STRATEGIC QUALITY MANAGEENT NOTES

LECTURER : DR CHOKERA F

CELL : 0785 666 956

EMAIL : chokeraf@staff.msu.ac.zw

UNIT ONE

THE HISTORY OF QUALITY

The quality movement can trace its roots back to medieval Europe, where
craftsmen began organizing into unions called guilds in the late 13th century. Until
the early 19th century, manufacturing in the industrialized world tended to follow
this craftsmanship model. The factory system, with its emphasis on product
inspection, started in Great Britain in the mid-1750s and grew into the Industrial
Revolution in the early 1800s. In the early 20th century, manufacturers began to
include quality processes in quality practices.

After the United States entered World War II, quality became a critical component
of the war effort: Bullets manufactured in one state, for example, had to work
consistently in rifles made in another. The armed forces initially inspected virtually
every unit of product; then to simplify and speed up this process without
compromising safety, the military began to use sampling techniques for inspection,
aided by the publication of military-specification standards and training courses in
Walter Shewhart’s statistical process control techniques.

The birth of total quality in the United States came as a direct response to the
quality revolution in Japan following World War II. The Japanese welcomed the
input of Americans Joseph M. Juran and W. Edwards Deming and rather than
concentrating on inspection, focused on improving all organizational processes
through the people who used them. By the 1970s, U.S. industrial sectors such as
automobiles and electronics had been broadsided by Japan’s high-quality
competition. The U.S. response, emphasizing not only statistics but approaches

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that embraced the entire organization, became known as total quality management
(TQM).

By the last decade of the 20th century, TQM was considered a fad by many
business leaders. But while the use of the term TQM has faded somewhat,
particularly in the United States, its practices continue. In the few years since the
turn of the century, the quality movement seems to have matured beyond Total
Quality. New quality systems have evolved from the foundations of Deming, Juran
and the early Japanese practitioners of quality, and quality has moved beyond
manufacturing into service, healthcare, education and government sectors.

Quality as we know and practice it today grew of out three major waves or phases
namely the Early American Wave (Early 1920s), The Japanese Wave (1950s) and
The Late American Wave (Early 1980s).

A). The Early American Wave

 Can be understood from the works of two great statisticians in the USA
namely Walter A. Shewhart who became to be described as the grant father
of statistical quality control and Edwards W. Deming who also became to be
known as the father of statistical control
 During the early 1920s, Edwards Deming together with Walter A. Shewhart
argued that companies can better manage quality the application of statistics.
Deming therefore started inviting companies and ogranisations to attend
quality workshops and seminars. Special focus on companies in the
construction industry which needed to build durable structures such as
bridges, storey buidings, roads and other architectural projects which
naturally require to be long lasting and withstand abuse from the
environmental disasters and hazards such as floods, earthquakes, earth
tremors and effects of landslides.
 In his lectures, Deming strongly emphasized the need for companies to
apply statistical records and figures relating to , for example

(1). Number of people required to turn up for a particular project

(2). Quantities / Volume of material resources required for a particular project

(3). Total number of products produced

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 (4). Total number or percentage of good items produced

(5). Total number or percentage of defective items

(6). Amount of funds required to finance a particular project among other

statistics

Deming argues that maintain statistics and records allows companies to be

consistent whenever the company is undertaking a similar project. Consistent
was regarded as a fundamental quality characteristic as failure to achieve it will
lead to variation or deviation from the normal set standards. Where there is
deviation or variation from the normal set standard quality is heavily
compromised. Although Deming’s quality message based on statistical
application was noble in achieving quality, most companies in the USA
shunned this message until much later as shall be seen.

