THE PHILOSOPHIES OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT

The philosophy of Quality has traditionally focused upon the development and
implementation of a corporate wide culture that emphasizes a customer focus, continuous
improvement, employee empowerment, and data driven decision making. The drivers of this
philosophy are rooted in the alignment of product and service systems design with customer
expectations, along with the focusing on quality during all phases of development,
production, and delivery. The philosophy is process centric and emphasizes the reduction of
variability as well as a continuous improvement in the functionality of the final product or
service. It is widely recognized that quality cannot be inspected into a product or service; it
needs to be planned for and design into the product or service system. If this exercise is
performed incorrectly, a quality result cannot be achieved.

The Foundational Theories of Quality Management

W. EDWARD DEMING
Deming espoused that higher quality leads to higher levels of productivity, which in turn
leads to increased long-term competitiveness. The main components of Deming’s philosophy
on total quality management were his chain reaction theory, the fourteen-points of TQM, and
the theory of profound knowledge. Though Deming’s original audience was the
manufacturing industries, the principles of total quality management soon transcend industry
boundaries: reaching into services, health care, government, and more.
Deming’s Chain Reaction Theory
The application of Deming’s chain reaction theory implies two basic sets of reactions. The
first reaction is that as a company improved its transformation processing quality, work
would increasingly be performed correctly on the first pass, resulting in lower costs because
of less scrap, rework and warranty costs, fewer delays and snags in material flows, and an
overall better use of time and materials. This, in turn, would result in increased productivity.
As the company’s cost structure decreased, its profit margins would increase, leading to
greater market shares. The second reaction is that as the company improved the quality of its
products and services, its customers would perceive a greater value proposition that would
increase market demand allowing the company to increase its pricing. Both these factors
would lead to higher market share. Thus, the company could be more competitive within its
sector and continuously extend its life and thus provide a steady stream of employment
opportunities.
Both reaction chains are driven by top management focusing on the management of quality
throughout the organization. Deming’s fourteen points provide a checklist for this focus.
Though decision-making in both reaction chains are customer driven, the understanding of
customer needs and how to achieve satisfaction is greatest in the first reaction chain because
product/service design decisions must be governed by an understanding of how product
features and service attributes will be perceived by the customer.
Deming’s Fourteen Points of Total Quality Management
Deming articulated for management fourteen organizational objectives that he believed
formed the foundation for the transformation of any organization into a total quality
competitor. These fourteen pillars are:
• Create a constancy of purpose: Management must create a constancy of purpose within
the organization for continual improvement of products and service to society. Thus, all
resources would be allocated to provide for long-range needs rather than only short-term
profitability. This is consistent with the goal of improving competitive, staying in business,
and providing jobs.
• Adopt the new philosophy: Management must awaken to the challenges facing us in
today’s world. They must learn their responsibilities to the organization and the customer,
and undertake leadership for change.
• Plan for quality: Management must eliminate the need for mass inspection as the way of
life to achieve quality. Inspections are only good for sorting good output from bad, and for
collecting information. If the goal is to produce a quality output, it must be planned for and
the appropriate philosophy built into the product creating process.
• End the practice of awarding business based on price: Management’s focus should be
on the minimization of total cost and not on the lowest cost for a single item. When long-term
relationships are established between business partners several things happen. First, they start
working together towards mutual goals. Second, information is shared more readily, resulting
in a decrease in uncertainty. Third, work and processing activities can be aligned between
different partners to better leverage organizational capabilities leading to greater value
creation. The end result is that quality is continually improved while total costs are decreased.
• Continuous improvement: Nothing in our world stays static; everything changes. If a
program or company is to stay competitive, it must improve its processes at least as fast of its
competitors are changing. Management has a responsibility to evaluate how fast the
marketplace is changing and to continually align (and re-align) resources to drive
improvements at that rate or faster. A continuous improvement in every process involved in
the production of products and services is therefore essential. t. Organizations must also
develop their workforces to continually search for problems in order to improve all activities
within the company, thereby enhancing quality and productivity and also lowering overall
costs.
• Institutional training: People are at their most productive when they have the requisite
skills and knowledge for the performance of tasks they have been assigned. As processes and
methodologies are improved or changed, the workforce needs to be trained with the new
skills and knowledge. Additional training on skills and knowledge on tasks peripheral to their
primary tasks, makes workers more flexible and consequently improves the versatility of the
organization. The greater the versatility of the organization, the leaner it can run and still
deliver the products and services demanded by its customers in a cost effective manner.
• Institutional leadership: Leadership is an important factor in the effective directing and
motivating of a workforce. Leadership is also a characteristic that can be exercised by
different employees at every level... By adopting and instituting leadership aimed at helping
people do a better job, a proactive organizational culture can be created where everyone in
the organization will take responsibility for the processes affecting the customer. In order to
build the trust needed for this outcome, management must ensure that immediate action is
taken on reports of inherited defects, maintenance requirements, poor tools, fuzzy operational
definitions, and all conditions detrimental to quality. At the same time, management must
also be aware of competitive product in the market place and strive to ensure that their own
offerings provide better value to the customer.
• Drive out fear: Management is responsibility for the design, monitoring and controlling of
the organizations processes, as well as the planning of future activities and organizing of
resources for the carrying out of those plans. The work force is responsible for the execution
of management’s plans. When problems occur, as first responders, the work force will be the
ones to first notice them and understand their implications. Without an organizational culture
that encourages workers to instantly recognize potential problems and elevate relevant issues,
management may never become aware of possible hitches, until it is too late to prevent them
from affecting the customer. Thus, management needs to encourage effective two-way
communication and other means of driving out fear throughout the organization so that
everybody may work effectively and more productively for the company.
• Break down barriers between functional areas: In today’s fast paced world companies
are being driven to making decisions and delivering products and service at an ever increase
rate. One of the best tools for analyzing and maturing decisions that meet requirements on the
first pass is cross-functional teams. In most organizations, knowledge is specific to managed
function related departments. Often bureaucratic barriers stifle the communications between
these departments. This impeding of the information flow degrades decision making, which
can result in unanticipated problems. Cross-functional teams (i.e.; people from different
areas, such as Leasing, Maintenance, Administration, and other departments) circumvent
these barriers by bringing all of the necessary people together to tackle problems that may be
