Total Quality Management Linking Quality Control, Quality Assurance           

          and Quality Improvement

Quality Assurance and Total Quality Management

Quality Assurance is defined by ISO 8402 as:  "All the planned and systematic activities implemented within the quality system and demonstrated as needed to provide adequate confidence that an entity will fulfill requirements for quality."

An alternative definition of Quality Assurance (QA) which incorporates the cost element: "A management system designed to give the maximum confidence that a given acceptable level of quality is being achieved in a manufactured product or service with a minimum total expenditure.”

Typical QA activities include:

q       The control issue of working drawings.

q       The verification of qualification

q       The identification of inspection status.

q       Calibration of inspection equipment.

Quality Assurance covers all matters that, individually and collectively, influence the quality of the study, trial or the product under investigation.  It is the sum total of organised arrangements made with the object of ensuring that the study, trial or the product under investigation are of the quality required for their intended use.  Quality Assurance therefore incorporates not only the appropriate Good Practices (Good Clinical, Laboratory or Manufacturing Practice or similar standards) but also other factors outside their scope.

Currently the term QA has been replaced by Quality Management Systems and incorporates ISO 9000:2000.  This better title, of course, still has the same ideals and better describes the system approach of QA.  It is interesting to note that ISO 9000:2000 now refers to quality management systems rather than quality assurance however, for all intent and purpose they are the same thing.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an approach to doing business that attempts to maximize the competitiveness of an organisation through the continual improvement of the quality of its products, services, people, processes, and environments. TQM is a total system approach (not a separate area or program), and an integral part of high-level strategy. It works horizontally across functions and departments, involving all employees top to bottom, and extends backwards and forwards to include the supply chain and the customer chain. It is achieved when following elements are present: 

q       Customer focus (internal and external).

q       Obsession with quality.

q       Scientific approach to decision making and problem solving.

q       Long term commitment.

q       Teamwork.

q       Continual process improvement.

q       Education and training.

q       Freedom through control.

q       Unity of purpose.

q       Employee involvement and empowerment.

TQM consists of continuous improvement activities involving everyone in the organization - managers and workers - in a totally integrated effort toward improving performance at every level. This improved performance is directed towards satisfying such cross-functional goals as quality, cost, schedule, mission need, and suitability.

TQM integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts, and technical tools under a disciplined approach focused on continual process improvement. The activities are ultimately focused on increased customer/user satisfaction.

TQM means that the organisation's culture is defined by and supports the constant attainment of customer satisfaction through integrated system of tools, techniques, and training. This involves the continuous improvement of organisational processes, resulting in high quality products and services.

Continuous improvement seeks continual improvement of machinery, materials, labour utilization, and production methods through application of suggestions and ideas of team members.  The idea is that improvement in quality is always possible.  An important part of continuous improvement is benchmarking.  While continuous improvement is easy to do internally for an organization, benchmarking, an external comparison against other is not quite so easy.  The idea is to identify industry leaders and competitors and see what they are doing.  A firm can look to find the best and most successful industry practices and see how those practices can be adapted to that organization.

Continuous improvement utilises benchmarking to help organizations continually rejuvenate and strive for top quality in their service or product. Continuous improvement does this by taking into consideration the management, production, and marketing of a product.

Continuous improvement uses a process that follows the plan-so-check-act-cycle.  In the plan stage, the situation is analysed and the improvement is planned.  In the do stage, the improvement is tried.  In the check stage, data is gathered to see how the new approach works, and in the act stage the improvement is either implemented or a decision is made to try something else.  This process of continuous improvement makes it possible to reduce variations and lower defects to near zero.  The processes that produce good results are standardized and documented.  The documented processes are followed.  If the process is changed the documentation is changed.  If an organization lacks this standardization, then
improvement tends to slip.  Without standardization, variation is increased rather than decreased.