B). THE JAPANESE WAVE

 In 1946 Edwards Deming was invited to Japane by the Japanese

Government so that he would assist in the reconstruction of the shattered
Japanese economy where there was need to build durable and robust
projects/ structures
 Deming accepted the invitation and quickly flew to Japan where he started
conducting various quality lectures based on statistical application
 The quality message was targetetd to all companies across the industry
divide
 In the early 1950s, Deming became overwhelmed by the workload in japan
and he invited his friend Joseph M. Juran from the USA. Juran accepted the
invitation and quickly flew to japan where together with Deming they spread
the quality gospel based on statistical application
 The Japanese government was so committed to the quality efforts by
Deming and Juran to an extent of appointing a special committee which
worked alongside these US based quality experts. The special committee
was known as the Union of the Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE)
 The JUSE was responsible for translating the quality message from the US
based quality culture to the Japanese based quality culture

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  Deming’s quality message in japan was so successful to extent that some
Japanese quality terms and phrases emerged where some of the terms
include Kaizen, Seiri, Seiton, Gemba, Muda, Poka Yoke, Gembutsu among
others and some great quality leaders also emerged in the Japanese economy
and these include Kaoru Ishikawa, Genichi Taguchi, Masaaki Imai, Shigeo
Shingo, Dr Shozo Hibino among others
 The Japanese companies were so successful in managing quality the Deming
way and they respected Deming’s quality message so highly to an extent of
introducing the Deming Prize which was and is the highest award awarded
to companies that had demonstrated superiority and outstanding quality
performance.
 The Japanese companies and the whole economy prosperous and successful
through managing quality the Deming way and some companies such as
Toyota, Mazda, Mitsibushi, Sony and Toshiba managed to penetrate many
foreign markets including the USA

C). THE LATE AMERICAN WAVE (EARLY 1980s)

 The Japanese companies (Toyota, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Sony and Toshiba)

that had penetrated the US market became so successful in the US market to
an extent of commanding greater market share in both the automotive and
electronics sectors
 Most US companies including those from the automotive and electronics
industries were stunned and flabbergasted as they surrendered market share
rankings to the Japanese companies.
 The US government and the industry associations after conducting
researches on why US companies were losing market share to the Japanese
firms found out that the secret behind the success of the Japanese firms in
the American soil lied in Deming’s quality message thus the US government
rediscovered the importance of Deming’s quality message based on
statistical application. Therefore the US government had to recall Deming
and Juran to the USA where the two great statisticians quickly responded
 In the USA Deming and Juran started preaching the quality gospel based on
statistical application throughout the US economy and this time there was

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 overwhelming response from most companies and organisations across the
industry divide
 After only 6 months of applying Deming’s quality message companies such
as the General Motors, Ford Motors and Motorola became very successfully
and recorded superfluous profit and prenominal growth in sales and these
companies managed to wrestle back market share previously surrendered to
the Japanese born companies
 Deming’s quality message quickly swept across the US market and since the
US economy forms the hub and global consummate of the world economy,
Deming’s quality message spread like wild fire throughout the US economy
and to the rest of the world including Europe, Australia, South Asia and
finally Africa where today many companies and organisations are managing
quality the Deming way

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UNIT TWO

Evolution of Total Quality Management

Total quality Management evolved through the following stages

(1). Inspection Era

 Quality issues in the organization were only the responsibility of specially

appointed people known as inspectors
 Inspectors inspected products after they have gone out of the production line
 Full inspection or 100% inspection method was done
 All other workers were alienated from quality issues
 The method was expensive and laborious as a few inspectors could inspect
each unit of product produced
 Organisations kept on experiencing defective products hence the method
was abandoned
 Emphasis was on conformation to specifications instead of focusing on
meeting customer needs

(2). Quality Control Era

 Organisations established the quality control department

 The quality control department became responsible for quality issues in the
organization while other departments were alienated from quality issues
 The Full inspection system was changed in favour of the sample inspection
system
 Process inspection was introduced in which only defect free products could
be allowed to go to the next stage while defective products could be sent
back to the previous stage for rectification or rework
 This method of managing quality became less expensive compared to the
inspection though defective products were still experienced

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(3). The Quality Assurance Department Era