encountered with products or service.
• Eliminate exhortations: The practices of using slogans, posters and exhortations for the
work force, demanding Zero Defects and new levels of productivity, without providing the
appropriate methods and resources frequently result in failed initiatives and lowered moral.
These methods of exhortation generally create adversarial relationships between management
and its work force by solely focusing on meeting goals that were not realistically set in the
first place Deming believed that eighty-five percent of low quality and low productivity
problems were caused by poorly designed and managed systems (i.e., area of management
responsibilities), and thus are beyond the capabilities of the work force to fix.
• Eliminate quotas: Work standards that prescribe quotas for the work force and numerical
goals for people in management rarely result in the production of quality products and
services. If management has not designed its processes with the appropriate capacity levels
and quality based capabilities, the work force will not be able to meet quotas or goals the
system’s parameters. Instead management needs to replace quotas and numerical goals with
aids and helpful leadership in order to achieve continual improvement of quality and
productivity.
• Remove barriers that rob people pride of workmanship: No one likes go to bed at night
knowing that the next day will be characterized by either unproductive boredom or
frustration. They would much prefer to go home at the end of the day feeling that they have
not just wasted eight hours of their life. Management can make this happen by removing the
barriers that rob hourly workers as well as and people in management of their right to pride of
workmanship.
• Encourage education and self-improvement: By instituting a vigorous program of
education, and encouraging self-improvement for everyone, management can help create, or
reinforce, a continuous improvement culture as well as a culture open to innovation. Total
quality focused organizations need more than just good people; they need people that keep
improving with education, because advances in competitive position are rooted in the
acquisition and application of knowledge.
• Everyone in the company must work to accomplish the transformation: Quality is a
team effort, facilitated by clearly defined and permanent commitment of top management to
the continuous improvement of quality and productivity along with their obligation to
implement all of these principles. It is not enough that top management commit themselves
for life to quality and productivity. The work force must also need to know what it is that
they are committed to and that their commitment is supported and appreciated. Only top
management can create a structure that will push every day on the preceding 13 Points, and
take action in order to accomplish the transformation. Support this philosophy is not enough,
action is necessary! Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge: In order to improve an
existing system, it is necessary to back away from it and view from an objective third party
perspective. Given that all work is accomplished through the application of a process, and
that organizations are essentially a system of processes, it is essential for one to develop an
understanding of how a given organization truly works in order to develop theories on
improving the organization. One of the key issues in theory development in the quality
management field is the articulation of the distinction between quality management practices
(input) and quality management performance (output). Deming’s “system of profound
knowledge”, consists of four interrelated parts; appreciation of the system, understanding
variation, the theory of knowledge, and psychology.
• Systems: Work within organizations is accomplished through a series of interdependent
processes. Systems governance in the typical organization is aligned according to functional
skill sets (i.e.: departments). When interactions occur between processes, or other parts of the
system, managers cannot effectively manage the system by focusing of individual parts. They
must understand the processes that constitute the system as well as their cross functional
boundaries. They must then realign these processes towards organizational goals and
optimize their interactions.
• Variation: Every process has variances in output. The degree of variability is inherent to
the basic design of the process. Variability can also be incurred when factors outside the basic
design interact with the operations of the process. Excessive amounts of variability will make
predicting the process output increasingly more difficult. This will lead to more wastage and
also need the process to be reworked. Deming stressed that management must first
understand the process and the nature of variability, and then work to reducing variations in
process output through improvements in technology, process design, and training.
• Theory of Knowledge: Recognizing the works of Clarence Lewis, Deming stressed two
underlying facts about the creation of knowledge: 1) that knowledge was not possible without
theory, and 2) experience alone does not establish theory. “There is no knowledge without
interpretation. If interpretation, which represents and activity of the mind, is always subject to
the check of future experience, how is knowledge possible at all? ... An argument from past
to future at best is probable only, and even this probability must rest upon principles which
are themselves more than probable”. “Experience without theory teaches nothing. In fact,
experience cannot even be recorded unless there is some theory, however crude, that leads to
a hypothesis and a system by which to catalog observations”.
• Psychology: The application of psychological theories, principles, and methods helps us
understand people, the interactions of people and circumstances, the interactions between
leaders and employees, and a given system of management. In order for management to lead
the push for quality improvement, they must be aware of the difference between the people
that they are leading, and work towards optimizing everyone’s abilities and performance. An
insightful leader under- 10 stands that people learn in difference ways and at different speeds,
and will manage the system accordingly. By applying psychology, leaders can nurture and
preserve the innate, positive attributes of their people.
JOSEPH JURAN
The centre piece of Juran’s philosophy was that there was an optimal level of quality, based
upon a trade-off between quality costs. He believed that because of the nature of these costs,
this optimal level would be less than 100 percent product conformance to specification.
Juran’s model fails to account for the effects of technological innovations and competitive
pressures. Others have noted that costs tend to increase at a constant rate, or remain flat, or
even slightly decline in production environments where there is a strong learning curve,
automated inspections, and other new quality practices. Furthermore, Juran’s assumption that
appraisal and prevention costs could be combined has been questioned. It has been observed
that when prevention costs increase, defects will go down causing failure costs to decrease
and diminishing the need for investments in appraisal activities. Finally, it has been noted that
when appraisal cost increase, external failures can decline while internal failures will
typically increase.
After Deming, Dr. Joseph Juran has had the greatest impact on the theory and practices of
quality management. Juran’s contribution to TQM centres on 4 themes:
1. Compelling definition of quality and the cost of quality
2. Quality Habit
3. Quality trilogy
4. Universal break through sequences.
Dr. Juran defines quality as ‘fitness for use’ that results from 5 major product traits:
• Quality of design – specification
• Quality of conformance
• Availability – absence of problem
• Safety and threat of harm
• Field use – packing, stage, maintenance etc.
Cost of quality: According to Juran, costs associated with defective products includes costs
of making, finding, repairing and avoiding defects. Juran categorised the cost of quality into 4
categories:
1. Internal Failure cost
2. External failure cost
3. Appraisal cost
4. Prevention cost
Quality Habit: According to Juran, the ultimate goal for a TQM program for the firm as a
whole has to be set on a process of continuous improvement rather than slogan and
exhortations Thus focus should be develop into a habit of quality. Juran advocated a four
steps process to develop quality habit:
1. Establish the specific goals
2. Establishing planning to achieve those Goals
3. Assign clear responsibility to achieve that plan
4. Base rewards on Results

