The Pervasive Elements of Total Quality Control

Dr. Chao-Hsien Chu
Iowa State University

Appeared: Industrial Management, September/October 1988.

Contents

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Overview

Under the pressure of worldwide competition, most of the companies around the world have applied innovative thinking to management and begun to examine technology that can lead to higher quality and productivity. Among the available methods, the Japanese's twin weapons just-in-time (JIT) production and total quality control (TQC) systems have thus far received the highest praise.

TQC in Japan, however, has since moved toward the improvement of managerial performance at all levels. The problems with which it has typically dealt are:

While many articles and books still provide misleading information, we will try to give a clearer picture by looking at how total quality control systems work in Japan. Roadblocks and Misconceptions about TQC will be reported first, then a framework and the key elements that lead to a successful implementation are addressed.

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Misconceptions about Quality Improvement

According to Scott Sink, one of the major problems with quality and productivity improvement is the lack of "awareness" and "understanding." (Other roadblocks are insufficient and ineffective g, inadequate planning, lack of cooperation and coordination, resistance to change, lack of incentives, and ineffective leadership skills.) Although statistical quality control (SQC), quality control circles (QCC), and TQC have been widely addressed in the literature and meetings, many misconceptions exist that hinder quality improvement.

  1. Higher quality would lead to higher cost. Many executives have the wrong perceptions that quality control (QC) would take too much time from regular production activities; that QC would cost too much to get started; and that QC would cost too much to maintain. The opposite is true. As D. Garvin notes, "Improving product quality is a profitable activity."

  2. Quality can be improved by inspection. This misunderstanding has led many companies to hire more inspectors to improve product quality. In fact, inspection can only be used to "find" defects. It can not be applied to reduce or eliminate defects. Quality must be designed and manufactured into the product.

  3. Defects cannot be eliminated. It is true that humans cannot avoid errors, but if the sources of errors can be quickly detected and corrected, most of the defects from errors can be eliminated.

  4. QCC is the mainstay of TQC in Japan. There is no doubt that QCC has played a very important role in improving product quality and productivity in Japan. However, its role has often been overestimated by overseas observers. As a matter of fact, QCC is only part of a company-wide QC program.

  5. QC is the job of QC department. Employees at many companies may have the misconception that QC would be best left to managers and engineers. Actually, a successful TQC requires that all employees participate in problem-solving. Some other concerns from managers are that employees are not interested in QC activities; that employees would only use QC to make things easier on themselves; that employees would put QCC activities above their work; and that employees would use QCC to make demands on the company. If managers have these concerns, they would naturally hesitate to adopt QCC.

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    Framework of TQC

    Figure 1 provides a conceptual framework for understanding the TQC activities. Under this spectrum, total quality control should start at the product design stage and continue through preproduction planning, vendor management, incoming material control, in-process control, and finished goods control. It ends with customer service. At each stage, control activities that may affect the product quality should be carefully examined with the aid of appropriate tools. Any problem incurred should be quickly collected, recorded, and analyzed, and feedback provided to the previous stages for possible correction. How the problems were resolved should of course be recorded for future reference. The success of the program ties mainly upon well-designed quality cost and information systems, and fast feedback and correction.

    Fig 1: Framework of TQC

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    Elements of TQC

    Though many factors are essential to the success of a system project, the following elements or programs seem necessary to TQC implementation:

    1. Education and Training.The first and foremost concern in QC activities is with the quality of "people." How to "build" quality into people has been the main focus of TQC. To achieve this, various training and education programs, were developed to instill the TQC way of thinking in all employees in order to spark "awareness."

    2. Participative Management.A successful TQC program requires a company-wide promotion with an employees participating. All employees from top management, managers, supervisors, and workers in functional departments such as R&D, product planning, design, preparation for production, purchasing, manufacturing, quality control, sales, and after services as well as financial, accounting, and personnel should be included. In order to encourage their employees to actively participate in problem solving, Japanese companies have long relied on QC circles and other innovations such as job rotation, job enrichment, and job enlargement.

    3. Employee Suggestion Programs.A suggestion program is an integral part of the TQC system. Top management must implement a well-designed suggestion plan to assure that the TQC system is dynamic. Rewards and recognition must be given to employees and the number of suggestions must be regarded as an important criterion in evaluating the performance of managers. Table 1 shows the ideas which are typically acceptable for suggestion.

      Table 1: Ideas Acceptable for Suggestion
      • Improvements in operating methods
      • Improvements in working environment.
      • Improvements in machines and process.
      • Improvements in jigs and tools.
      • Improvements in product quality.
      • Improvements in customer so and relations.
      • Improvements in safety.
      • Savings in energy, materials, and other resources.
      • Ideas for new product development.
      • Others that lead to higher product" and cost reduction.

    4. Cross-Functional Management.Because quality problems vary from product to product and their responsibilities be with different departments, it is very hard to receive cooperation from other departments under many current functional organization structures. In Japan, the quality, cost, and delivery schedules are arranged as cross-functions and are headed by special committees that directly report to the CEO. Members of the TQC committee, for instance, consist of board members (managers and employees) from related functional departments with the QC or quality assurance (QA) department acting as secretariat (See Figure 2). In addition, for the sake of receiving highest attention from departments, the cross-functional goals should be determined before the departmental goals.

    5. Quality information Systems. A system of data collection and evaluation is a vital part of the TQC program. Accurate and timely data on defects, field failures, and complaints must be quickly analyzed and feedback provided to related people and departments for possible action.

    6. Basic Statistical Methods. All employees active in TQC activities are well-trained in how to effectively use basic statistical methods for problem solving. These methods include, but arc not limited to the following:

      • Pareto diagrams.
      • Cause-and-effect diagrams.
      • Histograms.
      • Control charts.
      • Scatter diagrams.
      • Graphs.
      • Checksheets.

    7. Quality Cost Systems.A good quality-cost program should be able to pinpoint the areas where the application of QC can have the greatest monetary impact. It should also provide a critical measure of the financial health of the QC system. As such, the program must cover the measurements and reporting of the costs incurred in ensuring product quality, reliability, and safety. It should also measure the costs incurred from the failure to do so.

      Fig 2: An Organizational Chart for TQC

    8. Quality System Audit. System audits provide a mechanism to periodically review quality-related policies, to scan environmental opportunities and treats, to coordinate TQC activities, and to identify system weakness and improper practices for ultimate correction. In Japan, the quality audit is further exemplified by the Deming Prize contest and by the President's annual field audit.

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    Key Implementation Issues

    Though the benefits of TQC are obvious, its implementation is not without difficulties. It requires that the company invest in:

    Total quality control is viewed as a predominant driving force in Japan to enhance its worldwide competitive posture. Through the implementation of TQC concepts, many companies around the world have built a system for effectively designing, developing, producing, and servicing products with the ultimate goal of satisfying customers.

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    About the Author

    Chao-Hslen Chu is an assistant professor of management at the College of Business Administration, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. He received a BE in industrial engineering from Chung Yuan University (Taiwan), an MBA from Tatung Institute of Technology (Taiwan), and a Ph.D. in operations management from Pennsylvania State University. Chu's research interest is in manufacturing planning and control, manufacturing information systems, and microcomputer applications for decision support. He has published articles in Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Production and Operations Management, and others. He is a senior member of IIE and a member of Decision Science Institute (DSI) and APICS, where he was certified as CPIM.

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