on terminotics (terminological precision - that is to say the base of linguistic quality - is not possible without numerous glossaries of industry "technolects" stored in translation memories at each office).
Guaranteeing the control over writing and translations right up to the stage of multimedia publishing (the participation of graphic designers saves time and money: the possibility of complete services and integration of multilingual services in their printing and Web supports).
EUROLOGOS Total Quality Management
Total Quality Management of each of the group's offices is based on a Eurologos Procedures Manual of around 400 pages.
Resources: The GOAL/QPC TQM Wheel and the Ten-Element Model
What is TQM?
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a structured system for meeting and exceeding customer needs and expectations by creating organization-wide participation in the planning and implementation of improvement (continuous and breakthrough) processes.Why TQM?
In a global marketplace a major characteristic that will distinguish those organizations that are successful will be the quality of leadership, management, employees, work processes, product, and service. This means that products must not only meet customer and community needs for value, they must be provided in a continuously improving, timely, cost-effective, innovative, and productive manner.GOAL/QPC's Synthesis
There are a variety of strategies being used to implement quality management. These include a "guru" approach, a "quality award" approach, and an ala carte (pick a few pieces of different things and try them) approach. From observation and direct experience with companies implementing TQM, as well as an analysis and critique of different TQM implementation strategies, GOAL/QPC constructed a TQM Wheel to provide a holistic view, and a Ten-Element Model to outline an implementation strategy that allows organizations to get started fairly quickly and begin to improve effectiveness, even though it will take several years to become fully operational. A suggested method for operationalizing TQM is explained in GOAL/QPC's 63-page Research Report (PDF, 59MB), Total Quality Management Master Plan: An Implementation Strategy.TQM Evolves
What is called TQM has never stood still. As with any dynamic management system, TQM has continuously evolved over the last half of the Twentieth Century. GOAL/QPC has been an active partner in this evolution since 1980.While numerous improvements have been made throughout the world, the elements that make up the TQM Wheel and Ten Element Model are foundational to good quality management.
In today's world, two of the most effective and popular "new" management models are Lean and Six Sigma. Both of these models utilize the basic TQM elements and add on some extra refinements to achieve a more robust and powerful system for customer-focused product and service excellence that also focuses on optimizing costs and profits.
GOAL/QPC's newest product offerings are in this Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma domain.
Q-CYCLE
We believe that quality is an integral part of the total system, which ultimately gets reflected in client satisfaction and acceptability of the product. We adhere to strict guidelines and implementation processes that result in Total Quality Management (TQM). All our products undergo alpha and beta testing and complete debugging.
Technology
AVerMedia INFORMATION's primary concern in satisfying customers' needs is having the ability to integrate innovative technologies and functional designs through the process of product research and development. AVerMedia INFORMATION is committed to deliver customer satisfaction and support exceeding both industry standards and the expectations of our worldwide customers. To achieve these goals, AVerMedia INFORMATION's professionals work in tandem with our customers to develop advanced technologies and to constantly improve the quality of our leading-edge products.
AVerMedia Group professionals have over 15 years of experience in the multimedia industry. Currently, we have 250 R&D engineers, including 8 Ph.Ds. and 64 Masters degree holders. An average of 7% of sales revenue is reinvested in the research and development of products. In gaining a high competitive edge, AVerMedia Group has been internally developing our own ASIC chips to minimize product costs and to continue improving on existing technology.
AVerMedia Group mechanical engineering staff uses Pro/E 3D S/W in product designs and has attained high achievements in software development as well. Our TV tuner cards continuously outpace our competition in developing user-friendly functions (parental channel lock, 16-channel preview, TV scheduler, etc) and providing the latest Windows compatible software.
Breakthrough technologies and revolutionary products have enabled AVerMedia INFORMATION to win numerous awards from leading magazines and organizations around the globe. We strive to constantly apply unique and revolutionary approaches to all aspects of our business to assure world-class quality and reliability.
Quality & ReliabilityTQM Overview (Total Quality Management)
Newsflash! Marketers Must Learn Digital Marketing! Ad Age Says So!
What? You've got to be kidding. What year is it? Oh, it must be 1992 or something because it's that Total Quality Management verbal diarrhea management consultancy crap all over again. After reading this Advertising Age article penned by a couple of Booz Allen dudes, I'm wondering if the two authors found an old IBM PC in the storage closet, booted it up and found this very same article on it which, itself, was probably a 64th generation copy of the same management blather that's been spewed forth over and over for years offering absolutely nothing of value other than the invention of a few new buzz words each go 'round.
Seems all the authors did this time was swap out the words "personal computer revolution" for "digital" and send it in to Jonah. Oh wait, they did a study? Well, that explains it all. Studies that confirm the obvious are the bread and butter of companies like Booz Allen. Without them, we'd have to actually think for ourselves.
"People, process and organization: These must change." Are you fucking serious? This has to be a joke. Is it April Fool's Day yet? Did this article publish a day early by mistake? Are the authors seriously telling us this blather is some kind of earth shattering watershed moment? A Gladwell-style tipping point of massive proportion? Some killer paradigm shift?
Check out this gem of wisdom: "People are the first place to start. The new marketing [Ed. uh...The Iraq?] uses data to select and integrate a wider range of tools more precisely to smaller groups of consumers. It places a premium on the ability to access, integrate, analyze and apply data. That means recruiting people with data-analysis skills."
Well holy fucking shit! Christ on a Cracker! That's some revolutionary shit, people! Time for all of Madison Avenue to hit the "corporate retreat" circuit, spend some time in a sweat lodge, hug it out with Ari, have a company-wide communal circle jerk. I mean damn, this...changes...everything!
Just think. Management will actually have to embrace digital marketing. People will actually have to learn digital marketing skills, a "progressive culture" will have to be cultivated within marketing organizations. And OMFG...products will actually have to incorporate consumer insight. You mean brands and marketers will have to give a shit? Now that is a change. Maybe this study was worth it after all.
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