Quality Trilogy: Juran broke down the requirements for successful TQM into 3 major
activities: Quality Planning, Quality controlling and Quality Improvement.
 QP QC

QI

1. Quality Planning: Quality Planning begins with identifying customers both external
n internal, determining their needs and developing product features that respond to those
needs.
2. Quality Controlling: Process involved with –determining what to control, establish
units of measurement to evaluate data objectively establish standards of performance,
measuring actual performance, interpreting the different between actual performance and the
standard and finally corrective action on the difference.
3. Quality Improvement: focuses on long term goal seeking to achieve quality break
through that move the firm to a new level of performance.
PHILLIP CROSBY
Crosby’s philosophy focused upon reducing cost through quality improvement. He stressed
that both high-end and low-end products could have high levels of quality. His philosophy
emphasized;
 Quality means conformance to requirements.
 There is no such thing as a quality problem.
 There is no such thing as the economics of quality; doing the job right the first
time is always cheaper.
 The only performance measurement is the cost of quality, which is the
expense of non-conformance.
 The only performance standard is “Zero Defects”.
Crosby’s Cost of Quality:
Critical-for-Quality (CoQ) is frequently characterized as the sum of costs associated with
insuring conformance to standards and the costs associated failing creating a quality product
or service on the first pass (e.g. non-conformance). Thus, every time a defective product is
produced, or a less than satisfactory service is delivered, the cost of quality increases.
Examples include reworking a manufactured item, retesting an assembly, rebuilding a tool,
correction of a bank statement, or the reworking of a service, such as the reprocessing of a
loan operation or the replacement of a food order in a restaurant. In other words, any cost
incurred as the result of failing to produce a quality item the first time, contributes to the cost
of quality.
Feigenbaum classified quality costs into three main categories: prevention, appraisal, and
failure. The basic premise of this P-A-F model is that investments in prevention and appraisal
activities will reduce failures, and that continued investments in prevention activities will
lead to reduction in appraisal costs. The costs categories in the P-A-F model are generally
described as follow;
Prevention costs are those costs associated with all activities designed to prevent poor
quality. Examples include;
 New product reviews
 Quality planning
 Supplier capability surveys and certification programs
 Process capability evaluations
 Quality improvement projects and associated team meetings
 Quality education and training
Appraisal costs are those costs associated with the measuring, evaluating or auditing to
assure conformance to quality standards and performance requirements. Examples include;
• Incoming and source inspection/test of purchased material
• In-process and final inspection/test
• Product, process or service monitoring and control systems and audits
• Maintenance and calibration of measuring and test equipment
• Associated supplies and materials
Internal failure costs are those costs resulting from not conforming to specifications. Here,
the defect is caught prior to delivery of the product, or the furnishing of a service, to the
customer. Examples include;
 Scrap and its associated opportunity costs
 Rework
 Re-inspection
 Re-testing
 Material review
 Downgrading of materials or services
External failure costs are those costs associated with the defect being caught after delivery of
the product. In these cases, an additional service has to be provided to the customer.
Examples include;
• Processing customer complaints
• Customer returns
• Warranty claims
• Product recalls
• Lost sales (typically unknowable)
Accepting Crosby’s definition of quality as “conformance to requirements”, CoQ’s can be
calculated as the sum of the price of conformance and the price of non-conformance. The
principle differences of this calculation form the P-A-F model is that price is defined as
including all the benefits, overheads, and whatever else that is associated with the real costs
of the company.
The British Standards Institute, in an effort to extend the concept of quality costing to all
functions of an enterprise and to non-manufacturing organizations, published a model
focused on process costs (BS 6143: Part 1, 1992). In this model, the CoQ’s are collected for a
specific process, as 14 opposed to the whole company. This model pursues a continuous
improvement approach to process management that is reflective of both the Kaizen approach
and to Deming’s (1986) Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle.
ARMAND FEIGENBAUM
Feigenbaum believed that TQM was the most effective method for integrating the various
quality activities of multiple groups in an organization while enabling production and
services to deliver customer satisfaction at its most economical level. Furthermore, he
believed that in the typical non-TQM manufacturing environment there was so much extra
work being performed in correcting mistakes that there was essentially a “hidden” plant