Comparative Scope of ISO 9000 and Total Quality Management (TQM)

The two principle quality initiatives at work in the world today are ISO 9000 and Total Quality Management.  Consequently, it is well to begin by explaining the relationship between the two.  The following statements outline the relationship between ISO 9000 and Total Quality Management:

q       ISO 9000 and Total Quality Management are not interchangeable

q       ISO 9000 is compatible with, and can be viewed as a subset of TQM

q       ISO 9000 is frequently implemented in a non TQM environment

q       ISO 9000 can improve operations in a traditional environment

q       ISO 9000 may be redundant in a mature TQM environment

q       ISO 9000 and TQM are not in competition

In spite of a commonly held view to the contrary, ISO 9000 and TQM are not the same.  By definition, ISO 9000 is concerned only with quality management systems, for the design, development, purchasing, production, installation, and servicing of products and services.

On the other hand, TQM, by definition, encompasses every aspect of the business or organisation, not just the systems used to design, produce, and deploy its products and services.  This includes all support systems such as human resources, finance, and marketing.  Total Quality Management involves every function and level of the organisation, from top to bottom.  Figure 4.1 illustrates how close ISO 9000’s evolution has brought it to TQM.

                        Figure 1.1       Total Quality Management Characteristics Compared with ISO 9000

TQM is defined as an approach to doing business that attempts to maximise the competitiveness of an organisation through the continual improvement of the quality of its products, services, people, and environments by emphasising the characteristics listed in Figure 1.1.  In comparison, the ISO 9000 quality management system is designed to provide the framework for continual improvement to increase the probability of enhancing customer satisfaction and the satisfaction of other interested parties.

Clearly, TQM and ISO 9000 is not quite the same thing.  However, there is nothing inherent in ISO 9000 that would prevent it from becoming part of a larger TQM environment.  There are many examples today of companies that have successfully included ISO 9000 as part of a larger TQM effort.  Organisations that are already at some level of TQM maturity have typically found it easy to implement ISO 9000.  This is because a TQM environment with its infrastructure of documented processes and procedures, continual improvement, obsession with quality, and so on easily supports the requirements of ISO 9000.

Although Total Quality Management is comparable with and may well facilitate an ISO 9000 implementation, it is by no means a prerequisite for implementing ISO 9000.  In fact, it is safe to say that the majority of ISO 9000 registered organisations have not fully adopted TQM; at least, not yet.

When ISO 9000 is implemented in the traditional organisation, the company should be better for it.  I will not go as far as to say it will be better for it, because much depends on the organisation’s reasons for adopting ISO 9000 and the degree of top management commitment to it.  Putting it another way, if ISO 9000 is approached in appropriately and for the wrong reasons, it can become nothing more than a marketing ploy, and the organisation’s functional departments might develop even more problems than they had before ISO 9000.

Just as ISO 9000 should help traditional organisations, it should also benefit TQM organisations.  However, in an organisation that has achieved a high level of maturity in its Total Quality Management journey, all ISO 9000 criteria may already be in place.  What would a company such as Toyota gain from ISO 9000 registration?  Probably nothing.  They already do everything required by ISO 9000.  Their products and processes are recognised as world class.  However, there are many fine TQM organisations that are not as well known as Toyota.  Such organisations, even though they may already meet or exceed the requirements of ISO 9000, may find it necessary to register in order to let potential customers know that their products or services satisfy the international standard.

ISO 9000 and TQM are not in competition.  While there may be those who advocate one to the exclusion of the other, in the larger scheme of things the two concepts fit well with each other.  Both have worthwhile and similar aims.  My view is that not only is TQM and ISO 9000 compatible, they actually support each other and are complementary.  There are good reasons for using both in a single management system.

The aim of ISO 9000 has historically been to assure that the products and services provided by registered organisations are consistently fit for the intended purpose.  ISO 9000:2000 has raised the standard’s aim to a new level.  Customer satisfaction and continual improvement, along with the other six quality management principles, seek to make registered organisations more competitive.  This is essentially the same objective of Total Quality Management.

Management motivation for adopting ISO 9000 or TQM can vary widely.  There are both appropriate and inappropriate motives.  For example, if a company seeks ISO 9000 registration in order to obtain a marketing advantage, its motive is inappropriate.  As a result, the organisation will likely give lip service to adopting the standard.  Appropriate motives for adopting ISO 9000 include the following:

q       To create or improve a quality management system that will be recognised by customers world wide. 

q       To improve product or service quality, or the consistency of quality. 

q       To improve customer satisfaction. 

q       To improve competitive posture. 

q       To improve operations by satisfying the ISO 9000 requirements for management responsibility, resource management, product realisation, measurement analysis, and improvement.

