Dr Armand V Feigenbaum is the originator of Total Quality Control.

Thefirst edition of his book Total

Quality Control was completed whilst he wasstill a doctoral student at MIT. By 1950 the book had
become quite popular, andthe Japanese saw great potential in using TQC as a tool to achieve
highquality.

Feigenbaum’s idea of TQC came from hisexperiences being in charge of quality at General Electric (GE).
During thisperiod, he was in constant contact with world-class companies such as Hitachiand Toshiba. By
studying the quality procedures at these companies, he realizedthe need for a “total approach to
quality.” By this, he meant that allprocesses and units related to quality must aim at creating a high
quality endproduct.

In short, he believed that high quality couldbe achieved only through organizational support. He also
asserted that qualitymust be a priority and not an afterthought. In his book Quality Control:
Principles,Practices and Administration, Feigenbaum strove to move away from the thenprimary
concern with technical methods of quality control, to quality controlas a business method. Thus he
emphasized the administrative viewpoint andconsidered human relations as a basic issue in quality
control activities.Individual methods, such as statistics or preventive maintenance, are seen asonly
segments of a comprehensive quality control program.

An effective system for co-coordinating the quality maintenance and qualityimprovement efforts of the
various groups in an organization so as to enable productionat the most economical levels which allow
for full customer satisfaction.

According to Feigenbaum, quality did not meangiving the best product to the customer.

More important as a tool was control, whichfocuses on the following:

ü Devising clear and achievable qualitystandards

ü Enhancing existing working conditions to reachthe desired quality standards.

ü Setting new quality standards with an aim tofurther improve.

Feigenbaum presented quality in a holisticperspective. According to him, quality must encompass all the
phases in themanufacturing of a product. This includes design, manufacturing, quality checks,
sales,after-sales services, and customer satisfaction when the product is delivered to the
customer.Given that these factors control the perception of quality, he proposed controls to control
theabove mentioned phases.

ü New-design control
 ü Incoming material control

ü Product control

ü Special process studies.

Since these controls affect the quality of theproduct, they must be used to influence the quality of the
end product.

Misconception in quality control

According to Feigenbaum, many organizationscommit the blunder of viewing statistical tools as a means
to control quality.However, he suggested that statistical tools make up only a small percentage ofthe
quality control program. In short, statistical tools and techniques are asubset of the main quality control
system.

Modern quality control

Feigenbaum’s idea of modern quality control wasmore management-based. He
recommends:

 Increasing operator efficiency by educatingthem on quality in order to enhance overall

quality.
 Aiming to increase quality awareness throughoutthe organization.
 Involving the entire organization in each andevery quality initiative undertaken.
 He believed that quality control must not beviewed as a cost reduction tool but as an
 administrative effort to:
 Provide a channel for knowledge integration andcommunication, thus enhancing product
quality.
 Encourage employee participation inorganizational quality control initiatives.
 Grow constantly, not abruptly
Feigenbaum’s modern quality control initiativestressed continuous improvement. He
believed that the success of a qualitycontrol program depends on its ability to
encompass more employees as itprogresses.

Often organizations leap into new concepts andtechniques, and ultimately they become
dejected. Feigenbaum advised climbingone step at a time. Therefore, he suggested that
organizations allow thequality control program to develop slowly. Later, the emphasis
should be onimplementing the features of the quality control program throughout the
organization.

Feigenbaum’s idea of Total Quality Control as amanagement responsibility has been widely
appreciated and implemented.Nevertheless, it is only through entire workforce dedication that
high qualityby Total Quality Control can be achieved.