within the factory. Most importantly, he believed that quality was everyone’s job, and
without upper management actively and visibly involved, no one would do it.
Feigenbaum stressed that quality did not mean the best performing, or the best technical
option. Instead, it mean the best for the customer’s usage. In the system that he envisioned,
quality control was a four (4) step management tools involving: setting of quality standards,
appraising conformance to those standards, acting when standards were not meet or were
exceeded, and planning for improvements in the standards. The following tenets sum up the
essences of Feigenbaum’s system of TQM;
 • Quality is a companywide process.
• The customer defines quality.
• Effective quality requires both individual and team effort.
• Quality is a management philosophy.
• Quality and innovations are mutually dependent.
• Quality is an ethical standard.
• Quality requires continuous improvement. –quality improvement leads to quantity
improvement.
• Quality is the most cost effective method for improving productivity.
CONCLUSION
Thus, TQM is an operational philosophy where the ultimate focus is customer and their
satisfaction. To fulfil the customer’s need and wants as well as for business growth; all the
quality gurus suggested that to develop a culture for continuous improvement. They also
explained that continuous improvement is a process to build a system that can consistently
produce a quality product / services. Here, both management and the workers role are crucial
because they must identify and eliminate waste and variability through-out system; take the
equal responsibility for proper tools and knowledge uses and team leadership and
empowerment for entire organization. This is not so easy task but it is possible and generic. If
any organization really wants to develop a culture for continuous improvement, the top
management must develop and follow some strategic steps for long term achievement.
DESIGN FOR QUALITY
Design Process
Quality of Design is organized into five major activities, with multiple steps in each. As we
have just noted, the design process has definite elements of linearity, but the specific tools
applied ensure and facilitate collegial work in parallel. The five major activities are:
• Define
• Discover
• Design
• Develop
Define
The first step is to describe in general terms what the product is and what set of customers it
is intended to serve. There may be multiple different target customers. The project charter
includes not only this description of the product and target customers, but also the specific
measured goals for the product. The specific goals adopted will depend on the product and its
role in the enterprise strategy. These goals usually include:
• Market share
• Price point
• Margin
• Lead times
• Launch date
• Performance in terms of quality, cost, cycle time, or the like
• Customer loyalty
Discover
Quality by Design requires the discipline to discover the exact needs of the customer –
expressed in terms of the benefit that the customer is seeking. The needs must be specific and
measurable so that we can design to them and measure our success in meeting them.
There are usually multiple customers – both internal and external – and some of them are
hidden from our usual view of the business
Quality by Design incorporates robust science into the measurement and analysis of needs. In
some cases this will be rather straightforward, but many cases will require the application of
advanced survey and statistical techniques.
At this point, the project begins the completion of a series of planning worksheets that
directly tie:
• Customer to …
• Customer need to …
• Functional feature and goals to …
• Detailed design features and goals to …
• Process features and goals to …
• Control features and goals.
This systematic structure ensures that we meet all-important customer needs and that every
feature in the design, production, and control of the delivery has a useful role and can be
related unambiguously to the customers’ needs.
Design
Once we know what the customer needs, we must design the product that will meet those
needs better than competitors’ and preceding products. Design, of course, encourages
creativity and insight to meet needs in new and exciting ways that will appeal to the
customer. While it may seem contradictory to insist on structure to achieve creativity that is
exactly what is required. The proper structure encourages creativity and provides a safety net
that allows the team to push the limits of creative ideas without running unnecessary risks.
Quality Design encourages multiple approaches to designing, including:
• Benchmarking
• Creative thinking techniques
• Competitive assessment
• Multiple alternative evaluation
The designs are solidly tied to reality through the application of …
• Market competitive analysis
• Deconstruction competitive analysis
• Salability analysis
• Multiple tools to assess failure modes and probability of failure
• Explicit trade-off analysis
• Design reviews at several stages
• Advanced techniques when needed, such as design of experiments, including non-
linear response surfaces
• Value analysis to ensure that every dollar spent brings a return on the investment