Key Links Between a Quality System and Quality Improvement

The concept of quality improvement refers to greater suitability, improved performance, increased longevity, enhanced reliability, and even better appearance of a product.  At least as important, but often overlooked, is improvement to the process that produces the product.  Process improvements are undertaken for the purpose of making the product better in some way, making it easier to produce, eliminating the possibility for errors, ensuring consistency, or reducing costs.  The concept of process improvement applies equally to both products and services.

Improvement is often misinterpreted and misused.  When a process’s performance is restored to its historic performance level, no improvement has occurred in the process’s capability.  The process has merely been returned to its normal performance (maintenance).  Maintenance, however, is very important and is an essential element of any quality management system.  Dr. Joseph Juan said, “Putting out fires is not improvement.  Finding a point out of control, finding the special cause and removing it, is only putting the process back where it was in the first place.  It is not improvement of the process”.

Although major, breakthrough improvements are wanted, any change for the better from a process’s historic capability represents improvement – no matter how small.  Most improvements fall into the “small” category.  When the quality management system is targeting continual improvement, small, incremental improvements result in significant improvement over time.  That is the power of continual improvement.

It is possible to achieve process improvement without changing the absolute performance of the process.  If a process can be made more reliable or consistent, and therefore, less likely to fail, that is improvement.  Typically, this kind of improvement is the result of locating and eliminating root causes, not just symptoms, of process variability or failure modes.  Also, if a process can be made more difficult to be operated incorrectly (the Japanese call it poka-yoke, fool proofing the process) that is an improvement.

Quality improvement, therefore, takes the process to a new, higher level of performance, or renders the process more reliable, more consistent, or less likely to permit operator induced errors.  Continual improvement is simply the relentless pursuit of process or product/service improvements on a continuing basis, never becoming satisfied with the current state.  No matter how well a process performs or how reliable and consistent it is, it falls short of perfection, the real objective.

From the perspective of the manufacturer or the provider of services, continual improvement is not just a way to increase market share, but is also a method of reducing costs.  As strange as it may seem, real quality improvement results in lower costs to the producer.  However, many people still can’t grasp this concept.  Some of the best known organisations have not yet accepted this concept as being plausible.  Nevertheless, a large and growing list of organisations around the world has proven conclusively that improving quality does, in fact, lower costs.

Any organisation wants to offer goods or services at prices that will attract customers, but still produce a profit.  They want their goods or services to be useful and serviceable to potential customers as possible so that customers will prefer theirs to those of the competition.  Continual improvement as now required by ISO 9000:2000 and promoted by Total Quality Management offers organisations the chance to accomplish both competitive pricing and competitive quality.

Since the first version of ISO 9000, continuing until the year 2000 release, continual improvement has not been a requirement.  The 1994 versions of ISO 9001, 9002, and 9003 made implicit references to quality improvement – without requiring it to be continual.

Continual improvement is an especially significant element of the ISO 9000:2000 quality management system, which is illustrated by the sheer number of references to it in the standard; for example, clause 4.1 requires the organisation to continually improve the effectiveness of its quality management system, clause 5.3 requires top management to ensure that the quality policy includes a commitment to “continually improve the effectiveness of the quality management system”, and clause 8.4 requires the organisation to determine, collect and analyse data “to evaluate where continually improvement of the effectiveness of the quality management system can be made.”  There are many other clauses that stress continual improvement in the ISO 9000 family of standards.  In addition, there are many other references to improvement in ISO 9001:2000, and they generally have reference to, or support, continual improvement.

Total Quality Management has always promoted the use of statistical tools and techniques to support continual improvement.  ISO does not require the use of statistical techniques, but in ISO 9001:2000, clause 8.1, Measurement, Analysis and Improvement, General, the organisation is required to determine “applicable methods, including statistical techniques, and the extent of their use.”  In other words, it is left to the organisation to determine what methods, including statistical techniques, are appropriate, and whether or not to use them.  The organisation should seriously consider the employment of statistical techniques, not because of an ISO 9001 requirement, but for the potential benefit of the organisation’s effectiveness.

