Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios

Superiores de Monterrey
Campus Querétaro

Quality Management Strategies

Team 6
Report case 1: Santa Cruz Guitar Company
27.02.2021
Francisco Tamayo
Esmeralda Niño

● Omar Flores Noyola A01154467

● Anneliese Ricaño Guzmán A01228265
● Albane Bergamotto A01758443
● Alejandro Viveros Saenz A01328711
 ● Marcela Langarica Mejía A01228153

Situation
Richard Hoover is planning to retire. You are contacted by a group who is
interested in buying the company. You are required to answer the following
questions:

1. Quality is very important for the market segment of this company. Is the
quality model and philosophy of this company strong enough to be
competitive during the next few years?

Yes, the model does not rely on one person to maintain quality but leaves responsibility
to all the workers and encourages them to be constantly improving their skills so they
will not only maintain present quality but are more likely to increase it by perfecting their
craft.

The company is specially focused on maintaining the quality of the product; it appears to
be very important for them that every part of the process is made accurately in order to
get the best quality as a result.

The only thing that may not be so viable is when they have a higher volume production it
would be very complicated for them as the staff is very little and the time and dedication
they spend on each process would no longer be in control.

2. Do you think that Santa Cruz Company was following TQM without
noticing? Could you provide some evidence?

Yes. As shown in the article, Hoover and the Santa Cruz Company did not have
knowledge of those terms but what these terms imply doing to have a good process,
they executed it. The examples given are: using CNC to make the neck of the guitar to
decrease the repetitiveness of actions and prevent injuries; they encourage employees
to constantly improve their quality and that all of them should be involved in the
process; they do not pressure for a result in a given time but in the best quality possible;
they let the workers have the pride of workmanship; they do not hold a hierarchy in the
shop but everybody is there to learn from the one they are next to; also all the workers
must take their own decisions regarding product quality.
 3. Some members of this group believe that the company shall invest in
robots and automatic machinery in order to increase production volume.
What will be your recommendation?

The advantage of making pieces by automatic machinery would be obviously the speed
of production and the capacity of the shop would increase. In counterpart, the quality,
which is a characteristic of the company, would diminish. There are certain pieces from
the guitar that can be made by robots (small parts or the neck of the guitar) but other
parts of the process can only achieve the desired and characteristic quality by a person
making it, voicing the top is an example.

4. Do you think company management has improved since the owner became
aware of all the Deming’s steps? Or is it running the same way? Explain
your answer.

I believe it has improved. It may have been something they were doing automatically but
now once they know the terms they already know what they are doing so they can do it
consciously and systematically and seek to fulfill all steps in more detail and dedication in
order to maintain a well-done and quality process. This will help them improve sensitivity
and trace problems when they arise.

5. From the video and article provided, briefly describe (limit to 1 page) to the
investors your overall opinion about this company and if you believe that it
could be a good investment.

The Santa Cruz Guitar Company is a good investment because the current change in
management will not bring the quality standards for which they are well renowned
down. The important part of this company, aside the big name in the industry, is the
identity of it as an institution. That is, as a company, the desire is always to improve and
all the workers share this vision and impersonate so. They always consider quality as an
important factor in their process; it is the first important measure. Having workers not
only inspired and satisfied by their job but also standards that help keep it that way gives
as a result a company culture that is focused on quality and some of their products are
designed with customers in thought, thinking in what the customers want and always
making products with quality. They consider that it is important to provide the best
service in order to satisfy the customer and to do it is important that senior managers
need to be involved to show commitment with customers. Given that nowadays quality
is one of the most valuable assets in the industry, making an investment in this company
makes a good decision. For further information, I would need to see the income
statements of the company to give an opinion.
 6. What do you think is the most important lesson learned in this case?

Albane: According to us, the most important lesson we have learned from this case is
that quality is essential in all companies, and some companies even apply TQM without
knowing it. The main points that let the Santa Cruz Guitar Company have a good quality
is forming craftsmen and let the employees have some freedom in their work with know-
how and uniqueness, and give a lot of attention to the services, such as responding to
clients in a certain delay. Setting good quality standards will bring an image of trust for
customers but also investors.

Omar: The most important lesson is that not always the concept is the important part of
how one implements quality. It can also happen that focusing on clients’ satisfaction one
can develop practices that align with theories that look for quality improvement such as
Deming’s points. Also important is that when one involves every member of the
company in the process of quality management and quality improvement and gives them
a sense of pride in their work, the whole company culture revolves around the concept
of quality and even the same employees set high standards.

Anneliese: A lesson learned in this case is that one of the most important factor that
might be considered when implementing TQM is the communication and having a team
work environment that encourage them to do the processes well, in detail and complying
with the specifications of the product, as well as the one that makes the whole team
work is committed and involved in each one of the processes and that everyone can
make their own decisions regarding the work done so that they know what to accept
and what to reject by generating trust in themselves because at the end of all, in order to
have a good quality system, the support of each member of the company is required and
it will be easier to comply the goals of the company and to achieve customer
satisfaction.

Marcela: The most important lesson learned is that the quality for this company is very
important and the teamwork performed in the company for each product. I believe it is
very important for the whole team to be on the same page in order to accomplish what
they want as a company and always keep the quality, as they want it.
Evidence of individual post:
Omar

Anneliese
Albane

Alejandro
Evidence of two interactions (replies) from members of the team:
Omar

Anneliese

Bibliography:

Foo, L. (2008, Feb). Quality Progress. 41, 2; ProQuest (pg. 25)

LR Baggs. (2014, May 29). Santa Cruz Guitar Company | Richard Hoover Among
Giants [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX0RYR_laeo

Additional insights: