PMA

Total Quality Management

Question 1

a. “You have been appointed by your company as the TQM manager to implement the
system. How would you go about the organizing the implementation until successful
completion (concentrate on the eight key elements)? What are the restrictions that
you foresee during implementation and how to overcome it?”

Eight Key elements

i. Ethics – Ethics is the discipline concerned with good and bad in any situation
ii. Integrity – Integrity implies honesty, morals, values, fairness, and adherence to the
facts and sincerity.
iii. Trust – Trust is a by-product of integrity and ethical conduct
iv. Training – Training is very important for employees to be highly productive.
Supervisors are solely responsible for implementing TQM within their departments,
and teaching their employees the philosophies of TQM
v. Teamwork –To become successful in business, teamwork is also a key element of
TQM.
vi. Leadership – It is possibly the most important element in TQM. It appears
everywhere in organization
vii. Communication – It binds everything together. Starting from foundation to roof of the
TQM house, everything is bound by strong mortar of communication
viii. Recognition – is the last and final element in the entire system. It should be
provided for both suggestions and achievements for teams as well as individuals

 We can conclude that these eight elements are key in ensuring the success of TQM in
an organization and that the supervisor is a huge part in developing these elements in
the work place.
 Without these elements, the business entities cannot be successful TQM implementers.
It is very clear from the above discussion that TQM without involving integrity, ethics
and trust would be a great remiss, and in fact it would be incomplete.

 Training is the key by which the organization creates a TQM environment. Leadership
and teamwork go hand in hand.
 Lack of communication between departments, supervisors and employees create a
burden on the whole TQM process.
 Last but not the least, recognition should be given to people who contributed to the
overall completed task.
 Hence, led by example, train employees to provide a quality product, create an
environment where there is no fear to share knowledge, and give credit where credit is
due is the motto of a successful TQM organization.

b. What is QCC and what are the benefits gained by organization through the QCC
activities?

A quality circle or quality control circle is a group of workers who do the same or similar
work, who meet regularly to identify, analyze and solve work-related problems. It consists of
minimum three and maximum twelve members in number.

Benefits of QCC activities:

 Increase in quality consciousness of employees
 A direct pay-off (cost / benefits)
 Development of an attitude of problem prevention
 Promotion of employee motivation

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 Improvement in the human relations
 More effective company communication
 More active job involvement
 Utilization of employee problem solving capabilities
 Contribution to personal development of employees
 Encouragement of teamwork
 Improvement of work environment
 Development of safety awareness
 Control and improvement of quality
 Productivity improvement
 Increased job security

Question 2

a. Many companies go into implementing TQM but very few that implement it
successfully, why? What are the factors that contribute to the pitfall of the
implementation?

Many companies go into implementing TQM but very few that implement it successfully
because lack of communication between departments, supervisors and employees create a
burden on the whole TQM process.

Pitfall of TQM Implementation

 Commitment from top management are poor
 Ridiculous quality slogan
 Misconception
 No Facilitation by middle management are poor
 Improper training tools/FMEA/analysis…Lack of understanding
 No willing to change…resistance to change
 No recognition / reward
 No clear vision/mission/core values
 Poor commitment/attitude/motivation
 No Communication between top and down level
 No Empowerment to deliver the jobs
 Decision making/leadership are poor
 Inter dept are poor in communication/co-operations
 Measure the wrong quality indicators
 Unhealthy competing in teams
 Don’t know about the COPQ

b. What is Quality? What are the factors that contribute to a poor quality in an
organization? How can we improve quality

Quality is to satisfy customers’ requirements continually; TQM is to achieve quality at low

cost by involving everyone’s daily commitment

Causes of poor quality may be grouped into six main categories:

Man
 Lack of motivation/interest, fear, stress
 Shortage of people
 Lack of training/skills
 Unqualified personnel
 People taking shortcuts

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Machine
 Lack of capability
 Lack of maintenance
 Nonavailability of spares
 Wear and tear
 Improper setup/calibration
 Outdated technology
Material
 Low-grade material
 Unspecified material
 Variation
Management
 Lack of vision, mission, value system
 Failing to identify/understand customer needs/requirements
 Short term planning
 Inadequate/poor planning
 Flawed incentives and indicators
 Favoritism
 Lack of supervision/monitoring
 Attitude towards change
 Lack of decision making and communication skills
 Lack of process understanding
 Lack of fact-based decision making
Method
 Lack of procedures
 Procedures not followed
 Conflicting requirements
 Procedures not communicated
 Too rigid or too relaxed requirements
Environment
 Humidity / temperature / lighting

How to improve Quality

1. Measure and Measure Some More

Two key performance indicators (KPIs) you should deploy today are quality escapes and
quality captured. Determine which bucket quality mistakes fall into. The first bucket is
comprised of mistakes that were internally "captured" by your team so the client was never
aware of them. Captured quality errors aren’t as bad because the client never knew --
maybe they suffered a delayed delivery, but that’s it. Your client is not injured by the
stumble.

The second bucket consists of quality issues that "escaped" your operation and were
discovered by the client. These escaped quality defects are horrific. Your client is exposed
to your firm’s failure, which undermines the long term vendor relationship. But measuring
these mistakes transparently will bring your team’s attention to these issues and you’ll see
improvement from the spotlight effect: The team will understand they are important.

2. Focus on Process, Not People

Every employee comes to work to do a good job. In most cases, the defect is the process,
not the person you trust. Remember that, and fix it by adding process steps or new checks

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to the system. Don’t make it a game of "who screwed this up?" That will deflate the team.
Everyone will cower in fear and point fingers without ever getting to the root cause.

3. Meet Weekly

Initially the meetings will be long and tedious. You need to discuss with all the players each
quality issue that occurred, and get to the root cause. Over time--less time than you think--
the meetings will get shorter, as processes are strengthened and systems get more robust.
Confidence will build as people see the systems are catching errors and eliminating
heartburn.

4. Create a Quality Chart

Sort the biggest quality issues by category and focus in on the big issues. Work them till
they get to be small issues. Don’t focus as much time on the unusual quality issues; spend
time in the places with the most frequent problems.

5. Make It Public

Place your quality results in your lunchroom. Everyone should see this is a company
emphasis and you want to improve in a transparent way. The daily, visible reminder will
demonstrate your commitment to quality to the people who impact it every day: your team.

Question 3

a. Discuss the weakness and benefit of the 4 quality strategy. What is your
understanding on the “Next is your Customer” concept in quality management?

4 Quality Strategy
1. “Let’s wing it and hope for the best”
 No time and effort for quality improvement
2. “Sort and Suffer strategy”
 Emphasis on quality inspection
3. “Prevention Strategy”
 Emphasis on preventive activities
4. “Balance Prevention and Appraisal”
 Both inspection and prevention

Next is your Customer: We treat our next process as our customer, therefore finished
product/ services from our department must meet their quality and requirement

b. What is the cost of Quality? Explain the component of poor quality and give example
of Prevention, Appraisal, Internal Failure and External Failure that you see in your
organization. Why do you think it can happen? How do you think it can be overcome
or reduced?

Cost of Quality

i. Costs of Achieving Good Quality:-

 Prevention (for best long-term savings, invest here): quality planning, product
design, process improvements, training, and information
 Appraisal: inspection and testing, test equipment, quality-related operator labor
ii. Costs of Poor Quality incurred during Manufacturing :-
 Internal Failure: scrap, rework, process failure, downtime, price-downgrading

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 External Failure (will be high if insufficient investment in 1st two types): customer
complaint costs, product return, warranty claims, product liability, and lost sales.

Component of Poor Quality

1. Prevention Costs

Prevention costs are costs incurred to ensure that defects are minimized and
prevented at the earliest stage. Prevention activities are most effective because
preventing a unit from becoming defective at the earliest stage saves the labor and
manufacturing overheads that would have been consumed had the unit moved on in
production and the defect was identified at a later stage

i. Quality training for engineers

ii. Hiring a supply chain expert to coordinate with suppliers
iii. Carrying out a complete quality audit
iv. Installing software to gather more accurate data on quality management

2. Appraisal Costs

Appraisal costs are costs incurred to identify defective products before they are
shipped off. These include costs incurred on inspecting raw materials, work-in-
progress and finished goods.

i. Salaries of inspection staff

ii. Maintenance and utilities of inspection equipment
iii. Replacement of inspection equipment

3. Internal Failure Costs

Internal failure costs refer to costs incurred on the defective units before they are
identified before shipment. These costs represent the direct material, direct labor
and manufacturing overheads consumed by the defective unit.

i. Spoilage of material
ii. Cost of scrapped units
iii. Cost of disposing off the scrapped items and spoiled material
iv. Production disruptions due to defective units

4. External Failure Costs

External failure costs are cost associated with defective units which are shipped to
customers. External failure costs are the most expensive in that they result in lost
repute, extensive warranty and repair costs and in worst case may result in legal
action.

i. Lost sales due to bad customer experience

ii. Recalls, warranty expense and repairs
iii. Cost of customer services department in handling the complaints, warranty
claims and recalls

Failure cost causes

 Insufficient instruction
o No clear and proper work instruction and guidance
 Process variations

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o Normal, Abnormal
 Raw Material defects
o Quality fluctuation, damages, compatibility
 Equipment problems
o Periodical, cumulative, sudden
 Carelessness
o Haste, poor cooperation, disinterest, de-motivation

How to reduce/ Overcome CoPQ

i. Clear Product and Process Traceability

ii. Closed-Loop Nonconformance and Corrective Action Program
iii. Systematic Preventive Maintenance Procedures
iv. Periodic Internal Quality Audit
v. Seamless Change Management Process
vi. Aggregated Customer Complaints and Timely Return Management
vii. Streamlined Supplier Quality Program
viii. Effective Training For Employees and Suppliers
ix. Electronic Records and Documentation Management

Question 4

a. Select a core process in your Organization and identify the process improvement
than can be done.

Process : Welding
Process Improvement :

1. Skilled Labour
The skill level of the welder is an important factor in the delivery of high-quality
welds. This is particularly true of labour-intensive welding techniques (such as TIG /
GTAW and gas metal arc welding), as well as complex, sensitive welding
techniques (such as hybrid laser arc welding and laser beam welding). Not just
anyone can pick up a welding torch and perform a strong, durable weld that is free
from cracking, spatter, undercut, porosity and erratic beads. Perfecting one’s
welding technique to deliver repeatable high-quality welds requires time, practice
and in-depth technical knowledge.

2. Automation
Automating welding processes has the potential to provide enormous gains, in
terms of productivity, profitability and quality. The automation of travel speed,
current and other key variables reduces the likelihood of human error in the welding
process, delivering consistent, repeatable weld profiles. In fact, a well programmed
automated welding system will provide highly consistent weld quality almost
indefinitely. This allows for a much higher degree of adherence to weld procedures
and quality assurance standards, and can reduce the reworking processes such as
grinding, machining and re-welding. In comparison, manual welding requires a high
degree of concentration over sustained periods, inevitably resulting in welder fatigue
and increasing the likelihood of defects.

3. Cleanliness
Cleanliness plays a key role in welding quality. If a welder does not properly clean
the components being welded, the results can be disastrous. Contaminants such as
dirt, dust, grease or even the oils in skin introduced during a weld can cause
incomplete fusion, porosity, cracking and poor bead appearance. These issues
compromise the weld’s performance, longevity, and its ability to resist corrosion.

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This is particularly problematic in the ASME vessel fabrication and nuclear welding
sectors, where high quality welds are required to ensure adherence to strict
guidelines.

4. Type of Welding
The type of welding used in welding process greatly influences the quality of the
weld. Each type of welding offer both advantages and disadvantages in terms of
weld quality.
For instance, welding with the GMAW process can be subject to lack of fusion.
Additional potential issues include spatter and inter-pass cleaning.
In comparison, Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW) is typically the cleanest type of
welding. Where high quality welding is non-negotiable, workshops tend to use
GTAW because of the high-quality results it delivers. Eliminating slag, flux and
spatter results in a much higher quality weld and eliminates the potential for
inclusions.

5. Multiple Passes
When the welding of thicker materials requires multiple passes, the likelihood of
porosity, inclusions at the toes of the passes, and lack of fusion all significantly
increase. In addition, cleaning and grinding is required between each pass,
increasing the likelihood of inclusions.

6. Consumable Storage
An often-overlooked tip for improving the quality of your welding processes is
properly storing your consumables to ensure they remain free from contaminants.
This will help prevent quality issues such as excessive slag fluidity, porosity, rough
welding surfaces, difficult slag removal and, perhaps most importantly of all,
increased diffusible hydrogen that often leads to cracking. As such, filler wire, your
grinding wheel and even the gloves with which you handle your materials should be
stored in a dry location, out of the elements. In particular, ensure that the
manufacturer’s storage instructions for your electrodes and wires are adhered to—
many electrodes must be stored below a certain temperature, and some wires must
be stored below a recommended humidity level.

7. Materials and Workpiece Storage

The way in which you store your materials and workpieces is just as important as
how you store your consumables. So, be sure to store all the workpieces that you
plan to weld in a dry area that is out of the elements and free from contaminants.

8. Gas Selection
It is imperative that you select the right gas for the welding process to be applied.
The right gas offers a range of benefits—it protects the weld pool from exposure to
the atmosphere, promotes a stable arc, and significantly impacts the quality of the
weld deposit.
For instance, when using GTAW to weld stainless steel, a mixture of argon and
hydrogen delivers impressive results. By increasing heat of the arc and thus
increasing penetration. When welding duplex and super duplex, nitrogen additions
help maintain a phase balance between the austenite and ferrite within the material.

9. Preparation
To deliver the best possible quality welds consistently, preparation is essential. If
components are presented for welding in a repeatable way, the quality of the welds
is greatly enhanced—there are no unnecessary changes that a welder must
account for each time. Consistent input affords consistent output. Quality fit-up
affords quality results.

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10. Job Planning

Proper job planning can greatly improve your welding process, particularly for large-
scale projects that feature repeatable components. For instance, when planning for
a job, you should consider what is both the easiest welding position, and the
welding position which is likely to provide the highest quality results. You should
also consider whether the job can be performed with automation. If it can,
incorporating automation as much as possible into your job plan has the potential to
significantly improve output, consistency and repeatability.

b. Discuss the steps taken in planning the TQM implementation in any organization

Steps taken in planning the TQM implementation

i. Understanding TQM
ii. Gap Analysis / Assess your organization
iii. Management commitment
iv. Quality Policy / Vision / Mission / QMS
v. Customer Focus
vi. Tools & Techniques
vii. Employee Involvement
viii. Continuous Improvement
ix. Partnership with suppliers / customers
x. Benchmarking
xi. TQM

Question 5
Read the TQM article from:

a. Case 1 and summaries to 2 pages facts summary with new title

I. What are the Six C’s required for proper implementation of a TQM?

The Six C’s

COMMITMENT: All employees of the organization must have quality

improvement commitment. If a good TQM culture is to be developed in the
organization, then quality improvement should become a normal part of
everyone’s job, a clear support and commitment from the top management must
be provided. Without commitment all else fails. ‘Quality’ issue is not a
responsibility of a single employee since this cannot create an environment for
changing mind-set and breaking down the barriers to quality improvement.
Collective efforts can bring fruitful results.

CULTURE: Organization must develop and follow a modern culture for quality
improvement on a regular basis. Training on regular basis is very essential for
bringing a change in culture and attitudes. Management accountants, too often
associate ‘creativity’ with ‘creative accounting’ and associated negative
perceptions. It can be changed to encourage individual contributions and to
make ‘quality’ a normal part of everyone’s job.

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT: There must be continuous improvement in all

policies, procedures and activities laid down by top management for the
company. Recognition that TQM is a ‘process’ not a ‘programme’ necessitates
that we are committed in the long term to the never-ending search for ways to do
the job better. There will always be room for improvement, however small.

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COOPERATION: Cooperation among employee and experience of employees
must be utilized for improving strategies and enhancing performance. The
application of Total Employee Involvement (TEI) principles is paramount. The
on-the-job experience of all employees must be fully utilized and their
involvement and co-operation sought in the development of improvement
strategies and associated performance measures.

CUSTOMER: For long-term survival of the business, organisation must focus on

customers' requirements and satisfaction of their expectations. The needs of the
customer are the major driving thrust; not just the external customer (in receipt
of the final product or service) but the internal customer’s (colleagues who
receive and supply goods, services or information). Perfect service with zero
defects in all that is acceptable at either internal or external levels. Too
frequently, in practice, TQM implementations focus entirely on the external
customer to the exclusion of internal relationships; they will not survive in the
short term unless they foster the mutual respect necessary to preserve morale
and employee participation.

CONTROL: There must be effective control for monitoring and measuring the
real performance of the business. Documentation, procedures and awareness of
current best practice are essential if TQM implementation is to function
appropriately. The need for control mechanisms is frequently overlooked, in
practice, in the euphoria of customer service and employee empowerment.
Unless procedures are in place improvements cannot be monitored and
measured nor deficiencies corrected. Difficulties will undoubtedly be
experienced in the implementation of quality improvement and it is worthwhile
expounding procedure that might be adopted to minimize them in detail.