Develop
Once the product is designed then the designers turn to the equally important job of
developing the process for delivery. Process design is strongly rooted in a full understanding
of the effects of variability and the need to measure and optimize process capability.
Finally, no design is complete without a rigorous control plan that will assure that the process
will continue to run free of defects indefinitely.
Deliver
The job is not done until the product is in production, meeting all the goals set out in the
charter, and delighting the customers. Effective delivery relies on strong planning from
transfer to operations, a scale-up strategy, and validation of the transfer.
SERVICE DESIGN
Service design is the activity of planning and organizing a business’s resources (people,
props, and processes) in order to (1) directly improve the employee’s experience, and (2)
indirectly, the customer’s experience.
Components of service design
There are three components of service design i.e.
People. This component includes anyone who creates or uses the service, as well as
individuals who may be indirectly affected by the service.
Examples include:
• Employees
• Customers
• Fellow customers encountered throughout the service
• Partners
Props. This component refers to the physical or digital artifacts (including products) that are
needed to perform the service successfully.
Examples include:
• Physical space: storefront, teller window, conference room
• Digital environment through which the service is delivered
• Webpages
• Blogs
• Social Media
• Objects and collateral
• Digital files
• Physical products
Processes. These are any workflows, procedures, or rituals performed by either the employee
or the user throughout a service.
Examples include:
• Withdrawing money from an ATM
• Getting an issue resolved over support
• Interviewing a new employee
• Sharing a file
Benefits of Service Design
Most organizations’ resources (time, budget, and logistics) are spent on customer-facing
outputs, while internal processes (including the experience of the organization’s employees)
are overlooked. This disconnect triggers a common, widespread sentiment that one hand does
not know what the other is doing.
Service design bridges such organizational gaps by:
Surfacing conflicts. Business models and service-design models are often in conflict because
business models do not always align with the service that the organization delivers. Service
design triggers thought and provides context around systems that need to be in place in order
to adequately provide a service throughout the entire product’s life cycle (and in some cases,
beyond).
Fostering hard conversations. Focused discussion on procedures and policies exposes weak
links and misalignment and enable organizations to devise collaborative and cross functional
solutions.
Reducing redundancies with a bird’s-eye view. Mapping out the whole cycle of internal
service processes gives companies a bird’s-eye view of its service ecosystem, whether within
one large offering, or across multiple sub offerings. This process helps pinpoint where
duplicate efforts occur, likely causing employee frustration and wasted resources. Eliminating
redundancies conserves energy, improves employees’ efficiency, and reduces costs.
Forming relationships. Service design helps align internal service provisions like roles,
backstage actors, processes, and workflows to the equivalent frontstage personnel. To come
back to our initial example, with service design, information provided to one agent should be
available to all other agents who interact with the same customer.
QUALITY FUNCTION DEPLOYMENT (QFD)
Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a process and set of tools used to effectively define
customer requirements and convert them into detailed engineering specifications and plans to
produce the products that fulfil those requirements.
Benefits of quality function deployment
Customer Focused: QFD methodology places the emphasis on the wants and needs of the
customer, not on what the company may believe the customer wants. The Voice of the
Customer is translated into technical design specifications. During the QFD process, design
specifications are driven down from machine level to system, sub-system and component
level requirements. Finally, the design specifications are controlled throughout the production
and assembly processes to assure the customer needs are met.
Voice of Customer Competitor Analysis: The QFD “House of Quality” tool allows for
direct comparison of how your design or product stacks up to the competition in meeting the
VOC. This quick analysis can be beneficial in making design decisions that could place you
ahead of the pack.
Shorter Development Time and Lower Cost: QFD reduces the likelihood of late design
changes by focusing on product features and improvements based on customer requirements.
Effective QFD methodology prevents valuable project time and resources from being wasted
on development of non-value added features or functions.
Structure and Documentation: QFD provides a structured method and tools for recording
decisions made and lessons learned during the product development process. This knowledge
base can serve as a historical record that can be utilized to aid future projects.
Companies must bring new and improved products to market that meet the customer’s actual
wants and needs while reducing development time. QFD methodology is for organizations
committed to listening to the Voice of the Customer and meeting their needs.
How to Implement Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
The Quality Function Deployment methodology is a 4-phase process that encompasses
activities throughout the product development cycle.
Product Definition: The Product Definition Phase begins with collection of Voice of the
Customer and translating the customer wants and needs into product specifications. It may
also involve a competitive analysis to evaluate how effectively the competitor’s product
fulfils the customer wants and needs. The initial design concept is based on the particular
product performance requirements and specifications.
Product Development: During the Product Development Phase, the critical parts and
assemblies are identified. The critical product characteristics are cascaded down and
translated to critical or key part and assembly characteristics or specifications. The functional
requirements or specifications are then defined for each functional level.
Process Development: During the Process Development Phase, the manufacturing and
assembly processes are designed based on product and component specifications. The process
flow is developed and the critical process characteristics are identified.
Process Quality Control: Prior to production launch, the QFD process identifies critical part
and process characteristics. Process parameters are determined and appropriate process
controls are developed and implemented. In addition, any inspection and test specifications
are developed. Full production begins upon completion of process capability studies during
the pilot build.
Effective use of QFD requires team participation and discipline inherent in the practice of
QFD, which has proven to be an excellent team-building experience.
FAILURE MODE AND EFFECTIVE ANALYSIS
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a structured approach to discovering potential
failures that may exist within the design of a product or process.
Failure modes are the ways in which a process can fail. Effects are the ways that these
failures can lead to waste, defects or harmful outcomes for the customer. Failure Mode and
Effects Analysis is designed to identify, prioritize and limit these failure modes.
There are two broad categories of FMEA, Design FMEA (DFMEA) and Process FMEA
(PFMEA).
Design FMEA
Design FMEA (DFMEA) explores the possibility of product malfunctions, reduced product
life, and safety and regulatory concerns derived from:
• Material Properties
• Geometry
• Tolerances
• Interfaces with other components and/or systems
