QUALITY MANAGEMENT

SAMBHU NATH BANERJEE

ALLEN-BRADLEY INDIA LTD.

SAHIBABAD

1.0 4 QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

The culture of Quality Management is different in most organisations. I have tried to capture the spirit of that.culture in a definitions:

“An environment where people are equippped to see beyond their customers’ present needs and have the confidence to act without fear of failure or retribution”.

It doesn’t matter what the new culture is, these principles are the same whether you are introducing new computer systems, new working conditions, new machinery or new techniques. Rather thanlooking at the process froma theoretical point of view, what we will do is look at the way organisations who have been successful in Carrying out changes have gone about it.

There are some striking similarities between the processes adopted around the world, and broadly speaking they form a number of discrete steps as discussed below.

employees,, of a statement of vision from the top team, Some people doubt the value of vision statements, and certainly often the purpose and follow-up of the statement devalues it. Nevertheless, there is an enormous weight of suppport for well communicated pictures of the organisation of the future.

Critical Success Factom:

A clear vision is not the only requirement though. Often the vision has to be described in general terms while most employees need a detailed translation if they are going to use it properly. It seems that the most effective way of achieving this is for the Top Team to go to develop a straight forward set of Critical Success Factors (CSFs). This is the basis of the quality tool known as Process Quality Management.

While most CSFs are related to the organisation’s operational performance, they can include measures of change in people’s attitudes and behaviour. Obvious examples might include changes in an index of employees opinions based on an annual survey, or the number of suggestions made through a suggestion scheme.

Discussion Form s m t

Every management leader will tell that for achieving Quality Management Excellence one must have the full and lasting commitment from the top. What they often omit saying is .don’t expect it from the beginning.

What one can hope to achieve is for the new culture to become an acceptable topic for the Senior Managers to discuss.

VISION OF THE FUTURE

For many organisations one of the first attempts to achieve change begins with an assessment of critical aspects of their business. There are two facts of this assessment process that distinguish between those who succeed and those that do not.

The first is the topics chosen for assessment. While some may do all, most successful companies embark on one of these themes;

An early symptom of a change process within an organisation is the publication, to all the

* Customer Focus

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* Organisation Structure

* People Systems (Such as Goal Setting, Appraisal Recognition and Reward)

* Internal Communication.

One tool frequently used to reassess Orgnisation Structure is Process Quality Management. An early initiative can create a few teams to examine the management systems that drive their organisation. Their job is to analysis whether the existing systems supported the organisation’s efforts to achive total quality. Where barriers existed, the teams can make suggestions to improve the quality of the systems.

The second distinction is the way in which these reviews are carried out. It is comparatively easy to find consultants who claim a specialisation in one or more of theseareas. They will send a team of people to perform a ‘diagnostics’, by which they mean that they ask questions, review documentns and records, and interview key staff and customers. They generally produce a report describing the inadequacies of the organisation in areas in which they have exceptional expertise in overcoming the blames. The style of consultancy adopted by these people has been described as Doctor Patient and Purchase-of- Expertise consulting.

The successful organisations usually involves their own staff in these reviews rather than a team of consultants. External help is usually provided in a process-skills consultant to work alongside their own employees. The role of the expert here is to help the team work effectively in an area in which they may have little experience and not to conduct the research or draw conclusions. The value of this approach is in the acceptability of the results and recommendations to the senior managers of the business.

One other area of self-assessment that is important to certkin organisations is that of Cost Quality. The real benefit of many Company’s culture change process is its ability to improve customer satisfaction and the bottom-line. For these businesses a good system for measuring the cost of quality, or cost of control as we prefer to call it, is invaiuabie.

Once the top team has decided on its’ vision aand CSFs for the furture of the business it proves vital for them to discuss these with the rest of the employees. Don’t confuse this process with more specific techniques-related training, and don’t expect dramatic improvements in technical performance from this training . The real benefit comes from the improved morale of people who are being entrusted with strategic information, often for the first time.

Pevelou S k l b

We distinguish between “raising awareness” and “developing skills” in serveral ways. A frequent complaint in organisations already embarked on a change process is that they wasted a lot of money or initial “training”. On examination this “training” was usually restricted to raising awareness of ideas and had no intention of changing skills. As we have said raising awarness is an important step in the process (though it should not cost a disproportionate amount).

The mechanism for developing skills is not restricted to off-the job training it involves a considerable amount of discretion, coaching and supporting on-the-job too. The skills that are developed must depend on the expected job of the individual. If someone is going to be a change-hand then the skills that they need will be very different from those that a machine operator requires. The distinction reflects the difference in the role of a manager and someonw who is not expected to be a manager.