 Arose after the end of the 2nd world War as countries increasingly became
involved in export business
 The quality assurance department was created to be responsible for
managing quality in the organization
 Staff in the quality assurance became specialists and were charged with the
responsibility to implement quality standards
 Quality standards are formulated by the International Organisation for
Standardisation (ISO} based in Zurich Switzerland
 ISO appointed an international agent for evaluating and verification of
quality standards in companies of member states through invitation. The
agent is called Det Norit Veritas
 A company that meets the expected ISO standards is issued with a certificate
of accreditation which is valid for 3 years and is subject to renewal
 Quality assurance is generally about inspecting procedures, systems,
processes for managing quality
 Emphasis is on documentation of the quality activities undertaken by the
organization, however, it is criticized for being a blueprint since emphasis is
on documentation.
 This is however with its weaknesses hence management shifted focus to the
Total Quality Management system

Total Quality Management

 This came about in the early 1980s

 In this period organisations adopted the customer driven quality
 The system involves the company or organizational wide participation in
quality programs where all sections, departments, branches, subsidiaries, all
employees across the levels of authority are involved in managing quality

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  There is also external cooperation in which the firm’s stakeholders such as
distributors, customers, suppliers, advertising agencies, stockists and other
partners cooperate in managing quality activities
 Total Quality Management is characterized by high customer focus,
industrial democracy, quality function deployment, long term profitability,
company - wide participation in quality, quality circles, top management
commitment e.t.c

TQM Elements

Major TQM features include:-

 Industrial democracy
 High customer focus
 Company - wide participation
 Top Management commitment
 Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
 Long term profitability
 Quality circles

Variation

Variation refers to the shift or changes from the normal or set standard. Variability
is a part of any process no matter how sophisticated the process is. It is important
for both managers and operators to understand it. Several factors account for
variability and some of these include methods, equipment, people, materials,
policies as well as environmental factors. Causes of variation can be divided into
two namely

A.). Common Causes Variation

B.). Special causes variation

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Special Causes Variation

Variability caused by special or assignable causes is something that is not inherent

to the process. This means that it is not part of the default processes and does not
affect all items. Special causes can be due to use of wrong tool, improper
application of raw materials, operator error, and operator fatigue. If an observation
falls outside the control limits or a non - random pattern is exhibited, special causes
are assumed to exist and the process can be said to be out of statistical control. One
of the objectives of the control chart is to detect the presence of the special causes
variation and to take an immediate corrective action. Deming believed that 15% or
6% of quality problems are due to special causes and both management and
workers can reduce the occurrence of such special causes.

B. Common Causes

Variability due to common causes is something inherent to the process. It exists as

long as the process is not changed and is referred to as the natural variation in a
process. It is an inherent part of the process design and affects all items. The
variation is the effect of many small causes and cannot be totally eliminated. When
this variation is constant we have what is known as a stable system of common
causes. A process operating under a stable system of common causes is said to be
in statistical control. Examples include variation in the incoming raw materials
from a qualified vendor, lack of adequate supervision skills, and calibration of
machines and fluctuations of working conditions. According to Deming,
management alone is responsible for common causes

Quality Improvement

 Measures to reduce variability of a process and the production on non -

conforming products should be ongoing because quality improvement is a
never ending process
 Quality improvement is about detection and elimination of common causes
inherent to the system
 Quality improvement leads to increase in productivity and profitability

The control Chart

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  Is a graphical tool for the monitoring the activity of a process
 It is sometimes called Shewhart control chart (named after Shewhart.)
 Values of a quality characteristic are plotted vertically and horizontal axis
represents the samples in order of time
 If points plot within the control limits and do not show any identifiable
pattern, the process is said to be in statistical control
 If points plot outside the control limits or if an identifiable non - random
pattern exists e,g 12 out of 15 points plot above the centre line, the process is
said to be out of statistical control

Benefits of using the control charts

 When to take corrective action

 Type of remedial action required. Type of plot may help in the diagnosis
process
 When to leave the process alone. Where variability is due to common causes
 It shows process capability
 Shows possible means of quality improvement

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