World-class organisations always strive to improve processes, procedures, products, services, and people.  One of the techniques through which organisations achieve this is continual improvement.  Everyone in the organisation, from top management to hands on employees, is involved in searching for opportunities for improvement and ways, however small or grand, to accomplish it.

World-class companies believe that “good enough” is never good enough.  They constantly seek to raise the performance and quality bars for their organisations and products or services.

Potential Impact of TQM on Australian Competitiveness in the World Market

Quality improvement in any product or service will result in more satisfied customer and, indirectly, in heightened expectation throughout the market place.  This can mean just one thing for organisations that do not respond to the market demands for ever better quality and value – loss of market share.  Ultimately this will lead to one or two outcomes.  Either an organisation will adopt the continual quality improvement approach, or it will fail.  In today’s market place failure is almost assured for any company that refuses to heed the customer’s demand for ever improving quality.

Management motivation for adopting Total Quality Management can be equally muddled.  Too many organisations attempt to implement TQM for the wrong reasons.  When this happens, the implementation is nearly always doomed to failure.  The appropriate motivation for implementing TQM is that senior management has learned what it can do to improve every aspect of the organisation, and they want these improvements to occur.  However, we often find examples in which senior managers become enamoured of TQM through a seminar or an article in a trade journal, and with this limited amount of knowledge attempt an implementation.  This approach hardly ever works.

Interestingly, many organisations turn to Total Quality Management out of desperation.  Their business is consistently losing in the market place, so TQM is turned to as a last resort for survival.  As it turns out, these are often the easiest implementations, because the management team typically gets behind TQM with commitment and enthusiasm rather than see their jobs vanish into thin air.  Desperation is a strong motivator.  It would be accurate to say that Japan was in a similar situation after World War II, when it originally got the Total Quality movement started.  However, organisations with good leadership turn to TQM before a crisis sets in.

Change and revolution in manufacturing, engineering and business entities are words that Australian business people and governments have had trouble with understanding and applying.  However, our competitive situation is dire.

Traditional techniques will not work well enough any longer if we are to equip our managers and engineers of today and our managers and engineers of the future (the students of today) with the tools to enable Australia to become competitive in the local and overseas market place.

Although yesterday’s methods were quite successful, they are now very outdated.  The main requirements for successful use of the so called newer techniques (including TQM) are a willingness to change entrenched attitudes, coupled with patience, time and above all, a commitment from top management to make them work.

Total Quality Management challenges organisations to review their traditional approach to doing business and to embrace a new set of values involving a progressive reduction in the production costs and improvement in the quality of industrial and business operations.  These changes, however, cannot be made overnight.  The problem is if Australia does adopt TQM philosophies and techniques, together with quality management systems, throughout all organisations both in the private and government sectors then many organisations just won’t be around in ten years time.

Some customers in Australia are being turned off, especially in the service industries, and turned off, not by price but by apathy, carelessness, and downright discourtesy.  Our customers are turning to foreign products because our managers and statisticians are willing to accept errors as random necessities, something to be lived with.  We have, in the past, made excuses rather than progress.  We have thrived on chaos for too long.  An attitude of good enough is not good enough today, and if we don’t change, the gravestones marking our industrial plants will read, “We thought we were good enough”.  We must look to the future by planning now.  The days of fire fighting problems, short-term thinking and “she will be right mate” are long gone.

Success in manufacturing and business today requires that Australian managers match overseas standards and become internationally competitive in terms of cost, quality and delivery.  We have the quality tools, the people, and the techniques so let us thrive on excellence rather than chaos.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Baker, Richard, A Guide to Quality Management Systems: ISO 9001:2000, Granville College of TAFE NSW, 2001

Besterfield, Dale, Besterfield-Michna, Carol, Besterfield, Glen, Besterfield-Sacre, Mary, Total Quality Management, 2^nd Edition, Prentice Hall, 1999

Goetsch, David & Davis, Stanley, Total Quality Handbook, Prentice Hall, 2001

Goetsch, David & Davis, Stanley, Understanding and Implementing ISO 9000:2000, 2^nd Edition, Prentice Hall, 2002

Summers, Donna, Quality (with CD ROM), 2^nd Edition, Prentice Hall, 2000

Taormina, Tom & Brewer, Keith, Implementing ISO 9000:2000, The Journey from Conformance to Performance, Prentice Hall PTR, 2002

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