Often the hardest group reach in a culture change process are the middle managers and front-line supervisors. Trying to confront this challenge, an America1 organisation launched a programmme called “Committing to Leadership”(CTL):

“CTL represents a recognition that we can’t return to the days when management made all the decisions and other employees carried them cut. Those days are gone forever. Committing to Leadership training was designed to give the leaders of the company the skills to create the participative environment that our overall quality process - Quality of work Life - demands”.

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EmDloveeS

So much of the development process depends on individuals trying out different ways of doing things. To their managers this can seem a threat. More often than we would perhaps admit, managers imply that they are infallible. To try out a different style of management is a bold step. If the response that they get from their fellow employees is negative then they are unlikely to persist.

A Corporate Vice President for training and education explains ; “ When all the rules of manufacturing and competition changed and in our drive to change with them, we found that we had to rewrite the rules of corporate training and education. We learned that line workers had to actually understand their work and their equipment that senior management had to exemplify and reinforce new methods and skills if they were going to stick, that change had to be continuous and participative and that education not just instruction-was the only way to make this happen”.

Su~oort Teams

Team working is often seen as a characteristic of Total Quality. They are a forum for the exchange of views between people. This can result in greater experience being focussed on problem so that the solution is more likely to be effective. Teams can result in a shared ownership for practice. These are powerful enough reasons why managers, who are trying to delegate day-to-day authority and responsibilty, should feel safer doing so to teams rather than individuals.

But why should individuals want to work in teams? Most of us deriie greater self-esteem from working in teams. This is because we stretch oursekes intellectually further and derive pleasure from helping others.

Teams may be created for single projects or as a permanent work groups. They may work with or without direction from their managers. Team working permanently together and without direction are the modern equivalent of quality circles. Unlike their predecessors though, they are not restricted to one-off-quality improvement intiatives.

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For such teams to be successful they need to be supported. The choice of the members in the first place should be made with proper regard to’the skills of the individuals, The leader needs to have skills in group behaviour and problem- solving, and most organisations assign a facilitator to develop the group members interpersonal skills through the leaders.

-a Membe rS

The facilitator may become a mentor for individuals in the team and for the leader, but another crucial role to provide is one-to-one counselling for managers.

The effort is very small, most managers only ask for a few hours support over several months, but the rewards are tremendous. Ask to change their own behaviour, removing the control that they have grown-up with, and showing greater trust are hard enough. If the culture is changing than they are often frightened to turn to their superiors for fear of showing lack of commitment or understanding. They are also afraid of letting go too quickly and being blamed for any problemms that might arise.

Where external consultants are involved this is clearly part of their responsibility and should be thought of when selecting the right people to help. So important is this to the change process that some companies appoint outside consultants to support their managers.

Taraeted Theme Marketinq

Through the process of change there is a crucial need to reinforce the vision of employees, customers and suppliers. This process is far more complex than buying a few preprinted posters and putting them on factory walls. Both internally and externally there are phases of theme marketing where ideas are communicated and scheme marketing describing in detail how people can become involve. These phases must be properly coordinated and professionally executed. That doesn’t mean that they have to be expensive, though undoubtedly some are.

A popular medium is the internal newsletter, but often this is too slow to keep abreast of the cultural change that is happening. Now the dealership have been equipped wuth satilite

receivers and video systems enabling them to receive professionally produce Business TV programmes. Once a week the staff sit to learn of changes in their industry, their Company, and their products. The result is a dramatically enhanced identity with a parent located several hundered of miles away.

Onaoina:

Finally, running through every successful quality process is the need for constant updating and review. When quality slips off the boardroom agenda it slips out of the minds of the executives and employees.

One value of the review process is that it enables the executive team to keep in touch with improvement when they happen and gives vital visible encouragement to the people involved. This doesn't have to be a formal awards ceremony, though some find this very effective, it can simply mean that the team write to each person involved.

Plannina fo r Action

Like any model it is only any good if we can use it. The biggest problem with models are that people use them to plan, and plan, and plan, and . .. ... , . . . , If the culture change process is going to work we must get started - not on the planning but on the action.

2.0 A WORKARLE SYSTEM ON JMPLEMFN TATION 0 F TOTAL QU ALITY MAWAGEMEN1

Total Quality Management requires a number of key attributes as follows :

* Leadership from management to drive the customer satisfaction effort.

* A process composed of companywise systems involving employees in all disciplines.

Satisfying customer 'closes the loop", completing the cycle. Because a satisfied customer generates business, and business drives management to provide more leadership for achieving Quality Management.

LFADERSHIP

An organisation must be committed to :

* Serving as role models for integrating quality values into the day-today operations.

* Promoting quality awareness and sharing quality experiences with community, business and governmental organisations.