• Engineering Noise: environments, user profile, degradation, systems interactions
Process FMEA
Process FMEA (PFMEA) discovers failure that impacts product quality, reduced reliability of
the process, customer dissatisfaction, and safety or environmental hazards derived from:
• Human Factors
• Methods followed while processing
• Materials used
• Machines utilized
• Measurement systems impact on acceptance
• Environment Factors on process performance
Why Perform Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
FMEA is one of many tools used to discover failure at its earliest possible point in product or
process design. Discovering a failure early in Product Development (PD) using FMEA
provides the benefits of:
i. Multiple choices for Mitigating the Risk
ii. Higher capability of Verification and Validation of changes
iii. Collaboration between design of the product and process
iv. Improved Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFM/A)
v. Lower cost solutions
vi. Legacy, Tribal Knowledge, and Standard Work utilization
Ultimately, this methodology is effective at identifying and correcting process failures early
on so that you can avoid the nasty consequences of poor performance.
When to Perform Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
There are several times at which it makes sense to perform a Failure Mode and Effects
Analysis:
i. When you are designing a new product, process or service
ii. When you are planning on performing an existing process in a different way
iii. When you have a quality improvement goal for a specific process
iv. When you need to understand and improve the failures of a process
How to Perform Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
FMEA is performed in seven steps, with key activities at each step. The steps are separated to
assure that only the appropriate team members for each step are required to be present. The
FMEA approach used by Quality-One has been developed to avoid typical pitfalls which
make the analysis slow and ineffective.
There are Seven Steps to Developing an FMEA i.e.
FMEA Pre-Work and Assembly of the FMEA Team
Pre-work involves the collection and creation of key documents. FMEA works smoothly
through the development phases when an investigation of past failures and preparatory
documents is performed from its onset. Preparatory documents may include:
i. Failure Mode Avoidance (FMA) Past Failure
ii. Boundary/Block Diagram (For the DFMEA)
iii. Parameter Diagram (For the DFMEA)
iv. Process Flow Diagram (For the PFMEA)
v. Characteristics Matrix (For the PFMEA)
A pre-work Checklist is recommended for an efficient FMEA event. Checklist items may
include:
i. Requirements to be included
ii. Design and / or Process Assumptions
iii. Preliminary Bill of Material / Components
iv. Known causes from surrogate products
v. Potential causes from interfaces
vi. Potential causes from design choices
vii. Potential causes from noises and environments
viii. Family or Baseline FMEA (Historical FMEA)
ix. Past Test and Control Methods used on similar products
Path 1 Development- (Requirements through Severity Ranking)
Path 1 consists of inserting the functions, failure modes, effects of failure and Severity
rankings. The pre-work documents assist in this task by taking information previously
captured to populate the first few columns (depending on the worksheet selected) of the
FMEA.
Functions should be written in verb-noun context. Each function must have an associated
measurable. Functions may include:
• Wants, needs and desires translated
• Specifications of a design
• Government regulations
• Program-specific requirements
• Characteristics of product to be analyzed
• Desired process outputs
Failure Modes are written as anti-functions or anti-requirements in five potential ways:
• Full function failure
• Partial / degraded function failure
• Intermittent function failure
• Over function failure
• Unintended function failure
Path 2 Development – (Potential Causes and Prevention Controls through Occurrence
Ranking)
Causes are selected from the design / process inputs or past failures and placed in the Cause
column when applicable to a specific failure mode. The columns completed in Path 2 are:
• Potential Causes / Mechanisms of Failure
• Current Prevention Controls (i.e. standard work, previously successful designs, etc.)
• Occurrence Rankings for each cause
• Classification of Special Characteristics, if indicated
• Actions are developed to address high risk Severity and Occurrence combinations,
defined in the Quality-One Criticality Matrix
Path 3 Development- (Testing and Detection Controls through Detection Ranking)
Path 3 Development involves the addition of Detection Controls that verify that the design
meets requirements (for Design FMEA) or cause and/or failure mode, if undetected, may
reach a customer (for Process FMEA).
The columns completed in Path 3 are:
• Detection Controls
• Detection Ranking
Actions are determined to improve the controls if they are insufficient to the Risks
determined in Paths 1 and 2. Recommended Actions should address weakness in the testing
and/or control strategy.
Review and updates of the Design Verification Plan and Report (DVP&R) or Control Plans
are also possible outcomes of Path 3.
4. Action Priority & Assignment
The Actions that were previously determined in Paths 1, 2 or 3 are assigned a Risk Priority
Number (RPN) for action follow-up.
RPN is calculated by multiplying the Severity, Occurrence and Detection Rankings for each
potential failure / effect, cause and control combination. Actions should not be determined
based on an RPN threshold value. This is done commonly and is a practice that leads to poor
team behaviour. The columns completed are:
• Review Recommended Actions and assign RPN for additional follow-up
• Assign Actions to appropriate personnel
• Assign action due dates
5. Actions Taken / Design Review
FMEA Actions are closed when counter measures have been taken and are successful at
reducing risk. The purpose of an FMEA is to discover and mitigate risk. FMEAs which do
not find risk are considered to be weak and non-value added. Effort of the team did not
produce improvement and therefore time was wasted in the analysis.
6. Re-Ranking Risk Priority Number (RPN) and Closure
After successful confirmation of Risk Mitigation Actions, the Core Team or Team Leader
will re-rank the appropriate ranking value (Severity, Occurrence or Detection). The new
rankings will be multiplied to attain the new RPN. The original RPN is compared to the
revised RPN and the relative improvement to the design or process has been confirmed.
Columns completed in Step 7:
• Re-ranked Severity
• Re-ranked Occurrence
• Re-ranked Detection
• iRe-ranked RPN
• Generate new Actions, repeating Step 5, until risk has been mitigated
• Comparison of initial RPN and revised RPN
FMEA Relationship to Problem Solving
The Failure Modes in a FMEA are equivalent to the Problem Statement or Problem
Description in Problem Solving. Causes in a FMEA are equivalent to potential root causes in
Problem Solving. Effects of failure in a FMEA are Problem Symptoms in Problem Solving.
More examples of this relationship are:
i. The problem statements and descriptions are linked between both documents.
Problem solving methods are completed faster by utilizing easy to locate, pre-brainstormed
information from an FMEA.
ii. Possible causes in an FMEA are immediately used to jump start Fishbone or Ishikawa
diagrams. Brainstorming information that is already known is not a good use of time or
resources.
iii. Data collected from problem solving is placed into an FMEA for future planning of
new products or process quality. This allows an FMEA to consider actual failures,
categorized as failure modes and causes, making the FMEA more effective and complete.
iv. The design or process controls in an FMEA are used in verifying the root cause and
Permanent Corrective Action (PCA).
v. The FMEA and Problem Solving reconcile each failure and cause by cross
documenting failure modes, problem statements and possible causes.