II. What are the six pillars that support TQM and organizational effectiveness?
 Organizational Design
 Talent Management
 Process Improvement
 Team Alignment
 Facilitation
 Change Management

b. Case 2 and summaries to 3 pages facts summary with new title

I. What are the “PRINCIPLES OF THE TQM ADOPTED” list and discuss?

 Customer focused: Whatever we did for quality improvement, focusing

ONLY on customers to improve the level of quality, fostering quality
improvement, training employees, integrating quality into process
management, as we know that ONLY customers can determine whether our
efforts were worthwhile
 Assured All Employee Involvement: Through using Deming 8th principal
of remove fear from work place, by empowering employee by providing a
supportive environment
 Process Centered: A fundamental part of TQM is to focus on process
thinking.
 Integrated system: All employees must know the business mission and
vision. An integrated business system may be modelled by MBNQA or ISO
9000
 Strategic and systematic Approach: Strategic plan had integrated quality
as a core component. TQM should evolve from the organization's strategic
plan and be based on stakeholder expectations

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 Continual Improvement: By constantly adopting usage of an analytical,
quality tools, and creative thinking to identify critical areas for improvements.
Constantly benchmarking performance against latest legal, regulatory and
statutory requirements, and taking appropriate actions for getting efficient
and effective upgraded results.
 Fact Based Decision Making: Decision making ONLY based on data, not
personal or situational thinking based on intuition at critical stages that affect
the organization's mission, vision, and measurable goals.
 Communication: Communication strategy adopted within the working
system, its method and real time basis take decisions correctly, to maintain
transparency in working, and also to aid in building confidence among all
staff members.

II. What are the “TOOLS USED DURING APPROACH TO TQM” List and discuss?

Tools for Generating Ideas consists of:

 Check sheets,
 Scatter diagrams, and
 Cause and effect diagrams.
 Tools to Organize the Data consists of Pareto charts and Flowcharts.
 Tools for Identifying Problems consist of Histogram and Statistical process
control chart.
 Check Sheet is an organized method of recording data.
 Scatter Diagram is a graph of the value of one variable vs. another variable.
 Cause and Effect Diagram is a tool that identifies process elements (causes)
that might affect an outcome.
 Pareto Charts are a group to identify and plot problems or defects in
descending order of frequency.
 Flow Charts (Process Diagrams) are a chart that describes the steps in a
process.

III. What are the “MAJOR BOTTLE NECK FACED DURING IMPLEMENTATION”?

A culture change, e.g., from one of acceptance of a certain level of errors or defects
to one of right first time, every time, needs two key elements:
 Commitment from the leaders
 Involvement of all of the organization’s people

IV. What are the “MANAGERIAL CONCERNS DURING TQM JOURNEY’ for
Organization?

 Top management has no trust in TQM

 Lack of commitment from middle management
 The effect of TQM on middle managers was substantial; made their jobs
more demanding; and emphasized teamwork, people management skills,
and technical knowledge
 Middle managers are concerned with a loss of authority or increased
workload associated with TQM
 In order for middle managers to be role models in a TQM environment they
need to upgrade their communication and presentation skills, skills for
working with groups, and group leadership skills.
 Middle managers’ beliefs and attitudes regarding the quality approach to
organizational change seemed to be more related to organizational context
rather than the type of organization or the role of the middle manager

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V. What are the “IMPLEMENTATION PRACTICE POINTS BASED OF GREAT

GURU’S” that we must take note for successful TQM journey?

 The organization needs a long-term commitment to continuous

improvement.
 Adopt the philosophy of zero errors/defects to change the culture to right first
time
 Train people to understand the customer/supplier relationships
 Do not buy products or services on price alone – look at the total cost
 Recognize that improvement of the systems must be managed
 Adopt modern methods of supervising and training – eliminate fear
 Eliminate barriers between departments by managing the process – improve
communications and teamwork
 Eliminate goals without methods, standards based only on numbers, barriers
to pride of workmanship and fiction – get the facts by studying processes
 Constantly educate and retrain – development experts in the organization
 Develop a systematic approach to manage the implementation of TQM

VI. What are the “BENEFITS OF TQM IMPLEMENTATION” for Organization?

 Culture is changed from firefighting to fire prevention

 With good prior planning and working systematically

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