* Supporting the Strategic Quality Council's efforts to develop quality strategy, quality training, apply quality sciences and ensure companywide conformance to Quality Management principles.

Individual organisational operating units will develop plans to support quality objectives, including the establishment of key indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of the Quality Management Plan. Local quality councils will guide the implementation and leadership of these programs.

INFORMATION AND AN-

An organisation has to establish a set of companywide procedures to asssure that data and information are uniformly collected and properly utilised to monitor the quality improvement on a continuous- basis.

Plans should be made to continually collect competitive compasrisons and world-class benchmarks, including :

* Customer satisfaction

* Product and Service Quality

* Supplier performance

* Best-in-class functional processess * Continuous improvement and measurements

* Aggressive goals centered on customer sat isfaction

Individual operating units will work together to ensure that data and information are uniformly collected and utilised to monitor and measure

continuous quality improvments- from order entry to post-salessupport. Operating units will:

* Determine characteristics and measurements important to customer satisfaction and establish a database for planning and day- to-day management.

* Develop local policies and procedures to collect, analyse and communicate quality data on a timely basis, so that their organisations and the Company at a large can continually improve customer satisfaction.

* Estasblish a review process to regularly evaluate and improve local data collection and analysis.

STRATEGIC QU ALITY PLANNING

Quality planning has been integrated into organisation’s annual strategic business planning process. This is essential to achieving global leadership in products, services and customer satisfaction,

The Strategic Quality Council should work with other staffs to annually develop :

* Short-term quality plans and goals (1-2 years)

’ * Long-term quality plans ( 3- 5 years)

Operating units develop long-term and short-term plans and goals to support senior management plans.

These will include :

A competitive analysis of the operating unit’s quality.

An analysis of customer satisfaction with plans for improvement

Ways in which quality technolcgy will be employed

Quality skills training for employees

M an ag em en t p I an s for e m po i.v e r i n g employees to act in the best interest of the organisation and its customers.

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* Benchmarks for best-in-class processes and operating unit improvement plans.

* Resource required to implement improvements.

HUMAN RESOU RCE UTILISATION

The organisation should plan to establish an operating culture which :

Encourages ownership and teamwork and distributes decision-making throughout the organisation.

Provides ongoing education and training in quality and customer satisfaction.

Communicates expectations for quality management plans, goals, strategy and company progresses.

Benchmarks best-in-class human resource practices to guide continuous improvement.

Provides timely feedback of performance and gives companywide recognition to quality and customer satisfaction accomplishments.

Operating unit management will develop the policies, programmes and procedures necessary to implement human resource utilisation, including the measurement and recognition of individual and group quality achievements.

QUALITY ASSURA NCEOF PRODUCTSAN D SERVlCES

The organisational aim should go beyond the mere standards to champion continuous improvement in quality and customer satisfaction for all business activities. This includes product design, development, manufacturing, delivery, customer support and sales involving suppliers, distributors and all other company departments.

Individual operating units will develop the plans, policies and procedures necessary to implement and measure key quality processes. They will :

* Maintain and continuously improve these by focusing on what is truly significant to customers.

* Assess the methodology, control and effectiveness of process practices, products and services.

* Build on the foundation with a renewed customer focus that ensures the quality of business relationship.

PERCEIVED RESULTS 0 F QU ALITY MANAGEMENT

The Organisation should pave the platform for the development of internal competitive and functional benchmarks in key business areas to establish world-class quality objectives.

The organisation has to identify companywide metrics and goals, to ensure consistent quality improvement in products, services and customer satisfaction. These metrics, including measurement of human resource development, supplier quality and the entire business process, will help to evaluate the organisational progress in the ongoing journey to customer satisfaction.

3.0 QU ALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM - A PLATFORM FOR IMPLEMENTATION

TO MAKE THE BEST BETTER

Total Quality Management System is as much a philosophy as it is a science.

It is a comprehensive approach to quality. It begins with a thorough assessment of customer needs and continues through design, manufacture, packaging, shipping, and inservice analysis. It defines quality precisely, and systematically assures its attainment. It requires a change in management thinking. The notion that quality pertains only to the plant floor and is largely the responsibility of production workers is abandoned. And quality is no longer viewed as a function of inspection.

QUALITY MANAGEMENT

Quality Management is a new outlook based on some surprising principles :

Quality improvements often lead to productivity improvements; improvements and quality is best defined as conformance to requirements. The mechanism of Quality Management is based on Preventive Quality Control,

PHILOSOPH Y

Quality Management is a never-ending process and primarily a management responsibility.

Quality influences productivity and can be measured objectively using statistical sampling and analysis.

QUALITY IS CON FORMANCE TO REQUIREMENTS

This assertion may strike some as odd and not at all defining of qualiity. But how else can quality be measured objectively ?