QUALITY TOOLS AND MEASUREMENT

Quality tools
They are used to collect data, analyse, identify route causes and measure results in problem
solving and process improvement. They help people involved easily generate new ideas,
solve problems and do proper planning.
Quality measurement
Quality measures are standards for measuring the performance and improvement of
Teams and circles
Meaning of quality circle
Quality circle is defined as a group of workers, who work voluntarily to improve and develop
products in an organization related to the production process, material wastage, quality of
finished, semi-finished goods and raw materials, energy consumption, maintenance, safety,
and delay.
Features of quality circle
It is a voluntary group, and the initiative to join the quality circle rests with the
interested party. People are invited to join the circle but not compelled or forced.
The size varies from six to twelve members, although everyone belongs to a specific
work area. Sometimes they consult specialists from other areas to gain his perspective and
find appropriate solutions. Emphasizes on a small group to maintain harmonious relations
and apt coordination between members.
The meetings are held at periodic intervals to discuss and contemplate about the related
issues. Sometimes it is a weekly activity, and at other times the timing can shift as per the
requirement. It is the quality circle members who decide the frequency of the meeting and its
timings to suit every member. Often it is the need of the hour that decides about the
frequency and time limit of these meetings.
An organization may have several quality circles depending upon its requirement. As it
is a work-related group, more often, it is their supervisor who takes up the mantle of
leadership.
 Every quality circle has its point of reference and problems and is restricted to its
specific product or service. They do not interfere in the working of other quality circles.
It is adept at solving issues and offering an apt solution. The quality circle collects data,
identify and analyze, and lastly come to a solution after several discussions amongst the
members.
The quality circle, as the name suggests, identifies analyses, and solves related problems. The
members arrange the meeting as per the demand and requirement.

Objectives of quality circle

 Identify and analyze problems

 Work towards the development and improvement of the organization
 Utilize and enhance human resources
 Improve the quality of products
 Reduce costs and enhance productivity
 Improve conflict and inter-personal resolution
 Improve communication
 Promote leadership skills
 Promote personal development
 Participation in the management process

Structure of quality circle

1. Steering committee
It is headed by the senior executive and has representatives from human resources
development and top-level personnel. The steering committee is the one that drafts and
establishes various plans and policies in place and directs the program towards the right path.
2. Coordinator
The coordinator is generally the administrative officer who supervises the work and
administer the program
3. Facilitator
He is the supervising officer who coordinates the working of numerous quality circles via the
circle leaders
4. Circle leaders
He organizes the activities, gives direction to the members and conducts the activities of
quality leaders.
Duties of quality circle leader
 Guiding the members in the right direction
 Taking members in his confidence and sharing all the issues in an open communication.
 Channelizing the discussions
 Allow all the members equal opportunities
 Assigning particular tasks to all the members
 Coordination with facilitator
Advantages of quality circle
 A quality circle generates creative ideas that result in an innovative solution
 It increases the productivity, production, and quality of products and services in an
organization
 A quality circle is a happy group that works voluntarily. Its harmonious tendency is
carried back to the organization
 Increases customer satisfaction as everyone is working to improve the quality of
products and services
 Works towards reducing the production cost
 It brings a calm and soothing ambiance as it tries to identify and solve problems in an
effective manner
 Quality circle offers motivation to other employees to work for the betterment of the
organization and infuses team spirit
 Improves the image of employees as they are doing commendable work voluntarily
for the betterment of the organization and ultimately, the workforce.
 Improves the ability of the members in making viable decisions
 Quality circle helps to improve communication in the organization
 It improves leadership skills and encourages problem-solving ability.
 Builds inner confidence and trust
 Enhances corporate pride because of the sense of belonging
 Works towards a better relationship between managers and employees.
Disadvantages of quality circle
  Operational problems in the organization can cause delays and ultimately fail the
process maintained by the quality circle
 Lack of participation can cause the failure of a quality circle
 If the members are not suited and qualified for the post, it can result in wrong
decisions
 It is important to keep a positive approach, but if any member is unable to maintain
his equilibrium in case of adverse conditions then the quality circle will fail in its
intentions
 As it is a voluntary group, a member can opt-out of it anytime
 In case the group has a strong-willed member he may try to roughshod over others
 Sometimes a quality circle may be involved in useless issues thus wasting time,
energy and effort of the members
 It grabs the limelight and is often envied by other employees who do not have the
time to join such circles
Developing a quality circle
1) Starting phase
It is important to make people in your organization aware of the concept of the quality circle.
Everyone should have a basic knowledge about its implication and impact on the members as
well as the company.
It becomes doubly important as participation is voluntary. Once people start understanding its
basic concept only then will they show their enthusiasm in joining it? The company can play
its part by offering required training to the interested person to hone and develop their
participation skills.
2) Constitution of Quality circle
Quantity circle members belong to the same work area, and their participation is voluntary.
The constitution includes steering committee, coordinators, facilitators, circle leaders, and
circle members who work for the ultimate benefit of the company.
3) Initial problem-solving
Problem-solving includes data collection carried out via records, self-suggestions, and
contacting employees. It also includes data analysis that establishes the reason for the issue.
Lastly is problem-solving, which involves the participation of members regularly so that they
can put forward their suggestions and viable inputs.
 4) Presentation and approval
The members as a whole present the solution to the management either orally or as a project
report/assignment. The presentation improves communication between the workers and the
management so that later on, they can work in tandem.
5) Implementation
The final phase in developing a quality circle is the implementation. The relevant groups are
assigned with vital activities depending upon the suggestions to form a viable quality circle.

