‘Quality is not an act, it is a habit’- by Aristotle, upholds the mantra for organizations that target growth and continuous improvement for their business. The businesses will continue to operate smoothly only when the organisations will align themselves with the current trends and innovations.
Process improvement plays a major role in changing businesses as it evaluates the current processes and adapts changes to that processes to increase productivity and streamline the workflow. There are several management methodologies that focus on improving processes and delivering quality products to their customers.
The popular philosophies encapsulating process improvement are:
Six Sigma, Lean Management, Total Quality Management (TQM), 8D Methodology and others. These methodologies converge at a point where the goal is to identify the root cause of a problem, data driven decision making, minimize inefficiencies of the process, implement continuous improvement initiatives and implement change.
To modify operations and meet the needs of the clients, a lot of businesses employ the most effective methodology, around Quality Management. It focuses on process improvement as well as quality improvement. This also includes formulating a quality policy, coming up with and carrying out quality assurance and planning, as well as quality control and improvement initiatives.
Unlike the fundamental 7QC Tools that work upon data and figures, TQM advocates for a system approach where decision-making is done with data and performance metrics. Here are the 7 Quality Management (Total Quality Management – TQM) tenets for enhancing the production processes adhering to quality improvement.
7 Total Quality Management Skill to Improve Quality
- Customers come first: Customer priority should always exist, from initial contact to purchase and ongoing support, unwavering attention to the customer’s experience should be ensured.
- Ownership by operators: Every team member must participate in TQM to guarantee that complete quality control is provided at every level.
- Process-based: TQM places an emphasis on developing and implementing procedures that give organizations the capacity to identify and build upon success. For the implementation of TQM to be successful, success must be measured and the path to it must be specified.
- Incorporating systems: Utilizing every asset at the company’s disposal is central to TQM strategies. The most effective way to accomplish this is through system integrations, which bring together various organizational components into a single, well-oiled machine that functions in perfect harmony-based functioning.
- Communication: TQM demands that each team member perform at their peak level and contribute to the team’s success. Thus, effective TQM practices place a high priority on openness and communication.
- Data-driven: TQM avoids speculation. Instead, data is used to strengthen the organization and decisions are based on measurable facts.
- Continual Improvement: TQM is not a one-time procedure. Since perfection is unachievable, it must constantly be sought after to bring the organization as close to it as possible.
When a company embarks on a quality improvement journey, especially for 7 QC tools or projects via 8D methodology are usually utilized for picking low-hanging fruits – whereas DMAIC methodology is rolled out for complex quality challenges. Thus, TQM along with other improvement tools are essential to analyze and define information relating to problem-solving to quality improvement of processes, products, and services.