Product requirements are established based on user needs. How should the product be constituted if it is to serve long and well? Design and materials must be appropriate to intended uses.

Complete products have hundreds, even thousands of requirements. Specifications for diameters, lengths, widths, compositions, electrical capacities, resistance to industrial environments, and more are necessary.

How accurately products match requirements at production’s end and on the job is the measure of quality. Products conforming to requirements perform as expected‘ and accommodate user application.

INSPECTION : A PRESUMPTION OF ERROR

For many years, manufacturers have depended on inspection to assure conformance. But inspection is a negative approach, Its purpose is sorting the unacceptable from the acceptable. It presumes errors are inevitable.

Non-conforming products are rejected. Through rework, some are brought into conformance, The term “yield” was coined to evaluate production ‘s performance. Yields as low as Rfty percent are common in some companies ; one of every two products is non-conforming.

Inspection assures quality of conformance but it is easy to imagine how expensive it is in terms of scrap materials and unnecessary labour.

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In these trim economic times, neither the manufacturer nor its customers can afford the price of waste. That is why the focus is on preventing non conformances.

Quality Management addresses all factors that affect quality. it is composed of the six incoming inspection. subsystems described as follows:

committed to producing conforming products; and assistance-helping vendors are committed to producing conforming products; and assistance - helping vendors institute statistical process controls and other preventive 'Certified Vendor" status and ship directly to stock bypassing

I MAN A S T

Sub-System-I formalizes the administration of preventive quality control. If assigns the responsibility for quality to managers from the Chief Executive Officer to the plant foreman. Subsystem -I also sets quality objectives for every organisational location and regularly evaluates performance through plant audits.

II. PRE-PRODUCTION QUALITY

Product design and process design profoundly influence how successfully a product can be manufactured in conformance to requirements. Subsystem II insists on careful planning so nonconformances are prevented. Product development is viewed as an interactive process involving many departments. Products and a process are designed together. The result is an efficient production system capable of producing conforming products and a product capable of meeting user requirements reliably.

111. PRODUC TlON QUAI .ITV CONTROL

Subsystem -111 mandates the use of control charts to monitor conformance during production. Sampling schedules are established ; auditors are trained; workmanship standards are available at audit points ; and corrective action procedures are defined. Instruments used for sample assessment are regularly checked and calibrated to assure proper operation. With quality in control, waste can be minimised.

V. INTERNAL AND FIELD DATA PFPORTING AND ANALYSIS

In preventive quality system, data is collected on performance hour by hour and day by day. It is the eyes and ears of statistical process control. After a product is in service it provides insights into real world operation. It tells us when we're right and why we're right. The structured gathering and use of data is the purpose of Sub- system-lv. Guidelines are included that assure data will be used as a means of attaining conformance not as an end in and of itslef.

VI. QUALITY COST AND CORRECTIVE ACTlON

All organisational managers are responsible for quality. Alongwith hightening sensitivity to quality costs. Subsystem- Vlprovides a three level means of improving conformance. Most of the improvements occur as a matter of course. Those that require product design changes on the installation of new equipment are brought before Corrective Action Committee found at every location to reduce waste and increase yield percentages.

THE BFAUTY OF PREVENTION:

The process is the focus of prevention. And the product is only as good as the process used to produce it. A capable process is able to turn out conforming products consistently. No scrap, no rework.

IV. SUPPLIER QUALITY CO NTROL Capability is achieved when the distance between-3 sigma and +3 sigma (6 sigma

Most of the manufacturers depend on Darts and variation) is no wider than the speckation range. materials purchased from suppliers. The goal of Subsystem -IVis controlling vendor quality Every aspect of product development influences before supplies enter plants. It is accomplished capability interdepartmental co-operation is through audit - determining whether vendors are essential. Product and process are

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complementary and directed towards the szme end:Conformance.

Once a process is made capable it can be kept capable using statistical process controls. sampling techniques and corrective acticzs where necessary.

CONCLUSIONS

Quality Management is an assurance that an organisation does not rest on its reputation alone. They are continually seeking better ways and better products. And at price-performance ratios one can easily justify.

Generally, when processes are entered and brought under statistical control yield improves dramatically. As yield improves, so doeos productivity. This helps to maintain costs on existing products and present new prodLicts at competitive prices .... without compromising qgality.

Product introduction cycles are shortened by a new emphasis on inter departmental co- operation. Innovative and needed products become available in a more timely manner. New products conform to requirements right from the start.

The Total Quality Management Sys‘er i ,.;,“Le$ an organisatcm more efficient, m3r6 cwoduciivc and more responsive. In simple term: :?!!e$ to make the best ......... even better.

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