Methods of Improving Quality

Methods of Improving Quality

1. Total Quality Management

   • TQM is a philosophy, not a tool
   • A way of looking at a quality issue
   • Requires commitment from the whole organisation, not just the quality control department
   • The business considers quality in every part of the business process from
     • Design to
       • to
         • Sales
   • TQM is about building-in rather than inspecting-out.
   • Success of TQM depend on it being imbedded in the organisational culture
   • pros
     • should become deeply rooted in the company culture. once all staff think about quality, it should show through from design to manufacture and after-sales service.
     • cons
       • satf may be skeptical at first. to get TQM into the culture may be expensive, as it will require extensive training among all staff.

2. Quality Control

   • traditional way to manage quality, base don inspection. quality control inspectors check that the output meets minimum acceptable standard. the problem with this system is that faulty products can skip through , and stops from staff from producing the best.
   • pros
     • can be used to guarantee that no defective item will leave the factory. requires little staff training, therefore suits business with unskilled or temporary staff.
   • cons
     • poor quality built into thhe product. QC can be trusted only when 100% of output is tested, not based on sampling.

3. Quality Assurance

   • QA assures a system that assured customers that detailed systems are in place to govern quality at every stage . this starts from raw materials. main criticism is that it is paper based system therefore encourages staff to tick boxes rather than care about customer experience.
     • pros
       • makes sure the company has a quality system for every stage uin th eproduction process

4. Improvement