Techniques used in a quality circle

i. Brainstorming
This helps to stimulate the idea for decision making and stimulating creativity.
ii. Cause and effect diagrams
Members identify the cause of the problem and its effect on the problem
iii. Sampling and charting method
Members observe the events and charts the observations to get a clear idea of the problem.
Quality management systems
A Quality Management System (QMS) is defined as a set of coordinated activities required to
produce the desired quality of products. This quality should conform to specifications that
meet customer requirements most effectively and efficiently.
Requirements for a quality management system
1. Quality Manual
A quality manual is a guide illustrating the motivation behind adopting QMS. It shows how
the organisation values the need for quality management. According to ISO 9000, a quality
manual should contain;

 The scope of the QMS

 The requirements of the QMS framework
 Outline of the organisation’s quality objectives and policies
 Highlight the quality procedures you use in your business.
 Use a flowchart to show the documentation of essential quality management processes.
2. Quality Objectives 
It’s necessary to create quality objectives and a sense of direction for the QMS
implementation. The objectives should provide a precise metric and deadline to measure the
progress.

3. Organisation Structure and Responsibility

A quality management system should have a picture of every person’s responsibilities within
the organisation and outline the company’s structure. The organisational structure should
display product life cycles using analytical tools such as flowcharts and graphs.

4. Data management
Organisations should have adequate data management systems to avoid scenarios of
operational inefficiencies, poor customer experience, and other compliance risks. Data
management procedures should address documentation and records, collection methods,
sources, disposal, and storage.

5. Internal Processes
The QMS requires organisations to define all processes involved in transforming inputs to
finished products and services. There should be an effort to illustrate how different internal
processes interact with machines and human resources. This way, you can link every activity
within the company to a particular process.

6. Customer Satisfaction from Quality Products

QMS requires firms to evaluate and manage their quality of customer satisfaction. The best
way to start is by defining the different methods and tools you intend to use to measure the
levels of customer satisfaction. You can evaluate customer satisfaction by reviewing
satisfaction surveys, complaint procedures, or analytical tools to assess satisfaction trends.

7. Improvement Opportunities
Organisations need to design clear documentation of their intentions to meet QMS continuous
improvement standards. The documentation should contain safety designs, corrective action,
quality planning procedures, and compliance requirements.

8. Quality Instruments
Corporations should have quality tools to measure the progress and success of the QMS. If
you rely on these instruments to validate products, you must ensure they are well-calibrated
and controlled to meet industrial specifications.

ESTABLISHING AND IMPLEMENTING A QMS

Before establishing a quality management system, your organization must identify and
manage various connected, multi-functional processes to help ensure customer satisfaction.
The QMS design should be influenced by the organization’s varying objectives, needs, and
products and services provided. This structure is based largely on the plan-do-check-act
(PDCA) cycle and allows for continuous improvement to both the product and the QMS. The
basic steps to implementing a quality management system are as follows:
1. Design and Build
The design and build portions serve to develop the structure of a QMS, its processes, and
plans for implementation. Senior management should oversee this portion to ensure the needs
of the organization and the needs of its customers are a driving force behind the systems
development.
2. Deploy
Deployment is best served in a granular fashion by breaking each process down into sub
processes and educating staff on documentation, education, training tools, and metrics.
Company intranets are increasingly being used to assist in the deployment of quality
management systems.
3. Control and Measure
Control and measurement are two areas of establishing a QMS that are largely accomplished
through routine, systematic audits of the quality management system. The specifics vary
greatly from organization to organization depending on size, potential risk, and
environmental impact.

4. Review and Improve

Review and improve detail how the results of an audit are handled. The goals are to
determine the effectiveness and efficiency of each process toward its objectives, to
communicate these findings to the employees, and to develop new best practices and
processes based on the data collected during the audit.
Benefits of quality management systems
1. Improved Products & Services: By focusing all company’s efforts to manufacture
high-quality products and services and therefore continually measuring their
effectiveness and taking agile corrective actions in case of defects or errors.
2. Increased Productivity: As part of the updated system, employees will follow the
new guidelines set in place, aiming to maximize efficiency and process quality.
3. Customer Satisfaction: The properly designed and implemented QMS take into
account client requirements and expectations, therefore positively affecting and
increasing their satisfaction.
4. Improved Processes: By assessing your current processes, you can therefore
highlight the areas of improvements and take necessary actions to reduce cost and
create value.
5. Increased Employee Commitment and Communication: By defining clear roles
and responsibilities, employees understand how they can create value and be more
agile, as well as affect the quality and the success of the business while improving
internal communications between the company’s departments or teams.
6. Compliance to International Recognition: By setting quality management systems,
including documentation systems, running international audit and reporting,
companies make sure to comply with standards and regulations in a fast and simple
way.

Implementation of TQM and change

Total Quality Management (TQM) should encompass both the employee and customer
satisfaction. Moreover, improvements in communication systems, improved employee
involvement in decision-making processes, improvements in team relationships, safety in
working conditions, customer satisfaction, community satisfaction, and learning and
innovation are necessary components of the TQM in the organization.
In TQM implementation and adjustment, prevailing culture must be taken into consideration
to avoid organizational conflicts, which might be unhealthy for the success of the business.
The management and leadership style really matters when it comes to employees’ morale.
Managers should, therefore, endeavor to employ more interactive and friendly approach
when it comes to leadership.
In embracing the concept of total quality management, the company’s management should
involve the employees in the decision making, especially when it concerns those issues that
affect their work environment; especially the organizational changes ought to be
communicated in time to minimize employees’ resistance. As a result, this boosts the
employees’ morale and productivity.
TQM can make it possible for the company to address pertinent issues, evaluate its current
development, and correct its deviations from the intended goals in time.
The implementation of TQM can enable the company to gain competitive edge over its
competitors by making sure that the best quality products/services attained through
innovation are offered to the customers.